[pct-l] Marmot Precip

[Scott Williams]

Good info!  For years, until it was stolen from my car at a trailhead a few
months ago, I used an old Go-lite non-breathable rain jacket with great
results.  When walking across WA in 2010 with rain or drizzle for roughly
half the days, I gave lessons on Eskimo walking to several of the younger
folks who had a tendency to become hypothermic.  This is basically to just
slow down to the point that you are not perspiring, or very little at most,
as we are always sweating to some extent.  An Inuit would freeze to death
if he ever really built up a sweat when walking and so learns to moderate
his or her pace.   Some of the folks hiking with me would walk behind just
to get easier with the slower pace, but once they stopped sweating and just
traveled fast enough to keep their core temp up, but not sweat, their
clothing under their rain gear stayed much dryer and much warmer.  Anyway,
it's kind of a dance between too slow and cooling off, or going too fast
and sweating too much.  Even the best breathable raincoats will seem like
their leaking if you are working too hard, as they can't let the
perspiration out fast enough and it condenses on the cold, wet outer
shell.  Pace yourself on rainy days.

I have carried a trekking umbrella since reading Jardine's PCT Handbook
years ago.  With the combination of a very basic raincoat, and the ability
to keep rain off most of my upper body, I could walk with the jacket open
most of the time.  If the rain was blowing, I zipped up and walked a bit
slower.  Plus, it kept my camera dry and I could shoot great pix in the
misty forests of WA and snowfall in the deserts.

That being said, I'm about to step out for a climb of Diablo on the
waterfall trail with Why Not, in a pouring rain, as we're finally getting
some weather in the Bay Area.  After that it's an afternoon of chanterelle
hunting in the East Bay Hills.  How's that for a rainy day activity! Get on
outside and test yourself in the weather wherever you are as you'll hit
nearly every kind of weather this continent can throw at you, but mostly
gorgeous sunny days, so don't despair.  But being ready for the wild stuff
can make it a lot more fun.

Shroomer

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 6:05 AM, John Abela <abela at johnabela.com> wrote:

> Well Said Jim.
>
>
> A few months back I wrote an article that falls right in line with
> this matter called "What is "Core Temperature" - How important is it -
> What you need to do and know!" and while it was not a medical approach
> to anything it was intended to be a reminder to hikers that we have
> sort of forgotten the reality of what is really important when it
> comes to gear and staying safe.
>
>
> http://www.redwoodoutdoors.com/2011/10/what-is-core-temperature-how-important.html
>
> I have hiked hundreds and hundreds of miles in the rain without a rain
> jacket or rain pants in the last few years - living in the Redwood
> forests helps of course ;)
>
> Realistically, for hikers, a rain jacket exists to keep your
> core-temperature stabilized when it is both raining/snowing and the
> temperatures drop - thus having the need of a WVP which also helps
> trap the body temperature in (core temperature regulation).
>
> So, this just leads to the questions that in the end, a good
> rainjacket is one that will breath just long enough for the rain to
> hopefully stop, and keep the water off your core body, and while still
> breathing trap enough heat inside to maintain your core temperature.
> There are rain jackets that are $300+ that can do this and there are
> ones that are $80 bucks that can do this. There are ones that weight
> 18 ounces that can do this and ones that are 4 ounces that can do
> this. So it just all comes down to whether you believe in being a
> hiker who believes in laying your cloths and how much money you want
> to spend and how heavy you want your backpack to be. The Marmot PreCip
> meets these requirements while doing so at a decent price and weight.
>
> John B. Abela
> HikeLighter.Com
> RedwoodOutdoors.Com
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