Dressing for high-intensity activities in weather that might be hot at some points is often harder than trying to figure out how to address the cold.
- Base Layer — Perhaps counterintuitively, wool or merino wool t-shirt or long-sleeve base-layer are among the best clothing choices—even when it's hot. That’s because wool warms when it’s cold and cools when it’s hot, whether in dry or wet conditions; it’s also naturally self-cleaning and keeps the smell of sweat down. This means you can alternate between two t-shirts during a long or multi-day hike; dry/air the sweaty t-shirt on your backpack as you walk — especially if you’ve had the opportunity to rinse it out.
- Pants — When it comes to hiking, we recommend saving space and weight by using a pair of pants with removable legs; you can wear them long in the chilly morning, as shorts during the heat of the day, and then long again in the evening when it cools off or you need a little extra protection from insects.
- Outerwear — Here we recommend a lightweight softshell jacket or one made of GORE-TEX® Paclite. Softshell materials are durable and hold up well in forest where, for example, you might come into contact with branches and other objects. In addition, softshells are typically windproof in the front but not in the back — an advantage if you’re a person who heats up easily and often gets sweaty under a backpack. A key consideration is that softshells weigh a little more and have a slightly larger packing volume. Jackets made of GORE-TEX® Paclite, however, while not as wear-resistant, are extremely light with a very low packing volume. They’re also completely waterproof and windproof — perfect for hiking open landscapes and ridges where rapid weather changes are common.