[pct-l] hiking in a dress?

[kbrandt at cats.ucsc.edu (Karl Brandt)]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2004, Amy Goodrich wrote:

> I've tried to search the archives and wasn't coming up with anything (though
> I'm sure it's come up at some point before)...
>
> I'm wondering about hiking in a dress or skirt...  (Don't laugh! There are
> some men who swear by kilts for hiking!) I've read they're very functional
> for walking - better ventilation than pants or shorts, easy to make a
> pit-stop, and with a dress, there are waistband seams under your hip-belt,
> which seems uber-comfortable.
>
> Anyone have any input on this?

A few years back, I hiked the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal with 3 women. The
guide books suggested skirts rather than pants in order to fit the local
cultural norms. After the first day of hiking, they all switched back to
pants while walking. They reported that it was too hot and uncomfortable
wearing skirts. As it turned out, all of the other tourist were wearing
pants too so we figured it didn't really matter.

I do recall one women in '97 hiking in a skirt with Lycra running shorts
underneath. So it's certainly possible, I can only report that my
companions found it very uncomfortable.

-Karl

*********************************************************************
Karl Brandt
http://people.ucsc.edu/~kbrandt/