If you read any writings that are 50 years or older, anytime they wrote about winter there was a dark foreboding sinister feeling portrayed about it. There were cliches like they were entering into the winter of life and you knew they were about to die. You could almost hear the creepy music playing in the background.
As a kid, I didn’t have a lot. When I was 8 years old I’d pull on two to three pairs of socks and cram my foot into my already tight pair of cowboy boots. My toes would have zero circulation. I’d be shivering like a cartoon character.
Even up until after college I thought I was decked out if I had a set of red one-piece Union long handles. Of course they were made out of cotton and we now know that cotton doesn’t wick away moisture. In those days everyone advised wearing wool because it wicks away moisture and you’d survive even if you got wet. But the downside, wool itches.
Fast forward 50 years. Now suddenly a big percentage of people can’t wait for winter! You have to wonder, what caused this big shift in the paradigm? Here’s my explanation. Now we have a ton of fun winter outdoor activities. Skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, winter camping, sledding, ice skating, varmint hunting and who knows what else?
And I think the thing that allowed this change is the availability of new winter clothing that the market offers. Let’s list some of those items from the toes on up.
FOOTWEAR
Manufacturers offer moisture-wicking socks from medium weight on up to thick. Thirty years ago, there was a trend to wear a thin pair of polypropylene socks under your regular pair. This did two things.
1. Wicked away moisture.
2. The socks slid on each other so you didn’t get a blister.
Now there's a design of boots to fit your every activity. As a kid, I never heard of waterproof boots, but now, nearly all of them are waterproof. (Although in a meeting with marketing guru Ethan Peck with Garmont boots last week at the SHOT Show he told me that sometimes he likes non-waterproof hiking boots because they are better at wicking away moisture. Never heard that before but it makes sense.)
You can get various heights of boots according to how much snow you’re going to encounter. You can also get varying degrees of insulation in them, according to how cold it is or how sedentary your outdoor activities will be. When snowmobiling or ice fishing you may want some Sorel Pac type of boots.
If you’re new to Idaho and haven’t used gaiters before, you need to get a pair. They’re a plastic like/canvas deal that zips up around your ankle and extends almost up to your knee. They clip onto the string on your boots and prevent snow from coming in over the top (curse of all curses).
BASE LAYERS
According to how active that you’re going to be but you can get light, medium and heavy weight base layers. Most are made out of polypropylene and some of silk. These are a must have in cold weather. Don’t get cotton. Remember the old saying, “Cotton Kills,” said because cotton gets wet and clammy.
For pants, it’s nice to have something that is water resistant. It may be cool looking in town but you don’t want your pants skin tight. You want them a little baggy. For a shirt, wool is great but I usually end up wearing some kind of a cotton shirt (flannel, etc.).
If you’re new to Idaho, you need to learn how to layer. You don’t want to wear just one jacket like an oversized Eskimo jacket. Otherwise, you get a little warm hiking and you have to tough it out or pull off your monster size jacket and freeze.
Maybe wear a decent fleece jacket and then a bigger coat over it. That way if you get warm you can just pull off your bigger outer jacket and strap it on your backpack. For a jacket you want one that goes past your waist to block the wind and contain your body heat. And talking about wind, you want one that is windproof and water resistant. And never, never buy a coat without a hood. Otherwise, wind will whip down your neck as well as snow and rain. I always wear a cap. Throw the hood over it and the bill sticks out and protects your face/glasses against the rain and snow.
A gaiter is nice to wear around your neck to keep wind from whipping down your collar. For head cover, everyone now wears some kind of sporty beanie. For extreme weather, Katy bought me one years ago that is four-layers. It’s the ultimate.
Then of course you’ll need some good waterproof/resistant gloves or mittens. You can also supplement with hand warmers to stick in your gloves or pockets.
Well, I could go on for a while but this list ought to at least be enough so you’ll live to make it back to town alive and be able write me some hate letters to the editor pointing out some item I forgot to include!
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.
