Kryptic or kuiu Rain gear

[Becca]

stuff doesnt dry around a fire when its still raining and everything in the tent is wet...

I dry wet clothes inside my sleeping bag at night frequently, usually quick dry hiking pants and merino base layers but sometimes socks and gloves as well. If they are truly soaked I will ring them out first, but that's it. I can usually get damp clothes to dry just by wearing them in the tent in the evening, but if they are still damp at bedtime into the bag they go...

 

[slim9300]

stuff doesnt dry around a fire when its still raining and everything in the tent is wet...

Yep. You need the new UL Ti Kifaru stove (once it's out).

 

[fillthefreezer]

Yep. You need the new UL Ti Kifaru stove (once it's out).

trust me, ill be getting one but then ill talk myself into a more suitable stove shelter, before long ive ordered a stove and a sawtooth. then im really set for late season, lets get new snowshoes as the ones ive been running are sub-par, better get insert expensive item here.... lol

 

[slim9300]

trust me, ill be getting one but then ill talk myself into a more suitable stove shelter, before long ive ordered a stove and a sawtooth. then im really set for late season, lets get new snowshoes as the ones ive been running are sub-par, better get insert expensive item here.... lol

HAHA! That's the truth right there.

 

[Yellowknife]

Luke or YK, would you mind answering something for me, from an Alaskan hunters pov.

Over the years I have tried many styles of rain jackets, both here and in NZ and am yet to find one that really keeps you dry, whether it be from the inside or out, I honestly find it easier to just get wet and dry out at night, a difficult task at times, yes, but it is/was easier than fooling around with rain jackets.

All the new technology coming out may negate the need for me being wet all day, but I am sceptical?

Cheers

I'm going to echo some of Luke's comments here. Pretty much when it rains steadily, I expect to get wet to some extent. No way I could go without some sort of rain gear though.... totally soaked clothes at Alaska temps is a recipe for death.

My methodology when wearing raingear is two fold:

1.) Layer lightly underneath and pace myself as much as possible

2.) Wear quick drying clothing that I can dry out with body heat. Also usually pack a back up merino or fleece midlayer that I can change into at the end of the day.


Although most W/B raingear has some kind of DWR I've never found one that stands up to very much brush busting, so I like gear that simply doesn't absorb very much water into the face fabric. That seems to let it breath a little better/longer as well allowing the gear to dry quickly when/if it stops raining. The problem is that it's dang hard to know how a new piece of gear is going to act till you get it out in the field for a while. One of the reasons I'm skeptical of W/B numbers is because they change so drastically as stuff gets old, dirty, and wet. Something that is awesome for fending of an afternoon shower on hiking trail can be a soggy saturated worthless mess after a day in the brush and mud.

I've also tried to specifically go to very fast drying clothing on backpack hunts to handling the sweat and the inevitable water soaking past the sleeves, neck, cuffs, etc. I used to use old school wool and Cabelas microtex, and while they both worked and were quiet, neither one dried terribly fast once soaked. I now mostly use some very thin "softshell" pants and merino with a fleece midlayer for the top. Other options out there that may work as well or better, but those I can dry out in my sleeping bag or a few minutes in a breeze so it works for me.


As far as new tech goes, Mountain Hardwear is selling something the call Q-Dry Elite that is supposed to be the same technology as eVent. I haven't tried it, but on paper it looks like pretty good gear breathability wise. Some of the colors are... interesting.. though.


Yk

 

[Jager]

Cheers for the detailed reply YK, I also echo Becca's and your idea of drying clothes in your sleeping bag.

I know this sounds crazy, but if someone can personally handle it, climb into your sleeping bag with the wet clothes on, they will be dry by morning, but, hey, really takes some willpower to do it. lol We used to do this in a jungle environment, and honestly, worked very well. Same concept as treating a hypothermia patient.

 

[Aron Snyder]

Cheers for the detailed reply YK, I also echo Becca's and your idea of drying clothes in your sleeping bag.

I know this sounds crazy, but if someone can personally handle it, climb into your sleeping bag with the wet clothes on, they will be dry by morning, but, hey, really takes some willpower to do it. lol We used to do this in a jungle environment, and honestly, worked very well. Same concept as treating a hypothermia patient.

It needs to be a synthetic bag to do this ( I do it every year)..... if you do it with a down bag, you'll ruin the bag.

 

[Jager]

Really, learn something new everyday, thankyou. Never tried it in a down bag, only cheap arse army ones and the tactical situation didn't allow a nice cosy fire, otherwise I wouldn't be climbing in wet. lol

 

[Yellowknife]

It needs to be a synthetic bag to do this ( I do it every year)..... if you do it with a down bag, you'll ruin the bag.

Excellent point. I do use a synthetic bag.

Yk

 

[Aron Snyder]

That is one of the strongest points on choosing synthetic over down.

Synthetic will hold over 90% of its heat retention value when wet, as down holds next to nothing when wet.

In most cases, when the weather looks like chit for several days, I will get in the bag wet every night. It sucks, but you will have dry-ish clothing in the morning.

I WOULD NOT try this with the new coated down that some companies are offering, as you will ruin those bags as well. It may take a little longer, but coated down will still loose its loft like regular down.

Me and several other guys tested this a few years ago when Sierra Design came out with dry down and found out the first night that most, if not all the loft was gone in the bag by morning.

Really, learn something new everyday, thankyou. Never tried it in a down bag, only cheap arse army ones and the tactical situation didn't allow a nice cosy fire, otherwise I wouldn't be climbing in wet. lol

 

[luke moffat]

Really, learn something new everyday, thankyou. Never tried it in a down bag, only cheap arse army ones and the tactical situation didn't allow a nice cosy fire, otherwise I wouldn't be climbing in wet. lol

Very true...tried it on Kodiak last year on a 3 day 2 night hunt..but the second night the down bags loft was greatly diminshed for sure! There is a time and a place for synthetic and down bags, but only having the option for one it'd be synthetic all the way!

One of these days I'll get the Slick bags ordered up.

 

[todd kelly]

Well I am pretty stoked. Just got the email that my Yukon jacket is in the mail. Hopefully it arrives a little faster then my last Kuiu order. It took 6 weeks for a pair of attack pants to show up. For some reason they took the pants on a tour of California before they headed up to the great white north.