Fleece recommendations

[Alanna01]

I'm going to be taking a cruise to Antartica mid-December, and I need to buy a good fleece to go under my waterproof layer... but I don't want to go OTT (I keep reminding myself that I'm not climbing Everest!).

 

AFAIK the warmth ratings for fleece go 100, 200, 300, but my local outdoor store only stock ladies' fleece in 100. As such, I'm going to order online, but need to make sure that whichever one I choose will be warm enough.

 

Could anyone recommend a decent ladies fleece? (I'm in the UK, so suppliers in Europe would be good.)

 

Many thanks!

[minke]

In my humble opinion you would be better off with layers than with a fleece. They can be quite large & bulky, weather conditions in december vary quite a bit from +10c to -20c with windchill in a blizzard. I used in december, thermal tee shirt, warmish over shirt, thin long sleeve sweater & a thick long sleeve sweater on top all under the w/p jacket (hope you have ordered a large enough one). Many times I did not need all that but I was glad I had it when I did need it. You also need a hat with fold down ear flaps & I used ski type gloves. The outers have an anchor strap to go round your wrist & thin thermal inners that are very usefull when you want to take photographs as you cannot operate the camera with the outers on. Hope you enjoy the trip as much as I did.

[Alanna01]

Thx Czar. I'm certainly planning to layer, but I don't think I'll feel secure enough to fly out there without a nice warm outerlayer...

 

And you've reminded me that I need to try on my waterproof - it's a few years old, so I'll bundle up in a couple of jumpers and see if it fits!

[parischris]

I'm going to be taking a cruise to Antartica mid-December, and I need to buy a good fleece to go under my waterproof layer... but I don't want to go OTT (I keep reminding myself that I'm not climbing Everest!).

 

AFAIK the warmth ratings for fleece go 100, 200, 300, but my local outdoor store only stock ladies' fleece in 100. As such, I'm going to order online, but need to make sure that whichever one I choose will be warm enough.

 

Could anyone recommend a decent ladies fleece? (I'm in the UK, so suppliers in Europe would be good.)

 

Many thanks!

 

I've elected not to take fleece for this trip (high altitude Chile & Argentina & Antarctica - I'm writing this from San Pedro de Atacama). Having been to all three places previously with fleece, I found it was too heavy and took up too much room. This time I'vé brought along two down jackets that pack down into their own pockets. These will fit under a windproof layer and/or a waterproof layer. A thermal layer, down jacket and wind/water proof layer should do the trick. Can also wear a hiking shirt over the thermals when necessary.

 

Cheers

[tupper10]

I have a great jacket that the fleece zips into and out of -the jacket is a shell and the fleece goes in it. I ordered it on line from North Face. I always carry another fleece as well since I am cold plus I would take long underwear as well and hat and gloves. The trick is to layer and also wear things that dry quickly. I also have fleece pants that pull over my hiking pants so again if they get wet everything dries in about 5 minutes or less. I also take a hat and gloves and don't forget sunscreen you really need it.