NEWS: Mallory clothing research

While Mallory's clothing was lighter than modern clothing it was not so good at providing protection against high winds and lowering temperatures according to scientists at Loughborough University.
In a presentation at the Innovations for Extremes Conference held at Lancaster University in September, Dr. George Havenith, Professor of Environmental Physiology and Ergonomics at Loughborough University demonstrated that George Mallory's clothing was less able to withstand changes in temperatures and high winds. Could this be a contributing factor to his ability to have reached the summit of Everest in 1924?


The graph below shows how warm clothing was on the vertical axis with air temperature is shown along the horizontal axis. The red and blue diagonal lines show how warm your clothing needs to be at a windspeed of 7km/h (blue line) and 40km/h (red line) to avoid hypothermia.
The two horizontal dotted lines represent two clothing systems. The blue dotted line represents a modern down suit and Mallory's clothing is represented by the red dotted line. So you can see that Mallory's clothing was rated for warmth as 3 and moderrn clothing was rated as 5 for warmth.



Clearly as the temperature goes down and you move from left to right across the graph, you need greater insulation, hence lines go diagonally from left to right. Also in higher winds (red line) you need even more insulation.

Note that if the wearer is breathing more oxygen then both lines could move down as the body is better able to produce warmth and resist hypothermia without having to wear extra clothing.

Mallory's clothing, represented by the red dotted line, crosses the blue line at -22 and the red line at -5
Modern clothing crosses the blue line (off the graph) and the red line at -26

So Mallory clothing was not as warm as modern clothing and also would not be able to keep the wearer warm in a change of air temperature and wind speed.

So while Mallory's clothing was lighter than modern clothing it was not so good at providing protection against high winds and lowering temperatures. This suggests that Mallory was sailing closer to the limits of his equipment and would be less able to survive if the wind or temperatures changed during his climb? Could this be a contributing factor to his ability to have reached the summit of Everest?

For more information about Mallory's attempt on Everest in 1924 go to Innovation for Extremes web site

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NEWS:World's first bicycle iPod speaker

Tired of the sound of the wind whistling through your ears when mountain biking? Then you could strap the cy.fi wireless iPod dock to your bike so you can listen to your music while you ride. Working with the iPod or iPod nano, it's a wireless speaker, using the Kleer Audio transmission that claims to be 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth.

The Cy.Fi speaker is about the size of a deck of cards and mounts on your handlebars. It spreads its stereo sound so you don't have to wear earphones that might prevent you from hearing cars that are creeping up beside you. You can even use one iPod to broadcast its signal to everyone in your riding group as it has a transmitter range of 30feet. You could of course also use the speaker as a lightweight sound system and attached it to just about anything.

Is this a good development that walkers will welcome in the countryside? Does the thought of hearing a group of mountain bikers with music pumping out clash with your dream of finding tranquility in the countryside while walking along a quite bridleway?

Available sometime in 2008 and it'll cost you $149 - not available in the UK - yet!

For more information go to My Cy Fi web site

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NEWS: Aarn Packs in UK

Body centered load carrying systems specialist Aarn Packs will shortly be available in the UK through distributor Outdoor Elements. As reported in the September issue of Trail, a change in posture could be all you need to walk faster, for longer and with less fatigure according to scientists from Harvard University. Aarn Packs have incorporated this research and other similar research into their body centred load carrying systems, which they describe as ”FlowMo Bodypacks”. These packs are designed to disturb the body as little as possible under load, completely replacing backpacks as the most comfortable way to carry loads on the human body.

Aarn Tate's designs have been seen before in the UK, as his ideas appeared a few years ago in the Craghopper range of packs. Trail loved the packs and found the body centred load carrying systems superb for carrying heavy loads. We found it allowed the user to stand in a more upright position, which allowed a far more natural walking position that was stable, comfortable and unrestrictive. Sadly the range did not sell well into stores, despite numerous favourable reviews from users and the media and so finally Craghoppers dropped the ideas. Hopefully Aarn's latest developments will be more popular.



Normal backpacks tend to force a stooped forward posture, which strains the body. FlowMo BodyPacks allow an upright posture, relaxing the body, eliminating body pain & discomfort and reducing energy use. So if you fancy easing the strain of your pack, then Aarn Packs could be answer to your dreams.

Trail will be reviewing the Aarn Packs as soon as we can get hold of them!

For more information go to Aarn Packs

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MY SHOW: Hot trends from OutDoor 2007

Live from OutDoor 2007: Thinking outside the box appears to be the way forward for companies wanting to make a splash at OutDoor 2007. The radical design of the Edelrid folding helmet that won the OutDoor Gold Award this year is a fine example of what can be achieved when functionality and the latest manufacturing technologies meet.

The ETA Power stoves shows just how much wasted energy is used in normal stoves and how much extra gear we have to drag across the hills if it were not for such out of the box innovation.

The new range of Grivel packs (shown above) provide vast amounts of new practical features, while their exploded diagram makes it easy for the potential purchaser to see what all the features are designed to do.




Macpac have further developed their rucksack range with the change in the location of where their rucksack hip belts pivots (see above image). By moving the pivot point up the rucksack, it is able to rotate from the same point as the wearer's back flexes, rather than at the base of the spine where most hipbelts are designed to rotate from.

Radical designs are appearing that seem so challenge our concept of what is normal, while new technologies allow lighter, more functional products to be developed.

So if you are in the market for some new gear, take a sneak peak around the corner, as something that you thought was normal could just about to be changed.

Graham Thompson, Technical Editor

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NEWS: Mobile roaming charges plummet from Saturday

Using your mobile to call home from your holiday in the Alps? Do it with a trifle more abandon from this weekend on: new EU Roaming Regulation comes into force on 30 June.
The regulation will run for three years and will cover all 27 EU member states. Under the legislation, operators will have to offer a 'eurotariff' with a maximum charge of €0.49 per minute for making calls within the EU and €0.24 per minute for receiving them. That's up to 70% off current rip-off roaming charges. Even better, the rates will be lowered further in 2008 and 2009. However, operators have one month's grace to comply with the new law - until 30 July - so if in doubt, check with yours before blah-blahing too long.

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NEWS: Hydration system taste issues

Eurohike (Millets) and Stormshield (Blacks) have taken the concept of anti-bacterial growth a little too far judging by my recent experiences of their hydration systems.

I've been playing with hydration systems for the August issue of Trail and you can see which ones I like when the mag appears on the shelves in early July.

However one thing I will say now, as a warning, is that I'd recommend you give your newly purchased hydration system a taste test as soon as you can. The water from some of them tasted like they had been dunked in TCP and actually made my tongue go numb! Millets and Blacks are looking into it, but it looks like they have taken the concept of anti-bacterial growth a little too far.

We did not have space to feature all the hydration systems we recieved ... yes everyone is making them now ... but the ones we liked the most will be in the next issue of Trail. Judging by my experience the Eurohike and Stormshield models are worth taking a bypassing ... unless you need an antiseptic mouth wash!

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Reviewed by Graham Thompson

TECHNICAL: What does waterproof mean?

Rain has returned to the Lakes. Within minutes the email and Trail forum was buzzing with the question every walker wants to know about. How to stay dry and why am I getting wet in my waterproof jacket!

To stay dry on the hills you need clothing made from fabric that can withstand the driving force of rain. To be called waterproof a fabric must be able to withstand 2.1 pounds per square inch (psi) to conform to British Standards for low activity use such as golfing and fashion. For high activity such as hill walking and skiing the fabric be able to withstand 7.1 psi.
To give you some idea of what this means, 1 psi is roughly equivalent to rain hitting the jacket at 35mph, while it is possible to exert a pressure of 15psi on the fabric when kneeling. Sadly very few manufacturers state how waterproof their fabric is and those that do use so many different testing methods that it is difficult to compare fabrics.

Levels of waterproofness
So Trail uses a league table to compare levels of waterproofness as follows:

Water Resistant - means ‘water resistant’ and will only resist light rain
Waterproof - meets the ‘low activity’ British Standard to be called waterproof
Very waterproof - meets the ‘high activity’ British Standard.
Extremely waterproof - means it can withstand a pressure of 25psi, so it offers a very durable level of waterproofness

To complicate the story, Paramo garments are not waterproof when using the terms described above, as water can be forced through them quite easily if you lean on a wet area of ground. But when used for walking they keep you dry as body heat pumps the sweat away from the inside of the jacket and as the garment comprises of two very water resistant layers, driving rain does not pass through the garment. So although they are not truly waterproof, you’ll stay dry when wearing them for walking in driving rain.

Design effects on waterproofness
While a jacket may be made from waterproof fabric, its design can easily allow water to leak in. The seams should be seam sealed, but on lower priced jackets the sealing tape is sometimes poorly applied and allows water though.
The front zip can leak easily if it is not protected by a system of storm flaps. There are now many jackets with unprotected water resistant zip fitted. These leak quite easily, especially when the zip is stretched of flexed in a convex manner to expose the teeth, which tends to happen when a waist belt of a rucksack is buckled tightly against the waist area of a jacket.
Pockets with openings that are not protected by a double storm flap can easily fill with water and if they are mesh lined this water will leak into the jacket.
Water will always follow gravity along a route of least resistance, so it tends to follow creases and folds in the fabric, it follows channels of fabric like water flowing down a ravine so not surprisingly water easily finds it ways down the neck of a jacket through a front zip not fully zipped up and down the sleeves when climbing.
Some designs of jackets actively encourage water to enter the jacket by having designs that catch the water and encourage it towards zips and other openings. For example if a single storm flap on a chest pockets of a jacket lies diagonally or vertically and faces towards the front of the jacket it will collect water when walking into the rain. In high winds the water will be forced through the zips. So look for storm flaps that face down the jacket so that they don’t collect water even in driving wind and instead force running water to flow away from zips rather than towards them.
In fact it it’s amazing that any waterproofs actually keep us dry in the hills. But on the whole they do a good job if looked after properly.

Durability
The durability of the waterproofness varies. A jacket with minimal levels of waterproofness will tend to leak sooner than a jacket with the highest levels of waterproofness. This is because the waterproofing treatments applied to the materials tend to wear off with use.

In tests carried out by Cumbria Trading Standards in 1998 on jackets priced between £15 and £50 pounds, only the Craghoppers Pakka Jacket passed the British Standard for Water Repellency (BSEN 20811). This suggests that jackets that meet the lowest levels of waterproofness may lose some waterproofness through manufacturing due to quality control problems for example.

In tests carried out in 1999 by George Fisher of Keswick (George Fisher Online) the majority of waterproofs costing under £80 started to leak inside 3 years.
Jackets costing between £80 and £100 performed much better and it was only after three years that they started to find more failures than non-failures, with many jackets in this group maintaining waterproofness for 9 or 10 years.
Jackets priced at £150 and over using fabrics such as Gore-Tex, Sympatex, Triplepoint, Rab Downpour and H2No for example performed the best with only 1% of them leaking inside 3 years and over 80% of them maintaining their waterproofness for up to 6 years or more.

So it appears that higher priced jackets are generally made from more waterproof fabrics and that these fabrics remain waterproof for longer. In other words you get what you pay for.

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Reviewed by Graham Thompson