Staying Warm and Dry in Chilly Weather

Patag­o­nia Nano-Air jacket for women

If you read this blog, you know I often post about top­ics that inter­est yoga prac­ti­tion­ers. But not always.

Staying Dry Off the Mat

Yoga is not some­thing I share with my hus­band or friends. Instead we bike or go for long walks.

These are activ­i­ties well suited to the cool, damp fall and win­ter cli­mate here in the Pacific North­west.

They also encour­age social­iz­ing while exer­cis­ing — good for nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ships and well-being on mul­ti­ple lev­els.

Over the years we’ve got­ten pretty par­tic­u­lar about what we wear for long walks or hikes.

Before ven­tur­ing out­doors, we check the weather fore­cast. We pay close atten­tion to the impact a few degrees dif­fer­ence in tem­per­a­ture or humid­ity might make on our com­fort or endurance. We’ve learned to avoid dis­com­fort by ditch­ing out­er­wear that’s not appro­pri­ate for the day’s weather fore­cast or pre­cip­i­ta­tion.

When it comes to out­er­wear, we all pur­sue dif­fer­ent strate­gies.

One friend, who has hiked daily for the past fif­teen years, has invested in an assort­ment of jack­ets, vests, scarves and base lay­ers. She chooses dif­fer­ent sets for each step change in the weather. She has a highly skilled nose for the weather, so she usu­ally picks just the right gear from her large assort­ment. (She also car­ries a small day­pack with backup gear, in case the weather changes dur­ing her two-hour hikes.)

Down Is Not Always the Best Choice

Some of us look for the per­fect com­pro­mise gar­ment — some­thing that spans a wide range of tem­per­a­ture con­di­tions and humid­ity.

Despite the pop­u­lar­ity of down sweaters and jack­ets, I’ve learned to avoid wear­ing them in weather that’s going to by chilly and damp — at least not when engag­ing in aer­o­bic activ­i­ties.

They’re a has­sle to clean so I don’t like get­ting sweaty in my down jack­ets. For me down works best when I have to stand around in the cold weather, or run errands. (You can see why “soc­cer moms” love it so much!)

A New Love

Like my sis­ters and broth­ers I’m cursed with per­spi­ra­tion on long walks. Find­ing out­er­wear that keeps me warm and dry has always been a chal­lenge. Over the years I’ve tried a bunch of high-tech per­for­mance fab­rics, but none have suc­ceeded in keep­ing me warm and dry while aer­o­bic in chilly weather.

This year I’ve found a new love, at long last — the per­fect jacket for aer­o­bic walks on chilly days: Patagonia’s Nano-Air jacket.

Although designed for alpine climbers, this jacket per­forms excep­tion­ally well dur­ing 3–5 mile walks up and down the hills that sur­round Seat­tle. It’s amaz­ingly com­fort­able to wear, like a much-loved hoody, except lighter and much more breath­able.

I’m delighted that I stum­bled upon Patagonia’s Nano-Air jacket two months ago. It’s made a big dif­fer­ence this win­ter. This plus my Fit­Bit help get my butt out of my office, out walk­ing on many a chilly after­noon. (I’m drag­ging my hus­band along too, so it’s good for both of us!)

My Take

Nano-Air is amaz­ingly breath­able, so I’m less likely to get sweaty on active walks or hill climbs. And even when my arms or trunk do get wet, Nano-Air’s pro­pri­etary insu­la­tion is highly effec­tive at wick­ing away the mois­ture. Such a new expe­ri­ence for me!

Review­ers have com­mented that the wind blows right through it, explain­ing that this is the down­side to its extreme breatha­bil­ity. This is not a big issue for me.

I’ve worn it as is on mul­ti­ple breezy days, but add a light­weight wind­break for windy con­di­tions. Com­pared to most fleece jack­ets, I haven’t wor­ried too much about wind stop­ping. The other day my hus­band put a wind­break over his fleece, and I was happy as could be in the Nano-Air.

The fab­ric is won­der­ful — light as air, stretchy, and soft to the touch. It reminds me of a light­weight silk com­forter, despite being 100% syn­thetic. It’s slim, form­fit­ting, and avoids the puffy look of so many down jack­ets.

Best of all, it’s easy and safe to clean in my washer. I’ve already washed it half a dozen times.

For me, it’s proven to be the per­fect jacket for Pacific North­west walks and hill climbs.

And yes, it’s expen­sive — but you can find it on sale right now, if you look care­fully.