The Wonders Of Your Solar System

Think of yourself as a planet. You have a lovely hot core that helps sustain life, but to survive you need an atmosphere (clothes if you’ve lost the analogy). The more layers there are in our atmosphere the more protected you are from harmful elements, which means life/good times are more likely to flourish. So how do you create an atmosphere or layers around your body? Well you have a few options. The first of which is traditional cotton. Yep it will work in the most basic sense that it is a layer, but in terms of the good it will do that’s it. It doesn’t breath and it won’t insulate you. So if you’re wearing a cotton T-shirt and you sweat, that sweet musky liquid isn’t going anywhere it’s going to sit next to your body and the moment you stop moving make you cold. So if you’ve spent a fortune on an all singing all dancing tech jacket and you wear cotton under it you’ve essentially just put Fiat Panda Tires on a Formula 1 car. Cotton is worth less than a bag of dog shit up a mountain. In terms of an atmosphere this rates up there with the moon that is to say almost nothing. Next up synthetic polyester, this is a step up from cotton, but only just. It is the Ford Mondeo of fabrics. Polyester base layers will breath, so they do remove moisture and they do a half decent job of insulating heat. But if they get wet then all of the heat will evaporate and over time like an old mans bath they will develop a musk that could very well affect your chances of attracting a mate. In atmospheric terms this rates up there with an ozone hole, it’s doing something but not very well.     The next step up is wool, to be specific merino wool. The rippled structure of this magic wool from a unique breed of mountain sheep is natures to solution to living in extreme environments. Merino wool traps warmth on the inside while helping moisture pass through to the outside and evaporate. This means it’s perfect in a layering system, not only will it insulate heat and transport moisture away from the body but it’s also warm when it’s wet and thanks to the fine gauge of the fibres, super soft to the touch. As a little bonus it won’t smell either because the wool has an amazing ability to self-clean! That means after even the biggest days all you have to do is air it out over night and the next day it’ll be good to go! As Atmospheres go this is as good as they get. So my dearest planets, we must acknowledge that real planets can’t choose their atmosphere (spare a thought for Venus and it’s massive sulphuric acid storms) so out of respect for them and because we can affect change in our own atmosphere we owe it to ourselves to choose the best one for both the mountain and our planet. Go and invest in environmentally friendly merino base and mid layers and make the most out of your winter. We’ll see you on the hill.

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