Ice Climbing Jacket Design Questions

[Samuel Makin]

Hello All,

I have found plenty of infomation on the internet about rock and ice climbing but i wanted a more personal view into rock and ice climbing.

I am currently in my second year of University studying clothing design and technology and i have to write a report on Specific Product Development. My choosen sport is Ice climbing and I am going to delevop an outer shell, jacket. I need to look at the design features and materials they are made from. I want to gather as much infomation as possible.

I have a list of questions i want answering, if you may:

 

What are your favourite brands of clothing and why do you think they are better than other brands? Is it because they provide high quality well made garments? Or Is it because they provide you with a quality garment at a more affordable price? Is it because you know the spefic brand of clothing is reliable and long lasting? what brands would you recommend a new comer with unlimited disposable income and someone with a tight budget?

 

What types of needs does a garment have to provide you with? such as warmth, protection and suitable design features such as pockets,chin gaurds, hoods, reinforced areas for protection, etc?

 

What must your garment have for you to buy it? why is that important to you?

 

What improvements do you think can be made to jackets? What weaknesses do you find in jacket designs?

 

What faults do you find in general which could be improved? Do you find a common fault in alot of jackets? Is flexability a common problem? Is there any problems with comfort or protection? Do they resist the enviroment they are in?

 

What sort of design features do you have on your jacket?

 

What design features would you like to see on jackets?

 

What type of materials do you think work best? what materials are your jackets made from? what type of materials are Outer shells made from?

 

What materials would you like to see? or improvements to them?

 

Would you recommend Lightweight materials for Ice climbing or heavier weight materials?

 

Where on your garment must it provide protection from the enviroment? elbows etc?

 

Imagine you had to design a jacket to your specific needs when ice climbing what would you like your jacket to be like?

 

An answer to any of the questions will help me and even any infomation you think i may have missed out will be very helpful for me when i come to write my report and develop the jacket.

Thanks in advance

Sam

[Jon H]

Just read Dane's posting on his blog... www.coldthistle.blogspot.com and do a search for "belay jacket"

 

That should be most of of your info. I don't think anyone here is looking to write your thesis for you...

[Coldfinger]

P.S. It had better be cheap too!

[Samuel Makin]

Hey jon i dont expect anyone to write my report for me, i have never ice climbed before so im collecting research, I wanted to get a personal view from climbers, to see where improvements can be made etc. thanks for the link.

[DPS]

The perfect jacket for ice climbing is

 

Light yet durable

waterproof yet breathable

Simple yet functional

Hood fits over a helmet yet snugs down over a bare head

Fits a climbers physique - broad shoulders, big chest, narrow waist.

Arms long enough to cover wrists when arms are held over head yet not too long when arms are held at one's sides

 

In other words designing a jacket for ice climbing is an exercise in compromise.

 

The brands that I prefer are Patagonia, Wild Things, and Marmot. These brands fit my body the best and meet most of the outlined criteria. Price is not a big issue but I always bargain shop and buy when I find things on sale.

[Samuel Makin]

hey mr smith thanks for your reply buddy, i will explore ideas to keep them cuffs in place when your arms above your head.

[DPS]

Manufactures use several methods including velcro straps or elastic to seal the wrist. Some fleece jackets employ a hole in the end of the sleeve that your thumb sticks through to keep the sleeves from riding up.

[cbcbd]

These are some features I've seen jackets employ that I'm a fan of:

 

-Outside side pockets that are high enough so they are not in the way of your harness.

 

-Waist not too long but long enough to go below your harness waist line and not ride up above the harness when stretched out.

 

-Minimal bunching below the waist to avoid interferring with gear.

 

-Thick Schoeller softshell material. I believe my jacket has Schoeller 400 (I can't get to their site now so I can't check to see if this still exists in this name). It's not too thick that it restricts movement but not too thin so it adds a little bit of warmth. It's pretty thick Schoeller so it is very water resistant.

 

New features I would like to see:

Some fleece jackets employ a hole in the end of the sleeve that your thumb sticks through to keep the sleeves from riding up.

-What I've seen done in one jacket (although it was a ski jacket) that was pretty neat was a 2 cuff system. On the inside end of the cuff shell there was an added fleece/synthetic cuff stitched to the inside sleeve, about 2" long that had the thumb hole. This way you would seal off the sleeve from the elements and keep the sleeve from riding down but still have the protection of the outer shell all the way to the wrist. The outer shell had a velcro closure to tighten it.

 

-Talking of cuffs, one thing I would like to see would be a simple bunge cinching system for the end of the cuff. Every velcro cuff I've used just becomes useless after some time.

 

-Something I've never seen before but might be interesting to implement on a jacket would be something similar to a draft collar on a sleeping bag. If you're not familiar with those, what many manufacturers include on cold weather sleeping bags is a cinchable insulated cuff inside the sleeping bag at neck level. When you zip up the sleeping bag you can close off this insulated cuff (usually with a velcro flap) and cinch this around your neck. The idea is to isolate your lower body from the gaping hole that is made by the face area of the hood of the sleeping bag. This way the heat generated by your body is kept inside the sleeping bag and doesn't escape up past your shoulders and out the hood. I wonder if putting a fleece collar in the neck area of the jacket that would sort of bunch up around your neck when the jacket was fully zipped would add to the general warmth of the jacket. I know I have definitively felt a cold draft down my chest from air rushing in from the top. It would at least give you a chance to remove ice debris that falls in your jacket through the collar, before it made it's way to your abdomen or back