I was iced in this past week ~or used that as an excuse to stay home~ so what to do? Head into the backyard for an overnighter-luckily my backyard is several hundred thousand acres of Nat. For.
Or was this an excuse to play with new kit? The Jacks don't need me to rave on their gear but for years I've carried a camp coat-usually a Western Mountaineering Flash or a Montbell Alpine Light depending on expected temps...why was I so long in discovering the Snivelers! OK so I was wearing a Smartwool zip-T long sleeve AND an Ibex hoodie AND the Stealth No Sniveler but at 22F when I took the Sniveler off I felt the cold bight me.
When you throw in the hood and the sleeves you have a weight penalty compared to a WM Flash BUT BUT BUT the Stealth No Sniveler alone defeats much more cold than the Flash and has multiple uses. In the vid you'll see it rigged as a UQ.
Other gear toyed with-the North Face Slot Winter Boots. Gotta rave on these too. I've used Sorel Pac's for years, and when its in the -10F range I use a pair of Rocky Mountain winter boots-both of these are big/clumsey and the North Face Slot (I was wrong in the vid, the NF has 400g Primaloft per boot) is just as warm AND nimble---over the last week I've got between 8 and 9 miles in them. The toe box is big, big enough for some WoolPower 800 gram/meter Arctic socks.



p.s. For the intro music I hit the voice memo button on the droid and picked up a stand of pipes and did a sore attempt at High Road to Gairloch HA!
p.s.s. Note Paul's Burrito Oven in snowtarp mode....in those temps most everything slid right off-not that I'd leave the tarp at home but it really wasn't need-probably because the Arrowhead BBO fits so tightly on the WB BB a tarp was negated.