The greatest enemy to keeping warm in frigid temperatures is us - we sweat when we exert.
Staying warm is half moisture management, and half exterior barrier. But even the barrier has to exhaust moisture while still trapping heat inside. That's tricky. For someone playing chess outside in the arctic, it's pretty straightforward. For someone walking, hiking, running, working, skiing, sledding, hunting - it's more complicated than putting on a big down parka.
"Materials that don't absorb moisture are key. That excludes cotton! Sorry guys.."
Base layer is the critical first step - your skin should not stay moist when you slow or stop. This layer is all about moisture management. Merino, polypro and plated synthetics all work really well. This is the cheapest layer, so buy good stuff. Don't use thick and fuzzy base layers, since they hold moisture. See our Women's and Men's baselayers.
Your next layer is insulation - it's a bit different. You should still be concerned about moisture but also heat retention. There are 3 ways to layer insulation and you can add as much as you need.
- DOWN: hands 'down' the favourite - the most value per ounce. Nothing else comes close. Treated Down postpones wetting out, but doesn't eliminate it. This is Down's big drawback - moisture. With Down, you've got to keep it dry. Down packs down to über-tiny volume in your pack. To avoid Down leakage, ensure the outer fabric has a very high thread count and the Down has a rated fill-power of minimum 650 (cubic inches per ounce) to eliminate quill poke-thru.
[No birds are killed for their Down, and none of the Down we sell involves live plucking or force fed. Down is repurposed waste from the food industry. Down requires a lot of water to wash repeatedly for maximum loft and generally recycled water is used for this. Quality Down is ethically produced, compostable, recyclable, non-allergenic repurposed waste - and will last a lifetime if cared for properly. See more at: http://www.alliedfeather.com]
- PRIMALOFT: the best man-made insulation by far. Intensely hydrophobic, almost impossible to get wet, super light, and long lasting - and even if you manage to get it wet, Primaloft still insulates close to original capacity. Better than Down for wet weather or high aerobic situations. Packs pretty small. (Applies to both blown Primaloft and batted Primaloft). Unbranded polyester synthetics typically don't last long, and go flat due to poor memory after compression.
- FLEECE: merino or polyester, Fleece insulates wet or dry, it won't let you down. A modern-day ultra-light sweater that doesn't absorb moisture. If the yarn is high-tenacity, fleece will last for years without matting up. Avoid cheap versions that are spun instead of filament yarns, since spun fleece traps moisture.
If it's really cold, mix it up. Try a light weight fleece over your base layer, with a Down vest or sweater on top.
Finally the exterior barrier. If the layers underneath do their job well, the barrier can both exhaust moisture and keep the weather out. Gore-Tex is the premiere barrier solution, but there are several other good options out there. Ask for 20k rating or better to avoid either sweating or leaking - the two usual fails of poor barriers. This rating measures what volume of water over a 24 hour period the fabric can withstand without the wearer getting wet. See our women's and men's hard shells.
"avoid buying all layers with hoods and being able to open your layers helps a lot"
Besides avoiding buying all layers with hoods, being able to open your layers helps a lot when you are spooling up or going inside into the heat. Pit zips, side-zip pants, extra zipper sliders, flow-thru pockets when open, zip-off sleeves - all these features cost money to install but they improve the extreme temperature rating, the aerobic range and comfort of your gear while active outdoors. (Unless you're playing chess in the arctic, in which case just buy a big Down parka and a toque!)
Enjoy our spectacular winters!