Old Clothes for New Everest Expedition
Graham Hoyland will be climbing Mount Everest in replicas of 1924 mountaineering gear. It’s pretty cool: they have layers of silk, cotton and wool: the silk provides wind-proofing, and the silk and wool slide very easily against one another to facilitate movement. Their theory is that this clothing is in some ways better than modern clothing—particularly vis-a-vis weight.
Of course, I could have told ’em that: just look at a decent gentleman’s coat vs. a modern winter coat. The one is lightweight and warm; the other is heavy and alternates between too cold and too hot. Natural fibres rock, synthetics suck, period.
OTOH, I can’t say that I like anything which increases the demand for wool or silk. But perhaps increased demand could lead to increased supply due to entrepreneurial possibilities or something. What this world needs is wool at $1/yd.
