What to pack for an outdoor adventure

The Pod Well Travelled team Penny Thomas, Stephen Scourfield and Megan French tackle the great outdoors in a new episode of their Packing Series.

Penny seeks packing tips ahead of her trip to Japan to hike one of the world’s premier spiritual roads — the Kumano Kodo, ancient pilgrimage routes which crisscross the Kii Peninsula.

Outdoors-man travel editor Stephen and fashion writer Megan present a brief overview on the history of outdoor gear and how fabrications evolved as popularity for hiking and outdoor exploring gained momentum throughout time.

From the importance of layering to what a hiking daypack should contain, the trio cover extensive ground on the topic.

In the podcast, Stephen says: “If we go back to the early Antarctic explorers, they were using natural materials — reindeer fur sleeping bags, for example. Even their snow goggle were wood or leather with a slit in them. Lots of heavy woollen undergarments. Then were the first canvas trousers and hooded smocks.

“Down the track that evolves. If you take the Norwegian outdoor clothing company, they have been going since 1877 and originally they were making clothing for fishing and more commercial uses. Then, about the 1960s, you see the start of specific outdoors and leisure wear. You start to see the development of better, lighter fabrics and a “look”. From then on, we have seen lots of technical materials, as we call them now. Helly Tech was one of the first – a waterproof, windproof, breathable technical fabric in the 1980s. It had a laminate membrane bonded to the outer fabric of clothing or equipment.

“Now, for example, Patagonia has a range of puffer jackets made with NetPlus, which is 100 per cent recycled, discarded fishing nets collected in fishing communities in South America.

“Helly Hansen is very careful to use one type of synthetic in their puffer jackets, so they are easily recyclable. You will see lots of polar fleece jackets made from recycled PET bottles.

“But we have also got merino ranges — but it is not heavy wool anymore. These are fine, thin fabrics.

“This all leads me to the point — that we rather than wearing one big, heavy layer, we wear lots of thin layers, and that is the trick.

“I think that, in addition to having lots of layers, the trick is to have layers that unzip, because you just don’t want to get sweaty and moist. It’s just healthier if you can unzip things and control the temperature.”

Megan adds: “That fabric specialisations are still advancing, but when you look back to the turn of the 20th century, everyday folk were just going out in their day clothes. There were no outdoor clothes per se — they were just hiking in regular clothing.”

She adds that an important turning point in gabardine, invented by Thomas Burberry in 1879, though it was only patented in 1888 — and its fabrication specialisation made it revolutionary. It was waterproof and breathable and it was supplied to extreme expeditions.

Stephen points out: “More people are now walking between accommodation with a day pack. We are not talking about hard-core walking, carrying your tent and primus stove and reconstitutable meals.

“So much of the outdoor experience now is where you stay in accommodation, you have your lunch packed up and you put it in your day pack with your waterproofs, and off you trot, and someone takes your luggage to the next place and you have dinner there. And on and on you go — New Zealand, Japan, all over Europe… that’s how it works now.

“That takes the pressure off as you just have your normal suitcase and you can pick and chose for the day.

“There are more and more of those packages and they are a good thing to look for.”

And he that some essentials are:

+ Layers for your top. Base, mid and top layer. It’s more difficult with base layers, but I try to find layers with zips.

+ I don’t like big, bulky, polar fleece tops as they are too bulky. There are much thinner ones which offer the same thermal protection. You can see thick “Teddy bear” ones and think they will be warm, but they may be no warmer than a thin one.

+ A thin outer shell jacket (not necessarily one with a lining, as you want to break things down into layers). If you think it is going to be wet trip, don’t pack a short jacket that goes down your waist — you want a long jacket or coat that goes down to your knees. It sheds water from the knee level. Lululemon has a good coat like that. And pack an umbrella.

+ A pair of light, slightly stretchy, technical fabric pants. They are easy to dry and do sort of shed dirt. Stephen likes Mammut: “Good quality lasts. I have a pair that I kayak in every week and I’ve had them for years and years.” Even if it’s a nice day, you can get up to a ridge and its windy and cold and you can pop on a pair of overpants (they can super light and not expensive), but they will stop the wind.

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