[pct-l] Wool sweater v. UL Down jacket

[Jim Marco]

Well, wool and down serve two very different purposes for me. 

I usually have a medium weight wool or wool blend sweater(85% wool, 15% poly) that can act as a highly breathable shirt. With a rain jacket or wind jacket it will act as fair to good insulation. In heavy rainstorms, it may get wet, but still retains enough insulating value to keep me warm. It is resistant to two weeks of body funk when worn for long periods, and, it doesn't mat down like synthetics can. I wear this hiking and around camp generally. It dries better than cotton, or down stuff, as good as many synthetics. Being a loose knitted weave and with a light over shirt, say a Patagonia or Ibex light shirt, it adds about 3/16" to 1/4" of good insulation (base, sweater, light shirt.) The down side is the weight. Wool typically weighs more than an equivalent synthetic, but is far more versatile to about 25F. It breaths better than anything in my inventory when I am climbing hills/working at hiking and has the widest range of comfort.

Down is almost always part of my sleeping gear or camp gear. My jacket starts seeing use for hiking at about 30F but really works well at 15-20F, mostly because it does not do well with water. On a dry day, I will use it, since it breaths fairly well through the down proof shell, but it is much more restrictive than wool. I never use it in rainy conditions because it can become wet and fairly worthless, except as a wind shell. It is excellent as insulation, better than any synthetic invented, if you can keep it damp to dry. Damp for me is hiking or under a tarp for 3 days of rain. Wet is exposed to water. It turns out that wet is easily avoided if you never expose the down in your pack to it. My bag and jacket always go into a dry bag since I never plan on using them for the 10-12 hours I am hiking. At camp, at night, and during the morning, cooking and eating, or, roughly 50% of my time, can be spent under my tarp. Sleeping, cooking, eating, resting are all facilitated by having down in my sleeping bag and jacket. About 3-4 pounds of my 8-9 pound base weight is dedicated to eating, sleeping, and hanging out at camp or 30-50%. Without down it would be add another 3-4 pounds to my current carry weights. The jacket is used around camp and also used to extend my bag about 10F. 
	My thoughts only . . .
		jdm