6 types of snow prep gear: #3.0: Clothes

Today, I left the house with a sweater and a jacket on and wing tips on my feet. That will keep me warm from the car to the office, but if I had to walk home in a snowpocalypse, I'd fall down so many times I'd become the subject of a viral YouTube video.

So to avoid becoming the next slapstick YouTube sensation, or much worse, you will want to have a more suitable outfit waiting for you in the car. 

Clothing acts as a first (or last) defense as a sort of shelter. It really blew my mind when I read this in Cody Lundin's book "When all Hell Brakes Loose." Lundin was one half of the show Discovery show Dual Survival and in his previous book, "98.6 Degrees," explored how to keep your body's temperature in a range to keep you alive. Lundin explains in "All Hell" that shelter, whether its a shack or a mansion, functions as an extension of clothing to keep you body temperature within a survivable range. 

So essentially, clothing is the last line of shelter, especially in a winter weather situation, which will keep your body from entering hypothermia. The key things winter-appropriate clothing has to accomplish are:

Protect from wind

Windchill can rob your body of precious heat through convection. Keep the wind from getting to your body. 

Keep you dry

Spicy food is so popular in hot climates because it makes you sweat and cools you down. If sweat, water, or other liquid is on your body, it will steal more precious heat. 

Keep your feet and body warm from ground

Icy and snowy ground can draw heat out of your feet faster than you'd think--especially for southerners that don't get a lot of walks on the ice. 

Cody Lundin recommends using the acronym COLD for a winter clothing checklist:

• CLEAN - keep clothes and your body clean
• OVERHEATING - avoid overheating. sweat will cool you down and rob your body of heat
• LOOSE and LAYERS - loose layers will help you increase dead air and conserve body heat
• DRY - always keep yourself and your clothes dry - moisture transfers heat away from your body very quickly

SO - what's the bottom line? 

Your body begins to enter hypothermia at 96 degrees. That's only 2.8 degrees below normal. So keeping your body warm is of the utmost importance. This is true head to toe.

Find, or invest in clothing that can keep you warm, dry, clean and safe, and make sure you're considering base, insulation and environmental layers. 

We'll explore layers and materials next. 

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