I’ve decided to use my balcony and the cool daytime temperatures to do some clothing tests, in preparation for my spring camping trip. Today I sat out on my balcony in a variety of clothes combinations to see how I would feel. The temperature was 10 degrees and the wind was 32km, gusting to 41km, WSW. I put warm clothing on my legs, and then varied what I was wearing on my torso.
Clothes that didn’t change during the experiment: cotton long johns, warm socks, a long sleeved thermal undershirt, pants, hiking boots, gortex wind pants, fleece neckwarmer, fleece hat, gloves.
Clothing that was tested: Wool sweater (just under 2 pounds), fleece sweater (11 ounces), winter coat (1 pound, 7 ounces), gortex shell (1 pound 4 ounces), k-way (8 ounces).
Findings: I know that not having a water resistant or water proof layer wasn’t an option, so I didn’t test the fleece and sweater by themeselves. The K-way and gortex shell performed identically heat wise. By themselves, they didn’t cut it. With either the fleece or the wool sweaters, they were fine (with hoods up). However, there is the issue of breathability. The winter jacket worked fine by itself. However, it is water resistant, not water proof
Some further comments: I was doing this test just sitting still, to mimic conditions where it is night and you are just sitting around camp. Under these conditions, could I have gotten away with less on my legs, or fewer items in the hat and mittens department? Probably not, with this level of wind. As it was, my legs felt cooler than my torso, my hands were cool and I could feel the wind on my neck where it wasn’t covered by the neck warmer.
Here’s an
interesting discussion on using gortex vs using nylon.
posted at 13:58 on Fri, 01 Apr, 2005 |
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All material copyrighted by Jen Schellinck. All rights reserved.