Dressing for Cold

When people say they would like to visit Fairbanks, I often recommend March. Summer in Alaska is peak tourist season for summer stuff, but March is the time for skiing, dog mushing, and aurora viewing. It's really like two different places! In March, it doesn't get that cold, but it can still drop to 0F/-18C, which is colder than many people are accustomed to. Below that, we are getting into real danger of actual bodily damage. I have been writing cold weather tips notes to different folks over the years, so I've decided to paste them all together and post them here for permanent (and editable) reference. Please note that these are Fairbanks notes. It's cold and dry here. Winter in other places is different (most notably with respect to moisture management).

For me it is far more important to cover all exposed skin than to put on a ton of heavy clothes. So hat, scarf or neck gaiter, and mittens are essential. The layers against your skin should be silk, synthetic, or wool, not cotton. Long underwear will likely be needed (these come in different weights). OK from toe to head, here we go:

Feet
Wool-based socks are a must. If you wear cotton socks, you ask to lose toes. :) I like Smartwool midweight hiking socks and wear them every day. Other good brands are Darn Tough, and Bridgedale. The shoes themselves are less important to me than the socks. I often wear sneakers with good socks, but the reverse (crappy socks with good boots, no matter how good!) just does not work. That being said, if you want to spring for good boots, here are my recommendations.

At these temperatures, a lot of shoe sole materials get hard and dangerously slippery, even so-called "winter boots" that are otherwise warm and well-made. I think they are intended for winters in places like New York or Toronto, where it's cold, but not deep cold. Natural rubber is best. Synthetic or leather soles are out of the question. Don't worry about water-proofing or wind-proofing as we don't really have either of those (our water is frozen). Over the years, I have purchased several brands of winter boots, and have concluded that the most reliably good are from LL Bean and Sorel. Bean boots are still made (and repairable!) at their factory in Maine, and have eminently wonderful natural rubber-based sole that I even wear on ice. Sorel is now Made in China, but their boots are still reliably warm and have excellent traction in deep cold (this last property is the most challenging to find). For dressier boots, I have had good luck with La Canadienne and Aquatalia. These are both more urban, fashionable brands, but they have excellent craftsmanship (being manufactured in Canada and Italy, respectively) and sensible designs (rubber soles, waterproof materials).

Body
I like ultrafine merino wool base layers for both top and bottom base layers. Icebreaker was an early pioneer in pushing these products to us, and they've sure succeeded with me! I wear one of their shirts as a base layer every day. Smartwool also makes these nowadays, and there are many other brands that are equally good. Other than that, I have no particular recommendations. Wool sweaters and down puffies make nice insulating layers for deep cold. I tend to wear Carhartt pants on weekdays and ski pants on weekends. As a woman, my butt and thighs tend to get colder than the rest of me, so I have a down skirt that I wear as an outer layer when it's colder than -20F/-30C. I have no particular coat recommendations. I tend to wear a midweight coat and cram more and more layers underneath as the weather gets colder. I am quite uncomfortable in my heaviest coats, so I only wear 'em as we approach -40. Here is a selfie in my heavy, insulated Carhartt coat. I believe it was -30 this morning. The coat is crunchy, and I'm not comfy:


Extremities
I have no particular recommendations for gloves/mittens, but for the coldest weather (-30 or below), light liners inside of heavy mittens are nice. They absorb sweat and also enable you to take off your mittens to, say, adjust your scarf or pee, without exposing your hands to supercold air. For really warm mittens, be prepared to spend on the order of $100 or more.

For scarves, I like the lightweight wool ones that I can wrap around my face and still breathe. You can often find these in hippie-dippie stores in big cities. If the store is dimly lit, smells like patchouli, somehow supports a free Tibet, and sells chunky silver jewelry that serves spiritual rather than decorative purposes, look for the rack of colorful scarves, and you'll find some really wonderful ones.

For neck gaiters, I like synthetic fleece. Turtle Fur has a proprietary fleece that is extra soft, but really any fleece will do fine. Our local Apocalypse Design makes a really wonderful polar fleece one, which I am wearing here, along with the aforementioned down skirt (this outfit is for a trail walk with the dogs; this sweater is alpaca; this coat is down; temperatures were about -30):


For hats, I like fleece-lined wool. The soft fleece against my forehead and ears, and the wool outside to block wind and some moisture. Turtle Fur makes a nice line, but so do many other companies. I have many hats. Many, many hats.

Oh, here is another clothing demo. I was just goofing around as DL was checking my camera settings. On the bottom is my merino wool long underwear. On the top, my inner layer is merino wool, and that sweater! That sweater is fleece-lined wool, which is my favorite combination for hats, so when I saw it, I had to try it for my body:


It's suuuuuper warm, from a company called Laundromat. It's easily the warmest sweater I own, and it's really wonderful! I can even wear it outside briefly at -40!

Here is what I wore to work today (-20F/-30C):

Smartwool socks, Sorel boots, silk long underwear, Carhartt pants, ultralight merino baselayer, wool sweater, down vest, midweight coat, wool scarf, fleece-lined wool hat.


OK I think that covers everything. (literally!) This is compiled from over a decade of emails to visitors!