It’s day 13 of my challenge not to do laundry in washing machines and dryers and just hand wash for a month. So far it’s going great. $20 saved which I’ll use for tacos once I finish this post.
Let’s talk winter gear.
What’s the least you can wear and still stay comfortably warm? I recently went to Tahoe for work, and had this chart to work off of. The idea behind Clo values is that a Clo value of 1 will keep you comfortable at 70 degrees Fahrenheit without having to move. The colder it gets, the higher the clo value.
The chart below is the recommended clo values for keeping warm and comfy while not moving.
clo degrees F degrees C 1 70 21 1.3 66 19 1.6 62 17 2 59 15 2.3 55 13 2.6 52 11 3.2 45 7 3.8 27 -3
I was on the slopes and perfectly comfortable thanks mostly to the North Face Thermoball Full Zip Jacket which has a clo rating of 2.08. This jacket packs down to a small 7″ x 4″ rectangle that you can attach to a carabiner on your backpack.
Also of note is the ExOfficio Trail Crest Flannel that has hollow threads for a high warmth to material ratio, and the ExOfficio Kahve Hoody. Both dry over night in 8 hours after washing and both are warm enough to be the only layers you’d need while walking around when it’s around 40 degrees.
If you look at the chart below, you’ll see that what’s minimalist is skipping ski pants in favor of a lighter rain pant, and skipping the outer shell. Instead of looking like a stay puff marsh mellow on the slopes, you look lean and mean.
I was very warm in below freezing weather thanks to the gear below.
Item Clo Value patagonia long johns 0.35 exofficio nomad pants 0.2 LL Bean rain pants 0.28 briefs 0.04 exofficio flannel 0.3 exofficio kahve hoody 0.37 thermoball inner jacket 2.08 outershell boots 0.05 socks 0.1 gloves 0.1 scarf 0.1 hat 0.1 TOTAL CLO 4.07