Winter Climbing Clothing

With the winter season coming early this year I've already been out on a few routes, and I've been trying out the first of a few new clothing system ideas I've got for this winter, mostly made up of bits of kit I picked up while living across the pond last year. I'm a big fan of softshell clothing, I think its ace, infact in winter I hardly ever wear waterproofs - I find them constrictive and not breathable enough. The British climate however often doesn't lend itself well the whole softshell concept though, often being fairly warm, and as a consequence wet. Recent conditions have been almost alpine or continental like though, with low temperatures producing fairly dry snow.

For my baselayer I've been wearing a long sleeve 240 weight Icebreaker on my top and powerstretch tights on my legs. My midlayer is a Patagonia R1 Hoody which works really well on the walk in having sleeves that roll up and a big deep zip for venting. When I get to the base of the route I pull the sleeves down and stick the thumb loops on beneath my gloves to keep spindrift out, and I put up the hood under my helmet which acts almost like a balaclava. On my legs is a pair of Mountain Equipments G2 Ultimate Mountain Pants. They are made of Gore's Windstopper material which I have a bit of love/hate relationship with (See my blog on Summer Alpine Clothing) as while I like the fact that its weather resistance and waterproofness means I can forgo carrying waterproof pants, their breathability is really poor. The big thigh vents are open from leaving the car which alleviates some of this issue but their still not perfect. They also have internal gaiters which do a fairly good job of keeping the snow out of your boots, especially if you add a little piece of elastic that goes under your boot. My climbing jacket which goes on over the top is a Arcteryx Gamma MX Hoody, a softshell hooded jacket that I picked up a few months ago after wanting one for a long time, and it is perhaps one of the best jackets I've ever used - I'll review it fully after I've given it a bit more abuse. Two of the best things about it though is firstly is that its got a fully technical helmet compatible hood, and secondly the cut and stretch of the jacket is superb allowing complete freedom of movement.

Gamma MX Hoody & R1 Hoody winter climbing in the Lake District.

In the sack I carry a really lightweight waterproof shell, a Patagonia Specter Jacket. I carry this purely as a emergency jacket, if I can help it I won't be wearing it when I'm climbing at all as I would probably shed the really lightweight fabric, but for walking off in a storm it will do fine. If the forecast is particularity bad I'll take my Haglofs Spitz, which is still fairly light but much more burly. Always in the top of my bag is my belay jacket, which is really the workhorse of the system, coming in and out of the pack all the time, at belays, when gearing up and down etc. As its been fairly cold I've been taking my Rab Neutrino Endurance Jacket which has worked well, although it has all the well known disadvantages of being down, and of course the advantages. I have been thinking a heavyweight synthetic jacket may be a good investment to replace it though, with the Patagonia Das Parka and the Arcteryx Dually Belay Parka looking like very good contenders.

And thats it. I think its a fairly lightweight system, based around the softshell and belay jacket concept and so far its done well. I'm skeptical about how well it will do in more British (warmer and wetter) but we'll see.