How to dress in Lapland?

A down vest is great to throw into a pack for snack or lunch stops, stuffs
small. Often times in cold temps when you are skiing your are warm then
stop for a rest and the body starts to cool down. You may not notice for a
spell then warming back up takes time, and eneregy. When I've done winter
camping trips or long day skis in cold weather, around -10F or lower, I
always have a good insulating layer, warmer/dry mits, and warmer hat in a
pack for when I take a break. I tend to get very warm when I am moving but
cool down rapidly when I stop. Easier to stay warm than to warm up.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when skiing you get pretty warm with
surprinsingly little clothing. I use to take kids on long day trips in
northern MN very often well below 0F and one of the biggest problems occured
when kids and adults would wear TOO much clothing. THey begin to heat up,
get wet, then problems start. As you are moving along, if you begin to feel
the warm, shed a layer, staying dry is one of the main keys to keeping warm.
With that in mind, always start the day with dry clothing, including boots.
If they get wet from sweat and freeze, it is very difficult to thaw them out
and keep your feet warm.

Dave

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've also found that when it's really cold (say -10F to -20or more F),
even a fully breathable nylon shell will get awfully wet inside - it
just doesn't seem to breath and/or wick out as well. Probably because
of the huge temp.differntial between the inside and outside. Tthe
outside ends up frost covered, which when it melts, gets you wet as
well. The lesson: bring spare jacket, etc. if you plan to stop to
picnic and also, have a change of dry clothes to put on when you're
done.

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
On 5 Jan 2006 21:06:10 -0800, wrote:
another complaint I have with synthetics
is that there are so many of them. One type of blend from one
particular supplier may be warm and effective while another may not be.

With the synthetics, find a brand or two that work well and stick with
them. Craft is for sure quite good. Swix is good. There are others.


But that is exactly what I don't want to do. Buy some stuff and find
out the hard way that it isn't suitable for my needs. With wool I
always know it will work well for me. Maybe if I used more layers or
something I'd find some combo that was ok, but for 90% of the time,
wool long-johns, and a wind-proof vented outer shell is enough. I get
cold if I stop, but I only stop when I get back home. I suppose the
needs of someone who plans on stopping occasionaly could be much
different, and maybe the wicking properties of synthetics would keep me
from getting cold from stopping.

Joseph

Someone mentioned using a face mask and klh said to keep a bank robber type mask off
the mouth.
Coming from a mild climate my first few days at a venue with extreme cold and windy
conditions always hurt my throat and voice box making speech painful.
Does the team have a remedy or precautions we can take to take to prevent this?

On 6 Jan 2006 07:20:59 -0800, wrote:


John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
On 5 Jan 2006 21:06:10 -0800, wrote:
another complaint I have with synthetics
is that there are so many of them. One type of blend from one
particular supplier may be warm and effective while another may not be.

With the synthetics, find a brand or two that work well and stick with
them. Craft is for sure quite good. Swix is good. There are others.


But that is exactly what I don't want to do. Buy some stuff and find
out the hard way that it isn't suitable for my needs.

Craft works. Swix works. If you're in the US, Craft if readily
available.

JT

****************************
Remove "remove" to reply
Visit http://www.jt10000.com
****************************

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:

On 6 Jan 2006 07:20:59 -0800, wrote:


John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:


On 5 Jan 2006 21:06:10 -0800, wrote:


another complaint I have with synthetics
is that there are so many of them. One type of blend from one
particular supplier may be warm and effective while another may not be.


With the synthetics, find a brand or two that work well and stick with
them. Craft is for sure quite good. Swix is good. There are others.


But that is exactly what I don't want to do. Buy some stuff and find
out the hard way that it isn't suitable for my needs.



Craft works. Swix works. If you're in the US, Craft if readily
available.

JT

after 6 years of skiing in sweden for vasaloppet week, starting from
absolutely the first time on xc skies the year before, i agree Craft
works!. i have 4 full sets each in usa and sweden ... nothing else in my
bag but craft from skin to layer 3. and at 20-C, maybe two of layer1!
klh

wrote:

But that is exactly what I don't want to do. Buy some stuff and find
out the hard way that it isn't suitable for my needs. With wool I
always know it will work well for me. Maybe if I used more layers or
something I'd find some combo that was ok, but for 90% of the time,
wool long-johns, and a wind-proof vented outer shell is enough. I get
cold if I stop, but I only stop when I get back home. I suppose the
needs of someone who plans on stopping occasionaly could be much
different, and maybe the wicking properties of synthetics would keep me
from getting cold from stopping.

Correct.

I always use a wicking layer underneath my wool gear.

I also carry a wool sweather which I put one (or just wrap over my
shoulders) when we stop to rest.

Not stopping until we get back home isn't really possible when breaking
trail for 7-10 hours. :-)

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

txskigirl wrote:

A group of us from Texas is heading to Finnish Lapland (Levi & Yllas)
for skiing in late Jan/early Feb. Having only been in North America,
I'm wondering how to upgrade my clothes & gear to handle the arctic
temps. Any advice? I'm specifically interested in how to keep my
fingers & toes warm.

Lots of answers...I try to add my Finnish touch into the mixture ;-)

It's good to be prepared for cold, although it won't necessarily be that
cold during your trip. You should bring enough clothes to dress at least
four layers. I have never needed more, I know some friends of mine who
are very sensitive to cold have dressed even five layers.

The materials of your clothing should not include cotton, as has been
said. Whether the materials are wool or synthetic, it is a matter of
taste. I like Craft's or Rukka's underwear and for middle layer my
preference is thin but warm fleece.

The first step in keeping your toes and fingers warm is to keep your
body warm. After that comes what you wear for you hands and feet. In
cold weather I use thin gloves made of silk or some wicking material
under my warmest gloves. Mittens are probably a good idea if your pole
straps allow. The warmth of the fingers really depends a lot on how much
your body produces heat, which again depends on the intensity of your
exercise. If you go for a long, calm ski in a cold weather and maybe
even plan to make stops, mittens are good. If you do 15-20 km at a
higher pace, gloves probably are more than enough.

As for toes, wearing a combination of normal, warm socks that contain no
cotton and modern-day skiing shoes, you shouldn't get your feet cold.

To protect my head against a very cold weather (less than -20 degrees
Centigrade) I wear a thin wicking balaclava under a woollen hat which is
windproof at least in the area of forehead and the ears.

If you go for a longer ski, take along a napsack with some dry/extra
clothing. It is good to be prepared for surprises - the weather
conditions can sometimes change very abruptly. Also you should take
along something to drink and some snack, preferrably something that
doesn't get very hard in the cold. A thermos bottle is a good idea. A
0.5-liter metallic bottle will be very helpful. I often carry two or
three (always one on the belt where it is easily available). The
"automatic" caps of some thermos bottles, the ones where you just press
a button and pour, might freeze and stop functioning, so I prefer a
bottle with a screwable cap for very cold conditions.

The air can be very dry in Lapland and longer times outdoors tend to dry
your eyes. I like to use some humidifying eye drops when I'm back at the
hotel. To protect your eyes during the day, I would recommend to wear
some glasses suitable for skiing, with UV-protection. I prefer tinted,
especially on sunny days.

I wouldn't worry too much about the light. There will be enough light
for skiing between 8 am and 4 pm in early February. Moreover, both Levi
and Ylläs have trails with floodlights. The trails are lit until
midnight at Levi, don't know about Ylläs. If you like to ski in the
darkness (I find it awesome in Lapland), then a headlight is helpful.

Both Levi and Ylläs are great for cross-country skiing. Ylläs has 330
km, Levi 232 km and there is also a connecting trail (60-70 km depending
where you start and stop). There will be some free trailmaps available
in the hotels, but I recommend a proper map that costs about 10 euros.
It is much easier to plan your daily trips with the help of a proper map
that has all the trails marked on it. If you go out for a longer day
trip, always tell somebody at the hotel where you are going and how long
you plan to stay. Do notice, that the full season begins in week 8.
Before that time some parts of the trailnetwork might not be opened.
Current information about the trails is available at location.

There will be lots of places along the trails in both Levi and Ylläs
where you can buy hot drinks and something to eat if you don't feel like
carrying too much with you. I put here the links to the trailmaps of
both resorts. It should give you some idea of the services available.
The map of Ylläs is very good. I bought one like that with both Levi and
Ylläs for 10 euros in a bookstore.

http://www.levi.fi/maps/engskiing.htm
http://www.yllas.fi/?DeptID=19030

I hope you have a great trip to Lapland,

Tommi

This just sounds strange to me. I've never had a problem with any
proly pro or acrylic product that was designed for active use. Some
are better than others, but only on the margins. That said, if you're
looking for brand names in underlayers, another that is top quality
Sporthill. The Bjorn Dahle and Swix lines are also excellent, mostly
outer layers.

I wear a wide variety of (mostly) generic stuff and some (expensive)
brand names as mentioned here. I just haven't had any issues that I
would consider significant.

I've had plenty of wool stuff that was uncomfortable and not designed
well for active use. It is generally heavier in weight (for a given
insulation factor), tends to be much less comfortable against the skin,
and, if wet, much slower to dry out. Don't get me wrong, I've used
wool for years, still use it, and it is an excellent fiber. It's just
that my experience with synthetics for really active use, has been
totally satisfactory and preferable to wool.

Camilo wrote: "I've had plenty of wool stuff that was uncomfortable
and not designed
well for active use. It is generally heavier in weight (for a given
insulation factor), tends to be much less comfortable against the skin,

and, if wet, much slower to dry out."

Wool socks, especially the newer "high-tech" wool socks like Smartwool
are the way to go for multi-day tours. I have used the same pair for
two or three days with just air drying overnight without the wool socks
getting too stiff when drying facilities are not available. Where the
Scandinavian huts have drying rooms, a quick cold water rinse, squeeze
and overnight drying has them ready to go the next morning.

Since TXSGIRL is going to Finland, I would expect that the better
staffed huts will have drying rooms as do the Norwegian staffed huts.

Edgar

I haven't read all entries, so my appologies if I repeat something
already written.

Anyway, from what I've seen there are many good advice above and I fill
in with a few experiences of my own, for whatever it is worth.

Apart from using warm clothes in general and other gode advice above, I
have learnt that one shall be very careful with not hurting eyes or
windpipe when skiing in really cold weather So-called "cold-asthma"
(direct-translation from Swedish) is common among skiers who have
damaged their windpipes by inhaling lots of cold air when training in
really cold weather and I've learnt that ice formation in the eyes can
be really dangerous for the eyes. I suppose that exact temperature
limits are individual, but I use ski googles to protect my eyes when it
is colder than -15 degrees C or when it is snowing and at -15 degrees C
or colder I also use a heat exchanger to protect my windpipes (I have
tried two versions, disliked one and really loved this one:
http://www.lungplus.se/databl_e.html ).

Also try to dress warm but not too warm when it is really cold, because
the more you are sweating and the colder it is, the bigger is the risk
for ice formation on the outside of the clothes. (Hence for a first
try of new clothes or equipment in really cold weather I would make
sure to keep a reasonable distance to the nearest warm shelter or
possibility to change to warmer or colder clothing) I really do prefer
skiing in 0 to -10 degrees C, but have found that with the right
clothes and equipment, I can ski down to -25 degrees (the limit is
probaby very individual and much depending on clothes and equipment
though) and the biggest problems I have got was caused by too warm
gloves a day when I started in -25 degrees and it decreased to -28
while I was skiing. After a short stop for peeing after about 28-29 km
my gloves suddenly felt ice cold and when I looked at them. a layer of
ice had formed from my sweat and both fingers and thumbs went from warm
to alarmingly ice cold in a few minutes. Luckily, there was ony 5-10
minutes to the warm shelter where I could put my hands under warm water
and then change to dry warm clothes. =)



/ Niklas