the latest b/s from gore

THERMIUM

Thermium is not a known word that I could find in a dictionary. However thermium is a fabric composite made and sold by gore.

While following the progress of Ben Saunders walk or skiing across Antarctica a person asked him about the sleeping bag he was using. It is a bag made by a British company Mountain Equipment (ME), the model is called the REDLINE rated for -18 C to -45 C. I went to the ME web site to find more information about this bag. It is nothing more than a down bag that will like all down bags absorb and retain all of the moisture one sleeping in it gives off.

Then of course there is the gore material which is a 10 denier nylon yarn laminated to their wind stopper level of goretex. According to a gore customer service representative the wind stopper quality has larger holes which allows it to be more “breathable”. I did not want to tell the customer service rep it wasn’t alive because it is a concept that would be beyond his comprehension. The exterior fabric of the sleeping bag is this material. This combination of film laminated to a very high count nylon fabric has almost no vapor permeability, regardless of the advertising provided by gore to ME. Down proof fabric leaves a lot to be desired with respect to vapor permeability to begin with.

What the people at gore have forgotten is that their original flag ship company marmot mountain works made sleeping bags with the original goretex and the program lasted less than two years. Since then I have not seen one sleeping bag from any company using goretex for their bags, until now. The bag will fail!!!!!!!!!!!

It is obvious that all of the companies that offer down bags have no knowledge of a major fallacy that exists in all down bags and the fallacy is amplified the colder the environment. All synthetic fabric reacts very quickly to temperature changes. All down sleeping bags are made with a synthetic material known as nylon. If the ambient air temperature is 0 degrees F the nylon fabric is 0 degrees F. Assuming the person laying in the sleeping bag gives off one pint of water and the water while a vapor moves through the lining material into the down and this vapor is able to reach the film side of the nylon fabric, which is on the inside next to the down it will cool very quickly and condense. Once condensed it will freeze and since the ambient air temperature never increases above 0 degrees. This is what happens the first day that one is sleeping in a down bag. The second day the process repeats itself and so on. The only change is the thin layer of ice thickens.

This is what happens to all mountaineers who use down bags. They develop ice crystals and these bags do not have a gore film in them. The gore film will make things worse.

Actually it was hypothetical on my part to suggest the moisture would get to the exterior fabric. The reality is the down in and of itself will cause the vapor to condense much sooner and be absorbed shortly after the vapor gets into the down.

It is obvious to me that this Ben Saunders fellow has done no investigation into what is available in the way of clothing and sleeping bags in preparation for this excursion to accomplish something never done before, of course I do not believe for one moment he will succeed, but if he does who will care.

Now if Ben Saunders came to me and allowed me to dress him his chances of success would have been increased markedly, but not a guarantee. It would not have been done for free either. I do not believe in sponsoring any person who wants to do something that they enjoy. I did not ask for a handout when I went sailing so I don’t hand out anything, other than my knowledge.

The world today is filled with people who want a handout and it can be from the government or some multibillion dollar company that wants to show how generous they are. Success or failure to these companies is meaningless, the fact that they sponsored someone or group is all they are concerned with.

For those of you who still think or believe that down is the best insulation in the world think about all who have suffered as a result of its lack of ability to actually perform the way the sellers of down products claim. It is far from the best except if you mean as an absorber of moisture; there it excels. I wonder if Ben Saunders weighed his bag and down clothing be for he left and kept the scale with him to weigh these items along the way, probably not. Success is not in the cards for him, in my opinion!

I also looked for the names of outerwear or jacket manufacturers using the gore thermium fabric and all I could find was gore bicycling gear. Anyone know of any other company that has stepped to the front using this stuff? Let me know.