The Grey NATO – 216 – Making the Most Out of Winter
Published on Thu, 17 Nov 2022 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
The episode is a discussion about preparing for and staying positive during the winter season in cold climates. Jason and James share tips on winter gear like boots, gloves, jackets, and head coverings to stay warm and comfortable outdoors. They also discuss ways to stay active and engaged indoors, such as learning new skills like watch modding or cooking, reading books, and embracing outdoor activities like skiing or snowshoeing. Overall, the episode aims to provide listeners with practical advice and a positive mindset for making the most of the winter months.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 216, and it's proudly brought to you by the ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Hey Jason, how are we doing? Already deep into snow shoveling season for you? |
| James | Seriously, it was like, I think last week was in the 60s here and then today we've got a second day in a row of snow and I'm looking out the window and it's coming down. We got probably three inches on the ground now. The vehicles are covered and I shoveled yesterday. It's a little jolting. |
| Jason Heaton | It was a little bit, kind of caught me off guard. Man, I was out on a bike ride yesterday and I'm looking out the window now and it's snowing. All right, well, I want to hear all about what else you've been doing other than shoveling snow and presumably cleaning it off of the square faces of Land Rovers. But I guess we've got some updates for the supporter packs as well. Some news, right? |
| James | Yeah. You know, as we've discussed on a couple of the past episodes, we are coming up to our, I guess, anniversary of the kickoff of our Substack supporter campaign, if you call it that, you know, where we started to receive subscriptions from people. And thank you very much. We've got such a healthy, loyal group of listeners and people that are supporting us. And we're coming up on that kind of anniversary of that. So people are probably starting to get their renewal notices for their annual subscriptions. And those of you that are doing monthly, you know, thank you for keeping up with those. But we decided to kind of add some perks, if you will, to what we're offering for our supporters. And on the, I guess if you want to call it the shop side, we are starting to, or will be kicking off on December 1st, the ability for our a hundred dollar annual subscribers to purchase additional TGN gray NATO straps. So if you, when you signed up for your annual subscription, you were given a link to order a strap of your choosing in 20 or 22 millimeters. And if you're lamenting the fact that you didn't order the other size, or you've got to say you ordered a 20 and you've got a Seiko that takes a 22 millimeter. Well, now you have the, you will have the ability to. order that other size, um, starting in December and we're, we're gonna do one per order. Um, so if you ordered a 20 and you want a 22 or you just want a second 20 or whatever the case may be, you'll be able to do that. Um, we will have that open with a link sent to the, the annual subscribers, um, in early December. So keep an eye out for that. And then, um, we're working on some, some fun ideas for some more, uh, TGN merchandise coming in 2023. So, um, we're really excited about that and we'll be offering, Some level of discounting, um, either on shipping or on, you know, percentage off on, on product orders to our subscribers, as well as maybe some early ordering opportunities there. So, um, excited about that. And then also on straps, we, as we mentioned, we're offering a lifetime warranty on the TGN straps. So if you happen to wear one out, um, which is probably unlikely, um, we're talking like. Yeah, we're talking like, you know, ripped holes, broken buckles, et cetera, you know, send us a photo, um, and we'll happily send you a different one. Um, so, so do that. And, uh, and James, you have an update on slack. |
| Jason Heaton | I do. I'm putting, I'm putting a hard line in the sand cause things keep getting in the way. I will be sending out an email to all the supporters, whether you're $5 crew or a hundred dollar annual crew, uh, before episode two 17 comes out. So I guess that gives me eight days to sort everything out. and get it going. I'm going to do a little bit of traveling this weekend, I believe, at which point I'll have some time on an airplane to finalize some of the stuff. I know I've said it before. It's been a busy season. But I also feel like I've said that for the last two years. But the last six weeks have been nutty. I'm really excited for the slack. But I also don't want to do something that I don't fully understand from like an IT standpoint and send a link that doesn't work for some people or you know, people don't have the right permissions and can't actually get in and do the chats and that kind of stuff. I want this to be like a smooth process. So I'm just doing my final checks and balances. And that involves speaking with a friend of mine who's done this before at a corporate level. Uh, so yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm working on it. The, the absolute goal would be, uh, no later than the day episode two 17, uh, comes out. So a week from when you're hearing this, if you like to listen on day one, I'm really excited for the Slack, like genuinely, it's something I really want. We've gotten a bunch of notices about it. I think it's going to be kind of the next phase for the crew, uh, to, to kind of connect and stay, stay together and chat about all sorts of different stuff. So I just want to make sure I get it right. And I do get a little bit stressed about the tech stuff, given what's happened with the feeds lately and other things like that. |
| James | So, yeah, that's, that's really exciting. And I think it'll be, it'll be great to build that community kind of on a, in a real time basis where, you know, if you jump on at any given time, you might find a, A few other folks on there chatting about straps or some kind of adventure plans or something like that. So I'm excited for that to kick off and go easy on us if there are a few hiccups in the early days. But I think it'll go smoothly and I'm sure it'll be a blast. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, we're podcasters, not IT professionals, despite the fact that slowly we're becoming, you know, IT dilettantes. So, yeah. So look, beyond the updates for the supportive perks and that kind of stuff, what have you been up to? Are you spending more time inside because of the snow? |
| James | Yeah. I mean, you know, I try to get out. I went for a hike on, on Sunday. Yeah. You know, I've, I've decided that this, and this kind of feeds a little bit into the main topic is just getting outside. I do try to enjoy winter as much as I can. I do a lot of cross country skiing and, and running, but, um, you know, such an easy way to, to get out and get some good exercises, um, to do, I guess, I don't know if you call it like a weighted, weighted hike or a hike with a weighted backpack or whatever. I just threw some dive weights in. my Patagonia black hole and threw on a sweater and some hiking boots and went down. Uh, there's a park not too far from our house, about a mile away that, that it's a lovely spot with some trails down along the Mississippi river. And I just did about a three or four mile hike, um, for, you know, our hour and a half and came back home and it was just good exercise. There's some stairs to climb and some, you know, it runs along a Creek. So it was really, really just a pleasant way to get out. So I'm going to do definitely do more of that this winter. And then I started a book that I've been. kind of anticipating for a while. And when I, when I saw it come out, I was really intrigued and it's by Cormac McCarthy who wrote all the pretty horses and no country for old men and the road. Um, one of America's great, great authors, Pulitzer prize winner. And he has a couple of novels coming out. They're kind of companion novels. And the first one that came out is called the passenger. And I was particularly interested because there's a plot line that was kind of teased early on that, that involves a salvage diver who is diving on a sunken charter plane in the Gulf of Mexico. Um, so I was really kind of keen to, to listen to that. And, uh, and by listen, I mean, I'm actually listening to the audio book version of it. And even though there's not a ton of like underwater action, this isn't an action thriller book by any means. There's some nice detail. You can tell he's done his homework and, uh, and it's an interesting plot. I wasn't, uh, I wasn't sure what to expect. And there's also a Hoyer watch that's mentioned, uh, which is kind of fun. You know, one of those Easter eggs for us watch nerds when you're reading or listening or watching a movie or something. And so, uh, I'm only probably a quarter of the way into it and it's, uh, it's a good book. So I, I, I recommend that if anyone's a Cormac McCarthy fan or just wants to give it a try, it's called the passenger. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's a, I mean, it's a good time of year to find new stuff to read for sure. Right. I guess a lot of what we're saying in this, in this episode today applies to the Northern hemisphere. So to our homies in, uh, in Australia, uh, Check out our summer guide from a few months back and maybe take a peek. |
| James | Yeah, maybe bookmark this one and listen to it in, what would it be, like April or something? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, or you know, hey, pick up the McCarthy and hop into the hammock, right? Enjoy that time. It's a nice season to read as well. But yeah, I guess a lot of this will be Northern Hemisphere kind of centric. in terms of our statements coming forward. But what about you? Yeah, from from my standpoint, I might sound a little different. I've now officially given up recording TGN from the office I built to record TGN. It's been a longstanding problem of RF interference in that corner of my house. And from what I can tell, it's outside my control. It appears to be coming from the panel box that's in the garage through the you know, it's a shared wall. So it's maybe two feet. I started doing some testing because we had a few really nice folk just say like, Hey, there's a buzz on your audio. That's not on Jason's side. If I listen at a high volume and true, you had to crank the volume up. I had learned how to suppress it months and months ago, and it appears to simply be getting worse. You can now hear it like in other headphones. Trying not to be emotional about this because it's like a massive disappointment for me that I can't sit at my desk where I have a couple monitors and a whole workflow. I'm now on the other side of my house. Hopefully this sounds better. It doesn't have a buzz, etc. But I'm sitting like in my comfy leather chair. I have my microphone arm lashed to my coffee table. It's a kind of a ridiculous setting in which to record, but I'm doing my best. If this episode sounds wonky, next week will be better. The audio quality has always been a thing I take pretty seriously and I've just been really dismayed by the RF interference on, you know, where I put my desk. I don't have an ability to put that desk anywhere else in my home, sadly, so I might just get rid of it or keep it just to, you know, store watch boxes and stuff like that. Turn it into a shelf or something. Yeah, that's too bad. |
| James | I suppose you could line the wall with layers of aluminum foil or a big sheet of steel or something. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, you'd need, you'd need to do like a, like a Pharaoh cage to a certain extent, but I also still need wifi. Yeah. Right. Like I'm sitting at my desk. I've got, I've still got to be able to have, like, I can't block every signal that's there. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I, for a while I thought like ground isolation would do it, but that didn't seem to work out. I tried to build a shield just for the microphone that also didn't work at like a separately grounded shield for the microphone that didn't work. Then I started using some audio processing that like suppresses Anyways, nobody cares about this, but me to a certain extent. Other than that, I got in, I had to give back the Pelagos, which is very sad. I will miss it. I hope to be able to get one early next year, uh, is how that's looking. If I can make it work from selling a couple other watches, money, that sort of thing. And then I did in relatively similar order a couple of days before I got rid of the Pelagos, I got a different new titanium watch, which is the new Apple watch ultra. |
| James | Oh, it finally arrived. That's great. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. So that's been on my wrist for a few days and I really like it. I will say I don't like it as much as I thought I would in that I thought it would feel like a Garmin that I didn't want to take off. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | It's a really good multi-sports watch and it's a fantastic smartwatch, but it has a slickness that like you can kind of only attribute to Apple. Yeah. And the hardware, I have flat out no idea how they make this for $800. I just don't get it. Sure. It must be a scale thing. Yeah. It must be a scale thing. Or maybe, maybe they don't, maybe this isn't a part of their business. They have to make money on. I'm not really sure, but it is like remarkably well-made from a titanium watch standpoint. The strap integration, all that stuff is so slick and well-designed and the rest of it. But I do still feel like I'm wearing something similar to the Garmin where like I really love it when I'm working out or when I want some notifications or I want my heart rate or whatever. But otherwise, like I still want to put on the scurfa. You know what I mean? So I've been wearing it for like maybe four days straight. So it's probably too early to really speak confidently about it. I've used it for a couple of different types of workouts. I still want to take it diving. I want to take it skiing. I'd love to take it on like a proper hike, like not around some park in Ontario, but something with some verticality, something outside of cellular range, that sort of thing. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So my guess is over the next few months, I'll have that opportunity, but we'll see. So I would say stay tuned at some point, Jason, you and I can do another episode kind of catching up how we feel about it. But for me, I'm like, Seriously impressed by it. The battery life seems okay. I seem to get like maybe two and a half days. Um, if I don't have the on off thing, but like, but like just a couple of days ago I got in the brand new mark from Garmin. Oh yeah. Pulled it out of the, the thing, turned it on and it has an OLED screen. It's like a dramatic update if you're used to the, the ones that don't like it feels really premium and it's super fast. Yeah. And it wasn't even fully charged, and it was like, you've got 17 days. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's just a different thing, right? Yeah. The way that they're, what they're doing and how often it's relying on a phone. The one thing I will add, I now think that there's a case, depending on what your workload is and your lifestyle and your stress, for an Apple Watch in general. I don't think it needs to be the Ultra, but I've found the ability to have this, have its own cell connection. So I go out of the house for a few hours or whatever, and I just leave my phone here. Yeah. I find that really nice, like almost luxurious. So yeah, it's, it's an interesting product and one that I'm kind of getting used to. The other thing I picked up is an Apple heavy intro is the new AirPods pro two. So I've had the, the original pros for a long time and mine just were like, I had them enough that the battery life wasn't quite the same. I get a couple hours. and I had shredded one of the ear cups. I like to sleep with one in, like I listen to something to fall asleep. So that seems to put some wear and tear on them. And then in the process, I was like, well, I'm always curious about noise canceling. I love the idea that these new ones I could get on a flight to LA and they have enough battery life for the whole thing. So I picked up another set and I paid for them. The Apple Watch is a loan from Apple to be clear. I paid for the AirPod Pro 2s and I'm kind of blown away. I don't know how they do this. The, and the noise canceling is so much more aggressive than the first gen that if I'm walking over my house, not listening to something, I have to turn it off because it feels like one of my ears are blocked. Oh yeah. You know that like feeling kind of deep center in your ear. Like when you come up and you have water in your ear. Yeah. Yeah. It's that feeling because they're removing so much from what's happening around you. But if you're laying still, like it's weird if you're moving around, if you're laying still and you just want it to be a little bit quiet, You can click these things on. And now the inverse of that is it's just as aggressive with the transparency mode. So if you click it into transparency mode, I swear like my footsteps get so loud that I start walking more carefully. Oh really? Okay. Oh yeah. It's like, it's absolutely like a bit of a, like a 10% of a hearing aid. Yeah. They're really, really impressive things. Like don't get me wrong. They're not cheap. They're, I think I paid 329 Canadian for them, something like that. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | If you only want one solution, you don't want cans like big, like the Bose, the Sony's that we've talked about in the past, really compelling for, for one option, assuming you're on the Apple platform. Yeah. They're really clever. And if you think that they cost a little bit less than the Sony's or the Bose, I'm, I'm, I'm fairly impressed. |
| James | Yeah. I like my AirPod pros. I don't know if I've got the twos. I don't know how long have those been out a couple months. Okay. I don't think I have the twos, but I really liked mine. In fact, the one, Interesting use of mine is the Land Rover has almost no soundproofing and it's just a big aluminum can. And so when I drove back from, I went diving in Milwaukee this summer and I drove down there, you know, interstate the whole way. And it's, it was loud. And I listened to an audio book going there and a different one on the way back, you know, good five, five and a half hour drive. And, um, I put it in noise canceling mode, which. you know, I suppose I might get some emails from people saying, oh, that's dangerous or whatever, but it, you know, it wouldn't, wouldn't prevent you from hearing a siren or, or something like that. And it made a dramatic difference. It made the drive much more pleasant. It was just less exhausting to, to have that loud road noise, um, for six hours each way. So it's turned out to be kind of a, a nice use for it. And yeah, I, I always fall asleep with mine. I just listened to an audio book and miss like four chapters while I'm dozing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, of course. Yeah. But, Yeah. At this point, I need, what I need them to do is build an algorithm into my Apple watch. So it knows when I'm asleep. So it pauses my podcast. |
| James | Oh man. I'm sure they could do it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Heart rate, respiration. Yeah, probably. Right. The thing's tracking my sleep. Um, so I mean, it's definitely doing it, but, uh, yeah, no, I, I listened to, I listened to like, uh, really old versions of podcasts that I like. Like it's like, I'm, I'm not committed to say catching up on hundreds of episodes of some comedy podcast, but I do like that the moment I put them on, I'm listening to what they say. I stopped thinking about things that didn't work out today or what I have to do tomorrow or bills or whatever, whatever it is that keep people up at night, the gamut. And I just fall asleep so much faster. Yeah. And because these things weigh nothing and they fit nicely when they just fall out while you're rolling around or, or if you half wake up and take it out and put it on your table, like it's fine. You don't, you're not breaking them. You're not seemingly hurting them. I mean, aside from the rubber ear cups, which it took months for me to shred one of them. But now I have a bed set, my pros, and then I have my life set, which is like the pro twos. |
| James | You know, one quibble I have with these and the, and the previous AirPods is, and I could probably adapt this with like a dab of, uh, of nail polish or something is, is there white. And so if they fall in the bed sheets and you have white sheets or heaven forbid, I'm, you know, cross country skiing, wearing them and one drops in the snow. It's like, I'm just never going to find it. Oh, it's hopeless. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's gone. There's, there's some companies that will sell you colored versions. |
| Unknown | They're essentially painted. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, painted units. So maybe if you decide to go to the pro twos, uh, you could check out one of those ones, I think. Um, yeah. And I can't think of the brand at the moment, but I like MKBHD, he has black ones. Oh, okay. Uh, which I think are kind of cool, but yeah, they are only offered in white and that's not always the most convenient. It's great when you drop them on like a normal floor. Sure. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | But yeah, like I said, it's been a sort of a, an audio and Apple heavy week. So that's, that's kind of what I've been up to trying to fix this audio sound and enjoying some new earphones and yeah. |
| James | Right. So that's what you're wearing today, the Apple Watch Ultra? |
| Jason Heaton | So yeah, I've got the Apple Watch Ultra on and I'm wearing it this time on the orange alpine loop strap, which I've come to really like. If I bought the watch and had it as my own, I would go with the green, but the orange is definitely inoffensive, certainly very sporty. I have the other one, I have the yellow dive strap and this sort of gray with a yellowy green accent for the trail strap. They're all really nice. Yeah. Again, I'm not super sure how How they, so there's an, there's another step. It was like when you buy it for $800 or whatever, it includes one of those straps. Yeah. Yeah. The straps are cool. I'm not sure how they hit this price point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James | They're nice. Yeah. I've got, I've got the same set of straps as you in the same colors. And, uh, I, the, the trail strap was like so soft and comfy. It's, it's kind of my favorite to just wear, but I like the look of the Alpine loop and the rubber straps. Cool. I mean, it was great for being in the water in Bonaire or something, but it was, uh, it's the one I wear the least, but, uh, |
| Jason Heaton | It has like an Ichabod vibe. Yes. The strap when it's on the watch, like in the watch already has sort of an Ichabod, you know, Dieter rim sort of thing going on for very many obvious reasons. But yeah, I, I like the straps. I'm impressed by the watch and curious to know what you've got on. |
| James | Yeah, I've gone completely the other direction. I've got the CWC Royal Navy. This is the automatic version. This is the diver. It's got a date. It's a 2004. um version it's got the tritium dial still so probably one of the last years of tritium dials for them and uh i've just got it on a you know you can only wear it on nato or a pull through strap because it's a fixed strap bar so yeah i pulled this out it's um semi-related to uh my final note today i'm in i'm in a certain certain vibe these days that i'll talk about later but uh yeah that's what i'm wearing today yeah that's a great watch those are killer i still absolutely adore the the quartz one that you sent me a while back and uh |
| Jason Heaton | Get lots of wear out of it. They, uh, they offer a lot of bang for the buck and a killer style for sure. Yeah. Nice. Well, you want to get into the main topic? |
| James | Yeah, let's do it. I mean, I, you know, we, we were talking about this, uh, just a couple of days ago when we were cooking up a topic for this week. And as I said at the top, I'm, I've just got kind of blasted off guard here by this, uh, this winter weather. I mean, it looks like mid January outside right now as I'm glancing out the window at the snow falling and, um, kind of looking down the barrel of. of at least here in Minnesota, um, you know, it'll be like this until at least mid-March. So we're talking four straight months. You, you get similar weather there. And a lot of our listeners do as well in Scandinavia and Northern Europe and throughout North America. So we thought we'd talk about kind of how to survive winter, not just, not just gear and clothes and stuff, but just overall, like what are some of our hacks for staying happy and healthy and having fun in the winter? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And so back in May of this year for episode 193, we did great summer gear, watches, clothes, EDC, and more. And this is sort of the same idea, maybe less on watches. Cause I feel like winter's when you can wear pretty much any of your watches. Yeah. Unless they're so big, they can't slide under a, you know, a jacket cuff or something like that. Which awesome. That makes it a great, great sort of summer option. But yeah, we wanted to break down some of the stuff that we like. We both live in places that have pretty harsh winters. I'm sure there's people listening who are in really tougher spots. Like Toronto really, it can be hit or miss, but February is usually pretty gnarly. And then Minneapolis, like it can be gnarly for five months. |
| James | Yeah. It's, um, it, it, it gets to people. I mean, I posted a picture of a Land Rover covered in snow yesterday and somebody is like, Oh, you've kind of confirmed my decision not to move to Minnesota. I'm like, it definitely isn't for everybody. I mean, it's, uh, I've lived kind of either here or in Wisconsin my whole life. And so I'm kind of used to this, but this was sort of the first year that I was lamenting the end of summer and fall. I mean, I, I used to be a much more of a winter person, I think, uh, we'll see how this winter goes, but, uh, I can see how, as you get older, like some people are like eyeing, you know, places in, I'm not sure about Arizona or Florida, but just warmer places, but, uh, we'll see. Yeah. So this episode should help. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, that was one of my favorite things about Vancouver was the winter was pretty mellow and it was pretty short. Like sure. It was rainy, but let's face it. It was basically always rainy. Yeah, right. But I remember, I think the first or second year I was there, the winter was like winter proper, like where it was freezing, like below zero Celsius and with some snow was like six or seven days. Right. If you can drive somewhere to go skiing, but you don't have to live somewhere that has snow and salt on the road and you have to shovel it. Yeah. That's a good mix. That's a real good mix. And that's not what we have here. I live on a corner in Toronto and neighbors on both sides that should not be shoveling snow. So I have four sidewalks to shovel when we get to it. And it's great exercise and it's seldom so cold that I don't go out there in a light layer and shovel and it's fine. But there's always that one or two times a year where there's a ton of snow and you have a bunch to do and you don't have an hour to shovel snow. You know what I mean? And then at that point you go like, why do I, why here? Yeah. Why am I here? Yeah. And not somewhere that's a little bit easier when it comes to snow. |
| James | But the upside, I think of, of winter and I was, when you mentioned Vancouver, I, as I mentioned last week, I've been heavy into watching alone and now we've kind of gone back to a couple of the first seasons and they're, they're up on Vancouver Island where, you know, rain seems to be the thing that are contending with, you know, feet of rain, um, are falling there. And, and I think the same kind of goes for, Dealing with rain and dealing with winter. It's if it is an opportunity to put a positive spin on things, it is an opportunity to like go deep into like the gear side of things or, or just the, you feel particularly smug if you can get through it, like, and be happy and dry and warm. And I think that's what winter offers. You can, you know, summer's like very minimalist. Like you can wear the same pair of shorts and kind of cycle through t-shirts all summer long, but in winter, like, you know, you wear a proper, you know, you get a good jacket and you're like happy with the one you bought if it really works. And I think that's a part of the fun of it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, maybe start at the feet and go up. |
| James | Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. Good way to go. Cause I think feet's actually a good place to start because like if you've spent any time shoveling or, or even, you know, walking outside, like the cold kind of seeps up from the feet upwards. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. And, um, I also have poor circulation, so I go a step further when it comes to feet. in hands. I just like, especially I think growing up, I got used to it. And then I spent nearly a decade in Vancouver and then going the other way, coming back. Like I just find like my feet can be cold when it's not even that cold out. Yeah. Um, not so much in a boot, but like walking around my house. Um, so I, I'm still a big fan of the Blundstones with the shearling linings and then really good socks. Oh, sure. Yeah. If we're talking like negative 20 or colder Celsius. So like approaching the point where Celsius and Fahrenheit meet. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, I, I really do like those foot warmers. Like the chemical ones that you break and then, yeah. But yeah, I do the shearling linings for the Blundstones, uh, really good socks. And then if it's like legit cold and I'm going hiking, snowshoeing, that sort of thing, I'll probably throw in those warmers. |
| James | You know, speaking of those shearling insoles, I, I remember you recommending those last winter or the winter before. And, and this year I was like, you know what, I'm going to, I'm going to get a set of those. And then it occurred to me, like, I don't have to go to Blundstone for those because there are a lot of aftermarket, um, kind of fuzzy or, or shearling or fluffy insoles for, for boots. And I think what my hesitation was all along was I tend to wear like orthotics in my shoes to kind of give a little arch support. Sure. And I thought if I put the shearling on top of those, it's going to just be too thick and my, my boots won't fit. So I've been looking into finding some kind of fleece. Uh, orthotic insoles or, or really thin shearling or, or something that will allow me to kind of use both or, or kind of get the same benefit, um, using both. But yeah, I mean, in and out of the house, kind of going shopping and things, I tend to wear my blundstones a lot cause they're pull on and I'm always coming in out of sloppy weather and want to leave them by the back door and, and whatever. But if I'm in and out taking garbage out, fetching firewood, shoveling snow, I've got a pair of. Uh, bogs boots, bogs are these, um, they're like these high kind of shin high or almost knee high, um, neoprene and rubber, um, kind of heavy boots that you just sort of pull on. They've got kind of these grab handles on the side. I wear these things like, I would say probably every day, multiple times a day in the winter, just going in and out of the house. And, and they're great. They don't really have insulation to speak of, but your feet stay entirely dry and they're, they're kind of bulky enough that I can wear, you know, my thickest socks. And, and you know, I've had these, You know, out on, you know, when I was ice diving or, or spending any time on a frozen Lake or, or just tromping around, you know, outside in deep snow. And my feet have stayed really, really warm. And I think if I actually put like a set of shearling insoles in these, I think they'd be really toasty. And I recommend them for anybody that just needs to leave a pair of boots by the, by the front or back door and pull them on. They're kind of like, you know, wellies on, on steroids. They're, they're just kind of big, heavy, um, rubber and neoprene pull on boots. And those, uh, those have served me really well. |
| Unknown | Nice. |
| James | I also have a pair of Red Wing ice cutters, but they don't make them anymore. So I hesitate to recommend them there. They were these kind of wool lined, pretty incredible boots that Red Wing made, but, um, they don't, uh, they don't seem to have those in their lineup anymore. So I'd hesitate to, I wonder what they replace them with. Good people. I, it was probably a very limited market, you know, wool lined Red Wings. I just don't know. But, uh, yeah, if you can find a pair, um, some kind of weird closeout or secondhand or something, I recommend those. What do you do with your socks? Like, do you have a go-to or is it just like the thickest camp socks you can find? |
| Jason Heaton | So for socks, I really like there's a, there's kind of like, it's, it's not a great store, but it's also not a bad store depending on what you want to buy. But in Canada, we have a store called Mark's work warehouse. And like, if you want to buy sort of Carhartt adjacent stuff from a variety of different brands, Wrangler, Kodiak, like all sorts of different stuff, they have it. And then on top of that, if you're kind of good on their website, you can get weird deals where they buy clearance stuff. Like I got a pair of Helly Hansen, um, mid GTX hiking boots for like $70. from them a while back. So like 50 bucks, uh, us. So you just have to be like kind of sweet with their website and figure it out. But they make, um, a range of like really simple wool hiking socks. And I just have a ton of those. Yeah. And so that's usually the route I would go. If I need something like specifically warm, I prefer a two layer approach with a liner sock, kind of like you do when you're going like glacier travel. Right. Um, and at that point, like darn tough or, uh, like the hiker GX stuff from MEC, I have a handful of that in a couple of different weights and I'll layer whatever works in the boot that I'm wearing. |
| Unknown | Oh, sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. But that's typically the route that I would go. Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. How about you? Yeah. I kind of do the same. I I'll do like a liner sock and a thick wool sock, but then I also kind of want one of my hacks that I've done for years is I have a pair of, uh, I think they're called seal skins, um, neoprene socks. They're really thick and heavy and they're kind of oversized. And I pulled those on over everything. And, um, I don't remember why I got them. I think I got them for kayaking and in cold water. And they, you know, if any moisture gets in your shoe or whatever, they kind of keep your feet dry, or at least if they get damp, they still insulate and they're, they're just thick and kind of impermeable. And, and those work really well as kind of a last, last layer that you can then slip into some oversized boots. |
| Jason Heaton | So, yeah. So moving on, I guess, to pants. |
| James | Right, right. Do you wear a lot of like base layer, like, like long underwear kind of thing? |
| Jason Heaton | I do. I did more when I was cold water diving. So I still have a bunch of the Polartec T3 stuff. And it's like perfect in my, by my estimation. You could wear it under jeans if you want. Yeah. Assuming your jeans aren't too tight. Uh, yeah, I have, I have, I think it's T3 layers that I have. So it's the stuff that's like not so thin that you feel like you'd rip it if you wore it under shorts on a brisk day and, you know, walk through some bushes. Yeah. You know how like sometimes the, the, the Marino stuff is so thin. You're like, well, this won't, this has to go under another layer. Otherwise it'll tear on anything it touches. Yeah. This is a little bit thicker than that. And I guess being polar tech, it's not, it's synthetic. It's like an entirely synthetic. It has an elastic cuff and elastic waist and they're like super comfortable and they are like disturbingly warm, but I wear them less because I bought those Eddie Bauer lined Sherpas or the guide pros. Oh yeah. |
| James | Aren't those great? |
| Jason Heaton | They're just, they're like snow pants that you could honestly like almost go to a restaurant. Yeah. Like not a nice restaurant. You're still, you're still wearing snow pants, but yeah. Like you could, you could go, you could just like, you could do almost anything in these things. They're like, you can sit in the car and not be uncomfortable. They're not too super bulky. They're not crazy expensive. My wife and I each have them. We picked up a new repair for that camping trip last February in the snow. And they're just like, they're perfect. Like I said, they're not too expensive. They're crazy warm. They wear like normal pants. |
| James | Yeah. I'm wearing a mine right now, actually. I mean, I've got, I've got two pairs of these and they're just like just around the house in the, in the winter. Like we don't keep our house crazy warm, but like, it's not frigid, but it's like, they're not too warm in the house or like in a restaurant or shopping or whatever you're doing, but you know, to go out and shovel or just bum around in the snow. And especially if you put like a base layer on underneath, like you're set with a base layer. |
| Jason Heaton | It's like, it's they're crazy hot. |
| James | Yeah. And it's, that goes back to what I was saying about kind of feeling smug when it's, uh, you know, you know, 20 below and you're, You're the guy outside like whistling as you go for a walk around the neighborhood. And like, everybody's like looking out their window, who's this nutcase out there. It's like, well, I've got a base layer and these Eddie Bauer, you know, lined guide pro pants on. And those are great. And then if you ever can find, um, a Duluth trading company, I know that do a lot of online ordering, but we've got a couple of stores around us here that sell stuff and it's really reasonably priced. I would even say it's a little less expensive than Eddie Bauer or around the same price point. And. They've got a lot of really good stuff. They've got a kind of a sub line of products called Alaskan hard gear. And they do kind of that work wear style, you know, Carhartt stuff, but, but also like a lot of, you know, Nylon, you know, bib pants that, that are fleece lined and lined jeans. And then Duluth trading has like, it's, um, I can't remember what they call it, like fire hose pants. It's made of that like canvasy stuff. And, um, they make some good options. And then in terms of like base layers, uh, a brand that. has been around forever that I kind of ignored. I think I used to have some stuff, but then last winter I placed an order with them because it's just so affordable is Terramar. T-E-R-R-A-M-A-R. And you know, you can go to, you know, Patagonia and get like their Kapolin layers or, or, you know, Polartec stuff. But, but Terramar is sort of a, an affordable option for, you know, base layers and zip necks and, and long underwear and socks and gloves. One thing I will say about it is it does, it's not, like the high quality that will not pill. Like I've noticed everything gets kind of pilled and kind of fuzzy looking after a few times, you know, wearing and washing, but, um, it's plenty warm. I wear it for, you know, running and skiing and stuff like that. And, uh, and that's a good, uh, good option for people that are looking to not quite spend as much for a couple of good base layers. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, the base layer thing is weird because you do get what you pay for at a certain level, but there is a, like, there is a question of like, how often can you use it? Especially the winter grade stuff. Yeah. I will say that as good as these guys look, and I'm now interested in picking up from Taramar, I bought a handful of icebreaker stuff when I lived in Vancouver. And when I say handful, like probably six or seven shirts of different weights, long and short sleeve, a zip, a pullover, and then that this gray sweater, if you remember in my wrist shots, occasionally you'll see a gray sweater that has a red stripe at the cuff. So it's like, it's indestructible. This sweater is seven or eight years old. I can get stains out of it. Yeah. And goodness sakes, is it perfect? I get so excited when it's fall and like cold enough that that becomes a whole layer. Right. And that in a vest, that in a nano puff vest, like you can, you can be out in the cold if you're moving. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Good shovel work. It's definitely worth it. Um, but I would say that definitely consider something like these TerraMars or I assume kind of like the Polartec stuff, which I got at MEC. So I assume it's something similar as at REI. Right. Don't spend a fortune on something if you want to go outside in the cold once or twice a week. Just buy something that makes sense to your budget and spend the rest on snowshoes or something. Yeah, good pick. Taramar. Neat. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, all right. Outside of, uh, I guess we go to like, uh, tops. So we already talked a little bit about base layers and then these sweaters. Right. Um, I'm not sure that we could talk more about stuff like a Patagonia nano puff, a great gift, great time of year to pick one up for a friend. If you don't have like, if you've got one and you're good, but I use them as a, as a mid layer, uh, frequently under a shell and they're not quite like, it's not the same as wearing like a puffy, a traditional puffy under your shell. Like you don't want to be negative 40 in the, in the wind. Yeah. But like if you're using the shell because the snow is kind of wet and it's negative 10 and you're, you're walking or you're shoveling or whatever, like you can definitely get away with, with a light nano puff as your mid layer. |
| James | Right. Yeah, I agree. And it's funny, you know, since I kind of lost weight over the past year, my, my nano puff vest and, and. That nice, uh, Nanopuff jacket that Oros gave us on a ski trip a couple of years ago. Oh, sure. Everything's gotten way too big for me. And it's, I'm actually genuinely excited to go and like buy a new Nanopuff and see what colors they have or whatever. And especially with that, that really good news about, um, Yvon Chouinard kind of giving away his, his fortune, um, and kind of what Patagonia is, you know, stand is, uh, in terms of environmentalism and things like it, it makes me want to support the company. And yeah, the Nanopuff I think is as, as we have branded it in the past, a perfect product. |
| Jason Heaton | The other thing I will speak multitudes of, and if you're in this climate, the climate that we're talking about, you probably don't need me to tell you to get one, but a fleece full zip is worth its weight in gold. Don't buy one that's too big. Don't buy one that's too small. That's why I'm not going to recommend a specific brand. Every brand you can think of makes a fleece full zip. So that's a zipper that goes all the way down to the bottom. It's a fleece jacket, but it's meant as a mid layer. It's soft. It should compress nicely. It should wear like a fitted sweatshirt so it can go under whatever else you want to put over it. Right. Mine is from Mac. It's polar tech. I swear it's 12 years old. Like I've had it for so long. Yeah. It's worn nicely. Sure. It's pilled, but it's a, it's a blue fleece with like a simple, I literally just took it off cause I was getting too hot sitting here. It's sitting at my feet. Yeah. It has a jacket pocket has two waist pockets. It's got internal like glove, flat pockets. If you want to tuck a glove in, And I absolutely love it. If I could buy another one in gray today of the exact same thing, I would not question whatever they wanted to take from the credit card. Yeah. Yeah. I, I highly recommend this. Like if you're, if, especially if you've just moved from one climate to another, your inclination is going to be, how do I buy the Canada goose giant parka that can keep me warm in Iceland, the rest of it. Yeah. Just go slow with the stuff that like can help you go to the car to get something for five minutes when it's negative 20. Yeah. And it's, it's one of these layers. And these are also really nice words. you're driving for a couple hours, it's the holidays or whatever, you're going to see family. And it's like something that can deal with the change in temperature in a car nicely. Right. So there's a couple of these things where like, yeah, you spend a couple hundred dollars and you could have it for a really long time. And that's in the nanopuff world, but also like a nice fleece. I don't think I'm saying like nice, like, oh, go buy from some super expensive brand. I just mean, it just has to be nice enough. And I think with fleece, it's how it fits you. Yeah. Because you still want to be able to move around a little bit, but you don't want it like bulky. |
| James | And everybody's got fleece, like every brand you could, you could think of, you know, Duluth trading, Eddie Bauer, Mac, REI. |
| Jason Heaton | Eddie Bauer has some great stuff. I've seen like for 50 or 60 bucks. Right. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. It's a, such a staple. Yeah. That's, that's a definite go-to. And if you want like a slightly elevated look from wearing Polartec, I'm, I I'm a huge fan of these, uh, kind of commando style wool sweaters. The same, the ones with the, you know, they've got like reinforcement on the shoulders and on the elbows and yeah. You know, I've got too many, let's just put it that way. I'm not gonna even count them. But, um, the, the one that I got from LL Bean a couple of winters ago, they call it their commando sweater and it's, it's a hundred percent wool, you know, minus the, the patches on the, on the elbows and the, and the shoulders. Um, and it, the thing wears like iron. I mean, it's just a fantastic sweater. It's a little big for me now, but it's, it's super warm. It looks good. It's very classic looking. And I checked recently, or maybe I got served an ad somewhere on social media and it was, um, I think it's still under a hundred dollars. It's like an 80 or $90 sweater. And you know, if ever I post something I got from, you know, triple lot or from somewhere else, people are like, well, you know, you can get the LL Bean one. And I'm like, yeah, I know. Cause it's, it was the first one I got when I wanted to kind of mimic the look of, um, that sweater that, that, uh, James Bond wears in no time to die. Um, yeah, from, uh, and peel, which is, you know, got cashmere in it. It's a very, very much a luxury product, but the LL Bean one's like a close proximity and it's, uh, That's a great choice as well for something that looks good and is plenty warm. I hike in it. I've, I've shoveled in it, skied in it. It's great. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The one that I wear a ton is I have a, a version of it that doesn't have the support, like the shoulder pad, um, from triple out design. That's a Henley. Oh yeah. And that's basically perfect. It's a great sweater. And then the one I wear a ton, but it's actually, you have to consider where you're going. Cause it's so warm is the Alps and meters. Oh, I've got that. It's beautiful. I absolutely adore it. It has a fantastic chest pocket. It's built really beautifully. It's made from an incredible material. It's gorgeous, but it's so warm. Yeah. I love wearing it outside. Yeah. Yeah. Great stuff. I, yeah, definitely, definitely a fan of the commando sweater, but I have a couple like ski or Alpine sweaters, commando sweaters from Alps and meters. Uh, and, and they're just, they're indestructible. Sure. They're expensive. Nobody's saying they're not, but they, they really nicely made, uh, they wear nicely, the materials, you know, you can get stains out of them, things like that. Like I'm just, I've been impressed by their stuff for a long time. |
| James | And, and certainly those can be outerwear in, in many situations. If you, even if you put like one of those base layers underneath and that, and then like a nano puff, like I think you could probably get down below zero, well below zero and be comfortable if you're somewhat active. But, uh, |
| Jason Heaton | Dude, if you put, if you put that Alps one under a shell. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You'd be too hot to ski. |
| James | Yeah, definitely. Or snowshoe. |
| Unknown | Yep. |
| Jason Heaton | Yep. Yeah. No, that's a jacket on its own and they just look great too. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. So assuming you do need a jacket, what would, what's, uh, what do you, what are you feeling this year? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, I, I'm, we're spoiled at this point. Uh, last year Nirona sent me a couple of different jackets, a new, a new shell, a big puffy jacket. So it's Nirona, but obviously, but like I didn't pay for that. they were kind enough to send it. Yeah. The stuff is really nice. Um, my previous stuff would have been Patagonia, uh, an arteric shell. I have a Burton shell that I skied with for a while. Really, really nice. But the, the Neurona stuff is, is in the same, in my mind, in the same vein as what you're getting from arterics. Yeah. Like highly technical, the best possible materials probably designed to last longer than you'll fit it. Yeah. in most realms of reality, depending on what you do. But you can definitely tell they're taking it pretty seriously. The quality is pretty nutty. Again, I didn't pay for it, but at this point, if I knew I needed a shell, they would be in the running with a brand like Arterix. And I don't know that there's a lot of brands I respect more than the quality you can get from Arterix. If you just need a shell, sure, Eddie Bauer is your better deal, as they are with pretty much all of these things. And I'm sure there's other like second tier brand shells. But if you're talking, talking like top tier, before you get into the Alpine, the crazy Alpine stuff, um, that like North face makes. Yeah. But if you're talking about stuff, that's like, you want to ski in it, you want it for a terrible snow. You want like a, a proper shell Gore-Tex shell. Then yeah, like arterix is way up there for, in my mind and the Neurona stuff that I've had an experience with is just as good. |
| James | Yeah. I got, I got a, um, a Canada goose jacket years ago. Um, on a press trip, it was actually a gift from Lange and Zona and you know, like fitting of, of Lange. I mean, it's, it's a very expensive, very swanky jacket and I wore it for a number of winters and it's hands down the warmest piece of clothing I own. But since I got that, uh, Nirona, uh, down jacket, I think it's the same one you got this massive puffy thing like that, that I think that's actually unseated the Canada goose. It is incredibly warm. And Nirona is a brand that, um, I think it's making inroads in the U S but a lot of people aren't familiar with it. And since we kind of, you know, connected with them and they sent us a few things to try out. Like I'm, I'm such a fan of that jacket in particular. And I've got a pair of their hiking pants that I really liked too, but yeah, super warm. Um, a jacket that is on slightly, I guess, less warm, but more versatile than that is from a company called West comb. That's actually a West, uh, West coast, Canada based, I think Vancouver area, British Columbia. And it was founded by a guy or two that used to work at Arc'teryx and, and all their stuff is made in Canada and, Um, many years ago, I got, um, a lightweight, really lightweight down jacket of there's called the Caillou. And I'm looking at it, they still sell it and it's incredibly packable. It weighs absolutely nothing. It's, it's almost like a, like a nano puff, but a little bit puffier than that. And, you know, other than some like holes in it from, you know, sparks from a, from a campfire or whatever, it's, it's just been always the fear, right? Yeah. It's been indestructible. It has like these stretch panels along the. kind of the side of the torso and on the underside of the arm. And, um, it's, it's just so comfy and I just kind of keep it by the back door. And that's what I kind of put on if I'm just running out for something or going to the store, it's certainly not formal at all. It doesn't look dressy. Um, it's not even as nice looking, I would say as a, as a nano puff. Um, and mine is like bright blue, so it's a little less versatile, but yeah, I, I recommend Westcombe if you're looking for like a, you know, brand that's a little bit less known or a little bit smaller and you want something super high quality made in Canada, Westcombe is the way to go. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, as far as jackets go, I think to some level it is like pick a budget and then look for deals. Tough time of year when you're listening to this to find the deals on the jacket. So unless you absolutely need one now, buy it in the spring. right? Otherwise, if you're like at a certain point, if you, let's say you ski a lot or you have an activity that takes you outside a lot, the jacket is an absolute investment in that activity. Right. So I would say like, try and understand what you need, but if you want something casual, don't be afraid to buy a casual product. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Like the Eddie Bauer stuff has a fantastic warranty. It lasts a long time. I don't think you have to have an arterix to go get groceries and, and, and enjoy a winter festival and go for, you know, snowy walks around the neighborhood with your kids. Right. Um, they're, they're really nice product and by all means support the brand, but don't, don't necessarily buy something just because you feel like the, the, the best one's going to be necessarily warmer. Like, yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of a difficult thing to measure. You want the best one, the system that best represents how you're going to use it. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | What about, uh, what about, um, on your hands? I've been, I'm on the hunt for hardest for me. Yeah. I'm on the hunt for a new pair of gloves. I've, I've kind of skimped on gloves over the years. I'm like, well, I can get another winter out of these, but they're really getting threadbare and my hands are getting colder these days. I don't know if I've lost weight and it's just, I have less fat in my fingers or something, but, uh, yeah, I need, I need a good, I need a new pair of gloves, I think. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, for me, I, I have, because I have cold hands, um, I have like 10 pairs of gloves depending on what I'm doing. I have a set that I got used to running in because I know like, oh, my hands are cold when I start my run. Then once I'm going, I just need this like very light layer. They're black diamond. They're meant for like doing rope work. Yeah. And I absolutely adore those, but then they're not quite warm enough when I'm on my bike because of the wind, which I'd learned a couple of days ago when I, when it was like about zero. Yeah. And I'm okay in zero and shorts and like, uh, I have an Arterix like pullover synthetic, uh, like micro fleece. It's like it's t-shirt thick, but it's super warm. Yeah. And then it has a really deep front zipper so you can let heat in and out really easily. It's a fantastic product. I quickly realized that my bike ride was only going to be 20 minutes, not 40 because of my hands. Like I got to a point where like I was having trouble manipulating. Yeah. And I just thought like, why did, why did I not bring a pair of gloves? So I'm still sorting out gloves for the bike that are just right. If I'm just kicking around, I'm such a huge sucker for those. And you look like a five-year-old and I just don't really care at this point. Those wool gloves that have the flap that covers your fingers or doesn't. Yeah. Yeah. Cause like if I'm trying to do something, put a kid in a car seat, move something in the car, maybe dig something out of a toolbox in the back of the Jeep or whatever you're doing, manipulate keys. I don't want to take my gloves off. Yeah. Yeah. So those I still find very convenient. They're still made by a company called Finselate. And I have a couple of pairs of those I like. And then when you get into the warmer stuff, man, you really got to decide like, what are you touching with your hands? Cause like the best ones are those ones that kind of have like chameleon hands or just full on mitts. I'm such a sucker, man, that I'm at the point where like, I'm looking at heated gloves. Oh, like that. You connect to USB. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Gashani has a pair of those from, I think Rossignol, um, makes a, you know, ski gear and she has a pair. And the problem is we'll go out to the ski Hill for three hours. And, you know, after an hour that they're, they're just not holding their, their charge and they're not staying warm enough. So that's been a bit of a disappointment. So I'm sure there are other brands and better ones out there. But that's a good, good call. And then the other brand of gloves that, and I always look at gloves as something you'll have for many years. And so I'm not, I'm not above, uh, you know, spending a little bit to get a decent pair. And, and Hestra is a brand that I see pop up a lot and they're nice looking and they have a lot of different kinds of gloves. You know, I've got like these dressier, like Brown leather gloves that have a little bit of insulation inside that like you can drive in and like wear out for dinner and stuff, but yep. They're, they're a little bit too specific in their use. And I think like a nice pair of like leather Hestras that are a little bit warmer, I think would be, um, they would serve me better. So we'll see. I've also got a pair last winter. Again, I think it was before this, um, ice diving, um, outing, which was going to be on a very cold weekend. I ran over to a fleet farm and I bought like a cheap pair of those big chopper mittens you know just oh sure suede or deerskin leather with a big golf underneath but you can you there's no um dexterity at all like they just don't work for anything except like clapping you know you look like a seal but uh yeah i think i think everybody should have a pair of those maybe just like leave them in the car yeah in case of emergency yeah i also like with those ones you can if we we return to those little heating inserts you can put inserts in the |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Fingertips of those. Yeah. Good point. And that makes, that makes a huge difference for me. Like how long I can stay outside. And yeah, I think a pair of mitts makes a lot of sense. Uh, so that's, that's probably next on my list. |
| James | Yeah. Caps. I mean, what do you say about caps? Like, uh, caps are, you know, it's more of an aesthetic thing for me because like any cap on your head will kind of trap the heat. I think. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, yeah, I have a couple from, from Pedro and Taylor. Very simple, like Marino style. They're synthetic, but they're like that Marino style. Um, like tube toque, we call that a two cup in Canada. And then the one I actually wear a ton is my wife handmade me one. Oh, nice. A nice blue, kind of a blue ribbed watch cap that like actually fits and isn't scratchy on my forehead and all that kind of stuff. If you want a thicker version of a simple style, Kill Hubris has some nice ones. I have one of theirs that's pretty good. But I'm kind of with you, like I don't, I want to wear the one my wife made me because that's... Yeah. That's what I like. It's super comfortable and it looks good. And you can roll it up three times or you can have it more. So it's over your ears. There's lots of options there. But beyond that, I'm a big fan of actually using your hood. I'm always blown away by like how cold it has to be for a Canadian to actually put their hood up. Just has to be. That's the last stage before they're going like, I could, I'd just rather be hungry. I'll stay home and be hungry. Then go to the grocery store. |
| James | I don't know if it's like it's leftover from childhood, but people are so resistant to using hoods. And then when you put it up, you're like, Oh, What a relief. It makes such a difference. Warm. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing I would say is I, I find that the, the other one I really like is having a buff. Oh yeah. They're so inexpensive. They make a great gift around Christmas time. You can leave them around your neck and then not do the whole like, Oh, is this the right outfit for a scarf? Which scarf with which jacket? Like sometimes I just don't want to deal with that kind of stuff. And then I like that if it's crazy windy, you can pull them up, get them over the bottom of your ears, get them over your nose. Yeah. That's just a nice simple product as long as you don't rely on glasses. Right. Right. Yeah. True. Yeah. Which we all learned during the pandemic that. Yeah. Poor folk who have glasses really their face coverings become quite limited. Right. So I feel you. Yeah. After dealing with that. Yeah. But yeah, that's, that's kind of my mode. Um, what else we got? We could probably buzz through a few of these. I think that's kind of the main stuff. You ever get the, the cleat things you put on your boots. I've used Yeti tracks before. Is that what they're called? Yak tracks. Yak tracks. Thank you. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Um, pretty good. I have. Inexpensive. I, I used to use them on my running shoes. And then last winter when I was getting into running more, I actually bought a pair of ice bug, uh, cleated running shoes. Oh, I remember you talking. I swear by those. Those are in fact, it's, it's already time to break them out, uh, this week. Um, but, but I swear by those, but yeah, yak tracks are great. And sometimes I just throw them on those bog boots if I'm going to be out on a particularly icy day or shoveling or something. But, uh, yeah, that's, uh, that's a good, good little hack for, not slipping. |
| Jason Heaton | Do you go to entirely different sunglasses? Like I know, cause you enjoy the, the like traditional Varney style, like glacier glasses. Do you switch when, when it's like very snowy out? |
| James | Not so much unless I'm doing something specific. Sometimes, you know, I used to always wear ski goggles when I would go skiing, like put them up on my helmet and whatever. But I have this old pair of glacier glasses I got when I climbed Mount Rainier from Julbo. They were called their Explorer glasses. They still sell them. And I think a lot of the, The top mountaineers I see in pictures are wearing them and whatever, and they came with side shields, which I never put on, but they're almost too dark, but they're fantastic in bright sun and a lot of snow. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm always interested in those ones with the shields and everything. When I went and did Baker, it was recommended to have darker sunglasses that are glacier rated. Yeah. And boy, was that a smart thing. Like I have very sensitive eyes, blue eyes, right? Yeah. And I always have sunglasses on, even on days where you'd go like, it's not that bright, dude. I am always curious about those ones. And then just recently I saw Persol makes like a round set that has the little leather covers on the centerpiece. Yeah. Yeah. I'll put them in the show notes. I can't remember exactly what they are now, but they're in a few different colors. And of course you can remove the leather bits and they're just kind of like a roundish sort of frame with a double central bridge. Yeah. I do like that idea. I like the idea that you can remove them. Yeah. I think the last one to talk about is the vehicle. |
| James | Yeah. What do you do? Do you do anything to kind of get ready for winter with your, with your Jeep? |
| Jason Heaton | My big thing is, I don't really change much. Snow tires, I think, are exceedingly important, especially if you commute. Snow tires actually make a big difference. They're not a hoax. Huge difference. No one's trying to trick you. I don't know how many times I have to get in arguments with people on Instagram, or for a little while, I wrote blogs for Progressive Automotive, the insurance company in the States, and had said that even if you have a four-wheel drive vehicle, snow tires will make a difference. And the understanding there's this seems to be this underlying disconnect in physics where people believe that four wheel drive means you'll stop faster. Right. Put snow tires on. You still have time to do it. On top of that, it's the easy stuff. The stuff that I kind of think you should have a year round, but definitely for winter, put a blanket in your car. Yeah. It can be like a blanket from your house. If you end up in a snowy ditch and someone can't see your car, no one saw you leave the road and let's say your phone's not working or your phone's dead. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Invest in an inexpensive roadside kit. So if that does happen, you can walk up the berm, and put down a reflector so that somebody will stop whose phone has power or connects or can drive to the next spot and call for you, right? Yeah. Just something to let people, so you can make a marker to say like, this is where I am. You know, whatever it is, something reflective is smart. Right. We've talked about this before, but those like jumper packs, those no-cos, those will also charge your phone. So it's a hundred dollars that could literally save you, theoretically, again, depending on where you live, your life. Yeah. I'm like, don't get me wrong. That's a bit extreme. but who know, I don't know what kind of roads you drive on. You got to plan for the fact that at some point you might leave that road and not have enough cell phone coverage or, or, you know, a weak electrical system means that you can't get your car started when you parked at a friend's house and it's very cold out. And then you wait two hours for a tow truck that costs a bunch of money to just to give you a jump, like just plan ahead a little bit. These things are a hundred, 150 bucks. Yeah. The next one that always like kind of is wild is just have a flashlight in your car. The noco is a flashlight. So there's two for one. but have a flashlight just in case. It gets real dark at winter. It gets dark really early. Yeah. And finally, uh, I highly recommend a roadside recovery. It's not that expensive anymore. I think, I think CA is like $130 a year and they'll come and tell you. And then if you're one phone call away when that bad thing happens and look, if it happens in the summer, you just kind of sit there. Right. Right. You know, you look at Instagram on your phone or you call a friend or maybe your phone's not working and you take a little nap, you wait for whatever, whatever they, or you walk for a while, but like, walking 20 kilometers to get a tow truck in the summer, kind of not a big deal. All things concerned. I don't mind. Do you want to do it in the winter? What if you didn't bring the right boots? Yeah. Right. Yeah. No, just like a little bit. It's, it's, it's that ounce of prevention thing. So we don't have to take like a ton of time to do it, but it, I would be very remiss to say that this isn't something I start to think about. And then lastly, and this is my dad, you know, my dad, you know, coming through, Check your fluids before you leave on a long trip. Like if you're driving a couple hours to go see your family Make sure you have enough washer fluid Make sure your tires are at the right like air pressure like just a few simple things stuff You could do at a like you don't have to do it in your snowy driveway drive to the gas station when you're getting gas Yeah, and just make sure that like not something very simple That's gonna cost $2 at the gas station air washer fluid that sort of thing isn't covered, right? It's like a very small pre-flight checklist that I know you probably don't have to think about in the summer but could make a big difference in terms of just headaches in the winter. Yeah. |
| James | That's my rant. Yeah. Those are good points. I've got my appointment for an oil change and then having the winter wheels swapped onto our Volvo on Thursday. I wish I had done it last week. Cause I was out running an errand, um, yesterday and just on our standard all season tires and boy, it was slippery. I mean, I almost slid through a stop sign and yeah, the, the winter tires make a huge difference. The blizzacks that I put on there, they're great. So. |
| Jason Heaton | Anyways, like I said, that's my rant. Yeah. So I think that covers like gear, things to do outside, that sort of stuff. But we did mention that there's another side to it, which is like how you approach maybe being inside more often from a health standpoint or a mental standpoint or an activity standpoint. And we have a few notes for that as well. So yeah, you want to get into that? |
| James | Yeah. I mean, you know, I mentioned at the top, uh, you know, just listening to or reading more books this time of year, and that's kind of a no brainer. But lately I've been emboldened to kind of take up you know, fiddling with watches a little bit more with some rudimentary tools. I know when we talked to Marshall from wristwatch revival, we both got kind of excited about the possibility of doing some light watch modding or, or just, you know, tinkering a little bit. And I think that's something I want to do a little bit more this winter. It's, it's very mindful work. You can do it sitting at your desk. Um, I already have like a cheap pressure tester. I know you have, um, the timing device. I have, you know, case back removal stuff. I've got a hand tool. I've got. I bought a crystal press that wasn't very expensive. Like a lot of the stuff you can get pretty cheap and the price of entry for something like tinkering with a Seiko or something is pretty low. Like you can get a lot of like secondhand broken, whatever watches off of eBay and just use them for practice. And I plan on getting into that a little bit more this winter. I think that'll be fun. I love it. You know, learn a new language, play an instrument, you know, stuff like this that after a few months, like you're getting proficient, you feel good about yourself. And then spring comes and you know, lo and behold, you've, you've, found something to occupy your, your mind and keep you from going a little, getting cabin fever, um, all winter long. And then I think just getting outside and embracing the season, like instead of kind of fighting against it, you know, we talked about all this great clothing that'll keep you warm. What about getting a pair of snowshoes or, or if you ski, like just getting out to ski more often, um, you know, even camping, like if you have the right gear and, and maybe you have a friend that's experienced in something, uh, cross country skiing is a fun sport to pick up. Yeah. Ghoshani and I will just take our, our camp stove and we'll like go out, you know, to a local park, um, fire up the camp stove, watch some birds, um, boil some water and make a cup of tea. And it like adds this like bit of adventure to the middle of what would otherwise be kind of a drab winter day. And sometimes it's these little things of every day, just getting out. And also that sunlight that you get, even if it's through clouds can, can really boost your mood. Um, which I think is so important. No doubt. I think cooking too. I mean, you know, when we had Ghoshani on and she gave a few tips about, you know, some curries or roti or whatever, like we still get requests from people saying, Hey, can you, you know, do you have any good resources for that? And like, I keep saying, let's do like a little YouTube channel where you just cook a few things and we put up a couple of videos of how to make some things in five minutes. And maybe we'll do that. Maybe we won't. But I think just like, you know, learning how to make, two or three soups that you can come back to time and again over the winter, or, you know, curry is a great like winter food. It's kind of warming and smells good and tastes good. And, um, you know, even if you're not into cooking, like this isn't something that is beyond people's abilities. It's just a matter of watching some YouTube videos, getting a book, a few ingredients, a decent knife, and off you go. |
| Jason Heaton | I think that's great. And probably a pretty good starting point. And I would say probably the rest of this can go right into the comments or the slack within a week's time. |
| James | Yeah, true. |
| Jason Heaton | You can you can do it, James, and let us know in the comments how you approach winter. Maybe a couple of your favorite things or what you plan to do this winter to kind of fill the days when you don't go outside or when there isn't quite the same type of adventure. and that sort of stuff. Or if you have a big adventure on the books, we'd love to hear about that too. I'm, I'm very much hoping that the spring includes, um, uh, you know, a snowshoe sort of hiking trip through Algonquin if, uh, if we can make the, uh, the timeline workout for it. And I think it would be great to do that in the snow as I've been up there, you know, in the summer and aside from the mosquitoes, it's lovely. Uh, so we'll have to see, but it's, it's always nice. It feels like a nice time of year to make little plans. Yeah. Well, all right. Well, you want to get into some final notes? |
| James | Yeah. I, I started watching, I, peaked at the link that you put in. I think yours is an appropriate place to start. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So mine came from Justin, uh, actually just this morning. It was lucky cause I hadn't quite decided what I wanted for the final notes. And then, uh, Justin sent this clip from a whole program. It's 40 plus minutes from YouTube, all about, uh, Dick Prenike. It's called at home in the wilderness. It's part of a series from KTVA called frontiers, uh, from what I can gather. So this feels more like a new segment than anything else, but it's quite long. And it's, it's all about his history in getting to Alaska. And then once he got to Alaska, there's the story we already know, building the cabin, living there for 30 years, et cetera, et cetera. But then now it looks at his effect on conservation in the area. Um, how his cabin has become an attraction. You can take a plane and take a tour of it with a Ranger and all this kind of stuff. And kind of the modern context of Lake Clark park and Dick's cabin. I watched this pretty quickly when Justin sent it in. So a huge thank you, Justin, for sending it. And it's like a really sweet, simple, nicely produced look at Preniky and his effect on the world and how it's not just us that are kind of like loosely obsessed with this guy and think that he kind of represents something special from his era in what he did in the late 60s. And then the fact that these videos have survived. And there's a bunch of footage in there of him actually speaking, which I thought was pretty cool because, of course, Alone in the Wilderness, it's narrated based on his texts. Yeah. Yeah. I highly recommend this. Like I said, a really nice suggestion from Justin to send this in, but it's called Frontiers Dick Prenikey at Home in the Wilderness. I really liked it. It's like a solid, calm, sweet home, sort of 45 minutes. |
| James | Yeah. I watched about the first 10 or 15 minutes of it and I'm eager to get back to it. I never get enough of Dick Prenikey and I think he's one of these guys or it's one of those stories that I come back to time and again when I'm feeling kind of caught up in, you know, the trappings of the world or frustrated with, you know, how busy I am or, or stresses of every day. It's like, you know, here's, here's an alternative view at a much more extreme end of the spectrum of ways to live, but one that kind of grounds you to watch this and realize what, what is important and what can be done and how you can scale back. And I realized coming after, you know, an episode when we were talking about Um, gear and that sort of stuff. I think, you know, he, he lived with what he could kind of carry in and, and, and build, but I think the, the vibe or the ethic, um, that, that he espoused, I think is one that we, we embrace, uh, philosophically. And I think, uh, I think it's just so admirable. And, and the other thing I was struck by is he embarked on this adventure of a lifetime, if you will, for 30 years at the age that I am right now. Uh, which is, was very striking to me. I mean, this wasn't something he set off to do at age 25. I was really struck by this as well. Sometimes you forget. I'm 52 and this is when he left, you know, his, his life in the lower 48 behind to kind of go up and build a cabin from scratch and live there for the rest of his life. And I think that was a very poignant to me. It kind of struck that, you know, you can, you can kind of do anything and start whenever you need to or whenever you want. So that's a, that's a really great recommendation. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. He did a full reinvention. I think the video is really nice. And it's a reminder that like, do you need to leave society entirely and go do your own thing in the middle of nowhere? No, probably not. He did. Yeah. But I think most people could just learn little pieces of that. Right. Right. Thanks again, Justin, for that. Jason, what have you got? |
| James | Yeah, I've got, um, I've got a series that, um, came out recently on, uh, BBC and, and you can watch it through their iPlayer. Um, uh, now technically, Um, this would not normally be available outside of the UK, but I, I really wanted to watch this. And so I found a way to watch it using a VPN. Um, that's kind of put my, put my virtual location somewhere in the UK. And, uh, I had read the book. I'd probably recommended this a year or two ago, um, written by Ben McIntyre, who's one of my favorite nonfiction authors. And the series is called SAS rogue heroes. And it's about the formation of the special air service. back in, uh, in the early 1940s during world war II, this was the, uh, or is the, um, the British special forces unit that was kind of founded as a, as kind of this covert group of, uh, unconventional warriors, uh, slash commandos who, you know, started out by, you know, parachuting into the desert in North Africa and then raiding Nazi airfields along the coast, the Mediterranean coast up through Libya and Egypt. And the book was outstanding. I would actually recommend reading the book first, but I've already done that. So, um, I think the series, I was a little hesitant to start watching it because I'd read mixed reviews that maybe they kind of watered it down or kind of made it a little bit too. Um, you know, flashy, um, for, for palatability for, for most people, but I really enjoyed it. The acting is great. Um, from what I can tell and what I've read, the authenticity of, of what they portray is, is pretty spot on. They do some an act, anachronistic things like putting Like ACDC rock music over some of their exploits, which seems kind of a little jarring sometimes, but I think it sort of works. This was a series that was created and directed by the guy who did, uh, uh, the series Peaky blinders. I haven't really watched that, but if people kind of know that they kind of know the general vibe or this guy's style. Um, but it's, uh, it was fun. It was a fun watch. It was, uh, six episodes and I kind of blasted through them over the weekend. here and there, you know, get up early in the morning and I just pop in my AirPods and watch it on my laptop. Nice. Um, so yeah, if you, if you're in the UK and you can see this, I recommend it if not. Um, and you have the ability to kind of pretend you're in the UK, um, and, and stream this, uh, check it out. SAS rogue heroes on BBC iPlayer. |
| Jason Heaton | That sounds great, man. I'll definitely have to check that out. I haven't read the book, so maybe I'll start with the book. Why not add yet another one to the pile? It is winter after all. |
| James | Yeah, definitely. All right. Well, that was, uh, that was a good episode. I mean, I realized we're only like mid November talking about winter, but you know, as I look out the window, I mean, it's, it's here and it will be soon for, I'm sure a lot of our listeners. |
| Jason Heaton | Absolutely. And the other thing I wanted to ask just before we finished this episode is do all of you listening want some sort of like a gift guide for 2022 episode, like something we should do in the next week or two? Um, we've done them in the past. They're always like seemingly, popular episodes, but I don't know if it's something that people would want considering how much we've talked about product in general over the last year. Let us know in the comments if we get a few comments saying like a gift guide for 2022 would be great. We'll probably divide it up by price points and we'll go from there. I think that's what we've done in the past. So if you think you'd like that, let us know in the comments on Substack. If you want to be part of the comments, you don't have to pay anything. You just need a Substack account. If you want to support the show, that's $5 a month gets you the Q&A. or $100 a year, which also gets you a selection of either a 20 or a 22 millimeter strap with the TGN signed buckle, a sticker, et cetera. And then both of those get the slack and the other benefits we talked about at the top of the show. |
| James | All right. As always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or as James said, consider supporting the show and picking up a TGN signed NATO, visit thegreatnado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by JazzArr via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Theodore Roosevelt, who said, courage is not having the strength to go on. It's going on when you don't have the strength. |