Ever since I started backpacking in the 1990s, I have run a light wool jacket. The puffer jacket may have accepted it in popularity, and the merino wool is durable and smell-free. But humble wool is durable, breath and light. It is also spent next to nothing. (I have a 30 -year -old Marmot wool that still works very well.)
As much as I still love that old wool, you must have seen climbers and backpackers wearing a specific type of new, high-technical performance wool-the patagonia R1, Senchi Design Alpha 120, or famous, sometimes the elusive Melanjan Micro Grid. What is this? Do you need it? Here is a quick run of wool varieties. Once you get here, look at the rest of our outdoor apparel guide, from the best rain jacket to the best running shorts.
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Original wool
Long before (since the 1980s, to be accurate), just wool. Light fabric was invented by Malden Mills (now known as Poortech). And it was good, most of the time. The humble wool jacket I am carrying for all these years is great for brakes on the high pass, when the temperature suddenly falls and the wind arises. While the resistance to the flyse air is not as good as a shell, it can hold the air in the bay during hiking. Flass is also great around the camp, and even in the city, around the footpath.
Depending on temperature and ventilation options, it can also be a good option for aerobic activities. For example, a half-zip wool pullover provides a little more ventilation. I often start spring and travel hiking in wool through a cool morning, and it does a great job. But when you are very active – for example, you can overwhelm the ability to breathe traditional wool. Textile manufacturers began working on new types of wool to overcome breath deficiency.
Grid wool
The fact is that OG wool eventually gets overwhelmed when you actually carry forward LED Polytech, Flass’s creators, to develop a grid flass which is known as Poartec Power Grid. The grid wool weaves about 5 percent in a grid -like pattern (hence) in an elastane (aka spandex).
The gap in the grid allows excess moisture to remove, leading to great increase in breathing ability. Gridden block trap air, keeping you warm. The trade-off is that the grid wool is very less effective in the air.
Grid wool is usually nothing that you put in the camp, but something that you increase during the day. In fact, grid wool is not a great stand-alone apparel. Where Grid Flass Excel is paired with a windshirt or rain jacket. This combo is particularly great for high aerobic-intensity activities such as cycling. My Patagonia is perfect for the early ride on the grid wool with Hudini Wind Shell. The grid wool with an air shell is better to block the air than the traditional wool as well as more breath.
Alpha direct wool
Photograph: Lev outdoor
In 2017, in combination with the US Army, Poartec created the Alpha Direct Flass (sometimes called alpha), which is lighter and more breathable than grid wool. Alpha Flass uses weaving like a phishnet to keep high-border fiber in the middle of weaving. For military purposes, this layer was then placed under a windproof outer layer, which makes it quite heavy. But some cottage industries hiking companies caught clothes and started making wool hoodie using alpha direct only.
