Am doing a round the world trip soon, and most of it will be high altitude stuff so pretty much guarantee 0c and lower, any tips on low weight durable gear?
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 Down is as light as you'll get for good insulation, if you look after it then it should last for years, but it doesn't really do neglect and abuse like a fleece or the like. For a big trip down also has the advantage of compressing very well and being very light. Pete.
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 arktis antarctica shirt like a buffalo but much better
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 PHD do some great stuff to wear and sleep in.
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 Merino underwear! So comortable and Anti-oderant properties are a big plus.
Black is probably the more pratical colour. If you only get one piece, get a T Shirt style vest.
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 Danny, I'd disagree with you on the black thing (though agree entirely with the merino thing - I've got a pair of underwear that I wore for ten days without changing out of and no problems!). Black conducts heat very effectively, so is cold to stop in, cools you down fastest, and makes you bake in the sun, particularly if in snow or on a glacier. It covers dirt well, but if you stand next to a black rock you disappear - not ideal if someone's trying to find you. Then again, that's the whole 'being safe' vs. 'being intrusive' thing.
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 Black "is cold to stop in". Sorry Mr F, I have to disagree. I run ridiculously cold and have been astonished to find that when stopping for food etc on cold, windy summits I am comfortable in just a black merino long sleeve tee whilst everyone else is pulling on an extra layer and wondering when I came over all hard.
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I think colour will only affect radiant heat behaviour, and leave insulative properties unaffected. If you get a black T shirt, it's blackness only has an effect when it's the outer layer -so you're down to your t-shirt anyhoo and so not really demanding max warmth. For cold cold, it's just an effective layer For general temperate wear merino does seem to have a very wide comfort range and it's easy care. For an RTW trip, get a black and a white one?
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Good point about the fact i'll only make a difference when it's the top layer. Forgot that one...
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 arktis antarctica shirt like a buffalo
Not really. In fact, nothing much like a Buffalo shirt at all. Now, had you said that it was similar / patterned after a Swedish army shirt, I'd have agreed with you. The Ulfrotte kit is better though.
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 And for the heat to get radiated it would mean that the outer layer of clothing is quite warm suggesting that whatever is under it isn't doing too good a job. Obviously the black will also absorb radiation better than other colours. Thus in sunlight it may or may not be coolest or warmest depeding on how hot you are and how warm the sun is *, in the shade it will likely be the coolest. * - I know that the sun will be pretty much the same temperature baring sunspots and the like and what I really mean is the amount of radiated energy reaching you per unit area of clothing.
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 I thought black absorbed heat, not conducted it. ".............and wondering when I came over all hard." It was probably when you caught sight of that really good looking sheep, Simon.
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| Edited: 21/12/07 23:12 |
Research shows that colour has little effect on felt temperature. That's why many Bedouin wear black - it makes no difference.
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Black both absorbs and radiates heat. However colours don't conduct heat. Radiated heat is however of little significance and absorbed radiation is of little significance unless in strong direct sunlight. You'll lose far more heat by conduction, convection and evaporative cooling than by radiation. Oh and if it's windy then you can consider that to be super-convection.
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 Sorry to come in as the voice of physics but... In fact, the 'blackness' of clothing is only really related to their behaviour in the visible part of the spectrum. That is to say that, if a fabrics absorbs light in the visible range that is what we define as black. But almost all fabrics are 'black' in the thermal infrared - the wavelength in which heat is lost to the environment. So wearing black will make you hotter in sunshine but won't make any appreciable difference to heat loss to a cold environment. This is why it is a bad idea to wear black baselayers if you intend to do a glacier crossing - you'll likely strip down to your baselayer and roast in the sun! Coatings are being developed that can modify the emissivity of fabrics in the infrared - so far applicable to keeping black motor bike clothing from overheating in the sunshine.
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| Edited: 23/12/07 19:24 |
This thread is getting far too serious. " ".............and wondering when I came over all hard." It was probably when you caught sight of that really good looking sheep, Simon. " I doubt it Dynddinas, they all look good to me.  
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