Sari and her race partner Pete Gaston happy to be home in Aspen

The Elk Mountains Grand Traverse is a 40-mile backcountry ski race that starts at midnight in Crested Butte and finishes in Aspen, CO. When it comes to fabrics and layering, there’s no better test for warmth, weather protection and breathabilty. Every year racers invariably have to contend with sub-freezing temperatures, howling winds and whiteout snow conditions, combined with brutally long, sweaty climbs followed by bone-chilling descents.

This past weekend, Polartec Athlete Advisory Board member, Sari Anderson made history at the race, finishing as one of two women on the podium for the first time in the event’s 14-year history. Sari is a professional adventure racer, mountain biker and ski mountaineer and this year’s race put all her skills to the test. You can read her full race recap here, but the condensed version is that she raced super-strong – breaking trail through over a foot of fresh snow for the lead teams for miles on end. She and her partner finished in third place overall, in just over nine hours.

One thing Sari didn’t have to worry about at this year’s race was her layering system. Here’s an excerpt from her race report:

Sari breaking trail along Richmond Ridge

Overall, my set-up performed beautifully, but there were a couple of standouts. First of all, I wore an awesome new jacket from Patagonia called the Knifeblade. It’s a minimalistic, anorak-style jacket made from Polartec Power Shield Pro – essentially a lightweight pullover softshell. While I watched almost everyone in the race shed layers on the climbs and then layer up for the descents, I never took the Knifeblade off. It kept me warm and completely dry while it snowed for the first few hours of the race, but breathed well enough so I didn’t overheat once the sun finally came out. Full disclosure – I’m on the Polartec Athlete Advisory Board – but this truly was the best aerobic outerlayer I’ve ever tried.

Another truly impressive bit of gear for this race were my gloves. My friend Doug Heinrich, the glove product director at Black Diamond, sent me a pair of Impulse gloves (made from Polartec Power Shield) to try and they were awesome. I wore them the entire race and my hands never got too hot nor cold.

Congratulations to Sari!

The Patagonia Knifeblade jacket, available in August 2011.

Sari with her daughter at the finish line.

Here’s what the editors said- “The Kishtwar just might be the ultimate soft shell. It’s made with a brand-new fabric from Polartec that somehow manages to be impressively breathable but also remarkably tough, windproof, and water-resistant,’” said Sam Moulton, Buyer’s Guide Editor at Outside magazine. “Add it all up and you’ve got a versatile soft shell for everything from backcountry skiing to cool-weather hiking.”

The holy grail of softshell jackets, the Kishtwar Jacket is designed for highly aerobic endeavors in foul weather. Polartec Power Shield Pro allows a high rate of air permeability that significantly improves moisture transport compared to softshells that do not allow airflow, while offering superior water resistance. The hydrophobic, microporous, polyurethane membrane stops water from penetrating while still allowing airflow. The Kishtwar features high abrasion resistance, four-way stretch and non-restrictive fit.

“Serious outdoor athletes and guides have been asking for a fabric like Polartec Power Shield Pro for years,” said Nate Simmons, Global Director of Marketing for Polartec. “Recent breakthroughs in membrane technology have finally made this combination of water resistance and air permeability possible. The North Face created an all-business jacket with the Kishtwar that will answer the needs of the most demanding users.”

Outside magazine’s Buyer’s Guide features the latest and greatest of outdoor product and gear, as the ultimate guide for outdoor enthusiasts. Outside’s testing team looked at more than 50 of the best new jackets, and put a dozen through the paces on a wide variety of conditions, activity and terrain, including a mountain climb in Iceland, a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal, and an adventure race in Patagonia.

The North Face Kishtwar Jacket was also awarded “Gear of the Year” by National Geographic Adventure. http://on.natgeo.com/9ellZK

The Kishtwar is available now. To see it in action, watch this video.

Earlier this month Kevin Back of Powder Magazine very graciously brought a few of us heli skiing in Girdwood / Alyeska, Alaska with the Chugach Powder Guides.

I took the opportunity to continue to put our new soft shell fabric, Polartec Power Shield Pro, to the test in the field (it’s tough work but has to be done).

We arrived on a rare blue-bird day in Anchorage with views of Denali and a beautiful ride south along the Turnagain Arm to the resort in Girdwood. That night the clouds picked up, a storm moved in and we were blessed with about 40″ of light fresh powder over the next 36 hours.

Alaska this time of year can be surprisingly warm and damp (tip – bring multiple pairs of goggles for cat / heli skiing in Alaska) – so it was an excellent environment to really put Polartec Power Shield Pro through its paces.

That’s me in the video tele skiing in the pinkish raspberry outfit (that’s what happens you let engineers pick the sample fabric colors). I took some heat from the guides and other groups of skiers – but all in the name of fabric testing…

We skied in a range of conditions from the high teens Fahrenheit to the mid 40’s – everything from blower powder to heavy wet snow – howling winds to baking sunshine.

Throughout the week, I wore the exact same set of clothes (occasionally adding another layer of Polartec Thermal Pro high loft when temperatures dipped). I was super impressed with the comfort range Polartec Power Shield Pro offers – wind resistant enough, yet allows some true airflow through the fabric to keep from overheating. The jacket and pants also did an excellent job of moving moisture vapor away and keeping me dry inside both by venting sweat vapor and by keeping the wet snow and water out (even when kneeling in slush to clamp down my Black Diamond O1 tele bindings and leashes).

Overall the trip was a total success – great conditions delivering over 80,000 vertical skied and Polartec Power Shield Pro outperformed what either a traditional hardshell or traditional softshell could have done. It was the perfect balance for widely variable conditions. This fabric is available Fall 2010 in North America from The North Face in the Kishtwar jacket and in Europe will be offered by TNF, 66 North, Eider, Millet, TrangoWorld, Norrona, Montura, and Lowe Alpine. Check it out.

PS – these photos and video were shot and edited by Adrian Glasenapp – thanks Adro!

Nate Simmons Heli Skiing Alaska

Photos by Adrian Glasenapp

With temperatures plummeting to an all-time low, a cutting wind and some powder still to be found on the Northern aspects, the clear blue skies watched as the gauntlets were thrown down for the ultimate challenge for Polartec® fabrics and skiing prowess.  This year saw the European pros testing their mettle against the honed talents of some visiting Americans:  Nick Devore, a former Telemark Freeskiing World Champion (and member of Polartec’s Athlete Advisory Board) Flylow’s Dan Abrams and Eben Mond and our very own director of marketing Nate Simmons battled it out on the slopes of San Pellegrino. In the overall ranking, the Europeans defended their home turf with a win in the Freeride Race with Italian Armin Senoner grabbing first place and Nick Devore nudging his boots with a second and “Best Trick” accolade. Nick Devore was also the winner of the Telemark category.  Germany’s Fritz Trojer came in third.

Nick Devore celebrates his win

The Alpine category saw Italians Matteo Bordoni and Aldo Valmassoi bag first and second place respectively.  Canada’s Ross Janzen came third.  The Snowboard category was won by Italy’s Francesco Fersuoch followed by fellow Italians Maurizio Davarda and Mauro Tarter.

Eben Mond goes huge (he bashed his nose on his knee on the landing, kept it together and skied across the finish line gushing blood. Luckily he was fine and joined the crew for a 7 course meal Dolomites-style at lunch).

For those who attend the event but choose to watch rather than race, Scufoneda offers great guided tours at various skill levels throughout the week. The groups split up for a few hours in the mornings and then reconvene for Prosecco, salami and cheese in the afternoons.

As title sponsors of the event Polartec® was all over Moena.  From its welcome tent, banners and flags denoting the race routes to its competing staff. It was also a perfect testing venue for 20 European journalists to hit slopes and experience the performance of Polartec Power Shield Pro first hand. Garments will hit the consumer market in the Fall of 2010.

The Polartec® Scufoneda – Telemark & Freeride week was inspired by SCUFONS del COGO, a non-profit association based in Moena, Trentino (most of the original Scufons are local police officers and they also count a high-level regional judge and the mayor among its ranks – it’s good to have the law on your side when you throw a week long party).  Founded in the 90’s by a group of Telemark enthusiasts it is now the point of reference for Telemark fans worldwide.

Polartec Marketing Team - Left to Right - Alessandro Perseo, Allon Cohne, Eric Yung, and Nate Simmons

Oh, and the ripped pants?  Let’s just say, a Polartec® employee double ejected on a narrow couloir and went for a wild ride to the bottom on his backside. After a quick visit to the emergency room and 7 stitches later, he was back in business for the party that evening and skiing the next day.

Want to come next year?  Check out www.scufons.com or Polartec® Scufoneda page on Facebook for details on next year’s Polartec® Scufoneda Telemark&Freeride week.

(click to enlarge)

For many years the outdoor industry has relied upon the Water Vapor Resistance or RET (Resistance of Evaporation of a Textile) test to measure the “breathability” of water resistant/waterproof fabrics. This test,”compare(s) the ability of different materials to dissipate moisture vapor from the body of the wearer to the outside.” (WSA Jan/Feb2010)

However, in our opinion, the RET test (ASTM F1868 -09) does not accurately evaluative the true breathability of a fabric. In fact, “studies have confirmed that the test is predominantly influenced by the fabric thickness, rather than the pore characteristics of the fabric.” For example, the RET test yields a result that says a three layer hard shell/waterproof fabric is more breathable than a 200 weight fleece. Anyone who has ever worn either of these fabrics knows that’s not true – fleece is almost infinitely breathable (hence the reason Polartec has created other more wind resistant fabrics over the years). In addition, RET tests are affected by clothing weight, drape and tightness. Perhaps most importantly, RET not allow any air movement during the test, so you get some truly bizarre, lab-only results.

Another standard test used by the textile industry to measure breathability is Moisture Vapor Transfer Rate (MVTR). MVTR measures how much moisture vapor can pass through fabric in a 24-hour period and there are over 30 different tests to assess this transfer rate. However, these tests can yield wildly different results (as chronicled in this great post on Patagonia’s blog) and like the RET test, MVTR is static and does not account for real-world conditions where air flow is always present.

As an alternative, Polartec is promoting a better means of evaluating the breathability of water resistant and waterproof fabrics. The Dynamic Moisture Permeation Cell (DMPC) is an ASTM standard test that evaluates a fabric’s ability to move moisture vapor in dynamic conditions. The test can change air pressure and humidity on each side of the fabric and measure how well it truly breathes as conditions change (like the real world). DMPC was developed by Dr. Phillip Gibson, a civilian scientist working with the US Army. Click here to download an interesting story about Dr. Gibson’s testing from the June 2004 issue of Inside Outdoor magazine.

In the chart posted above as you move to the right on the horizontal axis, you can see that Polartec Power Shield Pro (the blue line) breathes more and more as you increase the pressure – this is roughly equivalent to increasing air speed or wind – like going from standing still to walking to a light jog. The harder you work, the harder the fabric works (both convection and diffusion are at work when air is moving). Meanwhile, the orange line represents a full-film softshell fabric – the line is flat meaning breathability does not change. This translates to a damp sweaty user experience as exertion levels increase.

Polartec has always emphasized air permeability. Even tiny, tiny amounts of air flowing through the fabric massively increases a fabric’s ability to move moisture vapor away from your body. Fabrics without airflow require a significant amount of heat and moisture vapor to build up inside the jacket before they start to work. We have all experienced the sweat-box feeling of a fabric that relies only on diffusion to “breathe.”

Fall 2010 a range of jackets will be available in the new ultimate soft shell – Polartec Power Shield Pro. For more on Polartec Power Shield Pro, scroll down to see previous posts on the fabric launch and on Polartec’s partnership with Finetex.

Company: The North Face Product: Men’s Kishtwar Jacket Hall/Booth: B6.101 Web: www.thenorthface.com

Outdoor sports can become a true challenge if the weather does not cooperate. Ice rain, snow storms, wind gusts not only batter the athletes but also his or her sports apparel. The North Face promises the perfect combination of ventilation and protection against the weather with its “Kishtwar Jacket” – thanks to the new Polartec Power Shield Pro. The materials is 99% wind-proof, the remaining percent circulates in the membrane and supports active moisture wicking. In addition the jacket’s outer material is extremely wear- and water-resistant. Jury Statement: The most prominent feature of the men’s Kishtwar jacket is the use of the new Polartec Power Shield Pro material. This new technology ensures the highest degree of breathability with optimum wind protection for outdoor sports enthusiasts. The product is perfected with a well-though-out design and extremely well finished.

	Company: Patagonia Product: W´s R3 HiLoft Hoody Hall/Booth: A1.315D / B5.110 Web: www.patagonia.com
The fleece jacket  “W´s R3 HiLoft” is one of many eco-friendly products manufactured by the Canadians (ed. note I think they mean Californians not Canadians, close enough, right?) : it is made almost entirely of recycled and recyclable Polartec materials. In addition, the light weight, warm jacket is bluesign certified. This means that the production process was evaluated to determine the use of resources, level of consumer protection, water and air pollution, and working conditions. The jury was not only impressed by the jacket , but also by Patagonia’s long-time continuing, successful overall concept. Jury Statement: For many years Patagonia has been proof that a sustainable overall concept for the entire production chain is feasible. The R3 HiLoft Jacket is no exception and impressed us with its high degree of function, well-though-out design, and excellent solutions for sustainable production.

These awards are a tremendous honor for The North Face, Patagonia and Polartec and an awesome way for us to kick-start the largest outdoor tradeshow of the year.

(P.S. If you want to completely derail your productivity for the day, surf over to the ispo Brand New awards – so many drool-worthy products).

We also just finished this video about Power Shield Pro, which features our Athlete Advisory Board Members Sari Anderson, Kelly Cordes and Nick DeVore. It provides a great description of how the fabric was developed and how it performs.