Patagonia recently changed it's nomenclature. It used to be Capilene 1, 2, 3 with lightest weight with the lowest number. Now they go by Daily, Lightweight, Midweight, Thermal weight. Those correspond to Capilene 1, 2, 3, 4. I have the Cap 1 and 2 I wear hiking. Gonna evaluate using them.for hunting purposes.
I'm no expert on all this - others are likely reading this going "duh", but I've never been accused of being the brightest bulb - just passing on what I'm finding. I also really like the contributions others have made. 12 pages and no pissing matches or name calling yet!
I am curious what others experience with base layers in mountain hunting scenarios. Please post!
As far as base layers, I stay away from anything more than "lightweight" for hunting in the mountains. And it's not just the "weight" but also the weave of the fabric and how open it is. Heavier fabric and/or tighter weaves don't move sweat as well and some of the stuff I've worn is just too warm for climbing. You can always put another layer on but you can't do anything about a base layer that's too warm. I prefer the zip necks over crew necks because they're a little more versatile and warmer when you zip them up.
We go over this stuff in our hunter ed. classes and bring in different layers for the students to see. For base layers to be used for hunting in the mountains we tell them to hold up the fabric to the light and if you can't see through the weave it's going to be too heavy for anything other than being stationary.
