Puffy Down Jacket

[Keith]

I recently hiked in a down jacket and soaked it from sweating.  Can you hike in them or are they just good around camp?

[John B]

If you were warm enough that you started sweating significantly, you had on too much insulation.  Better to start out a bit cold/cool as your body will start to generate a bit more heat as you hike.  It isn't so much the down jacket itself but that you were wearing too much insulation for the conditions/temperature.

[ppine]

Down is best for rest stops and being around camp at night.   Usually it is too warm for hiking.  Exceptions might be the Rockies in winter when it is below zero, or for winter mountaineering.  I used to wear a light down ski jacket in Colorado in the winter because there was a lot of wind and cold temperatures above 10,000 feet. 

[K. Urs Grutter]

second ppine. It's not a good idea to sweat into your insulation. It will be compromised and you will freeze on stops or during the night. People still can die from exposition.

[a_gunslinger]

Better than puffy would be a wicking base layer with a smartwool or similar layer over that to absorb the wicked moisture.  If its so cold you need to hike in puffy, have a middle layer to absorb some moisture instead of puffy.  Hike with it unzipped.

[Michael aka Mac]

Considering the length of time since Keith posted his question I will be answering this for future readers instead.

1st let me add that we are not aware of what Keith was wearing besides his down puff jacket.  Typically one would wear a wicking base layer, then the down puff jacket followed by a windproof, waterproof outer shell.  

The outer shell should have ventilation zippers ( these are usually under the arm pits although i have also seen a few that had zippers on the back or front for added ventilation) . As soon as you start warming up, prior to getting to the point of sweating ( warming up but not warm) you unzip the arm pit ventilation zippers.  

Now if you are still feel as if you are getting warmer the next step is to remove your outer shell.   As you continue on your journey if you are doing moderate exertion you will need to unzipper your down jacket. It may even get to the point that you remove your down jacket and put back on your outer shell jacket.

It is called a layered system as you begin to remove layers to prevent yourself from sweating- or the reverse, adding a layer to prevent from getting chilled.  

The most important thing you need to focus on is not overheating and sweating. (Your body loses heat 25 times faster when wet) . Down when wet is absolutely useless,  not to mention it is gonna stink to high heaven when left wet for an extended period of time. Nothing like senor stinky  (jeff dunham the voice ventriloquist reference) .