Water World - How To Stay Dry-ish

Waterproof and breathable? The bottom line is that no conventional waterproof / breathable material yet produced is breathable enough. You will get damp from the inside unless you choose to sit stock still. To make things worse, shell materials work worst when it's raining - ideally you want a temperature and humidity gradient between the outside and inside. In real world talk, that means breahability works best when you're warm and moist inside and the outside world is very cold and very dry. Doesn't sound much like the UK where the damp atmosphere and coolness encourages condensation.

Bottom line: If you insist on moving around, you will get some dampness from within.

Wetting Out Just to make things worse, as waterproof garments age, the factory Durable Water Repellant (DWR) coating on the face (outside) fabric wears off, water soaks in - dark, wet patches - and breathability drops even lower. You may think the garment is leaking.

Bottom line: Maintain your kit, check this article for how to do it.

Feeling drier You can help yourself stay drier by wearing proper wicking baselayers and mid-layers (fleece). Not only will they help you to transport moisture away from the body so (ahem) it can condense on the inside of your shell, they'll also dry more quickly than, say, cotton and feel more comfortable when damp, though wool can work well also.

Bottom line: Wear wicking base and mid-layers

But not too much...Too much insulation is bad. When you're warm and moving you overheat, when you overheat you sweat and get damp from the inside. Wear less when moving, but more when stopped. It's better to start off feeling almost chilled, you'll soon warm up with exertion.

Bottom line: Don't overdress or overstress

Wear it well In heavy rain, water will make a bee line for the smallest chink in your clothing. It'll run down your neck, through your zips if they're not covered by a proper flap and, given half a chance, wick up your sleeves as well. Batton down and keep your hood up to stop it running down your neck. Ironically wicking clothing will help transport water inwards. Treachery... You need to balance this against careful venting to try and keep cool.

Bottom line: Batten down the hatches or they'll leak.

Boots Feet are as sweaty as any other part of you and just as hard to keep dry. The nature of walking means that your feet will dampen either through water making its way over the top of your boot, down your leg or simply from condensation. Even waterproof - breathable linings can only do so much. The one thing that no-one tells you is that the lining of the boot is crucial to comfort. We like Cambrelle - it soaks up sweat and even ingress enough to keep your feet comfortable even when wet.

Bottom line Same problem as elsewhere. If you don't wear overtrousers, water will get in through the ankle opening as well.

Gaiters and trousers In rain, wear your overtrousers over the top of gaiters. Sounds obvious no, but you'd be surprised how many people you see funneling water into their boots. In snow you're better off the other way round, wear gaiters over your trousers to stop snow being forced up inside the cuffs of the trews and to protect them from crampon damage.

Bottom line Gaiters are good, but not if you wear your overtrousers inside them.

Packs Very few packs are remotely water resistant let alone waterproof - untaped seams and zips will leak like sieves. MacPac are probably the best of the conventional brands. A pack cover will make a big difference, but makes it awkward to access the contents of the pack quickly. A heavy duty polythene liner is another solution, but they tend to hole and the seal at the top is problematical. Arguably a better solution is a canoe-type 'dry bag' with roll-over seal from the likes of Ortlieb. Heavier than a placcy bag, but tougher and safer. Alternatively the Craghoppers Dripac range uses the same principle, but as an integral part of the pack. Neat.

Bottom line Packs leak, take countermeasures or end up with soggy clothing.

Sleeping Bags Keeping your bag dry should be high priority. A waterproof stuff sac or small dry bag is ideal, but back it up by stuffing the bag into a bin liner first. If you don't have a waterproof stuf sac, using a series of plastic bags inside your stuff sack works as well. Try to get heavy duty ones and don't rely on a single bag. They will always leak eventually.

Bottom line Keep dry to avoid misery nights.

Gloves Like feet seem impossible to keep dry even with the latest waterproof / breathable membrane-lined gloves. You can help by putting the cuffs of your jacket over the glove, but even so, eventually your gloves will leak. Not only that but the constant flexing and number of seams in a glove liner mean that the waterproofing tends to fail with use anyway.

Windproof fleece gloves, like those made from Gore's Windstopper fabric, will be more water reistant than standard fleece gloves and the reduction in windchill will help to make your hands feel warmer but they will leak through the untaped seams. If you're looking for a pair of thin waterproof gloves, the only ones we know of are made by Sealskinz and, in our experience, work surpisingly well.

Bottom line They'll leak, if not straight away, then given use, and if they don't, they'll probably sweat out.

Socks We've come across two types of waterproof socks, neither of which in our experience, work particularly well. The Gore-Tex sock is a taped Gore-Tex bootie, feels horrid and, eventually seems to end up trapping water inside it instead of outside. Nasty.

Seal Skinz / Porelle Drys as well, are a more conventional sock with a waterproof liner. They work up to a point but feel cold, even with liner socks, and if you are sweaty footed, get wet from the inside. A good half measure if you have unlined fabric boots though.

Bottom line They make nice pond liners

Maps One word, Ortlieb - German-made, totally waterproof, tough, durable, sticky so you don't drop them and the compass won't slide. They are essential if you're using non-laminated maps and they last forever. You can stick a guidebook in there too. Not to be confused with traditional stiff, crackly, slidey, map cases on cords, which always leak and tend to crack as well.

Bottom line Buy an Ortlieb map case, you won't regret it.

Pockets Last but not least, we've yet to come across a waterproof jacket with pockets that are 100 per-cent reliable. Somehow water always seems to find its way inside, so if it needs to stay dry, don't put it in an exterior pocket. A better bet is an internal pocket, though it may still get damp from within, better still is inside a watertight bag in your pack.

Bottom line Popular with fish