Mosquito armor to replace woven polyester… windshell to the rescue???

Thank you much for the link to the Skurka article – very helpful at a time when the climate is warming and the bugs are getting worse.   In the White Mountains, we also get tiny black flies that are worse than mosquitoes in swarming season because they fly into your ears, eyes, nose and mouth etc.  Can remember trips at the height of the season when hikers above treeline on the next peak over could only be seen from the waist down – above their waists, only the black swarms were visible.  But have little doubt that the arctic mosquitoes are more aggressive, and possibly even worse.

Years ago, found a partial answer to hiking at the height of bug season.  Just an ordinary polo shirt made for tennis, but loosely woven with a see-thru mesh that was quite thick.  The skeeters simply could not get footing on the material needed to project their sucking tubes through it, even though the weave was open.  Very entertaining to watch them try.  Bought two shirts, but they were made of cotton I think and eventually rotted out.  The last trip for the second one was south on the AT from Katahdin, and after all day rain the shirt just fell apart when tried to peel it off at Shaw’s.  After that, tended to drive to the Rockies for June or July trips, and seek the highest open ground (or snow).

If I could ever find a fabric with that mesh weave, would get a pattern and sew up a couple more of those shirts, made of a more durable and stretchy thread if possible.  Then have them treated with Insect Shield to boot.  Being stretchy, the sleeves could be long and easily rolled up and down.  There is money to be made by some enterprising person with such a shirt.

But see no way to avoid use of a headnet.  Used to jam a PIC coil onto the top of my hiking stick, and burn it while hiking; but don’t think that would be enough these days.  Besides, the less potentially toxic chemicals the better.

You can try the Tachyon as it’s light and I think it would be bug proof and Mont-Bell makes excellent gear.  The one caveat I have with it is that it’s not known to be particularly breathable and I would probably overheat in it.

They’re not availible anymore so you might not could get one in time for your trip, but what about a Patagonia Airshead pullover?  I have a 2011 Patagonia Houdini for backpacking, but picked up an Airshead when they were clearing them out for running and it is SUPER breathable.  I’m not sure they ever made it in a good backpacking color though.  I find dark colors get very hot in the sun, so whatever you get, I’d get it in the lightest color they have for summer use.

It may not matter but my Patagonia Sun Stretch button up is 6.7oz in size Medium and my REI Sierra button up is 7oz.  I normally treat them with Permethrin before a trip I expect bugs.   I have an Ex Officieo Minimo button up that is 5.4oz and is pretty bug proof, and it’s almost silky feeling, but less breathable than the other options.

Bob, I’m a strong proponent of the Cool Hoodie as well. It’s by far my favorite shirt for hiking. I’ve worn it in the Sierra with the previous version of the Tachyon Anorak in the Sierra as bug protection and found the combination to be insufferably hot while moving. I believe the new version of the Tachyon is made from a more breathable fabric. I’ve been tempted to pick up a MB Ex Light Wind Jacket and try this system out again. I see a couple of advantages with this shell:

1. it’s available in white (my anorak is dark grey which presumably makes it warmer in the sun)
2. it has underarm vents

The wind jacket doesn’t have a hood but I’m going to be wearing a headnet at that point anyways.

If you try this system out, please post back with your experiences.

FWIW, I’ve found the Patagonia Sun Stretch to be the best mosquito barrier so far. They don’t bite through it and the poly/nylon blend seems to dry and breath much better than 100% nylon shirts I’ve tried in the past. Also it has big chest vents provide cooling even with a pack on. I’ve had mine treated by InstechShield.

Just another option…

Patagonia Houdini Air. Much more breathable, soft, and comfortable than the standard Houdini. The inner has a nice texture that feels great against the skin, even when hot. Mine has been bugproof.

Too hot.

Recall that Nisley has the insulation of a zipped up wind shirt equivalent to 100 wt fleece.

Last year I tries using a BD Alpine Start for bug protectection and found that even at 60F with no underlayer it was too hot.

The Arcteryx Squamish hoodie has been an amazing level of wind/sun/bug protection for me. Lightweight, very breathable, and the factory DWR resists light rain nicely

There are a lot of people (myself included) who buy windshirts primarily for this purpose. So far as I know, the Houdini Air is the best product for this. I wish they sold it in white, and I wish they also offered wind pants (also in white).

If you’re primarily hiking on trail–I just use whatever shirt is coolest and most appropriate for the conditions, since I got hot easy, then put an oversized mesh bug shirt on.

I remember when we went to Alaska and went to this little cabin outside of Fairbanks via Couchsurfing (yeah, this was “back in the day”).  Pulled up to the cabin in evening, and soon as we were stopped, we were swarmed by a god awful amount of mosquitoes–more than I have ever seen in one place in my life before.  It was like something out of a B horror movie as dark clouds descended around us…

I didn’t mind, because I had a long sleeve linen button up shirt on, with a mesh bug screen shirt, shorts with bug netting pants, a hat and head bug net.   It was a very unusually hot summer that year in Alaska–record breaking heat for them.

“(my anorak is dark grey which presumably makes it warmer in the sun)”

No presumably about it.  I got some of those red haired genetics in me, and apparently (allegedly) one of the common traits of same is being more hypersensitive to temp changes (and in my case to more so being hot), and I notice big differences between very light and darker colors in the sun.  I also work outside sometimes in the summer, and in this heat and humidity, I can only wear white, light tan, or very light blue–preferably white.

We have a lot of hipsters in the city next to my town, and it’s funny seeing so many of them dressed in all or nearly all black, sweating their arses off.

I had the original Tachyon Anorak and it was super light but breathed like a plastic bag. I went back to the Patagonia Houdini and never looked back. Don’t know about the new Tachyon.

I’ve used the Tropic Comfort Hoody for many years, but I pair it with an OR Helium 2 when in the Sierra (I don’t want to carry a wind shell and rain jacket). It’s an excellent bug combo, as is any wind/rain shell with a Tropic hoody. I like it combined with the Houdini a lot.

That said, I did 5 days in the Sierra last week and it was too hot to put the two on together. I usually carry a cotton T for camp and it’s all I wore until it was time to put on a puffy (around dark). There were zero bugs though…

(These automatically generated affiliate links are kind of sleezy.  Turning people’s posts into ads…sigh.)

^^^

I agree. No need for sleaze.

hummmm …

Tr0pic C0mfort H00dy

0R Helium

I don’t post often, but I think I will take up the challenge …

I’m taking the Patagonia sun hoody + Drop Veil wind jacket on a quick trip up to the eastern Sierra this Thursday. Let’s hope I make it out alive!

OP here, reporting back. Thanks for all the great input. Here’s what I ended up with.

Just to review, I like to hike in an Patagonia Tropic Comfort hoodie, which is an extremely cool, lightweight, breathable, stretchy, fantastic sun shirt but it does nothing to protect against mosquitoes. So my goal was to get an ultralight mosquito armor layer, and bonus points if it happens to also be a useful wind shell.

I ordered 3 jackets: Patagonia Houdini Air, Montbell Tachyon Parka, Montbell Ex Light.

On my cheapo kitchen scale all 3 were within a 1/2 oz of advertised weight. (Disclaimer: I don’t really trust my scale.)

Specs:

• Patagonia Houdini Air: Medium, 4.41 oz, Blue
• Montbell Tachyon Parka: Medium, 2.68oz, Blue
• Montbell Ex Light: Medium, 1.8oz, White

I took each of the jackets for a spin (with pack) around the neighborhood. All 3 jackets were pretty comfy and mostly matched expectations based on company propaganda and user reviews.

2 things that really surprised me though:

1. The Montbell Ex Light is the only jacket available in white, and holy moly did this make a huge difference in the sun. The White Ex Light was much cooler in the sun than the darker blue Tachyon and Houdini Air. I’m often above tree-line, so this is huge for me. Head up though – the white material is pretty transparent and not gonna score you many style points. Function over form here!
2. All 3 of the jackets seemed to breathe really well. On paper, the Houdini Air is supposed to be much more breathable, but I really didn’t notice much difference while walking/jogging around the neighborhood. Maybe I just didn’t put them through the paces, or maybe the Montbell pit vents are doing some magic. I don’t know, but they all felt similar to me.

I decided to go with the Montbell Ex Light. The white color was probably the biggest reason, but the low weight / packability were a close second. Plus I didn’t need this piece to have a hood.

I recently used the Ex Light on an 8 day trip in the Whitney zone and I loved it. As examples… I threw it on in the evening when the mosquitoes went bananas while we were hiking along Wallace Creek and it did exactly what I wanted: protected me without getting swampy. When I was standing around fishin and I just needed a windbreaker, it was perfect. Basically, I bought it for mosquito protection but ended up just wearing the $#&* out of it.

The jacket never felt swampy or “trash bag” during the trip, but note that I never wore it next-to-skin.

Since the trip I have also worn the jacket while biking and it’s been great for that too. I wore it a few times w/ a t-shirt and noticed that the sleeves got pretty swampy once I started sweating, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it for next-to-skin use.

Overall, very happy w/ this layering system and lovin the Montbell Ex Light jacket.

Thanks again for all your input BPL peoples :)