Equipment |
Clothes |
Equipment clothes
Let me start with baselayers. Cotton doesn’t work well in situation when we are sweating. Synthetic clothing has certainly better moisture control and transfer the sweat outside, which is why almost all sports apparel are made of lightweight synthetic (usually nylon). Nylon has a different density, can be light or heavy, obviously the lighter the better breathability, but less durability. The problem is the smell after several hours of wearing such clothing (same with cotton). If we don’t have frequent access to washing, we need to carry spare t-shirts, underwear etc. And it weights.
Fortunately, in the late 90's company from New Zealand has revolutionised the outdoor market. Icebreaker produces clothing made from the wool. But this wool is not related to the old wool which our grandmothers used for knitting 20 years ago. Firstly, this is special wool from Merino mountain sheep. Secondly, Icebreaker selects the best species of sheep and fibre size is extremely impressive (diameter 17.5 micron). Even those who theoretically are allergic to wool and normally wool is itchy for them, often change their minds. I tried 100% merino wool and I'm delighted. In addition to a nice soft touch, another phenomenon is its antibacterial performance, which means no odour. On my solo walk through Australian Simpson Desert I couldn’t afford to carry extra weight - I didn’t have spare baselayers. After 10-day hike I took a shower and my Icebreaker still didn’t stink! Unfortunately every garment has some disadvantages. Here it is certainly the durability. Friction occurs in places like where I wear the backpack hip belt and shoulder straps, the holes begin to appear over the time. Usually after two bigger trips I must throw out that T-shirt. There wouldn’t be a tragedy if not the fact that such a t-shirt costs about €60. I'm lucky that as an outdoor employee I attended some training sessions, where we often got some discounts on products. I used it straight away.
The wool has a different thickness. Starting from 150 (grams per square meter), and ending at 380.
T-shirts with a thickness of 150 and 200 can be worn even in summer, as that is thermoregulation garment (not thermal), act like flask - keeps the temperature constant. Just like nature has equipped the sheep – keep them cool when heat outside and warm them up when the snow lies around.
So, on a trip, I take just one short sleeve T-shirt 150 and one long sleeve 200, and if it’s a trip longer than one week, I take one more T-shirt. The same applies with the underwear - relaxed (loose) boxers (€37), one on myself and one spare in the backpack. Socks are a slightly different matter, since 100% merino wool is rubbing in a shoe, Icebreaker produces now 60 to 85% merino wool socks, and reinforced them in toes and heal sections with nylon and elastane (stretch). It is obvious that antibacterial performance is decreasing, but we still can wear these socks for a few days (the world record is 196 days non-stop). For trekking I buy socks with heavy cushion (unfortunately €24), one with mid cushion, and one thin socks for sleeping or walking in the camp (if under 15°C degrees, otherwise two pairs would be enough). On the trip in the cold climate I take one extra merino long johns (leggings).
Currently many companies manufacture products made from merino wool. In my opinion Icebreaker has the best quality, but the management and marketing team is hard to deal with. American Smartwool is excellent.
Outer layers. In summer conditions I recommend light, breathable nylon pants. I use pants with zip-off option, so I don’t have to carry extra shorts. On the backpacking trips (not much hiking involved) I take also the lightweight nylon shirt (long sleeves against mosquitoes).
If we talking about cold climate, it's worth remember that not the clothing that keeps you warm, but this is the warm air that circulates between the layers. As Mike Horn said: „it's not the clothing that warms the body but the body that warms the clothing. That is why tight clothing is to be avoided and why roomy clothes are ideal”. In very cold climate nothing should restrict your blood circulation, even slightly. You should put your mittens on like parking your car in the garage.
In cold climate, I take fleece-lined pants, merino wool long jones, and on top the windproof fleece or softshell (thickness depends on the climate). Of course, if it’s very cold, the best warm to weight ratio gives us a down jacket. You just need to be careful not get it wet. Details regarding down characteristics I described on the page with sleeping bags.
Head gear. I don’t like it at all. However, I usually need it for warmth or against the sun. In Australia I use leather hat or synthetic bandanna. In winter climate - synthetic or merino wool beanie, the windproof one is a better option. In very harsh condition balaclava is very useful, as it covers all head except the eyes. I have a low cost polypropylene one, warm but not well breathable. The gloves – same like beanie except very cold weather when I wear two layers - a thin synthetic inner layer and down or synthetic thick outer layer (mittens, gloves with no fingers are warmer). On the trip where I use hands a lot, such on ski poles, bicycle handlebars, rowing paddles, etc, it's good to have fingerless gloves (ex. cycling gloves).
In case of rain I have a waterproof jacket. My Arcteryx Alpha jacket is durable and lightweight, but very expensive. Because people wear that kind of jacket only in bad weather (so I hope not too often), it would be good to have 
Paclite style, without any extra lining (weight reduction). However for carrying backpack it is important that outer layer is reinforced on sholders (70D nylon is strong enough).
There are descriptions on the products saying “Waterproof” and ‘water repellent”. The first one means completely waterproof (waterproof membrane laminated inside the fabric), and the second one can just repel the water from the outer layer. Under the heavy rain the water repellent garment will finally let some water get through.
Waterproof jackets should be washed regularly, don’t use strong detergents, the water temperature should be no higher than 30-40°C. Double rinse might help too. It is also recommended use tumble dryer on 30°C - a thermal process activates the "water repellency" on the outer layer (DWR - durable water repellency).
There are a few more details to be mentioned about the Teflon membrane. Manufacturers introduced different names – the most popular are Gore-Tex, Event, Omni-tech, etc. Some manufacturers indicate that a product has laminated membrane, but in reality it has a membrane in critical points only, not on the entire surface. Similar with the seams, some jacket have only some sealed seams on the sleeves and shoulders, where the rain falls directly.
There is no problem to produce the waterproof product, but a good breathable one at the same time is another matter. The warmer climate the Teflon membrane is working worse and worse. I mean there is no problem with resistance to rain, but it has problem to keep the garment breathable. It’s important that jacket has good ventilation, like zips under the pit arms. The Teflon membrane has microscopic pores which are too small for water molecules, and large enough for water vapour molecule (ie. our sweat evaporation). Gas natural reaction is that the warmer one is going up and colder down (which is caused by different air pressure). However, trekking in warm climate might create temperature inside the jacket similar to that one which is outside the jacket. Then the gas molecules have no need to "escape" because the air pressure difference is insignificant. In this case, we will get wet not from the rain, but from our own sweat. Therefore, in the tropics it’s sometimes better to go from "stay dry" to "dry quickly”, using quick drying clothing (light-density nylon).
The above jacket story is adequate to the pants story. They also should have a fully sealed seams membrane, and be as light as possible and have good ventilation. Or you can use kilt, much lighter to carry.