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Old 04-23-21, 02:21 PM
  #31  
djb
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really good advice from stae and andrew,
what I've found over the years from doing cross country skiing and bicycle commuting in all kinds of temperatures is that as stae said, you want to be comfortable and know how certain clothing pieces work from experience. I pretty much know that even if I am all damp, at least my base layers will keep me warm and will eventually dry out from my body heat.
I too have dried out some wool socks keeping them on my body inside my sleeping bag, better that than leaving them out in cold damp air outside or even in your tent.

basically gauvins, as you say, you are planning for the worst case scenario, which is good to at least be prepared for. I hope you dont have to set up in the rain after being in rain all day, but at least with some good base layers and fleece or wool, even when damp it will keep insulating you so you wont be too cold.
I have a pair of wool "knee warmers" , which go above my knee and down to above my ankles, and they work great for keeping my leg muscles warm in blah damp weather. They work a lot better than some of my polypro long underwear----but again, its best for you to figure out what work for you , for a given temperature, and what little things help you feel ok (like a toque or whatever)

I really do feel that my commuting really has taught me what clothes work for a given temp. and so its a lot easier for me to be sure of what will keep me in my comfort zone for diff temps. Kind of like what Stae said, I've got it down to a relatively small group of clothes and accessories like toques, neck fleece buff, etc that I know work in various combinations.

maybe because I'm an old skinny guy, but I also find that in cool, wet conditions, I need to eat more and having a dried soup packet or whatever feels really good if you've been damp for a long time, and our bodies burn more energy anyway in the cold (skiing always does this to me too).
So keep this in mind--have more than enough food, and figure out the little clothing details that keep you from feeling chilled.
and put more clothes on when you start to feel cold--listen to your body. As I've gotten older I'm a lot better (smarter?) listening to my body about stuff like that, eating, feeling cold etc.
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