In search of rain and customers

Its the Easter holidays. Its the Lake District. Plenty of people walking the fells and plenty of rain should not be too difficult to find............

An hour or so had passed, i'd wandered up the Band, around the Climbers Traverse and up and onto Bowfell. It was just after 11 and no sign of any fell walkers, in fact no sign of anyone. The forecast band of rain in the South of the park had not materialised, it was warm and humid.

Although I spend alot of time in the hills, once in a while it is good to spend some time observing what people are upto - you get much better first hand information on what people like to do, what they like to wear and so on. One of my main objectives had been to see what hardshell gear people wear, how many use or carry waterproof trousers etc. With no sign of moisture in the air, and none having fallen for the past week, it was looking like an increasingly futile exercise.

So where was everyone? Scafell Pike i thought, Englands highest mountain, surely there would be bands of people, from all walks of life, wandering up and down. Luckily I was not disappointed, as I passed Esk Hause, the crowds emerged.

A quick foray over to Scafell via Broad Stand* and it was back down towards Angle Tarn and Mickleden, a last chance to observe some of the day trippers wandering along the valley before heading home, my head afresh with thoughts and observations.

*no foot path exists between Scafell Pike and Scafell via Broad Stand. It is a difficult scamble / moderate rock climb!

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Not any more!

One of the least publicised additions to our Spring / Summer collection this year has been our new Pro Shell Cap. One of the first, if not the first 3 layer GORE-TEX Pro Shell Cap on the market.

Completely waterproof, breathable and with taped seams

The first time any of us had used one of these in anger was on last years storm lashed Original Mountain Marathon (formerly known as the KIMM). Keith and myself spent 6 hours in some of the most severe 'Summer' or 'Autumn' conditions I have ever experienced, with a delugue of rainfall and violent winds, whilst attempting to run over the usual featureless and demanding lakeland terrain.

Adjustable and elasticated rear cinch

So why bother? Well even when working hard, fell running etc, a waterproof hat like this is remarkably comfortable to wear, especially in the conditions when you would actually need one - funnily enough when its raining! It means that you can leave down a hood in all but really heavy rain or when conditions are unbelievably awful (see reports of OMM 2008!) they work surprisingly well in conjunction with a hood, given much greater frontal protection.

Offering good protection in sudden showers or when running etc

And even if you prefer your outdoor activities at a more sedate pace, it works really well in fleeting showers. Numerous times this April i've simply thrown on my cap rather than delve into my pack for my waterproof, knowing that it will have probably passed before i've done the zip up, with a softshell or similar this system can work really well.

The Pro Shell Cap is available in Blue, Black and Red, is in stores now and retails for around £25.00.

From Space Suits to softshell

Yesterday a collection of scientists, designers, students, journalists and outdoor brand owners converged in the leafy suburbs of Leeds for the 30th Survival conference.

Organised by the University of Leeds this conference brings together a collection of people associated in developing materials and finished products for extreme environments and focusses on presenting ideas, research and studies on everything from the application and evaluation of materials to laboratory and field trials of comfort management systems.

Photograph: NASA

As it was the 30th Anniversary the theme was about celebrating the past, present and the future. Dave Brook, recently retired director of the performance clothing research group gave an illuminating talk on the development of thermal testing from the late 70's onwards, a talk made all the more relevant by the fact that Mountain Equipment and its founder, Peter Hutchinson were instrumental in many of the technological developments and associated testing started by the University of Leeds that are now commmon-place in our industry. It also highlighted just how long we as a brand have supported independent scientific study to support field trials and evaluation.

But there was also a little more off the wall analysis also! I learnt more about the development of Space Suits than I ever realised there was to know - including the fact they would cost around $2 million each today(ouch!), some interesting studies on the problems with laboratory testing of sleeping bags vs field trials and some potentially exciting materials research on carbon fibre karabiners.

But there is a very serious point to all of this, and that is the joint roles of science and design in performance clothing and reinforced just how many products and materials we now and in the future will take for granted thanks to those humans operating at the edge of what is possible.