Fjallraven

Backcountry are now proud do be supported by Fjallraven!  If your interested in Wilderness living, Survival and Bushcraft then the chances are you own a piece of Fjallraven clothing. Fjallraven take a fresh look at outdoor clothing but in a very traditional way.

The G1000 material is a Cotton mix…….cotton you say?!  well a 65% cotton to 35% poly mix to be precise. The addition of Fjallraven “Greenland wax” allows the wearer to increase the waterproofing of a particular garment. But here’s the clever part……you can increase or decrease the water repellent capabilities as you wish depending on conditions, by adding additional layers of wax as you see fit. Say for instance you knew you were walking early in the morning through long grass, you would wax upto the knees, almost turning the lower part of your Fjallraven trousers into Gaiters. Or what about working in the forest in the wet?  Simply wax the parts that you knew were going to get wet; the backside and knees, leaving the rest of the trousers waterproof.

Fjallraven is of course a Swedish brand, and as you can imagine works immensely well in a cold dry environment.  I’ve tested Cotton jackets in extreme cold before (-40 C), the bonuses being that when the cotton freezes it becomes both wind proof but also remains breathable, a far better material to be working hard in than the popular Goretex.

But what about using Cotton in a temperate environment, where the threats of heavy rain are present? Fjallraven doesn’t make any excuses here, as with any such material they advise that in torrential rain you cover over with a waterproof layer, such as their Hydratic range (for the spotters amongst you a water column of 1000 mills is regarded as being waterproof, the Hydratic range works within the parameters of 10 – 20,000 Mills). Lets face it, we’ve all been caught out in rain where only oil skins are going to keep us dry right?

Cotton as you know when saturated is a bastard to dry out. If you add a wind chill of 10-15 mph into the fact that you have wet clothing on you, will lose body heat at an average of 20 times quicker than if you were dry. Its not hard to imagine Hypothermia setting in extremely quickly, and if you are in a remote area this spells big problems.

Last month Backcountry had 40 clients for two days, the groups were alternated between different work stations and old muggins here drew the short straw, having to do river crossings and improvised floatation…….up to my bollocks in mountain river water all day! I was wearing a pair of Vidda pro trousers, and I could not believe the rapidity that they dried out, almost as quick as a pair of “light weights”. Speaking to Fjallraven a few weeks later, they explained the cotton to Poly mix was extremely quick drying. Its clear that when it comes to Fjallraven, perceptions of cotton materials need to be changed.

Pick up a piece of Fjallraven clothing and instantly you can feel the durability in your hands, this is hard wearing gear. For me personally working everyday in the outdoors and going through garment after garment, there is one clear choice.

Neil

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