Blatant Commercial Plug

Last month's trip to Iceland cost me almost as much in winter gear as it did in hotels, airfare and guided tours combined. That fact still astonishes me. I'm amazed that I convinced myself that I needed special winter gear for a place barely colder than my home of Arlington, Virginia just because the country I was headed to had "Ice" in its name. After all, I spent almost 10 years in Syracuse and Cooperstown in upstate New York where it snowed almost daily and where the temperature sometimes would not exceed freezing for a month or more at a time. Heck, I used to walk between the two houses that served as the office where I worked in temperatures way below freezing without a jacket several times a day.

Who knows, maybe I'm getting soft in my middle (hopefully) age here and just have a need to stay warm all the time. Or maybe I was just skeptical that the insulating layer of blubber I've been working on for the last few years wouldn't stand up to a few hours outdoors walking on a glacier or something like that. Regardless of the reason, I decided caution was the better part of valor and shopped and shopped and shopped for some winter gear before heading north on December 10 of last year. I thought that my story here might be worth telling. I'll be very brief, I promise.

First let me say this stuff is difficult to shop for. All the people that work at the stores we went to are way into hiking or mountain biking or skiing or trekking or whatever (which automatically intimidates me because they are probably way fitter and more environmentally responsible than me) and there are so many shirt, jacket and bottom wear possibilities that I just didn't know where to start asking questions. The whole keeping warm outdoors concept seems to be one of layering but without context of past outdooring experiences (and let's face it, it's me we are talking about here) it's next to impossible to ask for help without any sort of prior experience. I just wanted someone to tell me what would keep a 205 pound, 45 year old man who generally runs hot what would keep him warm for a few hours outside at about 64 degrees latitude. Is that so much to ask? Apparently so.

REI. Patagonia. Eddie Bauer. Hudson Trail Outfitters. L. L. Bean. Arcteryx. Mammut. I checked out all these brands or places in an effort to find what I thought I probably didn't need anyway. All I needed was a few hours warmth out of my clothing. How difficult would that be? After probably altogether too much looking, I settled on a variety of brands (including a Washington Wizards knit hat purchased at the NBA store on line) for my trip. But I felt most comfortable going with Patagonia for my outer layers, which featured a Super Cell Waterproof Jacket over a Nano Puff Hoody up top and some Torrentshell Stretch Pants to protect whatever kind of jeans or underlayers I decided to wear. They were a bit more expensive but it seemed based on talking to about everyone in outdoor wear in northern Virginia that you got what you paid for. I felt this stuff would keep me dry and protected from the wind and would provide lightweight upper body protection against the cold. That was the theory at least.

Our first day in Iceland featured a three hour whale watching tour on the northern Atlantic Ocean. Of course, I came equipped in all my new gear which I was convinced would keep me cozy against whatever the icy sea had to offer. I was wrong. It was so freaking cold that I had to pack into a full body boat suit (for lack of a better term) provided by the boat which was pretty much like wearing three or four sleeping bags. I've never been warmer in my life, even if I did feel like I was ready for a cameo on The Deadliest Catch and there was some strange smell in there that I tried to ignore. I was finally convinced I needed some warm weather gear for this trip. I just wasn't sure it was what I bought. I was freezing in my new stuff.

But the next day we took a trip to Gullfoss (which translates to Gold Falls), a waterfall about an hour and a half northeast of Reykjavik. Considering our trip that day included four outdoor stops to commune with nature, including the falls, I of course wore all my new Patagonia stuff. I spent enough on it after all. When we got to the falls, it was just after noon, or about an hour after sunrise, and it was cold and the wind was howling. I mean really blowing hard, like you had to lean into it to walk straight and clomping down the wood staircase one step at a time was difficult because the wind threatened to take you, your companion or an article of clothing away in a particularly vicious gust now and then. 

As we approached the falls, which features two drops totalling just over 100 feet in height and which are spectacularly beautiful, it got so cold and windy that the spray from the falls froze in the air and the wind blew it right at you as if in an attempt to get you away and back to our nice warm tour bus. But amazingly I didn't feel any of that in my Patagonia gear. I mean I felt the pressure from the wind and I heard the ice mist hitting my jacket and pants but no wind got through those clothes I was wearing and I couldn't feel any wetness from the spray on my body. It was that moment that I thought I had made a good choice in shopping before this trip and that I really did need to do it.

I am sure most of the other brands would have kept me as dry and warm as Patagonia but I know for sure I'm sold on this brand. It's been pretty darned cold here the last week or so in the D.C. area and I can tell you I love my Patagonia stuff as much here as I did in Iceland. But I'll never forget that experience at Gullfoss. I'm glad I was well equipped. So thank you, Patagonia. Here ends my shameless blatant commercial plug. I feel it's deserved.

Gullfoss without me in the way. So much more beautiful.