I agree with a fast drying base combined with a very breathable mid layer. I love love love the active layer stuff. I love Polartec Alpha DirectI thought I would revisit this thread as I had the unfortunate experience of getting dunked up to my neck on a recent snowshoe trip in the Bob Marshall ( https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/one-tough-trip-snowshoeing-across-the-bob-marshall.259138/ )
It's a spooky feeling getting dunked in cold weather when your no less than two days getting out.
I was in my base layer top, now soaked. I pulled out my mid-layer and put it on over my wet base layer top (my pants and boxers were fully soaked too). My buddy was ahead of me and I started hiking (fast) after him. I caught up to him in about 15 minutes and told him what happened. I said I wanted to keep hiking and try to dry my layers out. About an hour later I could tell I was definitely drying out pretty good up top, less so on my bottom layers. It was getting close to supper time and thought a fire and a hot meal would help. It did . We found a rare dry spot and built a small fire right next to the trail. At this point my upper layers were fully dry and my bottoms probably about half dry. The fire finished drying the bottoms. Part of the reason my bottoms were taking longer as I had my gloves and fleece beanie in the cargo pockets and they were wet too.
Couple of takeaways- a thin synthetic base layer dries pretty quickly. You want a mid-layer that is decently warm, but also breathes well to move that moisture out. With the right layers, moving (your body heat) will dry out wet clothing.
In hindsight, I probably should have wringed out my top and bottoms before moving. Adrenaline was kicking in pretty good though, so not sure if I'd remember that.
Anyways, take a couple of minutes and watch the video
I agree with a fast drying base combined with a very breathable mid layer. I love love love the active layer stuff. I love Polartec Alpha Direct
^ I've got two- one is the Sitka Arrowhead MDWi, the other is the Sitka Active Hoody; actually I have three now- the Rab Alpha Flash- haven't used it yet. The other two are very good pieces
Sitka Kelvin Active and Rab .. I used the Sitka for a few years, up until late season .. really a base layer, that, and puffy vest, and wind / water layer was my layering system for temps from about 20 -60 .. Just got the Rab a bit ago , haven't used it on long term trips , done a couple hikes. Wearing it a lot , see if it gets stinky on me (my wife hates when I wear a shirt for a week or pants .. to see if it gets sticky or stretches too much ). I also bought a little of the fabric for some experimentationWhat are your favorite Polartec Alpha Direct pieces? I don't have any (yet) and love buying new gear
Where are you hunting in -60°?Sitka Kelvin Active and Rab .. I used the Sitka for a few years, up until late season .. really a base layer, that, and puffy vest, and wind / water layer was my layering system for temps from about 20 -60 .. Just got the Rab a bit ago , haven't used it on long term trips , done a couple hikes. Wearing it a lot , see if it gets stinky on me (my wife hates when I wear a shirt for a week or pants .. to see if it gets sticky or stretches too much ). I also bought a little of the fabric for some experimentation