Would you wear this on a Sierra trip?

[Ben C]

I'll travel from the east for a 9 day trip in some high Sierra trail and off trail paths in early August. Would you wear this 3.5 ounce non-breathable cuben jacket with big open short sleeves as your rain protection? I'll have a windshirt too. Give me your thoughts. And I already know it looks goofy.

[Justin Baker]

Yes, I would. Should work fine. I usually have my rain jacket sleeves rolled up anyways when on the move.

[Dale Wambaugh]

I wouldn't wear it to walk the dog! My first impression is why bother? I'll put this in the "stupid light" column. It is designed with weight over function: light, but sweaty, no lower abdomen/upper leg protection. Two good switchbacks in warm summer rain and you'll be as wet inside as out and your shorts will be sticking to your legs. Might as well take a trash bag at next to zero cost.

A GoLite poncho is ~3.5oz more and gives exponentially better coverage— and ventilation. Why isn't someone knocking out good SUL ponchos?

[Ryan Smith]

Given that the chance of rain is going to be very low, yeah, I think you could use it as a just in case piece. I took 6oz DriDucks for an 8 day Sierra trip last year and needed them for about 30 mins total.

Ryan

[jscott]

Dale: +1. It never rains in California in August…until it does. Nine days? the weather report doesn't project that far. Bring actual rain gear.

Here's a quote from Shawn posted a few minutes ago in a nearby Rain Gear thread: "I hike in the Sierra Nevada area. So rain is hit and miss but the last three years in a row I was in some torrential stuff for 7-10 days in a row while I was on extended trips."

Torrential is the operative word.

[Justin Baker]

"Two good switchbacks in warm summer rain and you'll be as wet inside as out"

Any ultralight rain jacket will get you sweaty.

"your shorts will be sticking to your legs"

Why is that a problem?

"Might as well take a trash bag at next to zero cost."

A trash bag has no hood and you can't get a good seal around the neck. Also no seal around the armpits.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Why doesn't it have sleeves? I suppose you could bring some breadbags as emergency sleeves in the event this short-sleeved thing doesn't do it for you.

In the Sierra in August if it's going to rain, most likely it will rain in the afternoon and you'll be able to see it coming. You could always just wait out any rain by setting up your tent. You could also just wrap your polycryo ground sheet around you like a shawl and leave that silly short-sleeved thing home.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Justin opined:

"Two good switchbacks in warm summer rain and you'll be as wet inside as out"

Any ultralight rain jacket will get you sweaty.

"your shorts will be sticking to your legs"

Why is that a problem?

"Might as well take a trash bag at next to zero cost."

A trash bag has no hood and you can't get a good seal around the neck. Also no seal around the armpits.

===========================================

I didn't recommend an UL rain jacket, but I did recommend a poncho. I did compare the jacket to a trash bag and with all it's deficiencies, the user isn't out a wad of cash for a rain jacket that DOESN'T WORK. You could hike naked and put your clothes back on when it stops— there has to be some Leave No Trace issue there ;)

Hiking with cold wet shorts sticking to your legs sucks. Been there.

And a poncho will keep your pack dry, including the suspension. It will also double as emergency shelter, cook shelter and shade. Costs less too.

===========================================

I have to agree that a DriDucks jacket would be much better. We should also throw an umbrella in the mix, which would still have some use on hot barren trails if it doesn't rain.

I'm sorry, but that Cuben jacket is just useless.

[Ben C]

To clarify, I'll have a cuben kilt also. It will keep my lower torso and upper legs dry. I don't mind my lower legs getting wet at all.
It's also a little like a poncho in that the arms are not covered and there are very large arm holes to give it a poncho-like feel.
I have taken it before when expecting good weather and have used it for short downpours. It's a little sweaty but bearable for short periods.
I wouldn't use it here in the east for a9 day trip because the likelihood of sustained rain is so high. But it seems like it might be a good fit for Sierra weather.

[d k]

But if you are hiking in the Sierra at 10,000 feet, and if there IS sustained rain, will it keep you warm enough? The rain at that altitude is not generally warm, in my experience. Sometimes it even comes down in hard little pellets (hail) in August (which is actually going to get you less cold than close-to-freezing rain). This is what happened to me in 40 minutes last August, while temps dropped from 65 to 42 F during that time:

Luckily by the time it started, I had put up my tent.

[USA Duane Hall]

No!! If you are easily chilled like me, you need to keep more of your body dry, you can always take rain gear off or roll up the sleeves on your top. At 61, I'm thinking I need rain pants or a kilt, as last summer in the Evolution Valley area, the start of my third day, I was wet from my waist down after hiking less than an hour as I only had a anorak, cold hands, just kept moving till things cleared, blowing on my hands to warm them. If you live where it gets cold, you know what I mean. I changed plans, as I was going to do some short distance XC hiking, but since everything was wet and cold, I scrubbed a day of my trip.
Duane

[Billy Ray]

NO! I live in the Sierra and I wouldn't depend on that for a day hike, let a long a 9 day trip!

"It's also a little like a poncho in that the arms are not covered and there are very large arm holes to give it a poncho-like feel."

Your arms (and hands) can get freezing cold using a poncho with cold rain/hail/slush at altitude in the Sierra. I mean hand stinging/hurting cold… even wearing a long sleeve rain jacket… having wet/cold arms only makes the hands even colder… btw… take rain gloves too… especially if you plan to use poles

"I wouldn't use it here in the east for a9 day trip because the likelihood of sustained rain is so high. But it seems like it might be a good fit for Sierra weather."

I don't think Sierra weather is as predictable as it's reputation. I have headed out with a forecast of sunny days for the next week only to be dumped on starting the second day for 6 days straight… freezing cold rain and hail.

BTW… this has been one of the rainiest May thru early July periods I have seen in the Sierra in the past 30 years.

Billy

[Allen C]

it is supposed to rain every day this week in the sierras. you would be quite wet in that, but if you are OK with stopping early to get in the tent/tarp it might be adequate.

[Terry Sparks]

Spend $20.00 for some Dri Ducks and another couple of bucks on a box of trash compactor bags if you don't already have them. A compactor bag makes a great pack liner. Also spend $20.00 on a pair of scuba diving gloves that are one size larger than you need to keep your hands warm in freezing rain, especially if you use trekking poles. This was all I used for my PCT thru- last year, never wore the rain pants and did great.

My glove system is from freezing hands during a winter swift water rescue class when, on the first day I became hypothermic and had to figure out a better way to stay warm. What I did was add two pair of nitrile gloves to my hands and then put on my dive gloves before getting into 40* water for the rescue senarios and it worked great. Just adding the nitrile gloves toy hands took me from being cold and miserable to comfortable with nothing else added to my wet suit. From this, I started using these gloves for cold, wet weather hiking, adding just what I need to keep my hands warm and for little weight. For me, no cold useless hands while hiking or when I make camp.

[Tom D.]

I have to agree with those who say to take at least a Dri-Ducks or some other full rain jacket. I've been hiking in the Sierras nearly every summer (including a few JMT trips) for the last 35+ years, and I've either been rained on or had to plan around the rain most years. My last JMT trip in 2012 (Late July to mid-August), we got at least some rain 7 days of our 21 day trip (despite it being a drought year), including 4 consecutive days of heavy thunderstorms with a hailstorm on Muir pass, similar to what DK described. Without proper rain gear, our hike would have been done and we'd have gone home in disappointment.

You might not get rain, but you need to plan for it. Bring proper rain gear.

[Cameron M]

Hypothermia kills the unprepared.

[Sam Riggle]

Isn't that a TrailLite Designs CloudCape? IceAxe loved his on his AT thru hike. (From what I remember reading) He had multiple uses for it, including rain gear, partial groundsheet and even a partial VBL for the extra cold nights. A CloudCape and CloudKilt are basically a poncho.

(I don't endorse this for use the Sierra. Montane Minimus Smock-5oz pretty good jacket. Check it out)

[Roger Caffin]

Debbie wrote:
> Luckily by the time it started, I had put up my tent.

And don't you feel just so happy when you are sitting inside your tent, making coffee or dinner, while that stuff comes down outside? Well, maybe 'smug'?
:-)

Cheers

[Ben C]

Sam, that is a Cloudcape. I have the matching Cloudkilt too. I picked them up really chep from someone awhile back. They seem to have some real utility to me, but I have very limited experience with the Cloudcape. I have used the kilt extensively and really like it. I'm a little surprised to see the poncho fans so down on this option as it does seem to have a lot of similarities to a poncho.

The cape is baggy. The arm holes are big. It will keep me dry down to about the elbows. I think it will likely keep rain out as well as or better than a poncho. I know it vents worse than a poncho but it does vent some.

I tend to agree with Justin on the appropriateness of this cape for the Sierra. But I hear a lot of people telling me I'd be stupid relying on it. And the Sierra is not my territory. I've spent some time at elevation in the Sierra and in Colorado but have never really had extended bad weather. So I'm leaning towards taking one of my traditional rain jackets or driducks

[Ben C]

Dale, I wouldn't walk my dog in it either. My neighbors would call the police. Admittedly, it is ugly.

[Lori P]

I might wear it around camp. Never hiking. If it's warm enough, I just let the rain fall. Better damp from rain than sweat – jackets are horrible in the high Sierra when it's too warm. If it's torrential rain/snow and cold, I would put on the rain gear.

Snow falls every month of the year, in some fashion, so sometimes, it does get that cold.

I use a poncho and/or umbrella. Rain jackets have generally failed me when I needed them.

Off trail paths?

[Sam Riggle]

You could definitely get by with it as long as you know the limitations of it. I know the cape plus kilt will keep you dry enough and warm enough in the event of sustained rain. You're arms will get a bit wet, but the same happens with a poncho, as you said.

If the cape is your only option for rain protection on your upper half, and you can't get another jacket, then use it. I just think it would be a better idea to try it out on some shorter trips first. That's what I meant when I said I don't endorse it. I should have clarified that I don't endorse you using it for the first time in the Sierra on a trip of that length. That's all. I believe you could make it work.

If you have time to test it out on some rainy day hikes, that would be best, I think. If i was you, I would try to get a test run with the Cloud set up as a whole during a rainy day hike. But, if I was unable to get s good test, and I had access to a proven rain jacket, I would choose option 2. That's just what I would do.

Again, you could most likely make it work, but is it worth the risk? Only you can decide that man.

[jscott]

the problem is if you end up 'testing' this while going up and over a pass in cold rain/sleet, which could take 3 hours or more. Perhaps not likely in August, but it has happened to me and others. Hypothermia is not your friend. Frankly, I can't understand the whole 'I'll save six ounces by carrying this piece of crap rain gear' mentality. Leave one powerbar home and, voila, you can carry more reasonable rain gear with no penalty.

You're not likely to want to stop and try to pitch your tent to get out of the elements at an exposed pass that you're trying to traverse while its sleeting and blowing. So you press on and too late realize that it's going to take some real time to find shelter. Meanwhile, your lousy rain gear has failed and now you're in trouble.

[Ben C]

Sam, I have several other options. I have driducks, a fairly light Rab eVent anorak, and a light Rab Pertex Shield + jacket (same material as your Montane smock, I believe). And I have used the cuben cape in eastern mountain conditions a little. I'm just hoping to get a little location specific advice on the use of this piece. I probably agree its not worth the risk based on the advice here and my limited experience in sustained storms at 11,000 feet. I was just considering it because the Sierra seems to get little rain and because its so darn light. Honestly, it feels pretty durable too.

[Ben C]

I wouldn't describe this as a piece of crap. Its got a water proof zipper, the hood is pretty good, and I am confident it is waterproof and plenty durable.

I've been in rain/hail storms in the higher, western mountains. But they've always been short-lived. I feel confident wearing this kind of cape in those conditions.

What I have heard, importantly, is that I should be prepared for longer periods of rain on a 9 day August trip high in the Sierra. I don't really want to wear this cape in those conditions.

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