Having trouble narrowing down my clothing, advice?

[not_possible]

Ok, so the earliest I'll be leaving Springer will be around April 6th...possibly as late as 1st week of May. I've got Polartec long underwear, both light weight and medium weight. I'm definately taking my polar weight hoodie, love that top. I don't have a rain jacket yet, but getting one. The part I haven't figured out is a jacket for extra insulation. I have a Mammut Rime synthetic jacket and a Polartec 300 fleece. I thought about just taking both and sending one home if I don't need it, figured I'd get some opinions.

[Alligator]

IMO you won't need the polartec 300 jacket at all. It will be bulky as well. You've got a hoodie to go under what looks like a fairly warm synthetic jacket.

Myself, I would have a set of thermals, a pair of what I call 100 wt tops and bottoms and a synthetic jacket for April 1. This would be warm with the thermals more like insurance. By May, I would not have the thermals and would have switched to synthetic vest.

Of course, hat and gloves I bring all year, varying the weight by season.

[Nutbrown]

So you're bringing 2 different weight long underwear or can't choose between the 2? If you are trying to choose, I'd take the mid weight. The light never seems to keep me very warm at night. You are leaving when it is fairly warm, so you prob won't be hiking in long underwear. Many here will tell you to forget the rain jacket. You need to spend big bucks to get one that actually keeps you dry. Those always seem to be more weight than I'm willing to carry.

[not_possible]

Yea, should have said that a little more clear. I was trying to decide between the light weight and medium weight for camp/sleep. I have a polar weight set too, but they are usually too warm to sleep in. The hoodie is my top to the polar weight set, I wear it alot on it's own so I'm taking it for a top on cool nights around camp. I was leaning towards the mid weights as well, but I may throw in a light weight top in case I need a long sleeve to hike in...probably a duofold in place of the polartec. I probably should just leave the polartec fleece at home and go with the Rime, I just don't want to ruin it. It was expensive compared to the $30 polartec 300. It'd be an excuse to get a Nano Puff after the hike though.

[not_possible]

I missed the rain jacket part, I'm looking for one that is fairly lightweight. I'm sure I'll still get wet, but if it at some point it's cool enough and windy I could throw it over my lightweight top or even the polar weight hoodie to cut down on the wind chill, I wouldn't want to hike in the Mammut and sweat just to keep wind from chilling me. I doubt it would get much use, but I'd have the option. I've done that almost all winter using the shell of my LL Bean Stormchaser jacket. Mainly think it'd probably be most beneficial in the Whites, but I've never been there so maybe I'm expecting worse than I'll experience when I get there. I did live in Alaska for 5yrs, but that was a long time ago and I've gotten used to the mild SC weather.

[garlic08]

Consider this good advice I first saw on this site: You should be able to wear all your clothing at once.

You should have multiple layers of different weights you can wear individually, yet everything should work together as a layering system.

No matter what you carry, your head is most important. If you let everything you carry get wet in the first rain, or sweat through everything on your first climb, the gear doesn't matter at all--you'll be miserable later.