Non-pyrophobic belay jacket?

Im pretty sure epic is highly flammable. I cannot buy BD tents in NY due to their construction using epic.

Thanks Jon – so Epic is out.

> so Epic is out.
Gross misjudgement.
EPIC is not used for tents in some States because they have arcane and totally irrelevant laws requiring huge amounts of flame retardant in the fabric. That might suit family camping tents made of canvas; it does NOT suit lightweight walking shelters.
Total farce, actually.

That's right. It is an over statement.

In MN, tents fall under the same import laws as child toys. Child toys must have a level of fire retardant that greatly exceeds what most people would consider logical for camping. Basically, most normal tents can have a stove burning in them (note: this is not safe, don't do it) and they will not go up in flame if the flame touches the tent material for a period of time. In the case of BD, they have removed some, but not all, of this fire retardant to make it lighter. Because of this, they are no longer "safe children's toys" and cannot be imported into Minnesota.

That said, I do not know if the fire retardant is applied to the EPIC threads themselves or if is added as a coat to the EPIC after production. That is, I don't know if EPIC is inherently fire retardant or if BD coats the EPIC to make it fire retardant. Your EPIC jacket may not have any fire retardant if it is applied to the fabric rather than the thread.

Fire retardant is generally applied to tent fabrics along with a PU coating. Note that many lightweight tents will use fabric with a sil face and PU back in order pass the CPAI-84 fire retardancy standard. This makes for a heavier fabric than straight silnylon, but also allows for their products to be sold in all states (see the problem with BD above).

If this PU coating were applied to an Epic fabric, it would negate any of the benefits of Epic because it would block the "micro-pores" (as Nextec calls them).

Non-pyrophobic = pyrophilic.

What you are after is a non-pyrophilic jacket which is in fact a pyrophobic jacket!

Please excuse the pedantry…

Pedantry excused, but I maintain I'm looking for a non-pyrophobic jacket, which turns out to be a pyrophilic jacket, or so it seems. However, I'm not so sure I'm looking for a fire-loving jacket so much as a jacket that is not inordinately afeared of fire, or not any more than I am.

I'm not so concerned about bursting in flames, although I'd rather avoid that also, but am looking first to avoid burning campfire floaters and popped embers from frying holes in fragile microfibers. I'm not clumsy around a fire or anything, I'd just rather not have to worry or take special precautions while cooking or chatting.

Is Epic any better in this sense than ballistic nylon and similar? Any other materials recommended?