Bias in writing

[Vlad Putin]

Vlad writes >> Also, lets be realistic here. How often do backpackers ever let themselves become soaked to the pore? If it happens, either youve been on a river somewhere or an accident has occurred such as stepping off into a large stream or river. << Actually I have on several occasions, most notably during my PCT thru-hike while traversing around Glacier Peak in the North Cascades of Washington. After a long night of rain, I awoke to dreary morning of rain and fog. The first challenge of the day was a 2500 foot climb to the top of a ridge through an over grown avalanche shoot. Since it was late summer and all the plants were dying, they lay across the trail requiring me to literally swim my way through the vegetation. It wasn’t long before I was totally drenched to the core.

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You should have been wearing wool, Ron.

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By the time I topped the ridge into to the open, the rain had turned to snow and I entered a whiteout. The rest of that 25 mile day was spent hiking either through the snow on open ridges or through the rainy valley. I covered the 25 miles with one 10 minute break because stopping for any significant time would have meant setting up shelter and changing to dry clothes. Walking generates heat which kept me going.

What I wore on that occasion was a pair of nylon shorts with nylon rain pants (more for wind protection than to keep dry). On top I had a base layer of long sleeve silk tee shirt, Suplex nylon shirt and Frogg Toggs jacket (again for wind protection). While wool may have kept me slightly warmer it would have made no difference in the outcome of the hike. Once I arrived in camp, I setup my shelter, replace my wet clothes with dry ones and crawled into my down sleeping bag.

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Wow…you are lucky to be alive. I would argue with you on one point though, wool would have kept you A LOT warmer than what you had on. Not “slightly warmer” than what you had on.

>> You are arguing against everything that’s ever been said about wool clothing. << From what I’ve read, no one’s arguing against wool clothes. If that’s your choice, it’s perfectly fine.

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Wait a minute Ron, I have been reading a lot of stuff in UL literature that denigrates trusty old wool and hypes up goose down and synthetics. There is a strong argument, implied or otherwise, in UL circles, against wool. Because wool is heavier than down or synthetics.

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What people have been saying is that with proper understanding, wool isn’t your only option. The knowledgeable hiker learns that not wearing wool isn’t a death sentence anymore than wearing cotton is.

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In a cold, wet environment Ron, cotton clothing is a poor choice. There are certain fabrics which are simply better than others for specific environments. For cold wet…wool has always been…and always will be a prime contender.

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Yeah, Ray Jardine this, Ray Jardine that. I dont care about Ray Jardine. I am going to read his book, yes. But only so I can learn and “talk the talk” in UL and SUL circles. Otherwise, I could care less about the guy.

I was doing long distance, lightweight backpacking long before anybody ever heard of Ray Jardine and his book.

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The role of Backpacking Light to enlighten people that there are often many solutions to a given problem. Over the years, too much of traditional backpacking turned into a dogma of uniform and safe thought and practice.

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Traditional backpacking served me well for many, many years Ron. Lightweight backpacking is a variation of traditional backpacking and it existed long before Ray Jardine, this website or you. UL and SUL is relatively new and thats why I am here. But I have a problem with recommending goose down clothing to a person going into a cold wet environment.

Maybe if you had been able to go to Philmont in the mid seventies as a youth and perhaps did the Kit Carson Trek, you would have learned about lightweight backpacking as far back as the mid seventies. The Kit Carson program was the predecessor program to the present Rayado Trek program at Philmont Scout Ranch. I believe on your website you said your first attempt on the AT failed at 700 miles and weight was a big factor on having to stop?

I did 400 miles is slightly less than six weeks at Philmont Scout Ranch when I was only 16 and that was at much higher altitude than anywhere on the AT. I was doing lightweight backpacking then and Id never heard of Ray Jardine or “UL.”

I wasnt wasted or trashed at the end either…I could have easily gone on for another 500 miles or so after a few days rest and a lot of food.

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Even when Jardine wrote his tome about ultralight, he fell into the trap of my way or the highway train of thought. With new solutions to problems coming out on almost a daily basis, we are finally getting beyond the notion that there’s only one way of doing things.

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More Ray Jardine…

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Sometimes we’ll read other people solutions of how they solve a problem. We’ll try it out only to discover it doesn’t work for us. Still that doesn’t make it any less viable. I love it when I see a post of a new solution, even if it’s not my cup of tea. But I absolutely hate it when someone gets online and starts spouting fiats about what is or isn’t proper backcountry gear. None of us are Gods, fortunately the lawyers haven’t found these forums yet and I’m way too old to worry about what my folks think.

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Dont worry about it Ron…if one of your “folks” sues you for some bs reason, you can always file the insanity plea.
A calm query into the rational behind why someone chose one solutions over another is perfectly fine and contributes to our overall understanding. However, demands that people conform to some prescribed set of beliefs is neither informative or appreciated.

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Have you ever heard of the United States Constitution, Ron? Freedom of speech? Freedom of the press? I will post as I see fit here and elsewhere. If you dont like me saying “wool is the best for cold wet backpacking,” then block me or dont read my posts. I will proceed to be irrational if I see fit.

Actually, if you had read my posts closer, you would see what I am trying to get to. I am trying to make UL and possibly SUL work for specific types of wintertime backpacking. Even this Don Ladigen guy posts a disclaimer in his book “Lighten Up!” that UL is not generally recommended in winter or at high altitudes and if it is used for such, the person should be very confident in his gear and clothing and experienced.

I feel very confident about using a tarp in the winter, I feel very confident about using a goose down sleeping bag in the winter and I feel very confident about using a lightweight or ultralightweight backpack in the winter. I can reduce my total pack weight a lot this way.

However, I am very unconfident with taking goose down clothing on long distance backpacking trips in the winter, where here on the East coast we get cold rains, freezing rains, sleet and if it snows, usually its a wet snow. That is bad judgment. If it adds a little bit of weight, I DONT CARE!

On the other hand, I am very confident with bringing wool clothing on above said backpacking trips. You cant try to pound a round peg into a square hole.

I have no beef with you Ron.

Vlad

[Vlad Putin]

>Dont worry about it Ron…if one of >your “folks” sues you for some bs >reason, you can always file the >insanity plea.

Hey man, when I typed this earlier, I put in <joke> LOL, but it didnt post that way. I dont know why, several things didnt come out right in that post.

Like this:

“Dont worry about it Ron…if one of your “folks” sues you for some bs reason, you can always file the insanity plea. <joke> LOL”

Sorry for any misunderstanding or insult on that one.

Vlad

[Eric Noble]

Vlad, your “joke” didn’t work because these posts follow HTML syntax.

[Ron Moak]

Vlad,

It’s difficult to tell from your writing style whether you’re trying to be serious or attempting to be humorous. In any case I’m not going to get in a pissing match because in the end everyone just reeks and nothing is accomplished.

I would like to correct a couple of inadequacies in your comments about my ’77 AT hike. My wife and I completed the hike in 4.5 months becoming the first couple to south bound the AT. We didn’t bail after 700 miles. My ’97 hike with my wife and son was only 700 miles and that was all that was planned. My wife did leave early after blowing out her knees in the White Mountains. My son and I continued on to Katahdin.

By the way, my thirteen year old son did the 700 miles in 8 weeks of hiking on the AT trip. Then at 16 he hiked some 1200 miles with me on the PCT in 10 weeks of hiking, during which he climbed a 14,500 foot peak, crossed numerous snow choked 10,000 to 12,000 foot passes and hiked 30 mile days for weeks on end.

In ’77 our packs had a max weight of 35 pounds with 10 days of food. Our base weight was well under 20 with cold weather gear and under 15 with summer gear. This was 20 years before the UL movement took hold and using traditional packs, tents and sleeping gear.

And yes you’re right lightweight and even ultralight backpacking as been around for a long long time. Or perhaps you’ve never heard of Grandma Gatewood and numerous other characters.

Ron

[Einstein X]

Although I do not like the negative tone of Vlad in most of his post, I do feel like he is a lone wool-warrior facing an army of synthetics.

So I would like to second his opinions on wool over synthetics.

I have tried several synthetic shirts and was always cold after a period of high exursion (ie climbing a hill or mountain). I never ever had this experience with wool.

Don’t worry Vlad, we’re now two lone (though a little less lonely) warriors facing an army of synthetics.

Eins

[Ron Moak]

Einstein X,

Doing a quick review of wool discussions of the various in-depth articles and forums on this site leads me to believe this is has morphed into the old “Mountain from a Mole Hill”.

I’ve yet to read anyone say that wool isn’t a good insulator. As Ryan pointed out, there are numerous articles written on this site both praising wool and doing an in-depth comparison between wool and its synthetic competitors.

While I don’t personally have any wool clothes in my backpacking kit, I’m certainly not apposed to wool. I wore it for many years cross country skiing during the winters in the Cascades or cruising timber in coast range in the late fall.

As I said before, I don’t have a problem if people chose to include wool clothes as part of their UL kit. I do have problems when people imply that wool is the only option. That kind of statement simply attempts to shut down discussion and contributes little to our understanding of the nature of cold and insulation.

Ron

[Ross Bleakney]

I agree with Ron. I don’t think there is an anti-wool bias here at all. In general, I think this site has far less bias than most. I can’t think of any backpacking organization (including much larger ones like Backpacker Magazine) which has done as much scientific research about outdoor gear as these folks have (I don’t think it is even close). Has anyone else done a side by side comparison of wool versus synthetic (http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/comfort_moisture_transport_wool_synthetic_clothing.html)?
Far from being anti-wool, I think this site has made me consider wool as a base layer.

If you walk into the main REI store in Seattle, you will not be pushed toward down. You will probably not be pushed towards wool either. The main reason REI doesn’t push down is because they know that in this climate, you have to be very, very careful about using down. The main reason they don’t push wool is because it hasn’t (until recently) been considered “cutting edge”. If you want to save your money, you’ll walk across downtown and stop by the army/navy surplus store and buy lots of great wool clothes for very little money. But here is the weird part: If you walk across the street from REI, you will walk right into Feathered Friends. How can this be? A store dedicated to down, right in the middle of the most down-unfriendly place in entire U.S. (it rains a lot here, in case you weren’t aware). The fact is, down weighs less than synthetic (still) so they can sell high quality down to people who know how to be careful about using it. Any suggestion, then, that this site has a pro-down bias because of it’s location is rather silly.

Wool, synthetic and down all have their pluses and minuses. BPL sells all three, so I fail to see why they would want to be biased towards one (the cocoon is made with synthetic insulation not down).

In short, this site was created by scientists and tries to take a scientific approach whenever possible. Of course you will read an occasional review and wonder “why did they praise that garment when there others that are just as good” but to do otherwise would result in a very boring, dry web site. To accuse the writers of a general bias is rather silly, especially since Vlad has failed to come with an alternative that provides anywhere near the sort of fact-based writing that this site does.

[Mark Hurd]

To echo Ross….Two years ago when I discovered UL backpacking and the BPL web site I had given little thought to what I wore backpacking. Now, I had been backpacking for over 40 years, but I always just took a bunch of long sleeve cotton shirts and Tee’s and generally wore cotton painter’ pants due to there loose fit. Oh, and some kind of a coat and rain gear. Sometimes I would throw in some long johns if there was a chance of really cold weather. Apparently dumb luck kept me from dying of hypothermia over those 40 years according to what I know now.

After finding this site, I read everything I could for free and realized that somehow I had stumbled on to a place on the web where science and objectivity were actually used to evaluate gear. I subscribed immediately. Hey, no advertising–these guys were putting there money where their mouth was!

So the first thing I figured was that the fastest way I could reduce my pack weight was to lose all those shirts and Tee’s. I read up on Clothing Systems here. Choosing individual items based on function, value, and weight. Careful choices, it seemed, would let me take only a few items that would work together and separately for a full range of conditions.

It is BECAUSE of what I read on BPL that I wear a merino WOOL baselayer. An UL wind jacket and Patagonia Puff jacket with Dry Ducks rain gear. I chose WOOL based on the objective detail that Ryan listed above and I have been surprised at the range of conditions and how comfortable this combo has turned out to be. YMMV

Come on! Most of our choices for gear are based on hearsay, opinion, and yes- advertising, On BPL we can get technical articles on things like mechanics and material characteristics of natural and synthetic fibers or waterproof breathable fabrics, or head to head reviews of shelters, clothing, sleep systems, etc. The Pros and Cons are listed up front in most articles. Biases can be ascertained by the observant reader and taken into consideration.

You will have to look pretty hard to find a less biased site than this in terms of the official magazine reviews and materials information articles, and the general clientele are pretty good, too. Check around “You’d be surprised…”

[Brett .]

Mark, I second your thoughts. Before I subscribed to BPL my kit was 100% synthetic except for thick wool hiking socks. Now I have a balance of wool, down, and synthetics which I have the knowledge to choose from, depending on temperature, water exposure, levels of layering, etc.. And I promote this balance of materials to reduce weight and risk, with any fellow hikers willing to listen.

Before subscribing to BPL, and learning from its posters (including even our opinionated friend Vlad) my ignorance on hiking subjects was astounding. Now I am able to advise newbies in an educated manner..

I don’t wear a wool rain shell or use a wool bathing suit as I suspect Vlad the ‘wool warrior’ does (<joke>), but I promote merino as an excellent base layer. Just one subject I have learned much about here at BPL.

[Eric Noble]

“I have a balance of wool, down, and synthetics which I have the knowledge to choose from, depending on temperature, water exposure, levels of layering, etc.. “

Brett, that sums it up so well! Like the majority of previous posters I have felt no anti-wool bias here. I think I’ve been a member here for 2 years now and have read all the content. I hope Vlad will revisit his opinion on biased writing after he’s become a member and had a chance to read the premium content, some of which he was critical of. By the way, I’m a fellow “wooly”. I have been wearing wool socks, underwear and shirts every day, with few exceptions, for 2 years now. If I could just find the right wool pants.

[Brett .]

Eric; I agree, I have not seen any malicious biasing here, including towards wool.

Maybe if Vlad is reading this he can recommend a wool pant which wont weigh a ton when wet..
Like you, I would like to find a suitable wool hiking pant; they are either too heavy, too expensive, or too..well look here.. only $239!

[paul johnson]

Same here.

I always used wool when i was younger. The “graduated” to synths since that was what the marketing hype told me that i should do.

Still used wool for shirts, jackets, and pants, but NOT base layers.

BPL “made” me try them again in “micro” weight merino wool. Truly excellent stuff.

Right now, i could go either way on mid-weight wool mid-layers vs. mid-weight synth mid-layers, and i still try both trying to settle on a “standard” (i.e., a “standard” for me personally). Do i want more absorption, heavier weight and slower drying, hence warmer? Or, do i want lighter, faster drying, hence more chilling? Perhaps it depends upon the time of year?

[Brett .]

p j,
“Do i want more absorption, heavier weight and slower drying, hence warmer? Or, do i want lighter, faster drying, hence more chilling? Perhaps it depends upon the time of year?”

Wow, you just summed up the wool/synth. choice in two sentences; excellent. At his point I think wool is my choice for the coldest 9 months (lets call that a “reverse 3 season” item), and synthetics to cool during the warmest 3 months. That 9/3 ratio might change as I learn about its capabilities.

We have hijacked Vlad’s BIAS thread, so I am going to open a thread on “Going Wool?” or something similar, so we can assist eachother with this conversion back to light weight natural fabrics.. see you there..

[Tony Burnett]

“I have been reading a lot of stuff in UL literature that denigrates trusty old wool and hypes up goose down and synthetics. There is a strong argument, implied or otherwise, in UL circles, against wool. Because wool is heavier than down or synthetics.”

You need to start reading articles on this site. I believe you’ll find more of a pro-wool bias than another other place.

In fact, the old backpacking light 101 document/manifesto written years ago by RJ and AD talks about wool quite a bit.

This site, and most enlighten, UL hikers are far more pro-wool than you think. Now if you are talking about using wool as an insulating layer, that will never happen. It is too heavy. But as a base layer. I’d say this site is almost 60/40 in favor of wool over synthetics. In fact, I sometimes have found the pro-wool bias on this site a bit too much. Though, recently, it has been toned down a bit.

I’m not sure what UL literature you have been reading, but I haven’t read one yet (and I have read quite a few) that are anti-wool (for base layers).

[b d]

Dittos to a bunch above comments re: no particular bias here.

I am getting back into wool, for base layer especially, precisely because of the communications on this site and the intelligence of the BPL articles, analyses, and member postings discussing gear.

[Vlad Putin]

You need to start reading articles on this site. I believe you’ll find more of a pro-wool bias than another other place.

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what I have seen of this site and at other UL sites and literature is a very pro-synthetic and pro-goose down tone. Wool is denigrated to be “too heavy.”

In fact, the old backpacking light 101 document/manifesto written years ago by RJ and AD talks about wool quite a bit.

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Really? I thought I read that and I dont remember anything much about wool. I need to go back and reread that.

This site, and most enlighten, UL hikers are far more pro-wool than you think. Now if you are talking about using wool as an insulating layer, that will never happen.

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Your statement points out the ignorance I have been talking about. Wool as a base layer acts BOTH as a wicking layer and as an insulating layer in truly cold weather conditions. All “base layers” are in fact insulating layers as well as wicking layers.

You think that fancy merino wool long underwear you wear ONLY wicks and does not work as an insulating layer? LOL

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>It is too heavy.

Who says so? Did you know that if you wear wool clothes, you will most likely only need one pair of wool pants and one wool shirt per every 5-7 days on the trail in wintertime? I would suggest (strongly) that this need for only one set of wool clothes is not possible with synthetics.

Thus in the end, you actually SAVE WEIGHT by going pure wool! Because basically, it means that you only need to wear carry one pair of pants and one shirt and those you ARE WEARING the entire time you are on the trail!

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But as a base layer. I’d say this site is almost 60/40 in favor of wool over synthetics. In fact, I sometimes have found the pro-wool bias on this site a bit too much. Though, recently, it has been toned down a bit.

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Really? I found this forum to initially be more anti-wool when i started posting, then I left to go to Thanksgiving and do some deer hunting for a week and returned and found a whole bunch of people who had previously been posting anti-wool posts were now posting pro-wool as if they had suddenly become “enlightened” or something?

What is that?

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I’m not sure what UL literature you have been reading, but I haven’t read one yet (and I have read quite a few) that are anti-wool (for base layers).

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Ive always read and talked to people who are anti-wool going way back before UL backpacking became the en vogue thing that it now is. There are a lot of people who HATE wool, but there are also people who LOVE wool. Wool is sort of a “love it or hate it” kind of outdoor gear.

I personally love wool for both base layer (long underwear in extreme cold conditions) and for regular outdoor clothes, as well as for hats and gloves.

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I think this whole entire “I can only tolerate merino wool” attitude is a load of crap. People say that because it is what they BELIEVE they can tolerate. Its psychological mostly.

If these same people were suddenly told, “you are going to be sent to a lumberjack camp for three months in the middle of the winter and if you try to escape you will be shot. And you will be exposed to extreme cold temps for three solid months, you must take everything with you when you go in, there is no resupply whatsoever.”

I bet you a lot of them would suddenly be looking for wool base layers AND wool “insulating” layers because deep down inside, they know that wool is the best for most types of cold conditions.

There would be a bunch of people wanting to go back to cold weather backpacking and camping basics, which means wool. Merino wool, scratchy itchy coarse wool, whatever. As long as it doesnt have too much synthetic mixed in with it and is mostly wool, its good to go.

Vlad

[b d]

Vlad … are you joking again when you write:

“If these same people were suddenly told, “you are going to be sent to a lumberjack camp for three months in the middle of the winter and if you try to escape you will be shot. And you will be exposed to extreme cold temps for three solid months, you must take everything with you when you go in, there is no resupply whatsoever.”

I bet you a lot of them would suddenly be looking for wool base layers AND wool “insulating” layers because deep down inside, they know that wool is the best for most types of cold conditions.”

You must be or you don’t know this audience … if anyone treated me like that I wouldn’t buy wool clothes … I’d leave.

Then, if I was dumb enough to go into that kind of environment and treatment voluntarily I’d go see a shrink.

Is that how you were treated in the camp you talked about going to as a younger person in the 1970s. If so I wanna make sure nobody I know ever sends their young’ns there …

Finally, having worked for the timber companies for a number of years in the past as a lawyer … if they pulled that kind of treatment on the lumberjacks I know there’d be a lotta sorry camp counselors in a very, very short time … if they lived through it.

[Rick Dreher]

For the slave camp, I vote they wear fiberglass batting wrapped in duct tape. That’ll learn ’em.

[Dale Wambaugh]

“For the slave camp, I vote they wear fiberglass batting wrapped in duct tape. That’ll learn ’em.”

I’ve worn polypropylene that was cooked in a dryer that came pretty close– like sandpaper.

[Tony Burnett]

You think that fancy merino wool long underwear you wear ONLY wicks and does not work as an insulating layer? LOL

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Well, of course, everything I wear is an insulating layer (including my back hair). Even a thin polypro shirt insulates a tiny bit. But, if I’m sitting around camp doing nothing at 40F, my base layer isn’t going to keep me warm no mater what it is made out of.

I fail to see how a single layer of any material could replace both a base layer and an insulating layer.

>It is too heavy.

Who says so? Did you know that if you wear wool clothes, you will most likely only need one pair of wool pants and one wool shirt per every 5-7 days on the trail in wintertime?

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First show me the numbers. Your argument is all about numbers. Let’s see them.

Second, who says folks wearing synthetics bring more than one shirt and pants?

[Adam Rothermich]

Second, who says folks wearing synthetics bring more than one shirt and pants?

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Vlad does. He knows all, don’t you know that by now?

Anyway, I wear synthetics, not because I don’t like wool, but because its what I can afford. If I had the $80 or $90 for a nice Ibex or Smartwool shirt I would buy it in a heartbeat, but I don’t so I have to make due.

Adam

[ROBERT TANGEN]

Maybe if a member’s rank drops below a cerain level, the BPL Swat Team should kidnap him or her and send them to the Lumberjack All Wool Slave Labor camp, where they work all day dressed in wooly long john suits with the trap door in the back, making Ti extra-long spoons. I think the cut-off rank should be just below whatever my current level is. Make them eat nothing but Balance Bars to toughen them up.

[Vlad Putin]

Vlad … are you joking again when you write:

“If these same people were suddenly told, “you are going to be sent to a lumberjack camp for three months in the middle of the winter and if you try to escape you will be shot. And you will be exposed to extreme cold temps for three solid months, you must take everything with you when you go in, there is no resupply whatsoever.”

I bet you a lot of them would suddenly be looking for wool base layers AND wool “insulating” layers because deep down inside, they know that wool is the best for most types of cold conditions.”

You must be or you don’t know this audience … if anyone treated me like that I wouldn’t buy wool clothes … I’d leave.

Then, if I was dumb enough to go into that kind of environment and treatment voluntarily I’d go see a shrink.

Is that how you were treated in the camp you talked about going to as a younger person in the 1970s. If so I wanna make sure nobody I know ever sends their young’ns there …

Finally, having worked for the timber companies for a number of years in the past as a lawyer … if they pulled that kind of treatment on the lumberjacks I know there’d be a lotta sorry camp counselors in a very, very short time … if they lived through it.

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It was a figure of speech of sorts. A dramatic, colorful analogy to get your attention…whatever you wish to call it. Another way to put it might be “what if you were to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere, in the wintertime, with no support and just what you could carry on yourself and on your back?”

I would opt for layers of wool. Wool long underwear, wool clothing, wool hat, wool gloves and of course raingear and some type of heavy parka.

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Is that how you were treated in the camp you talked about going to as a younger person in the 1970s. If so I wanna make sure nobody I know ever sends their young’ns there …

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LOL, no I never attended any “camps” like this one I described. Actually I got the idea from a book I read, titled “SuperTraining” by another lawyer who IMO, is a good writer.

This other guy used the term because of his audience (bunch of macho powerlifter/strongmen types), I used it because I consider backpacking to be a rugged individualist/he-man type outdoor activity. I wanted to get your attention…which I did.

later Mr. Esquire,

Vlad

PS: dont tell Ron Moak that the “lawyers have found this site.” heehee…

[Vlad Putin]

You think that fancy merino wool long underwear you wear ONLY wicks and does not work as an insulating layer? LOL

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Well, of course, everything I wear is an insulating layer (including my back hair). Even a thin polypro shirt insulates a tiny bit. But, if I’m sitting around camp doing nothing at 40F, my base layer isn’t going to keep me warm no mater what it is made out of.

I fail to see how a single layer of any material could replace both a base layer and an insulating layer.

>It is too heavy.

Who says so? Did you know that if you wear wool clothes, you will most likely only need one pair of wool pants and one wool shirt per every 5-7 days on the trail in wintertime?

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First show me the numbers. Your argument is all about numbers. Let’s see them.

Second, who says folks wearing synthetics bring more than one shirt and pants?

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I dont need no stinking numbers and I dont need no stinking “studies.” And this is not about “numbers” from some study somewhere.

It has long been common knowledge that wool layers are “da bomb” with regards to keeping warm in the winter. Particularly in cold/wet or cold/damp environments.

From your pic, you look mighty young, I am wondering if you have perhaps been brainwashed by decades long marketing efforts to promote synthetics and in recent years, promoting goose down. If so, I feel sorry for you.

When I started backpacking in the Boy Scouts in the eighties, I was simply told by many people, “if you go camping or backpacking in the winter, wear wool and not cotton.” By the late eighties, synthetics like polypropylene were in wide fluctuation and many began switching. I have used a combo of wool products and synthetics since the late eighties and never had the Internet, BackpackingLight.com, GoLite.com or anybody else to turn to for advice.

And I did perfectly fine.

I will not show you any numbers because I dont have any numbers, do not want any numbers and do not care about numbers. All I know is that wool works better than other stuff…period.

Try it, be honest about it and I bet you will come back saying I was telling you the truth.

Vlad

[Vlad Putin]

I’m sorry I got the idea about the lumberjack camp from a book titled “Dinosaur Training” by an attorney named Brooks Kubrik. Not “Supertraininig.” I got the two mixed up.

Dinosaur training…AKA “train like a dinosaur,” without high tech aids, without drugs, without supplements, etc.

Brooks Kubrik uses an anaology about being sent to a forced lumberjack camp where you had to do heavy lumberjack work or be shot. It’s in a chapter I believe that was titled “grow or die” or something like that.

Vlad

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