Jacket Issues

Hello,

I was thinking of buying a jacket. I want to wear it for day to day use in the fall, and then also have it be water proof incase it rains. I will be doing the el camino in the fall, and then some other backcountry hikes throughout the fall. I like a shell because it then has its uses in the summer and winter as well.

I have been looking at the montane alpine endurance eVent or the northface front point.

My question is will all those normal days of wearing with a backpack wear away the waterproofing? If so am i better off just buying a nice breathable shell for day to day use then just buy a cheaper jacket that is waterproof for the few days i need it. ie getting a precip jacket for ~80-100$

Basically I am saying can I wear a alpine/hard shell jacket close on multi-day hiking trips without worrying about the backpack wearing it down too much

hiking in a raincoat (no matter how breathable it is claimed to be) seems like a terrible idea. It will be hot and muggy and yes it will wear out pretty quickly under your shoulder straps.

If this the case then why would anyone ever buy say an arc-teryx beta AR for 600$ when you could just buy a rain jacket for 100 and throw a poncho over top?

Probably because they love to waste money! Or maybe because it's a status symbol? No way would I spend that much for any jacket!

If it isn't actually raining, you want to wear something a lot more breathable than the so-called "breathable" rain jacket. A few years ago I did a late September hike with temps in the low 40s F (it was low 30s by the time I stopped for the night). It was breezy, and shirt sleeves were just a trifle too cool even though I was climbing, so I wore my 2.5 oz. Montbell wind shirt (breathable but not waterproof) over my hiking shirt. The wind shirt over my shirt lightweight base layer top) was just perfect while I was moving! Of course when I stopped to rest, i immediately put my puffy jacket on top, and took it back off when I started moving again.

You don't want to wear a rain jacket unless it's raining. In fact, if it's warm and raining, I leave off the rain jacket and just get wet, which is still less wet (or at least less slimy) than I'd be from sweating inside the rain jacket!

I pretty much agree with Andrew Skurka in his assessment of so-called waterproof/breathable (WPB) rain gear.

There's a more extensive discussion in the Lite Gear section that dwindled out a few days ago. I imagine if there was a jacket that was well ventilated , truly breathed, had a DWR coating that did not wear out quickly, and kept you dry in all conditions, people would shell out (pun intended) the 600 clams (once again, pun intended) with no hesitation. Instead we see building clouds and ominous skies with a bit of foreboding. At least I do. I'll walk in pouring rain, but I'd rather not. You'll find in the other discussion that lots of us concluded that having dry gear for the end of the day in your shelter as being the key to comfort. I've run the gamut from garbage bags to Gore-Tex and have well passed the point of expecting to stay dry. I went up a ice clad mountain in Vt. about a month ago with crampons in pouring rain. My jacket failed and wetted out, but at least as long as I kept moving I stayed warm. It did hold in a little warmth and kept the wind at bay. It was just above freezing and as nasty a hike as I've had in awhile. No views as a reward, dangerous, and somewhat miserable. It went OK though, and that's what I've come to expect.

It is called sales... and now you know why it can be such a well paid job!

I'm very impressed with this thread, both by the clear and intelligent question and by the various responses.

I've hiked the Camino twice, and can say that ponchos are pretty popular there, often really beefy, large fully enclosed units that I suspect don't breathe very well. I preferred a regular rain jacket for that hike, partly because I found it sometimes nice to have a "normal" jacket while walking around town towards the end of a day --- with the hiking part done. I went with a lightweight jacket, something like an OR Helium 2, doing double duty as both rain gear and as a windshirt. What I sometimes found helpful on the Camino was to wear the jacket backwards when it was very windy --- could let perspiration out from my back that way, yet cut the wind. Some sort of cord with clips can be handy there to keep the jacket upper collar area from slipping down.

Yes, with a rain jacket under pack straps, that part of the jacket wears faster, and loses waterproofness faster. Oh well! I too am in the camp that you can't stay perfectly dry when hiking for hours in the rain. It's about temperature control. Another nice thing about a rain jacket is that it's easier to find a place to hang it up to dry in an Albergue or whereever. Even just stopping for a meal and hanging it over a chair back will allow a lighter rain jacket to get a start at drying out.

Let me also say that the vast majority of people that hike the camino sleep indoors every night. In my experience of that sort of hiking --- in England and Austria as well as on the Camino --- if I know I'm sleeping dry and can hang my stuff to dry out at night, then I just don't care all that much if I get wet during the day. It's about temperature control and of course keeping my gear dry (so a pack liner is a very good thing).

There's no single answer to this stuff, however, we each of us have to listen to differing views and then grope our way to our own personal ideal I'm afraid!