most effective rain gear system /items

Autumn Flower

Ultralighter
DECENT RAIN GEAR

in Aug I will be doing the alp crossing e5. It NEEDS to be able to sustain heavy downpoars, while remaining packable and lightweight.

My current gear goretex paclite let me down... a rip in my trousers and the second-hand's jacket's interior is kinda falling apart.

No idea what is out there on the market. If anyone has any advice and / (or suitable gear to sell) please bring it on.

The system I used so far is to have a lightweight rainjacket for both summer and winter which I then put over my downjacket.

Any other ideas of rain systems welcome. importance: EFFECTIVE
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;) and LIGHTWEIGHT ideally easy packable and good value (did not realise how expensive this hobby is; never before spend sooo much money on my clothes, bags and generally haha @gearJunkie )
 

Lady Grey

Thru Hiker
Check out Sale items...
ULOG.
OMM have some items.
I'm taking the Aether Smock with me to the Alps this week.
Event.
Lightweight and packs very small.
 

Graham

Thru Hiker
+1 for eVent, good lightweight material and usable throughout the year but be warned when you start checking out prices it might move the needle on expensive.

If the tear in the paclite trousers is repairable, I'd get that done. Give the trousers a machine wash and then iron them, per care label. Ironing will help rejuvenate the DWR. Then I'd pluck up the courage to spend £££s on a new jacket.
 

Lady Grey

Thru Hiker
Someone had binned :eek: a VERY expensive pair of INNOV8 Ultra Race Pants in Keswick yesterday.
They had a repairable tear.:rolleyes:
Took home and washed in rec' stuff and then sprayed with Nikwax.
Will repair and try out when I'm back home.:D
Agree Graham....as always.....Event.....:thumbsup:
 

gixer

Thru Hiker
Happy with my Aether smock so far :thumbsup:

Can't imagine ever being cold enough that i'd wear a down jacket under it (while moving)

Down jacket + rain = cold and wet

Save your down for after you've pitched your tent and your nice and dry


It'd have to be -5c or below AND windy before i'll wear anything other than baselayer under my rain shell.
Even then it'll be a fleece rather than a down jacket

The goal is to be just slightly cold when hiking on the flat.


For the bottom half, i'm chuffed to ****** with my cuben kilt/skirt
Bottom of my trouser get wet, but then they do when i wear rain shell trousers as well.
 

Daymoth

Section Hiker
I use a OMM lightweight 2.5 layer rain jacket. I got it on sale, it is probably the only item of clothing that is not second hand since they dont have that long of a life and their performance is allways best when new.

For trousers I use super cheap crap packaway stuff from amazon. I cant be bothered paying money on rain trousers, they tear easily and are not that vital.
 
Happy with my Aether smock so far :thumbsup:

Can't imagine ever being cold enough that i'd wear a down jacket under it (while moving)

Down jacket + rain = cold and wet

Save your down for after you've pitched your tent and your nice and dry


It'd have to be -5c or below AND windy before i'll wear anything other than baselayer under my rain shell.
Even then it'll be a fleece rather than a down jacket

The goal is to be just slightly cold when hiking on the flat.


For the bottom half, i'm chuffed to testicles with my cuben kilt/skirt
Bottom of my trouser get wet, but then they do when i wear rain shell trousers as well.

I think most would agree about not wearing down under wp.

But I can still get cold enough to require an insulated (syn) jacket, or fleece under that shell.

Even walking at a decent pace, if the conditions are wet and or windy enough. Certainly well before - 5

At the risk of repeating myself - women do tend to run colder.

(we also happen to have 20% less volatile oxygen blood compounds too, which means that even if a man and a woman of equal physical stature, do the same amount of 'training' the woman will find herself at a 20% performance disadvantage over all - not that hillwalking is a competitive sport of course ;))

+ I for rain kilt though :) especially in summer mountain conditions- I made myself a silnylon one a couple of years back. (simplest sewing project imaginable :geek:)

Great for over a skirt, or shorts too...Easy on and off.... The thigh muscles definitely suffer most from chilling when wet ... Calves can cope with more.

Mine is very lightweight (sorry no stats to hand :redface:) and also it doesn't remind me of muddy days, working in the fields.

The only problem with kilt, is slight visibilty problems for feet, particularly going down hill, or on rockier ground.

Still wear wp trews for late aut through to early spring though - gives that extra emergency warmth if needed.
 

Shewie

Chief Slackpacker
Staff member
Whatever you get just don't be too surprised if it leaks after a while. I suppose it depends on where you hike and how often it's worn though, first choice would be eVent but again it doesn't last forever, something to think about when spending £££'s on a new shell.
 

gixer

Thru Hiker
I think even women being 20% less efficient they're still more efficient than me dragging my fat ass up a mountain.
So i'm not surprised a slim woman would be cooler

Although, speaking as someone that's been slim, pretty muscular and slim, pretty muscular and fat and just fat, the warmest i've been is when i was more muscular.

I've certainly not noticed any difference between being slim and fat

While hiking that'd make sense, but i also noticed i was warmer when sleeping

So the women = colder thing might be something to do with muscle mass

I've got a mate that's a competitive body builder, i'll ask her when i see her again
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
AFAIK muscle burns calories even when not being used and burning calories generates heat so makes sense to me. Gives women an advantage when food is scarce like self supported thru hike or whatever. It's always the women who survive, very good example on that there bear gryls island ting where the blokes are like sticks and hanging and the women can still function and haven't lost nearly as much body fat. Couple of weeks ago relatively warm night, I was on polychryo and 150g of down, my wife in a solid inner under 450g of down and I was warm and she was cold.
She's looking for a new waterproof too and it's her birthday coming up so I'm very interested in suggestions
 

Autumn Flower

Ultralighter
Interesting stuff...

I too am a very warm / hot walker... barely wear the down except for nights or breaks. although I sometimes confuse myself... last winter in -15 temperatures, altitude, alps only t-shirt and thin gotetex paclite... a boiling summers day: half of britain in shorts and me in jumper, scarf and my thickest down (similar thing in Lanzarote)... mood dependant I gather or just crazy or based on exhaustion / energy levels..

@Graham your sucgestion about trousers I will def do... did not realise i could repair... the trousers hold up EXTREMELY well except for sitting down and were only 20£ 2nd hand... made me feel extremely relieved as I love them trousers...

will look into event for sure... ALL the insighs / considerations, advice shared again have been extremely valuable... thxxx
 
Interesting stuff...

I too am a very warm / hot walker... barely wear the down except for nights or breaks. although I sometimes confuse myself... last winter in -15 temperatures, altitude, alps only t-shirt and thin gotetex paclite... a boiling summers day: half of britain in shorts and me in jumper, scarf and my thickest down (similar thing in Lanzarote)... mood dependant I gather or just crazy or based on exhaustion / energy levels..


will look into event for sure... ALL the insighs / considerations, advice shared again have been extremely valuable... thxxx

Where you are in your 'cycle' can also affect all this dramatically, even for menopausal, or peri menopausal women..

Women athletes in trainig, will often design their programme to take account of these natural fluctuations..

We can't necessarily arrange our trips around it, but it does helps to be aware of why some times we will feel full of beans, and then at others we feel like a wrung out dishcloth..

Just one of the many delights of being female... But still preferable, I'd say, to the alternative ... :)

Not that I don't love men you understand...
.
.
.
.
.
. Just couldn't eat a whole one.. :biggrin: x x x
 

Graham

Thru Hiker
For the repair, options are to a) stitch the rip (patch preferably) and seal it with McNett Seam Grip, the latter important for reinforcement; b) use an adhesive fabric patch such as McNett's Gore-Tex fabric repair or c) use McNett Tenacious Tape (which might be the best investment as it's handy stuff to have in your pack for field repairs anyway). All these products are easy to find, in a store look for the "Gear Aid" label.

Enjoy your trip :)
 

Jamess

Section Hiker
Event or not, buy a jacket with pit zips. If you are working hard all day no membrane is good enough to shift that amount of perspiration.
 

Mole

Thru Hiker
Event or not, buy a jacket with pit zips. If you are working hard all day no membrane is good enough to shift that amount of perspiration.

I wouldn't filter any searches to eVent AND pitzips though!
I'm not sure eVent jackets have pitzips.
Certainly never used to as the eVent licence precluded the use of them. Possibly different now.

Anyhow, like children, some women can be quite different from men in how much perspiration they produce.

Ruth often has a layer more than I do even when pushing up hill. Was often wearing her primaloft jacket under her ME drilite waterproof back in early June in Assynt/Fisherfield and still less sweaty than me wearing eVent.
Probably fitter:redface:
 

Teepee

Thru Hiker
Event or not, buy a jacket with pit zips. If you are working hard all day no membrane is good enough to shift that amount of perspiration.

I've only got one jacket with pit zips. A Lands End with 6k breathability and 10k HH, the worst jacket I have on paper. Only cost a Tenner new, probably 10 years old.

It's also outperformed every waterproof I've tried replacing it with. :biggrin:
 

JKM

Thru Hiker
buy a paclite jacket as hopefully it will spend most of the time in the pack.
eVent is ok but needs looking after..
Enjoy your trip :)

I have both, a 7-8 yr old eVent Rab latok alpine & a new haglofs LIM paclite thingie.
personally I find the event more breathable than packlite but obviously never get to test them side by side.

Regarding eVent durability, I have never even washed mine and it is still perfect, almost like new. That said I never wear a waterproof unless it is really raining so it stays nicely tucked up in my pack in its own dry bag to keep it clean.

A windproof is the best way for drizzle and intermittent light rain imho, saving the waterproof for appropriate rainfall :drowning:
 
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tom

Thru Hiker
zpacks cu poncho combined with a rain skirt - especially for alpine routes with big ascends where all rain jackets and pants inevitably turn into a sauna within minutes- along with some minimalist storm jacket as backup, for town and camp (presently a Berghaus "hyper jacket" 90g).
 

Enzo

Thru Hiker
I'm going to try an umbrella and hypertherm backed up with a hyper for lowland walking.

Umbrella + hyper =~ alp kit pulsar
220.............90............... 260g
 

Autumn Flower

Ultralighter
Again didnt see these posts ... thank you everyone :) Genuinely LOVING all the helping words and suggestion... totally ordering that kit u suggested @Diddi and @Graham . Been procrastinating with fixing the trousers as it would have cost more time researching (feels like I am permanently researching these days) so that has been taken care of !!. Thank youuuuu lovely people

@Fair Weather Camper makes total sense... never thought about it though...will start monitoring how (and if) it does affect me when Im out and about. I LOVE being a woman too as much as some complain about it haha
 
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Autumn Flower

Ultralighter
@Lady Grey @gixer @Daymoth You mentioned omm Aether smocks / Omm lighteight jacket.... I managed to get my hands on an Aether Jacket but feel tempted to return or sell it on as I am worried about my backpack rubbing against the what feels like flimsy material and damaging it.

I read on an ultra-lightweight gear site a review for the Montane minums (or other super lightweight jacket, cant remember) saying it is not suitable for those backpacking cos of above mentioned issue...

What are your experiences / insights with this ?
 
Again didnt see these posts ... thank you everyone :) Genuinely LOVING all the helping words and suggestion... totally ordering that kit u suggested @Diddi and @Graham . Been procrastinating with fixing the trousers as it would have cost more time researching (feels like I am permanently researching these days) so that has been taken care of !!. Thank youuuuu lovely people

@Fair Weather Camper makes total sense... never thought about it though...will start monitoring how (and if) it does affect me when Im out and about. I LOVE being a woman too as much as some complain about it haha

Time (and energy) nearly always the most limiting factor, so much to cram into one liddle ol life..

re cyclical fluctuations tho, the effects will vary massively, from woman to woman too...
For some it will be negligible, others will be pole axed at certain times.

Not helped, at all, by it having been such a taboo subject for general discussion, until relatively recently... :pompus:

Maybe it's these indivdual variations that make it so hard to research, a bit like the inexact science of weather forecasting..

But bodily awareness always helps.. :)

Do consider a wrap-around rain-skirt though - if you (or a friend) can hem a piece of wp. fabric, insert a couple of waist accommodating darts at the top, and apply some usefully placed snaps, or velcro, then you're done..


Comes in handy for other stuff too.. Such as more discreet ablutions, or emergency tarp for half unpacked gear, when the heavens open, mid shelter erections.. etc..

Have generally avoided very lightweight waterproof jacket , for same reason that you suggest... Montane windshirt great for light showers, and adding surprising degree of warmth. But when it's properly soaking for a long day, then there's a tendency for other mucky abrasive stuff (vegetation, grit, earth) to get involved and compromise your protection..

Fair play on the Winter swimming, I know quite a few folks into that right now... You're all totally nuts IMHO - :coldfeet:.... But I guess some of the stuff I'm into, looks a bit crazy to the casual observer.. :eeker:

Hope you have a luverly time.. Must go dig out my own sewing machine, for a bit of pre trip craftiness :happy:
 

Daymoth

Section Hiker
@Lady Grey @gixer @Daymoth You mentioned omm Aether smocks / Omm lighteight jacket.... I managed to get my hands on an Aether Jacket but feel tempted to return or sell it on as I am worried about my backpack rubbing against the what feels like flimsy material and damaging it.

I read on an ultra-lightweight gear site a review for the Montane minums (or other super lightweight jacket, cant remember) saying it is not suitable for those backpacking cos of above mentioned issue...

What are your experiences / insights with this ?

Erm not sure. I mean, any waterproof membrane and DWR is going to suffer with rubbing, be it a big pack or a day pack. You might get some delamination after some rough use, but I think many backpackers use those type of jackers like the OR helium and such. At the end of the day, all ultralight gear is going to be less durable than super heavy duty gear.
I havent used my jacket enough to compare, it is also just an item I take out when it rains or is very windy. If I was going to backpack for 2 monthd in scotland maybe I would take a 3 layer jacket, but for places were it diesnt rain 90% of the time I am personally happy with the lightest possible.
 
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