... and would not have looked out of place in a professor's study in Oxford. Just add a pipe.
Softshell clothing of the 1920's was up to the Everest challenge----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5076634.stm

But were Mallory and Irvine first?

Edited by kdesign on 06/13/2006 17:07:25 MDT.

Great article! Although if they put 3 yrs into recreating the clothing I'd wish they'd field tested it for more than two days. And I can't agree that this is a brick in the wall of evidence that Mallory and Irvine summited .... but it is a brick out the wall that says they couldn't have.

I just love examples where old technology matches or beats new. A few years ago on a canoe building forum a fella was quite pleased that he'd made a kevlar replica of Nessmuk's Wee Lassie that weighed only 13 lbs. I didn't have the heart to point out that Rushton's original had weighed the same ... built with wood and using metal fasteners!

One more of the billion ways that the outdoor industry misleads good people for the sake of the bottom line. Which, of course, they have a feduciary responsibility to do. But it's still annoying.

Every time the outdoor megaliths who dictate the average outdoorsman's pack contents invent something, it's declared the most incredible advance in human history and the industry-paid magazines state firmly that it's no longer safe to go to the woods without the new substance or product. And yet stack (invention X) against hundred-year-old ideas made by men who had limited ability to invent substances (or BS) but infinite time to figure out good use for existing natural substances... and you get magic.

Who else but mother nature would invent the best substances to protect animals and humans from the elements?

In the end, I guess you could say that guys without marketing departments are some of the safest bets for buying outdoor products. Half of those guys invented the products for their own use first because our megalithic corporate masters decided a good idea was not scaleable enough.

And if you don't need to pay for ad campaigns it often means your product sells on merit alone. No smoke blowing or snake-oil salesmen required.

(Hat tip to MLD/SMD/Nunatak/JRB et. al -- cheers guys)