Sub Zero Winter wear & gear

Don't be afraid to have multiple types of gloves. I always wore the Thermastat brand liners, but the outer layer could be any of 3 or 4 different gloves. Pvc gauntlets when it was sloppy, and various weight leather gloves for different temps, usually waterproof thinsulate style.

 

Warm clothes can be expensive but inexpensive (cheap) clothes don't keep you warm, no many how many layers you wear.

 

Muck boots so you can get to the lunch counter?

 

I'm sorry but I have to respectfully dispute this.

I've never had the money to buy the "good" and/or "Made for winter" clothing so I've always just gotten by with what I have. The 2 most expensive things that I wear in winter are my Carhartt style jacket (Actually a Schmidt $60 on sale at TSC) and my Overalls (Guide Series from Gander Mountain around $80-$100 but received as a Christmas gift).

Everything else that I listed above is $40 or less including the boots which were $20 on sale at the end of winter from Dick's. In fact with the exception of the hoodie and the Jeans ALL other items come in under $20. If you plan your layers well you can stay plenty warm with sub-par materials.

That being said would I take a stroll around the south pole wearing only the layers I had listed above? Of course not! 1. Because I'm not an idiot. and 2. Because you can only go so far in cheap materials. My listing works for ME down to around -20F. Any colder than that and I'll switch out the canvass jacket and wear the south pole jacket (Also a gift but I hardly ever wear it because it is too warm). I will also usually add a pair light and thin pajama pants over the long underwear before putting on my jeans.

 

No particular brand preference. Here's one I found with a quick search. Even a cheap $10 snow saw will cut through snow and ice pretty quick. Just cut blocks big enough for the snow shovel to lift them out.

http://www.backcountry.com/backcoun...omVL9lnJB8VeJMIFMijycaAjUB8P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

With a snow saw and a snow shovel I can build a decent igloo in about an hour with about 18" walls.

 

Problem comes in when you only have a couple of inches of ice. If the snow is deep enough to need one of those the truck don't move.

 

Yeah, this is for a prior post. The guy had a heck of a time getting out of his driveway with 18" of snow topped with ice.

 

There's a thing called "breakable crust" when you are traveling on snow in the backcountry. If you don't have skiis or snowshoes you try to gently walk on the icy surface so you don't break through and start "post holing". It's tiring.

I remember approaching a climb in the Cascades in March many years ago. About one inch of ice over bottomless powdery snow. If you broke through you were mid thigh and it was a struggle to get back on top. Finally we gave up on the idea of walking and decided to crawl the next mile or so to the base of the rock wall.

That's when I discovered the special joy of having my pack plunge my upper body and face down through the crust. Thought I might end up discovered sometime in late Spring, a couple of boots frozen in the air. My climbing partner came close to choking from laughing so hard. I wasn't as amused.