Is Wool in ?

[ian wright]

I realised a wool base layer I was looking at in a catalog weighed about the same as a synthetic one but got to thinking it may be warmer.

Is wool hip now?
Do you recommend?

[Richard Nisley]

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/comfort_moisture_transport_wool_synthetic_clothing.html

[John S.]

Wool has been in for awhile. Some do think it feels warmer next to skin. Many do recommend it.

[larry savage]

As a long time dirtbag climber and hairy human, I and my significant others will confirm that wool does not stink as bad as synthetics after a bit of time “out there”.

[Einstein X]

I don’t care if wool is in or not. All i care about is what works best for me. And so far that is wool. I just love my Icebreaker.

The thing with synthetics is the cold flashes. When you stop to eat your powerbar or GORP or sth, the synthetics dry like crazy at the expense of your body heat. So every time i stop in a synth shirt i get cold, almost immediatly. That doesn’t happen in my wool shirt. It keeps me warm at all times even when it’s wet.

Despite what some on this site may say about that there are no fabrics that are warm when wet. Wool is. It can absorb about a third it’s weight in water and still feel warm. A synth shirt cannot do that.

There is another, though not so important, good quality of a natural fabric. If in a rare case you are cought in a fire (leaking petrl stove causing a big flame) your synth shirt, made out of oil, will melt into your skin :S.

Only thing wrong with a wool shirt is that at times i tend to overheat. But that usually isn’t a problem since i prefer hiking in cold whether.

I love my IB

Eins

[Paul Tree]

It can absorb 1/3 of its weight? Ow.

Anyone know of good wool/synthetic combos? Ibex has a jacket with some cordura in it but I am thinking for base layers.

[RC]

i can’t remember the model, but I think Smartwool has some sort of clothing in their Versawear line that is a combination of wool and a synthetic.

[larry savage]

There is a clothing manufacturer in New Zealand called iRULE. They have a lot of interesting wool blends including wool and possum, http://www.irule.co.nz/shop/
Their focus is endurance racing/mtn.biking but the clothing is real nice. Here let me hold up this long sleeve top so you can see it.

[J R]

Ullefrote(sp?) is a merino/synthetic blend.

[larry savage]

One of the better wool products I got my hands on last year was sold by Duluth Trading Co. #75035,75036.
The top is cut 3″ longer in the back and has thumbholes so it does ride up when you pull on outerwear. $42.50 each piece.

[Dan Schmidt]

Smartwool’s microweight was itchy, not very durable, expensive, and took a long time to dry out. No thanks.
Luckily I bought it from rei so they took it back after I worked it over.

[peter pattenbury]

Wool has never really been ‘out’. Or if it has, thousands of adventurers all over the globe weren’t told.
As a dyed-in-the-wool Kiwi, [pun intended], I can vouch for generations of outdoorsmen downunder who have almost exclusively used wool gear … and survived.
Sure, it gets heavy when it gets wet [ the hi tech new stuff doesn’t ] but then they were tougher back then…

[Joshua Mitchell]

Well, I’ll be snackered!

I get Duluth’s catalogues all the time, and I completely missed that they added Merino to their lineup.

Thanks for the headsup!

[ian wright]

Goerge Mallory who may have been the first to top Everest wore wool. And he did not die from the cold but fell over, it was quite a fall unfortunately.

[Travis Hohn]

Would you call these “lightweight” or “midweight” garments? Good for only winter or all year?

[larry savage]

I weighed the top and it came in at 9.75oz. size XL and then I weighed my Smartwool next-to-skin lightweight top size L and it also weighed 9.75 oz. The bottoms weighed 8.75 size L. This also puts it in the range of Patagonia’s wool 3. The top has a little more material at the tail in back.

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