Clothes of 1924 head for Everest

[sandbender]

When mountaineer Graham Hoyland returns to Mount Everest next year, he will not be clad in modern high-tech fibres with tog ratings and windchill factor reduction.

Instead, he'll be sporting replicas of garments last taken to the Himalayas in 1924, on the ill-fated expedition of George Mallory and Andrew (Sandy) Irvine which left both pioneers dead.

Full article...

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4470522.stm

 

[arctic hobo]

I thought Mallory was a big fan of naked climbing?

 

[scrubcutter]

This is a bit late in the follow-up to this report but go to

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5076634.stm

for the result of the experiment by Graham Hoyland. Interesting reading and shows that all this modern man-made stuff is not necessarily an advancement!

Graham Hoyland's 1924 Replica Kit List:

Wool/silk vest and cotton long johns.
Lightweight silk shirt.
Heavyweight silk shirt.
Wool flannel shirt.
Woolly jumper (hand-knitted Shetland wool).
Top suit, coat, and trousers (Burberry windproof).
Pair of soft elastic Kashmir putties (ankle wraps, the predecessor of modern gaiters) made of woven wool with some cashmere.
Pair of boots of felt bound and soled with leather and lightly nailed with the "usual" alpine nails.
Long pair of fingerless woolen mitts inside a similar pair made of gabardine and leather over-gloves with a fur lining.
Rabbit fur-lined leather motorcycling helmet.
Crookes's glass goggles worn over mouth and nose - sewn into the leather mask (which covers the face down to the beard-line).
Huge woolen muffler.
Three pairs of socks, first pair of medium length, followed by a long sock, followed by a short sock, which would have turned down over the top of the boot (hand-knitted Shetland wool).
Two pairs of long johns (hand-knitted Shetland wool).
Fur wristbands over the jumper.
Sun hat (cotton drill).
Scarf (hand-knitted Shetland wool).

From Altitude Everest Expedition's 1924 Kit List http://www.ueverest.com/1924_kit_list.html.

 

[spamel]

Another blast from the past! I think that old style kit would be just as relelvant today. The Bruce Parry programme "Blizzard: Race to the Pole" proved that as the kit both teams used, even though totally different, was perfectly suited to the operations they were undertaking. Wool, leather, silk and cotton is good kit, but it needs to be used in the correct enviornment and looked after. As so many people know, cotton can be a killer in the outdoors but if used correctly it is a good material for clothing. I am amazed at how effective wool is and why I never really used it in the past believing fleece material to be far superior. I wear wool most days now, if only a lightweight woolen shirt.

 

[EdS]

Pendleton wool shirts - one of the best bargins on ebay.

 

[xylaria]

My latest bit of 'new' kit is a 1950's wool sleeping bag gifted from my dad-in-law tried it out last week when it was really frosty. I was quite suprised how well it worked, it felt a bit better than my 3 season bag that needs to be retired because the loft has gone, that bag is 12 years old.