Fall is a sneaky little season that I consider an untamed beast. It’s hard to pack and predict the weather. Think about it. Winter is just plain cold. In spring the temperatures are cool. During summer you always know it’s going to be hot. But with Fall, you just don’t know.
This past weekend my good friend Michael and I went to the Fall Gathering at Quartz Mountain, a biannual gathering of Oklahoma rock climbers. This was a weekend for rock climbing and I thought I packed like a pro.
In just a day, I roasted and was desperate for just one more layer to keep from having chattering teeth. From sun-up to sun-down I felt like a lizard basking in the sun, or better yet one of the many rattlesnakes that call Quartz Mountain home. As soon as night fell I was singing a different tune.
I have been hitting the trail for quite sometime now and I was certain I packed the right gear.
After this past weekend I decided it was time to go straight to an expert for some solid outdoors advice. I headed to downtown Edmond’s newest outdoor retailer, Summit Company, and talked serious shop with owner John James, asking where did I go wrong?
James shared some expert advice: “The number one goal in most outdoor activities with regard to clothing is moisture management. Many people may not realize that their bodies are constantly releasing moisture and how you manage that moisture is vital to being comfortable on the short term and safe in the long term. At the core, that represents wearing a very good base layer and usually having a fresh base layer to change into before crawling into your bag.”
I was right in packing the layers I did, but I was wrong in how I used them. I had failed in drying out before I buried into my sleeping bag and therefore created a moisture-ridden bag. With my haste to be warm, I had set myself up to freeze.
