[pct-l] Cheap down jackets

[Melanie Clarke]

There are 2 reasons I would not recommend down. If it gets a little bit
wet, it loses the ability to keep you warm.  While hiking with a through
PCT hiker in 2011, he had an invisible small hole in his raincoat.  When it
rained just after Big Bear, he became very hypothermic.  Down also loses
it's loft after being compressed for long periods of time, like in a pack.
Hold an old down jacket or sleeping bag up to the light.  You will see how
the down is clumped in a ball in the middle with lots of space all around
it.  This is not keeping you warm.  Also on the same 2011 PCT hike, I froze
at night for this reason.  My Down bag had been on a couple of section
hikes and was a couple years old.

There are a lot of great synthetic ultra light options for jackets like *8.4
ounces, Montbell U.L. Thermawrap Jacket*.  REI, Patagonia, Northface, all
have great cheap ultra light synthetic options.  Montbell also makes 9
ounce Thermawrap pants.  Use Thermawrap pants at night to supplement your
sleep system in the colder months and send it home when it gets warm.

The second reason to avoid down is that there is too much demand for cheap
down to raise geese and kill them for a little bit of down.  Now they pull
the down out of alive screaming geese.  When it grows back, they pull it
out of them again.  This is a very cruel and painful way of life for a
beautiful creature who feels pain.  It is wrong to support this cruelty to
save a couple ounces of weight, boo hoo or a little bit of money.

Mountain Laurel Designs makes an excellent ultra light 21 ounce synthetic
quilt with a 4 ounce Balaclava.  I sleep cold and this definitely kept me
warm down to 28 degrees even when the bag was wet from the night before.  I
hiked all the CDT sections in Glacier this year.

So, synthetic will keep you warmer, longer for just one or two more ounces
and does not support cruelty.

Diet Plan


On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 2:52 PM, Alec Groff <ajgroff at gmail.com> wrote:

> I used a Kirkland down jacket on the PCT thru hike as well. Got it a couple
> years ago. High quality 800 full down with nice shell as well. Bpl had an
> article comparing it to Patagonia down sweater.
> On Nov 6, 2015 1:09 PM, "Tim Umstead" <tumstead96 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > We will attest to the quality of the Uniqlo down jackets.  All four of my
> > family members had Uniqlo ultra light down jackets on this year's PCT
> > thru-hike.  The coats are well made and very warm.  They went the entire
> > 2658 miles without any type of failure.  I would definitely buy them
> again
> > when I need a new down jacket.  Also Uniqlo sells inexpensive fleece
> > jackets.  On a side note, the left hand zippers did take time to get use
> > to.
> >
> > The Ravens
> > PCT '96 and '15
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