Hiking Clothing - what to take!
Selecting the correct hiking clothing is vital to help regulate your body temperature. Heat leaves you body through:-
- Conduction - when you touch a cooler surface.
- Convection – when your body heat is lost to the outside environment.
- Radiation – caused by escaping infrared radiation.
- Evaporation – when perspiration removes heat from the body.
Body warmth trapped by clothing provides pockets of warm or "dead" air close to the body. How effective this process is depends on the insulating properties of the clothing. In particular:-
- The loft or thickness of the clothing.
- The material used in the clothing.
- Fleece is a synthetic fibre which remains warm when wet, does not absorb moisture and provides good loft and insulation. However, it has poor wind resistance.
- Wool has excellent insulation qualities creating high levels of trapped air. However, it is heavy when wet and can be itchy.
- Down is an excellent insulator with very good warmth to weight ratio. However, the insulation qualities are diminished when the down becomes wet and it takes a long time to dry.
- Synthetic fibres such as polyester do not have the insulation qualities that down possesses and can be bulky but they do dry quickly.
One useful technique is to wear layers of clothing so that layers can be added or removed to help regulate the body temperature and create effective dead air space. Also, opening and closing the clothing ventilates the body and increases heat loss.
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