MOUNTAIN RACES, BY MAYAYO Mountain clothing: Breathable Waterproof Pants. ISO measure Schmerber quality and RET. Examples Salomon, Raidlight, Camp and Haglöfs.
Posted by mayayo oxigeno on January 12, 2014 in camp magic pant, Mountain races, mountain races, breathable waterproof jacket, goretex jackets, raidlight jackets, gore-tex, goretex, haglöfs gram pant, haglöfs shield pant, trail running material, goretex membrane, breathable waterproof membrane, MP+ membrane, breathable waterproof pant, raidlight strechlight pant, raidlight tyvek, mountain clothing, rainwear, trail running clothing, salomon bonatti wp pant, trail running | 14 Comments
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When choosing mountain clothing, waterproof and breathable pants is one of the most complex decisions. It is also not easy to choose the waterproof and breathable jacket that suits us best, but we end up having more practice there over the years. Here are some ideas to get the pants right according to experience, objectives, budget and qualities (according to ISO Schmerber and RET standards) as well as the pattern
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Raidlight strechlight breathable waterproof pants under -10ºC blizzard.
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BUY BREATHABLE WATERPROOF TROUSERS.Criteria.
The dream of mountain runners when choosing their trail running clothing will be to have a "magical" combination of waterproof-breathable jacket and pants that offers:
Breathable waterproof pants in Tor des Geants, after the 3,300m of Col Loson.
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1. TYPES OF WATERPROOF BREATHABLE MEMBRANE.
We want to briefly summarize here today a series of data that we discussed in detail some time ago in this article. Every breathable waterproof membrane is a compromise: A challenge for textile engineers, since it has to fulfill almost opposing functions. The optimal ease to evacuate sweat from a fabric to the outside logically hinders the ability of that same fabric to not let snow, water or even wind enter the interior.
How is a membrane measured? To make an objective comparison, two universal waterproofing and breathability parameters have been set according to ISO standards. They are RET for breathability and Schmerber for waterproofing.
Performance waterproof and breathable fabric
1 a) BREATHABILITY Capacity of the fabric to transport moisture and vapours, such as sweat through a fabric to the outside. A high permeability indicates that the garment is highly breathable, reflecting the maximum amount of vapor that can pass through the garment.
The breathability of a fabric is measured today according to the ISO 11092 standard. The result is expressed as RET (Fabric Evaporation Resistance). RET measures the energy required to move water vapor through the fabric. In the past, other references were used, such as MVT (moisture vapor transmission rate), all expressed in gr./m²/24h.
The problem was that there were multiple different tests that yielded heterogeneous data and also little related to the real operation in the mountains. Finally, the ISO standard has opted for the so-called "sweaty hot plate test" as a universal standard, which seeks to replicate the human body moving in the bush. Their data, expressed as RET, is by far the most similar benchmark to actual field conditions. Therefore, the most useful data to compare and buy.
Breathability test to achieve RET rates: The test shows the grams of water vapor that are capable of passing in 24 hours through 0.258 m2 of fabric from a "hot sweaty plate" at 35ºC to air (also at 35ºC) with fixed conditions of wind (1 meter per second) and humidity (40%).
RET method ISO 11092: Reliable breathability standard
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The lower the RET, the better the garment: In the market today we can find garments of a certain quality from RET 12 (relatively not very breathable) to RET 1.5 (Optimal quality)
1 B) WATERPROOFING. Waterproofness is the resistance of a fabric to penetration by a liquid. To do this, a tissue sample is subjected to a progressively higher water column height until the point at which hydrostatic pressure manages to pass through the tissue is found.
Breathable waterproof pants: Blizzard in Cerro Minguete, Guadarrama.
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The waterproofness of a fabric is measured according to ISO 811:1981. The Schmerber datum expresses the height in mm when the water passes through the tissue sample. Waterproof gear must have an index of at least 1,500 Schmerber. Any leading membrane today, even the ultralight and hyper-breathable ones, exceed 5,000mm.
Pressure is the ratio of force to surface. Therefore, at sea level, the atmosphere around us has an average pressure of 1 bar on our skin, which is approximately 1kg/cm2. In a column of water, the relative pressure increases by one bar every 10 m.
1 c) BREATHABLE AND WATERPROOF MEMBRANE
Above all, in mountain races we must have a breathable jacket and pants first, so that we can use it as a raincoat later. That explains why we see many "windbreakers" in the mountains, even if they are not good against the rain, but we will almost never see a waterproof jacket like those of the sailors. We would cook under it in our own sweat.
Tor des Geants breathable waterproof trousers. Without overwhelmed heat, after exceeding 3,300m Col Loson.
1 d) MAINTENANCE: The user greatly influences the performance
Breathable: Oil and dirt from the skin reduce the breathability of a garment: They can block the pores of a jacket, and can even reverse the waterproofing capabilities of the garment, which acts almost like a sponge and absorbs water from rain inside the fabric. Phenomenon that I have experienced in person, with a very worn jacket of more than 10 years of use, but that we do not throw away for its "sentimental" value.
Waterproof: We repeat here the importance of reapplying repellent spray from time to time, as well as washing the garment very occasionally if it allows it. Many manufacturers seek to reduce this internal soiling by using a polyurethane coating or oleophobic dipped film on the inside of the garment. Again a matter of balance, as we gain resistance to dirt, but lose some breathability due to the additional film incorporated.
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2. HOW TO CHOOSE BREATHABLE WATERPROOF TROUSERS.
First of all, we must be clear about its main use, our experience in pure mountain and ultra trail, as well as our objectives and strategy in the race. Let us now review the three main cases:
a) Minimum weight/price pants (60 grams/€10) The reference here is undoubtedly the Raidlight white Tyvek, whose technical specifications by Dupont you can check here. It is not heavy, it is not bulky and it removes the wind and the water. In exchange, he doesn't breathe much and after three real uses he smells bad. But hey… you comply with regulations and if you trust the rest of your team, you save grams and euros. The finest remover par excellence. And even more, if you know what you want. In my case, it has accompanied me in training and in the race in several great tests, including the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc itself.
Tyvek pants at Col Seigne, the coldest point on the UTMB track.
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b) Minimalist technical pants: Pants with weights of 100 to 200 grams, with prices around €100 generally. There are good products here from both Salomon with the Bonatti WP and Haglöfs with the Shield Pant or Raidlight with the Strechlight. But personally, for me the king here is the Camp Magic Pant made in Araneum. At just 120gr and occupying almost the same size as Tyvek, they nevertheless offer perfect protection against the wind, correct protection against the rain and decent perspiration. Perfect balance if you are not going to get into a lot of mess and want to have a pair of pants with certain guarantees.
Salomon Bonatti Raidlight StrechlightHaglöfs Shield pantCamp magic pantc) Solid off-road technical pants: For many ultratraders, who are also regular mountaineers and skiers, the most logical choice may be to buy a real mountain pants. Of course, if you have races like the Tor des Geants in mind, where passes like the Col de Malatra at -17ºC are more than possible in the race, you better opt for this pure mountain clothing.
Here the queen membranes are the same as those of the light trail jackets: That is, the new Goretex Active and the Raidlight MP+. Thus, we find in this category solid garments such as the Raidlight Ultralight or the Salomon GTX Active. Personally, as always, the quality and patronage of Haglöfs for hard mountain themes seems barbaric to me. So my personal favorite would be the Haglöfs Gram Pant with Goretex Active Shell membrane.
With only 240g and little folded space, these pants allow you to hold anything on the outside without getting wet on the inside. A canyon. Nothing cheap, but a garment to amortize and use in all kinds of outings to the mountains (skiing, mountaineering, ultras...)
Salomon GTX Active Railight UltralightHaglöfs Gram Pant_________
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CONCLUSION.
As always in mountain clothing, there is no single solution that is optimal for everyone, even in the same activity. An elite runner facing the Tor des Geants with bad weather will continue to opt for a RET 2 garment or less as he plans to run a large part of the race. A runner from the peloton will especially look for a tall Schember, since he will be walking for days along it, so he will be concerned above all about not getting cold and nothing does it as quickly as the water and the wind on the body.
But what is clear in any case is that we should not buy waterproof and breathable mountain clothing without first comparing the RET and Schmerber data, garment by garment, and slowly reviewing its pattern. Doing it this way does not guarantee that we will find the perfect jacket or pants for each activity, no. But it will surely leave us much closer to "the perfect pants" for our type of use and objectives with it, than buying by hearsay or relying on a logo.
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