Patagonia & Smartwool Base Layers – Teton Tested

I’ve spent about a full season in what Patagonia considers
their most versatile baselayer, the 
Capilene 2 Crew Top, and despite being a
general skeptic, it’s slowly migrated its way into a short stack of my favorite
long-sleeve shirts–whether it’s for skiing or multi-purpose lounging–thanks to
its near-cotton softness and feel and the simultaneous ability of the Polartec
polyester blend to keep me dry despite my general tendency to bleed sweats from
all my pours as soon as athletic activity enters the equation. Svelt wrist
gaiters are great on deep days for keeping gloved wrists snow-free even if your
tendency is to cross your tips and torpedo into the deep, as is mine.

What is remiss in modern ski and snowboard apparel and
outerwear is that connection to a time when tight denim pants and heavy
sweaters qualified as technical outerwear, and guys like Anselm Baud were
pioneering first descents around Chamonix in cotton, and likely with a leather
wine skin hanging out back for good measure. In our pursuit to wrap ourselves
in the finest technology of the era, we often end up in what look like
overengineered, colorful trash bags.

Check out all of evo's men's base layers here.

Patagonia, naturally, is a company that loves both its own
heritage and that of the sports it supplies, so it comes as less of a surprise
that the Capilene crew top maintains a tighter bridge between the practicality
of 21
^st-century functional fabrics and the timeless, everyday appeal
of designs like the crew cut and soft fabrics that feel like a well-worn
sweater. A knit exterior and crew-cut style ribbing gives the shirt a classic
appeal that stands as a shirt you can wear any other day off the hill, while
the soft brushed interior is simply stupid comfortable. The Polartec Powder Dry
polyester, roughly half of which is made up of recycled content, wicks sweat
away while drying fast enough to rarely ever annoy you with that damp feeling
that can be the buzzkill of so many post-hike/skin turnarounds.

My chronically clogged nasal passages didn’t let me get a
sense of whether the professed Polygiene odor control treatment was making a
dent on my B.O., but I did find that the shoved-in-face smell test after
grabbing the shirt off the floor for the second, third, or fourth time to go
skiing revealed a more dampened odorous assault than I might otherwise expect.

There’s been two base layers that I’ve been really taken
with over the past ten years or so, and reach for whenever possible for ski,
bike, and hike missions. The first was a light North Face layer from several
years ago that, besides the ironed-out logo, has yet to show any signs of wear
and tear, and combines just the right ratio of warmth and sweat-wicking
dryness. The second, as of last season, has been the Patagonia Capilene 2. For
a
fifty
buck investment
, you’re going to have this thing around for a long time,
and wear the shit out of it in the process. -Ryan Dunfee

Check out the Patagonia Capilene 2 Crew Top at evo here.

At 5 foot 10 inches, finding base layers that provide both a close fit and enough coverage to accommodate my lengthy limbs can be a challenge—one that often drives me to buy men's performance gear (in slim-fit, if that's ever an option). While I've often relied on mid-layers and oversized tech flannels to keep my wrists and my lower back shielded from the cold when I reach down to strap in, my NTS full-zip hoodie is long enough to stay tucked in and overlap my glove-liners. Huzzah! Finally, a base layer for us tall girls!

I've worn the NTS hoodie for two split tours and a day sledding on the pass this week. The Merino wool, coupled with the tailored, seamless shoulder design, has made it my go-to. It doesn't bunch, itch or chafe, and it has stayed dry even after the most vigorous hill climbs and hours spent digging my sled out. The fact that I still feel comfortable wearing it in the office all day after a split tour is a testament to its high rankings in the smell test. 

As a side note, when I bought my NTS top and bottoms, I impulse purchased a pair of Smartwools Merino wool underwear. I'm talking bonafide cheek-peeking 96% wool undies. Ladies, if you've never tried them, you haven't lived yet. -Tana Hoffman

Check out Smartwool's full line of base layers at evo here.