[pct-l] 8 times warmer than wool

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Paul,

I have some experience that may contribute to your qiviut investigation.  Years
ago I became a firm believer in the versatility of having a breathable,
insulating layer for warmth with an outer shell for wind and rain
resistance, in a way that I could wear one, the other, or both as weather
and exertion conditions indicated.

The windbreaker layer decision was relatively simple once I had tried – and
tossed out – the fully waterproof options and the then-emerging magical
Gore-Tex and its related cousins.  What then remained was to choose the most
efficient breathable warmth layer.  My initial thought was that unity – 100%
good – would be something like a stand-alone layer of down, but clearly with
nothing to hold it together and in place it couldn’t literally be goose
down.  I needed the next-best-thing as a compromise.  Many of the modern
insulations are great, i.e. things like bubble-wrap or gas expandable
poly-styrene bead foam, but most have physical problems or won’t breathe, so
they were off the list.

The next thing I tried was old-school, but seemed very promising:  I was
trolling around the local thrift store and I found a wool, pull-over sweater
unlike any other I’ve used.  I expect new it would have been ruinously
expensive and I wouldn’t have tried it, but I bought for $3.  It was
actually a large, women’s size which fit me, and it was a Lopapeysa made in
Iceland of the softest, lightest, most long-strand wool I’ve ever seen.  Owing
to its long fibers it could be knitted very loosely, so for its weight it
had the most loft of anything I’d yet seen short of down.  In this respect
it may approach something knitted of yak or musk ox under-fur.

When I tested it in the cold with a windbreaker, I thought it was a
dream-come-true:  Extremely light, flexible, and high-loft.  I still have
it, and use it occasionally, but against the all-important breathability
criteria it went past the tipping point for PCT weather.  It was so loosely
knitted that without the windbreaker layer I could literally feel even the
slight breeze from walking, and in spite of its superior loft I might as
well not even had it on.   If I always had to always wear a windbreaker
layer with it, I would be almost better off wearing a down jacket.  I needed
something with at least partial wind resistance instead.

This all happened over thirty years ago, and at that time a new fabric
became popular for outdoor garments: Poly pile.  Most people don’t remember
it, but it was similar to, a progenitor of, and was quickly replaced by,
poly fleece except the pile was only fuzzy on one side.  I got a jacket made
of pile and it was OK except with only one layer of fuzz it was a bit heavy
for its loft, and it also had somewhat low wind resistance.  All that lead
to the acceptable compromise that I currently use: poly fleece.  It breathes
well, has at least some wind resistance when worn alone, and – like pile –
has tremendous tolerance for moisture.  In a word, it insulates well and
feels good when it’s wet.

A later development of was “windstopper fleece” which is two layers of light
fleece sandwiched around a thin center core of wind-resistant foam.  It
works OK, and I like the pair of gloves I have made of it, but it is too
thick and heavy for my PCT-weather insulation, it doesn’t breathe nearly as
well as plain fleece, and I still need a windbreaker with it.

A summary of all that is, I wouldn’t invest in a qiviut garment unless it
could be bought at a reasonable price and was to be worn mostly, or
entirely, in a wind-protected environment.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 7:27 PM, Paul Robison <paulrobisonhome at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Has anyone here ever splurged for a qiviut product?
>
> Is it all hype ?  I was thinking how thin and light qiviut products could
> be... Seems ideal for thru hikers ... Benefits of wool and down.
>
> Sent from my iPod
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