In which a pair of young women advise me on my underwear...

[khiemtran]

I popped into the Kathmandu store today, looking for advice on thermal underwear, and literally walked into a conversation between two shop assistants on the relative merits of PolyPro vs ThermoPlus. (Short form: PolyPro is the warmest, especially in wet conditions, but not for everyone. One girl said she couldn't wear hers because it became too smelly after even a short walk. On the other hand, the UltraCore I bought previously is not as warm in extreme conditions, but more comfortable in a wider range of temperatures. And the woollen thermals I used to buy have now gone all high-tech and become amazingly expensive...)

I ended up finding a PolyPro top in my size in the clearance section, so I bought it to give it a try. I have also got a synthetic top that I use for travelling that I think might also be PolyPro, but the label is gone so I can't be sure. It is certainly very warm though, far more than my UltraCore.

And, yes, I am buying thermal underwear in order to go to Malaysia... All part of the ascent.

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's what it's for. I thought you were buying it for your trip to Ireland in June. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

15 degrees! In May? I may just need it...

That reminds me, my old Lonely Planet Western Europe phrasebook has only about nine pages on Scottish Gaelic, but they found space for "It's wet"; "It's raining"; "It's misty"; and "Has the rain stopped?"

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

So exciting to read about these preparations.

What did people used to wear before all these high-tech fabrics came along? (Honest question, not an exasperated rhetorical one. I really want to know. I suppose whatever it was, it was bulky, and the advantage of these new fabrics is in part that they're lightweight, yes?)

How cold will it be at the summit?

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Wool, generally, or fur. Or quilted garments with feathers in. Didn't they recently find the body of one of the climbers who made an early attempt at the ascent of Everest, and wasn't he wearing something like woollen tweed?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I don't know if the newer gear is actually much warmer - although it is lighter and a lot more comfortable.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

What did people used to wear before all these high-tech fabrics came along?

I used to have several sets of woollen thermals, which I gave away a few years ago. They were very warm, but also heavy and took ages to dry (not good if they got wet on day one of a hike). And you couldn't really wear them when it wasn't cold, so sometimes you had to strip down or take them off again whenever it warmed up.

Most of the new advances have been in eliminating these problems, rather than improving warmth. Even the new woollen thermals are supposed to be cool enough to wear when it's warm and they are much lighter than the ones I used to have.

How cold will it be at the summit?

Apparently it only gets down to near freezing (this is the tropics, after all). So, we're not exactly talking arctic conditions here...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

So exciting to read about these preparations.

What did people used to wear before all these high-tech fabrics came along? (Honest question, not an exasperated rhetorical one. I really want to know. I suppose whatever it was, it was bulky, and the advantage of these new fabrics is in part that they're lightweight, yes?)

How cold will it be at the summit?