Re: [at-l] Gore tex jacket---advice

At 09:01 PM 11/1/00 -0500, you wrote:
>  but as much as I loved my fleece, thinking
>of getting the puffball vest.  The fleece, although relatively light to
>what some others were, packs bulky.  I'd like to get something that
>packs smaller.

Same here <sigh>.  And i reeeeeally love my fleece.  It's just no good in
the wind.  I thought about getting a windstopping fleece but then decided
to just skip that phase and look at a puffball type jacket (wish they made 
them with
zip off sleeves).
For now,I have a light weight rain jacket that I wear over the fleece but 
the fleece
takes soooo much room and is useless in the wind.  Next outting,  I will 
probably
use my Kmart jacket which is a water resistant nylon over a medium/light 
fleece.  It
will stand up to a medium rain, great in the wind and warm, even wet, (with 
layer) to 20 if I keep moving.
The only problem with it is it's not as long as I'd like.  I wish it had 
another eight inches of
just the nylon at the bottom.  But, my rain jacket is longer and weighs so 
little, It
will go with me.  I can wear that alone or over the Kmart if it's really 
raining or at camp
or even in my bag if need be.  I have to admit, until this month, it has 
been four years
since I actually needed rain gear!  Combination of drought and luck!   And 
I have not thrued
so take this for what it's worth.   But I'd still but five bucks on gore 
jackets being the one
most often 'dumped'  item at Neels Gap. Or at least the most expensive.......

No offense to the gore owners, but I think gore is a myth.  Well, that 
strong...let's
say it probably works well in very cold, dry weather ..like the conditions 
found
when high mountain climbing.  I think that's the purpose it was designed for..
But for lower altitudes and warmer weather, I think it's a sweat trap.  I 
think I remember
reading that it requires sub freezing temps for the moisture transfer to 
really really work well?
Sure. you will have weather that cold but odds are, not much of it during 
the time
when you aren't in your bag and gore jackets are always soooo heavy.

I think rainwear is the next frontier as far as light weight packing 
goes.......hey manufacturers..
think about a zip off "skirt" to extend the rain protection to the knees.......
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