WPG Belay/Insulated Jackets suitable for clothes drying?

Wild Things uses Epic over Primaloft- a good combination. Rab's Belay parka is Pertex Endurance over Primaloft, Arcteryx has their Fission with Gore-Tex… there are a few options, though all are robust given the intended use. Prolite has the 07 Rab piece on sale for $160.
There was a thread on this at CascadeClimbers where Feathered Freinds gave an opinion… worth looking into.

In my experience, a parka alone will not dry clothing. Damp clothes need to be dried overnight in a bag in order to sufficiently dry out… thus, the fill of my parka is not as important as that of my sleeping bag. The only reason I use a DAS Parka in winter is to avoid ripping a down jacket with crampons/tools… lots of duct tape on parkas out there.

Edit: I misread your post- thought you were asking for options… to answer, not in my experience. You won't generate enough heat while standing around belaying to dry clothes.

Thanks Michael,

(…and thanks for the parka recommendations. I saw the thread at Cascade Climbers – very interesting. Feathered Friends says their Nanosphere fabric is 'much more' storm proof than Epic)

So the next question is: if wearing a WPB belay jacket over wet/damp clothes as part of a sleep system, will the WPB jacket have sufficient breathability to allow moisture to pass through the jacket and out of the sleeping bag?

I recognize that there is tremendous variation in this situation, with varieties of WPB membranes and sleeping bags complicating the question.

But, say I put a Pro 60 parka over a moist softshell and crawl into a Primaloft bag. I'm guessing that the PU layer of the Pro 60 would be warm enough here to allow moisture to diffuse through the Parka. Correct?

If a PU/diffusion-dependent WPB layer would not work in such a system, how about an air permeable (albeit minimally air permeable) layer such as eVent or Epic?

And finally, in the situation above, but with the primaloft bag switched out for down, and with a low temp of 35F, how would I fare?

I’m not sure what the policy here is on necro threads. Should I just make a new thread?I’ve been googling the answer to this question for days and this is the only thread I’ve found so far.

Has anybody got a good answer about the synthetic WP/B insulated belay type jackets and how they are able to dry out and/or dry the clothes worn beneath them?

(Considering the MEC socked-in hoody with 30,000 gm breathability)

Nate read this …

https://www.sitkagear.com/insight/a-navy-seal-rewarming-drill

One can dry damp clothese with a synth belay jacket, some activity and perhaps a hawt nalgene …. Not to totally dry but to somewhat less damp

with a synthetic quilt/bag one can dry stuff out overnight if one has a surplus of insulation

;)

Nate is asking about layering a waterproof breathable insulated jacket over wet layers. I can’t really answer his question but I know that I can dry out a sweaty base layer under a breathable rain jacket (like my marmot essence) in a reasonably quick time while setting up camp in the evening, but that’s assuming that the face fabric is dry, which it’s usually not if I got caught in the rain.

It is also possible to dry out stuff with a surplus of down insulation in less severe moisture quantities in less humid environments. Fleece is the best for drying out wet layers, sometimes it can dry too efficiently and you get cold, so its good to have a windshirt handy to slow evaporative cooling when necessary.

Two separate factors at play here: the ability of the your system to build up and retain body heat, and the ability of the system to not retain the moisture you’re burning off. A less permeable membrane will help the first. but hinder the second. Generally speaking, any down in the system will make #2 a lot harder. I’ve compared Dridown to Primaloft Gold (70/30 down/primaloft) and the later is vastly superior in this application (and almost all others, save presumably longevity).

Justin

ive used windstopper and proshell synth insulated jacket just fine before to “dry out” damp clothes

basically the moisture ends up in the last layer anyways, but since its synth it doesnt matter too much if its a bit damp … Its yr base layers that need to be dry

either way in poor wet weather youll end up with a WPB layer in regardless especially if you arent being very active

the key is youll need a surplus of insulation for the conditions or a surplus of heat (body, nalgene)

in other words a thin 60g/m synth jacket probably wont cut it for non mild conditions

nor would a 30F synth bag work too well for drying a soaked person at 30F … Youll want a 20F bag and/or additional poofayz and hawt nalgenes

;)

If I understand you correctly, I can dry my base layers even thou there is a pu membrane on my insulated primaloft outer jacket. Also, even if some is slow to evaporate, it’s fine because it’s in an outer layer rather than an inner layer?

ie, the pu membrane isn’t a significant problem for using this sort of thing as a rest/camp jacket.

btw, for temps around -15, do you guys wear 2 light insulation layers or 1 heavy one or something else as camp insulation?

I’ve had a lot of success recently drying sweaty or rain-whetted base layers under my Patagonia Nano Air hoody this summer. It works well enough that I even started bringing it instead of my ligther/warmer Arc’x Cerium LT hoody even when the weather looks decent. It’s the most comfy puffy I have owned. I went down one size from my normal jacket sizing to make it fit a little more like a mid-layer. Luckily the sleeves are nice and long. If it’s still raining it fits great under my Marmot Essence shell, and I’ve spent many hours in rain with this combo doing low-level activity and was pretty darn comfy throughout.

Nate

itll be fine …. The base and inner layers are what needs to be dry

with synth it can be a bit damp and still insulate well

if you do get sunny days just dry it out inner side facing the sun

one warning though is that if its very cold then wet synth can freeze up into an ice sculpture which can be impossible to pull part … Wet down will do the same

a single belay jacket is less faff and lighter overall … But 2 jackets are mor flexible

on good method is to use a down inner jacket that you only put on in camp …. And a synth over jacket that you use during the day

put the down under the synth for good moisture management

if its DWR down even better

;)

-15 F? One light jacket (breathable synthetic), and one big down parka.