Clothing

[Ent]

Hi Alliecat

Yes walking poles are hard on technical type materials. The eVent mittens are very light (around 40 grams) so not sure on longevity. More got them to try out eVent and figured that mittens would be the harshest test of eVent so if it worked then I would be on a winner.

The fabric on the Montane 200 is hard to track down much information. Another brands using it in a review referred to it a coating of some sort rather than a membrane but that information was from the reviewer rather than the manufacturer.

Cheers Brett

[Lizzy]

Hi Brett,
I just bought the Quattro jacket which is Toray Entrant DT type 10000. The picture on the back of the tag shows a fabric topped with a 'specially treated membrane- type 10000'.
Lizzy

[corvus]

Brett, I'm familiar with the Montane Atomic DT as I have one too - I never said it was an eVent product. Toray Entrant DT (the fabric) is a membrane material. There's not much info on that fabric around but it's a slight variant on Entrant GT II which has some info available. Incidentally the "Hyvent DT" used in some Mountain Hardware jackets is almost certainly re-branded Entrant DT.

You might find the eVent mitts wear quickly when used with poles. Some users have reported that - others say they had no problem. I think it's a problem with all the WPB fabrics when used in gloves or other high-wear areas. I have yet to find a really satisfactory solution for gloves with poles. A cheap pair of "japara" like mitts works okay for me so far but they don't breath well and so get a bit clammy inside after a while. Some people in the UK swear by "Extremities tuff bags" which are gore-tex mitts with reinforced palms. The Aus $ is pretty good against the pound right now so gear from the UK is a lot more affordable too.

Interesting post alliecat,
Where do you venture to in Tas that you need these gloves ?? I seem to get away with polypro inners for most of my walks here ,yes they get wet but stay warm,

Still I am only bush walking not doing whatever it you do to need this type of gear so who am I to comment and good luck in whatever you do

corvus

[Taurë-rana]

I seem to get away with polypro inners for most of my walks here ,yes they get wet but stay warm,

I completely agree with this - was very happy with my polypro gloves on my last walk and it was wet and cold most of the time. They're cheap too. I covered them with $2 gardening gloves from Chickenfeed when it was scrubby which gave me a bit of extra warmth and protection. The Chickenfeed gloves will need replacing however for the next trip, but they would probably go well protecting the polypro gloves from walking poles which I didn't take last time so can't comment on.

[Taurë-rana]

I seem to get away with polypro inners for most of my walks here ,yes they get wet but stay warm,

I completely agree with this - was very happy with my polypro gloves on my last walk and it was wet and cold most of the time. They're cheap too. I covered them with $2 gardening gloves from Chickenfeed when it was scrubby which gave me a bit of extra warmth and protection. The Chickenfeed gloves will need replacing however for the next trip, but they would probably go well protecting the polypro gloves from walking poles which I didn't take last time so can't comment on.

I took possum fur gloves to wear once I got to camp.

[Ent]

Hi

The Possum gloves are great as long as you do not pick up a hot billy handle and then they melt However, I brought a replacement pair as they are nice and warm around the camp. I generally find my hands get too hot for gloves when walking until on open exposed areas and then the wind chill comes into effect. Without poles just tucking them into the coat pocket works well but not an option with poles. The eVent mittens are my latest attempt at overcoming this issue. I love the Manzella Silk weight gloves but at $60.00 they are quickly destroyed by the poles. I am tempted by industralial gloves for scrub golves and using them for poles on exposed areas. Not sure if leather ones are the way to go or some other type such as rubber coated cotton.

The worst gloves for snow I have every struck is the Winpro ones from OR. Very expensive, holed on the first brush with the real world, got wet and acted as an evaporative cooler. They were brilliant for walking around a freezing Launceston and I thought, "you beaut" but snow proved them to be an expensive disaster. I then went for non Gore-tex gloves from Snowgum (yet another so called breathable membrame), actually got foolled yet again by labelling that meant some gloves in the range were Gore-tex but not my set. Might have worn rubber gloves instead I then tried the MD Gore-tex ski glove with inners. Strong and breathed not to badly, but five minitues the hands were way to hot so on and off, etc. Dumped the inners and got a few more minutes for needing to take them off. The inners are all I needed around camp.

Usual problem with Tassie, cold and wind chill on the exposed areas but with a lot of "warmer" and sheltered areas combined with the occassional scrub bush. Nine to ten months of year no need for gloves for me except around the camp and then generally not. Then for the other two months more windproof than warm gloves needed for walking in the areas exposed to wind. Gloves is about the last area of clothing that I have not got a really satisfactory solution.

Cheers Brett

[alliecat]

Interesting post alliecat,
Where do you venture to in Tas that you need these gloves ?? I seem to get away with polypro inners for most of my walks here ,yes they get wet but stay warm,

Still I am only bush walking not doing whatever it you do to need this type of gear so who am I to comment and good luck in whatever you do

corvus

I don't do anything extreme - I'm just hard on gloves for some reason (possibly clumsiness). I seem to be able to wreck a pair of gloves and end up with cold, scraped, cut, and bruised hands really easily. I do have delicate hands from working in an office though so maybe I just need to toughen up?

I've tried lots of gloves and some of them work okay, but I always need to carry a spare pair for when I slip scrambling over some dolerite and tear the first pair...

When it's wet and cold I'd like something light, tough, and durable on my hands but I haven't found anything suitable yet. It's not a huge problem, it's just a bit annoying that I haven't yet found gloves I'm truly happy with. Possibly the best so far is my skiing gloves but they are just a too hot unless it's really quite cold outside.

[Jellybean]

I just found the Rocky Goretex oversocks at the following site for $60USD - http://www.team1newport.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ROC8011. They will ship to Sydney, minus the packaging, for $14USD. I might give them a try.

Hi JB, I finally caved in and ordered a pair from these vendors. Their online shop doesn't like foreign credit cards so I landed up doing the transaction by email and phoning in the credit card details. Will report when they have arrived.

Helpful bunch, and quick with their responses.

Hi Michael,

Welcome back!

Curious to hear how you found these socks (I still haven't got around to buying a pair ) and to hear about the Challenge!

Cheers,

JB

[photohiker]

Hi Michael,

Welcome back!

Curious to hear how you found these socks (I still haven't got around to buying a pair ) and to hear about the Challenge!

Cheers,

JB

Hi JB,

Thanks! It's good to be back.

Socks: They look great, but I never wore them. Hardly got rained on, only sloshed through one river in my trainers, and the bogs were mostly dry. It was a dry year, which was a surprise considering the horror reports from last year and the long and cold winter this year.

Challenge: Fantastic! I had a ball, really enjoyed the landscape and the freedom to navigate on a compass bearing at will. Had no blisters, but my feet were sore each day between 20-25km mark. Average ascent each day was over 1km (biggest day was 1900m and over 30km) Total distance walked was about 340km

I will do a full writeup of the Challenge in due course, just recovering from jetlag and picking up the pieces of my previous life after a month away.