If you're on the lower slopes of Mt. Rainier on a warm summer day, there's one piece of gear you'll see most every guide wearing: the sun hoody.

The solar oven of a large snowfield or glacier is strong enough. Combine that with high altitude, where there’s less atmosphere to absorb solar radiation, and you can get a memorable sunburn in about 30 minutes on most any exposed skin.

Sunscreen? It’s heavy, expensive, messy, and there's increasing evidence some of the chemicals enter your body through your skin, yuck!

The sun hoody is a better solution. Instead of a snug fitting, cold weather base layer, the sun hoody is a loose, long sleeve shirt with sweat wicking, UPF protection, and you guessed it, a hood. You can combine this with a ball cap style hat and even a buff for pretty much complete face protection.

One more bonus: bug protection. You can treat the shirt with Permethrin and pretty much keep those pesky insects off your upper body.

These shirts are now popular enough so you can get them from many different vendors. Most seem to have some bit of odor prevention in the fabric; your mileage may vary on the effectiveness. (The one I have is from Patagonia, and to be honest, I’m not too impressed with the anti-stink compared to my wool shirts.)

Here's a nice article on the sun hoody from Northeast Alpine Start.

Perfect for a day on the glacier, hanging in the yard with your dog . . . or maybe witness protection.

Here are a few options:

• Patagonia Cool Daily Hoody

• Black Diamond Alpenglow Hoody

• Outdoor Research Echo Hoody

• RAB Pulse Hoody (snug / athletic fit, less baggy)

• Bight Gear Solstice Graphene Hoody (designed by Rainier guides)

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