after sweating for ages inside GoreTex gear I slowly moved back to wool, silk, and waxed canvas, I own some of these German army pants and an ancient Swiss army wool pant with buttoned cuffs that I can slip my hiking boots through without any effort. Underwear is NZ wool stuff and I aim at a NZ boreal shirt but have to earn the money first! Swiss army pocket knife and Bahco saw are also my standard equipment plus a Swedish Mora knife (cheap enough that can be lost, and great quality for the price). Southamerican alpaca wool, Scandinavian, NZ, Swiss and German stuff seem to be taking over my closet...
Thanks some good tips there like the wool boots it doesn't get cold enough for some of your gear here in the UK but spark proof is always good at Geoff.
Camp Fires are often life savers here, I have destroyed too many synthetic garments warming myself by Spruce Fires. Natural fibres are now my material of choice. Shrunk wool with natural oils (Lanolin) in it is almost waterproof, certainly waterproof in cold dry climates.
Wool actually generates heat when wet. This guy has it right. Real wool. We keep losing US wool mills because the vast majority of people in US don’t know squat about fabric, just buy cheap petro junk.
Your championing of natural fibres is excellent. They can perform as well as synthetic and are environmentally friendly. Racing drivers wear Nomex flameproof underwear, which is wool. Wool is also 'Exothermic', meaning it gives off heat when it gets wet, thereby keeping you warm. Not many people know this. Equally, wool is heavy and more so when wet. So choose your garments appropriately!
very nice, good taste, and everything looks brand spanking new still. Look after ur gear and it will look after you. I try avoid the Scandi stuff, except mil surp. Too expensive these days for what u get. Utilitarian, no frills, old school brands turned into fashion icons with price to match
makes you wonder when everything looks new ? probably never used very much other than a 100 ft. walk in the woods and make a video and then go back to car and go home.....
Damnit people he's just showing what he wears if you don't like wool or canvas don't use it use gortex and dyneema or what ever ,you know this type of gear worked for a long time the wool is a little water resistant and you would wear a canvas parka that's been treated with beeswax and some type of leggings it's what he uses stop being so up Tite about gear bet most of you fuckers don't spend two nights a year outside.
Man you never did the pack review video you were going to show us what was in your pack I can't find it if I mistake and maybe come here and add a comment RU-vid never shows us the responses but it would help other people I'm sure there's people out there wanting to know what the heck you put in your pack thanks buddy great video by the way I guess it's wool or bust!
Cotton, when wet loses all it’s insulation properties. Actually it leads to hypothermia. But the rest of the wool gear is interesting. Remember the trappers and voyageurs (Hudson’s Bay etc) used exclusively wool and had the racket through the snow with 100 pounds of furs + their kit.
No, good quality wool usually does not felt when it gets wet. If it's of good quality then the maker will have already pre-shrunk or pre-felted the material to some degree. Good quality wool is also a tighter weave than the cheap stuff- hence more stable- this is especially true of a twill or whipcord tightly woven wool fabric.
I got the pants, but thats it ... i cannot find those wool socks! I got a wool b lllm anket too 100 percent wool. Im looking at a coat that is made out of buffalo hide. Or some sort of animal meant for winter... looked at fox hides, they are not too expensiclve individuslly, but when you think of making a coat out of them youll be spending hundreds of dollars. Anyways the pants are waiting to be tested... ill update yall .
Hello, very good video. Looks great and functional. I'm heavy interisting in these german army wool pants. How is the exactly discription or name of them. Where can I get them. Llike you know, good quality wool clorhes normaly are very expensive. The funky situation , I write to you from germany. But never bevor have seen these awesame wool pants....please tell me wher I can get them...Manuel
i have those same mittens. i like them but they are not very windproof. i was in 22 mph wind today at 6F ambient and had to stick my hands in my pockets to protect them from the wind. shame the mitt can not do this on its own.
Oh crap you almost got me into my bad habbits... buying survival gadgets and such... but i dont need wool everything as well ... thank you, have been looking for a video like this for a big while...
Be careful; some poor advice here. For example, a 27 liter Frostriver pack is 2500 grams where a Hyperlight 30 liter pack is 383 grams. Carrying extra weight can kill. By the way, I have WeatherWool and Filson woollen garments.
It’s a good kit. But how does a college student on a tight budget afford something similar? I have a bunch of surplus gear but it’s real hit and miss on quality.
I 100% agree, wool is the best. I bought a wool sweater from Irish inspiration and never looked back. Best money I ever spent, also have the Lester rivers the quality is excellent.👍👍
I'm from NE Alberta Canada, In the 60's every buddy around are area had a pair, the hole family. Then they slowly got harder and harder to find. It was what I wear as a kid growing up in the winter months they had rubbers that you put on and away you went. Talk about warm.
Great video! Man, those german wool pants are hard to find. Luckily I'm a skinny guy and was able to find one of the last new pairs on a surplus website.
Great video. Thanks, reminds me to get more knowledgeable and practiced in making woolen outerwear. You must be sportin over $5000.00 invested in all that. Not everyone's got the doubloons fer all that.
Where would I be able to find surplus wool field trousers? Did you buy yours online? Did you buy yours a size larger in order to fit a layer underneath?
Erudite 1 if your sub 36 in waist you can can order from sportmans guide, but if your a bigger guy like me 38-42in waist they are almost impossible to find
The German 1960's wool trousers are no longer available from the big online surplus dealers- you might find them on ebay occasionally - not cheap. I got mine from ARMY Surplus 1 in Ponderay, Idahoo phone 208-663-7331. Ask for Cornell. He has about 50 pairs in stock- from what I've seen there in pretty top condition as well. You can find the Finnish pants and field shirt online- their inexpensive and plenty available. The Finnish are fantastic (if I had never seen the German). Now, having the German, it's all I would use- better design and nicer material than all the other Northern European wool surplus pants.
Fred Asbell wool clothing is far cheaper and Very Durable compared to the empire canvas gear for the same HIGH quality. I have 3 pieces from Fred Asbell in Blanket weight a Anorak, Longhunter shirt and a Vest and it still cost me less money than the boreal shirt. Not knocking the empire canvas gear but honestly it's way overpriced. Wool is all I use for WINTERTIME. Can't beat it.
Leon Wilcox good advice i make my own wool is king in winter i met a scottish climber once i had earlier in the day mistaken for a stranded scottish sheep stuck on a winter ledge 900ft up i kept thinking to myself as i walked down the lhairig ghru valley between snowy mts in a blizzard how the hell did a sheep get all the way up there aa weather worsened i sought shelter in a bothy mt refuge nearby to weather out a squall make a brew about 35mins later the door bursts open and this absolutely huge scottish viking looking warrior type of guy walks in dipping his head shoulders to get through the door i was frozen like a bunny rabbit caught in headlights taking in the sheer size powee n build of this guy but what amazed me most was that he was wearing a cured sheeps fleece that made him look twice the sizes and like a viking or a sheep!! i was a bit tentative to talk to him in cases he picked me up by my neck & just ate me! but i asked him thats an unususual jkt yer wearing he said aye yes its the only thing i find that will truly keep the bad weather off me when i am stuck for hours on the face of a beinne i said thats funny i saw a sheep stuck up really high earlier? on.the face of a 900ft cliff he began to laugh at me saying och nooo that was me you fool i saw you looking at me i gave you a wee wave!! many peoples mistake me for a real sheep when im wearing this jkt!! i said yoi mean to say that you got all the way up that vertical faces and back down here again in less than half n hour he goes aye i was hungry and thirsty and now ive met you am glad of a bit of company? i said to him warming to him well im glad to meet you and realise that that sheep is no longer in any degree of distress or trouble!! hed seen me worrying about it trying to see if i could do anything but he was just a speck of white in poor viz 1000ft up absoluteky huge 6ft 7ft guy wild blonde hair with it he looked like a lost viking from erik the reds raiding party left behinds from last century he was a queit n timid guy tho quite shy i met a guy who knew him a bit later on once i was on my way down he told me that he was a local climbing legend had done every difficult snow ice rock climb for many miles arounds and was very well respected in climbing circles but he just preffered to climb alone as nobody elses could keep up with him or had same reach as him so found it diff to partner him on the cliffs he spent days lingering arounds rocky remote crags of rock in all weathers testing out routes alone climbing often solo occasiinally with friends but he was a giant of a man i couldnt help be impresses at this real fleece jkt it was like something out of 1000years bc hslf expected raquel welch to come thru the door next in a fur lined bikini but i.would really have been dreaming then?
Woodsman Spirit hello woodsman spirit to answer your query no it was not hamish mac innes i am in mt rescue i met hamish before when i had to report missing climbers and a on about 3 seperate occasions during rescues in mid winter once socially at a lecture in glencoe they used to call him the fox of the glen!! was his nikname he was assoc with lochaber mt rescue team and he designed a lot of the innovative gear eqpt techniques for help extract victims of fall climbers or hills walkers accident etc he developed ultra bright thrower lamps and stretchers and other gear pulleys lifts and techniques to aid lowers or raises on vertical cliffs in all weathers he contributed to the global mt rescue scene was often called upon to attend mt rescue conferences as was such a good innovator he advised on the eiger sanction camera team or crew safety with clint eastwood in 70s he is now passed away unfortunately he used to wear a deerstalker hat his signature hat smoke a pipe be seen lurking at back of a landrover under its spotlight in all weathers advising as mt rescue team leader i believe he had a small farm or homestead near to glencoe valley the mamores way? no this guy that wore a sheeps fleece that made him look like a viking from denmark or norway was probably exactly that ancestrally as he was huge nordic looking and prob a throwback to scotlands viking days i stopped peered gazed for about 20-30mins in foul weather blizzard flurries trying to make out this sheep stuck on a cliff the cloud and snow kept interfering with my periodical spotting of this lost sheep i couldnt believe how a sheep got 1000ft + as mts in this area are near to 4000ft high but lairig ghru is a long valley pass really threads its way through to glenmore or south towards glen atholl glenfeshie to braemar is a nice route to take too i found it less frequented than the lairig ghru even tho nobody except this guy was there on the day as weather was so bad i was amazed at size of the guy and how he got from where he was on face to where i was in mins in bad weather no wonder nobody could ever keep up or climb with him he was a superhuman giant of a man!! the sort that sticks out even in a crowd!! i felt when he burst in only 1 doorway out and he was blocking it after ducking his head stooping to get inside hut bothy for shelter then just looks for a long time at me!! scrutinising me long time before he decided to open his mouth i was thinking i had met a serial killer in middle of a blizzard as i looked back up sat at small table i had a jim bowie on me but id have needed a pike to keep him at bay if he had got nasty thank goodness he was a friendly giant but id not like to have upset him in anyway i let him be as had to get a move on but you could tell he enjoyed the solitude he was sociable enough but like anyone who seeks the solaces of the hills was glad to have hut to himself after id left he used it regularly spent lots of time up there sussing out prev unclimbed routes etc he was well known of in area heard some funny stories about how nobody could keep up with him! walking or climbing he was like the giant of the glen! he probably killed & ate the sheep the open hillsides before he fashioned & wore its skin!!! :)
Sorry chaps, I'm going to introduce an honest but discordant note and incur the wrath of the fanboys. This clothing is all well and good in the dry conditions shown here but try going into the Cairngorms in Winter in that kit and you’ll be soaked and hypothermic before too long, you won’t be able to open the swollen, frozen leather straps on that rucksack and there won’t be much in there anyway because your bulky M65 with liner and additional hood took up most of the room available when you packed it. There is a reason you don’t see winter climbers and mountaineers using this type of clothing any longer, it’s not weatherproof, it’s bulky and it’s heavy. No good in foul conditions. There is something odd about this section of the ‘bushcraft community’; they eschew modern materials which though not perfect were developed precisely because this old stuff was so bad in many situations. I put such people in the same category as the Amish, Luddites and Yukon Gold Rush reenactors with a bit of Walter Mitty thrown in. No offence, but you’re playing at it.
Now Christine, it's a bit rude to call me a fool. You misunderstand if you think I believe any gear is a substitute for knowledge, ability, fitness and good judgement. I started climbing in 1975 but had been hillwalking and bivouacking for a few years previous in a cold wet climate. I went on to snow and ice climbing in Scotland for about 20 winters, some hard, long routes too. I've climbed in the Alps, including some of the 4,000anders, maybe 8 or 9 trips, and climbed frozen icefalls in Norway, France and Italy (in minus 20 degrees C) well in to my 50's. I mostly bivouacked before climbs (the coldest one above 4,000m), and snow-holed on two occasions. All I'm saying is that I really depended on my gear. Over the years I've used clothing starting with PU coated Peter Storm cagoules (mobile sauna), army surplus stuff, Buffalo (Pertex-covered fibre pile), Mountain Equipment, H2No, G1000 and Gore Tex stuff from various top manufacturers. Now I just canoe with some much younger work colleagues into remote places and our rules are no modern stuff, mostly military surplus, no tents and cook on a fire. I certainly don't know it all and have had a few epics but If I was a fool I'd have been killed years ago. I know what works for me in different circumstances and what doesn't and I stand by what I said. However, I have two questions for you: can you tell me your personal experience and achievements, honestly, which have led you to form your opinions and secondly can you tell me why you are apparently so angry?
Well Christine, for someone who's travelled and had an interesting life you seem a little sensitive. And I have to say your obvious antipathy (bordering on hostility) towards mountaineers in general is at odds with my own experience of Mountain Rescue volunteers, who universally fully support mountaineering, many being climbers themselves.
Greetings barryolaith. Yes, I know the Cairngorms well and did Mountain leadership at Glenmore Lodge one of the most revered mountaineering schools. I hiked and climbed a lot in the Cairngorms, Glencoe, the Ben, and many of the peaks in the Western Highlands. I have also climbed in the Alps, Dolomites and Norwegian Fjords In the 1970's and 80's. There were primitive synthetics, (such as Peter Storm and Cagjac) they would inevitable sweat you to death) then but wool was still widely worn. Dachstein Mitts were and still are excellent winter gloves for winter, even wet they are warm (I did have some nylon overmitts but rarely used them). Ventile was very popular then for anoraks and many upscale Scottish clothing manufacturers made them, there is a resurgence in the popularity of Ventile type fabrics today. I know Scottish winters and Scottish August summers, the August holidays would constitute more of a threat to me, pouring with rain and cold day and night....this would be a bad time for wool with no over jacket, not cold and dry. Modern synthetic outdoor clothing?...it certainly has some nice design features, is lighter (which is a good thing with this generation of weaklings we have) , but water resistance and breathabiity claims are often grossly exaggerated. Too much marketing focus put on making the wearer look like slender, high street models.Unfortunately many people are sucked in by fashion trends. Synthetics are significantly cheaper to produce than most natural fibres yet they often cost more = more profits for manufacturers. I bought Goretex when it first came out and it was novelty, it failed a lot (de-laminated and sweated). I bought a very good Goretex military spec jacket last year (was seduced by a very low price) and it is OK (mainly because it is light) but here in British Columbia Interior it rarely rains heavy. Felt and canvas boots are great in cold dry extremes and are still the only choice of circumpolar indigenous people. I also have two waxed, and one untreated tight-woven Swedish Smock. overhead anoraks (I made my own special recipe for wax), I also have a gaberdine smock which I proofed with Fabsil I do not know what the weather is like nowadays in the Cairngorms, but it was cold and dry when I spent time up there in winter. I think the debate here is more about clothing that functions effectively in the environment you are in, if I lived 350kms Eastof here I would have more lightweight synthetic in my outdoor kit, but still many, superior, natural fibres. My qualification for wisdom and opinion is that I am 64 years of age, live in a tiny travel trailer at 3,500 feet in a forest surrounded with thousands of kilometres of Crown Land with Black Bears, Cougars, Moose and Wolves as neighbours. We have 4 feet of snow at the moment and have had many nights in the low teens, even as low as -32C once or twice. I think this exempts me from the label of recreational/weekend gear junky-tech freak.
Hello Woodsman. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Impressed as I am by your history, I am even more impressed by your current lifestyle. Hats (both woollen and synthetic) off to you.
Hello Christopher. Reflecting on your responses, I believe we might have some things in common. I too am saddened by the littering of 'trophy' summits, the egotistical motivation of cheque-book ascensionists, even the idea of 'conquering' a mountain. As is often the case in human endeavours, the originally noble pursuit of mountaineering has become tarnished by those out to make money and those who think they can buy their way to achievement and respect. However, I would say most climbers are not like that and are motivated by the experience, fulfilment, even by times joy they find in their pursuit.As regards my opening e-mail, I did have a mischievous tilt at what I perceive to be a very odd sacred cow in some 'outdoorsmen' quarters, i.e. the almost religious insistence on only using 'natural' materials regardless of their appropriateness for the conditions or task in hand, and specifically in cold wet conditions. It's a broad subject, perhaps not suited to RU-vid comments. I hope you realise there was a bit of humour in there too, or at least that was my intention.
Good question. It's best to order a size larger. 1) You'd be allowing room for nice wool socks. 2) All valenki are handmade so there will be some variation. You can never go wrong with any footwear that is too big (unless you start tripping over your feet). The real problem is if you get your shoes too tight. No matter how big of a pair you get, you can wear more wool socks or put a piece of sheepskin on the bottom.
Good job ...I am a wool person also ..I hope my friend help me soon to made a video of my way to close my self in the winter She made one by now look at it ....Michel of grid ...winter in a tipee
