Clothing for Snow Caves

• Stay as dry as you can
  
  
• Now, that's a loose term since you'll be laying down in the cave digging.  Plan on wearing waterproof pants and coat, and still getting wet through that.  But try to cut down on your sweating which gets you wet from the inside.  Take off layers if you’re going inside the cave to dig.  You’ll get hot and sweaty.  I know some people dig in the cave with waterproof pants and nothing else on underneath and just a windbreaker on top, but that all depends on the temperatures outside, and how well your exercise warms you up.
• Layers

o    Dress in layers whenever possible.  Don't go out and buy that huge Down coat that's rated to -40F.  You'll sweat the whole time you're wearing it unless you're just sitting in the snow doing nothing.  I typically wear basically a lined windbreaker for my outer layer, with a couple of layers beneath.  I get my warmth from the layers beneath (typically a hooded sweatshirt or fleece sweatshirt, and a T-Shirt and Long Sleeved Shirt - all preferably not cotton), and then I can take off layers underneath if my activity level is making me sweat.Stay away from Cotton

o    Whenever possible, stay away from cotton, use other fabrics like polyester, or fleece.  Cotton gets wet and then loses it’s ability to keep you warm.  Fleece will still keep you warm when wet, and polyester against your skin will wick the moisture off your body and away from it.

• Waterproof clothing melts

o    Almost every trip we go on somebody gets too close to the fire while trying to dry their clothing.  We’ve had melted gloves, melted snow pants, melted jackets, and melted boots.  They don’t keep you warm anymore when they’re melted so be careful.

• Keep track of your gloves

o    You can tell the less experienced boys apart from the more experienced ones by what they do with their gloves when they take them off.  They’ll take them off to start a fire, or eat a meal, or whatever and some boys will stuff them in a pocket to keep them from freezing or getting full of snow, while other boys set them on the ground.  Then they walk on the gloves and pretty soon they’re not willing to put the snow filled gloves back on.  If you keep your gloves in a pocket when you’re not using them, they won’t freeze and you’ll be able to use them again.

•  Hooded Sweatshirt

o    A hat of some type is necessary to keep your head warm, but if you have a hooded sweatshirt, you can share your body heat with your head and keep your neck warm at the same time.  I love my hooded sweatshirt, and even though it’s cotton, I use it when it gets real cold.

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