Mountain Design Strato Womens Jacket - good enough for NZ?

[Anniejune]

Hi, my daughter is heading to NZ to hike the Kepler Track late March early April, and she has the old blue Mountain Design Strato Jacket (gore-tex). Will this be good enough for these conditions, or do we need to get her a newer version?

[wayno]

IT's gore tex performance shell. it should be good enough, depends how much her jacket has been worn , if it's been worn a lot you might want to redo the DWR with a DWR wash,
but before that if it hasnt been given a regular wash recently you might want to do that as well, try a proper detergent made for gore tex like nikwazx or grangers
at the least don't use detergent with aromatics in it, they clog up the gore tex.

[Anniejune]

She has only worn it once or twice, one of her concerns was that the water did leak through last time and no I haven't washed it as yet so thanks. She has hiked around Brisbane but doing her DofE in NZ and I didn't want to send her over there with a jacket that is not sufficient for the conditions (as you are there you would appreciate this). Thank you the information it is greatly appreciated

[wayno]

some people think their waterproofs are leaking but in some circumstances raincoats won't breath, in heavy rain if the outside of the fabric is saturated, condensation will buildup inside, in high humidity and warmer weather breathability drops.
gore tex garmets are usually made to a high standard, with proper seam sealing, pit zips or vented pockets can let some water in, if the jacket has those features.

[Anniejune]

That makes sense - the last time she wore it was pouring with rain for the entire couple of days and she is worried it is not waterproof as she definitely got wet.

[wayno]

mountain forecast for the region is here
http://www.metservice.com/mountain/fiordland-national-park the weather could do anything, be prepared for cold conditions, the track is totally exposed over a thousand metres above sea level for a whole day

[Anniejune]

Thankyou so much I really appreciate your help and suggestions (especially the link) she is only 17 and going with school so any other suggestions on clothes, thermals, whatever would be much appreciated (even though the school gives her a list, you are there and seem quite up-to-date with it all.

[Ent]

Hi

Unless there is something wrong with the jacket it should be near enough to ideal for the conditions. A decent wash and then tumble dry will do a lot to bring it back. As mentioned use the Gore-tex approved wash. Should not need re-proofing. The best way to test is after once washed and dried see if the water beads and runs off. It does then it should be ok. If it does not, then shoot it straight back to MD as they will stand by their products and Goretex warranty is about as bullet proof as you can get.

Water getting in versus sweat not getting out is a bit tricky to test. The better the DWR coating the longer a jacket can go on before wetting out. What does wetting out mean. Well, a sheen of water forms over the jacket so blocks the transmission of water vapour from sweating. The better the DWR the longer a jacket works well but I have noticed that pushing through plants can have an adverse impact on the DWR.

In hot muggy climates no jacket is going to breathe fast enough to stop sweat building up. Heck, I can drench my clothes without a jacket through sweat. I find that the colder it is outside the better the jacket works as I do not sweat as much in the first place and it breathes better.

Would not be too wrapped up in the eVent versus Gore-tex debate. If you have a decent jacket (and you should have) then not worth changing it. If buying from new then by all means read up on the competing claims and make your choice. Tempted to say for humid conditions eVent should have the edge but in normal Tassie conditions experienced no noticeable advantage of eVent over Gore-tex. In fact prefer Gore-tex. NZ climate conditions in the South mirror Tassie but in the North more common with warmer parts of Australia.

Cheers

[wayno]

also, unless she is totally commited to doing a lot of tramping, no point in upgrading gear like the stratus.

[wayno]

scrolling backwards through the photos, is going forward in time around the kepler track

http://www.flickr.com/photos/keplerchallenge/page10/

[Anniejune]

Thankyou, that is great information and Wayno thankyou so much for the links, they are brilliant!

[Rob A]

Duke of ed for hsc/uni entry credit points seems to be the go these days. Plenty of NSW kids are heading over for Kiwi hikes.
The jacket is newish and doesnt sound to be all that rapped out, and its probably a bit early to be using them, but the following are the products people are talking about. I'd imagine you will find them in all the camping stores in the valley. Both work well, but chances are you dont really need them.
Strato looks like a pretty good jacket. Theres a lot of bumf written about jackets, newer isnt always better, theres some expensive rubbish out there.
Kepler is well graded with a stack of people starting most days. If it ever gets bad, the hut warden holds people back for a bit till they know what is going on over the exposed second day.
Should be a great trip.

Nik.jpg (114.71 KiB) Viewed 6790 times

[wayno]

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/southland/kepler-track-brochure.pdf

[icemancometh]

Agree with Wayno, get something cheap that will do the job until she works out whether she likes it enough to invest in it properly. It's pretty hard not to like the Kepler esp in the cooler months. Tips would be cover up for sandflies!

[wayno]

also with a group of young people. hang down the back on the first day, over exhuberant young people tend to burn out early on trips by going too fast.
Have a reasonable amount of water, at least a litre, theres no water to be had on he climb to luxmore hut or between luxmore and iris burn. ..

[icemancometh]

Not necessarily stay at the back but go at your own pace instead...going too slow is also tiring and inefficient

[wayno]

Not necessarily stay at the back but go at your own pace instead...going too slow is also tiring and inefficient

what he said.....

[vagrom]

Wild Magazine's May-June edition has just come out with a gear survey of women's jackets. Men's jackets in the July issue.