Base Layers

bandit wrote:I mostly use HH stuff, if it's really cold I have some of their Pro-wool zip neck tops. Keep me nice and toasty :D
I don't like the soggy patches that cotton T-shirts and jumpers get. I think it's preferable to have a material that wicks perspiration away from the skin.
Not that I perspire, I glow, of course )

I've noticed you glower a lot. :wink:

I forgot to say that a good rule of thumb is how much clothing weighs comming out of the washing machine. Good thermals will have shed nearly all the water on the spin cycle. The exceptions to this are wool, and silk.

Dave is a living example, that people were surviving in the mountains in cotton and wool for centuries :lol:

Trencher

What do you need that gear for , have you not heard of global warming :lol:

Trencher wrote:I forgot to say that a good rule of thumb is how much clothing weighs comming out of the washing machine. Good thermals will have shed nearly all the water on the spin cycle. The exceptions to this are wool, and silk.

Dave is a living example, that people were surviving in the mountains in cotton and wool for centuries :lol:
Trencher

Just the one century Trencher, if you don't mind!

Errm, what's a washing machine?

Dave Mac wrote:

Trencher wrote:I forgot to say that a good rule of thumb is how much clothing weighs comming out of the washing machine. Good thermals will have shed nearly all the water on the spin cycle. The exceptions to this are wool, and silk.

Dave is a living example, that people were surviving in the mountains in cotton and wool for centuries :lol:
Trencher

Just the one century Trencher, if you don't mind!

Errm, what's a washing machine?

New fangled stuff, requires electrickery :D

I thought you scrubbed your clothes in a stream or summat )

Huwcyn wrote:

What material should I be looking for then? I have some 'thermal underwear' from M & S already, and if I can see myself OK with some more of those, then I would get away with it far cheaper than having to buy some of the 'base layers' marketed by some of the 'outdoor' people. Some of them seem to be at a loss to know how high to take the price, for something that nobody except myself (and my good lady) will see.

I had my first ski trip 3 years ago (at your age) and kitted up with cotton thermals - I hadn't found this site to know that alternative material 'base layers' existed.

In four trips I have only worn leggings twice (reported wind chill -25C), and have never found cotton T-shirt/thermals under a thin fleece uncomfortably sweaty.

The reason that wicking thermals were developed, was to transport moisture away from the skin, and out through the breathable layers of outer garments. If you get hot skiing and perspire in cotton thermals, then the weather changes to become cold, the moisture is trapped in the fibres and undergarments can feel chill.
It's not necessary to pay a fortune to get a reasonable level of technical performance from thermal underwear. The HH stuff I use, washes out and drip dries overnight, probably harder to achieve with cotton gear.

I think you just need to wash the garment armpits, Bandit. Errm, well not, you, as such, more one needs to...., Oh damn, maybe its just me that needs to.

As you were. :wink:
Whoops, there was a smilie available, progress.