Patagonia Clothing System - Northeast Couloir of Les Drus
Frost lines the water bottles, nose hairs freeze like popsicles, and the sun barely crests the horizon before dipping again: the magic of winter in the Alps. Bulletproof ice makes you work hard. Winter climbers know the simultaneous need for breathability combined with protection and warmth, but if you’re bulked up like Ralphie’s little brother in A Christmas Story, it interferes with technical climbing.
The baselayers still serve their usual purpose: moisture management. But in these frigid temps, you go a little heavier for added warmth. Our Merino 2 Crew has an incredibly soft feel and creates a comfortable microclimate next to the skin, making it warm for its weight. Capilene® baselayers wick slightly faster, so some prefer the Capilene® 3 Bottoms as a baselayer on the higher-output muscles of the legs.
The rest of the system must handle cold, snow, ice and more cold, all while enabling full mobility. Our stretchy Speed Ascent Jacket and Pants combine two things that the dedicated winter climber always uses: technical fleece insulation and a shell. Streamlining them into one garment reduces weight, eliminates gaps and redundant midlayer-and-shell pocketing, and enhances freedom of movement. The partially hung liner – welded-in along all peripheral seams and at other strategic spots – traps air and works like a mechanical pump as you move, improving breathability and forcing moisture outward. The stretchy shell fabric easily sheds spindrift and dripping ice; the insulation retains your warmth through the hard mixed pitches; and it all breathes freely while kicking up the big ice couloir mid-route. Finally, the alpine overlayer: As always on cold climbs, when you stop moving the DAS Parka helps stoke that masochistic mid-winter fire.
