Interesting read on keeping body warm through proper clothes layering!

[fishfight]

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/winter/wintcamp.shtml

Also go through the section on proper safety procedure while walking on ice on rivers or lakes.


Here are some knowledge I acquired after going through the articles, that helped me avoid some misconception:

We need some minimal gap on the first few layers of clothing’s closest to our skin for proper ventilation. When materials such as a thermal underwear gets snug too tight to our skin, creating too much unnecessary body heat causing us to perspire, then moisture would be trap to the other layers that we put on. Our body also loses heat when we perspire too much during a hike. Since we cannot easily put on or take off Thermal underwear, to regulate body temp, it is not advisable to wear material that will snug our body during our hike when we fish during winter months.

It is not the amount or the thickness of the clothing materials that will keep our body warm. It is the number of clothing layers we can add or remove, to regulate the amount of body heat, that were being produce during our activities, to keep us comfortably warm.

We need wind breaker type of material at the last outermost layer, to maximize our body heat to stay internally. Cannot use cotton-like material, though our cotton jacket might seem thick enough, heat can unnecessarily escape from the material pores. We do not want cold air to also enter our body, we do want some form of controlled ventilation on our clothing, so excess body heat are allowed to escape, to avoid unnecessary perspiring.

For better body heat regulation, it is better to have more thinner layers of removable clothing than couple of thick layers.

Polypropylene is the first material suggested to be use closest to our skin,(not skin tight) than wool or other combination material as the next optional materials, lastly a thin waterproof wind breaker as an outer layer that can be easily remove, folded, stored, and worn again when needed.

For warming our hand, wearing wool mittens is the better than using gloves. Except for extreme cold temp conditions, I found the dollar store wool-poly mitten actually felt warmer than the Expensive Neoprene Gloves I bought from the fishing store. I add disposable hand warmer if additional heat is needed.