The shelter category includes sleeping shelters, sleeping bags, pads, ground cloths or tarps, clothing, hats, and underwear- if it adds an element of protection from the outside world, it falls into this category. Circumstances dictate some gear be exchanged for others, as an early season high country deer hunt and a late season elk hunt generally pose dramatically different weather conditions. That said though, the basic set up is the same, and only a few pieces need to be exchanged.
I will be starting with the clothing aspect, and the proper selection of layers that will work under all conditions. Before I dive into the layering pieces though, I want to address materials so the layering plan I set forth is understandable.
The fibers used in clothing are cotton, various synthetics, and wool – each serves a purpose, and some do specific tasks better than others. Cotton is a natural fiber that excels in handling moisture in its vapor form, allowing it to easily pass through.. Cotton postpones perspiration well, but once the sweat starts, it doesn’t effectively expunge the moisture. Synthetics on the other hand don’t handle vapor well, the petroleum-based fibers have very limited ability to absorb the water vapor the body releases constantly, so the body tends to run a little warmer and perspire sooner. Once the sweat begins though, the synthetics acts as a conduit, helping to rapidly move moisture out and regulate temperature. What this means, is that cotton works well in less athletic environs, and synthetics don’t begin to function until they are confronted with intense, sweaty effort. Unfortunately, these two materials both harbor the bacteria that thrive in our salt and fat rich perspiration, the same bacteria that results in body odor.
Wool is different. Wool works as well as cotton at handling water vapor, helping to stave off perspiration longer than synthetics can. When sweat does start though, wool absorbs it, wicking it away from the body, much like synthetics. It functions as a conduit, moving moisture from the next to skin layers, and pushing it to the outer layers where it can then evaporate. Essentially, wool is the mid ground between cotton and synthetics allowing the same piece to function well in both hot and cold weather, not one or the other.
What scares most is that the wool many of us grew up with was itchy and uncomfortable. The wool from those days was a thick fiber, no different than our own hair or skin, with small characteristic scales found on keratin. Merino wool addresses this in two ways. First, Merino wool is a very fine fiber, making it more comfortable right out of the box. Second, companies like Ice Breaker, perform a super wash on the wool, stripping the small scales off the fiber making it surprisingly smooth while retaining its desirable characteristics. As a bonus, wools, merino in particular, shed the bacteria that result in body odor.
But it gets better, refined Merino wools is structurally stabile, making it machine washable. These pieces are exceptionally easy to care for as well; they need little detergent in the washer and then need only to be hung to dry – which happens surprisingly fast. I have a friend that put 30 days in the Grand Canyon in an Ice Breaker top, then he simply rinsed out the salt stains in the sink before wearing it to school. I also recently heard about a through hiker that had gone weeks without a shower, but wore Ice Breakers garments and offered almost no “fresh out of the woods” scent. This means that a Merino wool user needs to take relatively few pieces into the field (and still not stink) a significant weight savings, plus it keeps everyone on good terms in camp as the days add up.
The next post will deal with the actual clothing elements and how to layer them for maximum effect. But I felt it important to understand the back-story that justifies some of the pieces I recommend, and where they fit into the layering scheme. Tomorrow, the blog will address the layers, and links to some of the manufacturers that produce them. As always, if you have questions, please contact me here, or at Babbitt’s Backcountry – I’m glad to answer questions and help point you in the direction of specific pieces.
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