When you went again in time 150 years and instructed those who sooner or later they may carry the whole lot they should stay for every week on their backs, you’d get run out of city. Carrying gear is the job of horses and mules, not folks! Quick ahead to the current, although, and right here we’re, schlepping into the backcountry with the necessities on our again. Progress!
The excellent news is that right now the whole lot it is advisable stay for every week weighs significantly lower than it did 150 years in the past. The ultralight backpacking motion, born from obsessive thru-hikers and finally broadly adopted by weekend warriors, has pushed innovation within the out of doors gear trade for greater than 20 years. Each iteration of backpacks, tents, and sleeping luggage has been lighter, stronger, and hotter.
However simply once you assume they could not probably get any higher, these backpacks are getting lighter and extra rugged. Right now, Dyneema launches a brand new cloth composite referred to as (shock) Dyneema Woven Composite that’s being utilized in up to date backpacks by cult traditional Hyperlite Mountain Gear, which is a long-time collaborator.
Gentle as a Feather
Courtesy of Dyneema
Dyneema’s namesake cloth has lengthy been famous for being not simply sturdy, sturdy, and waterproof, however featherweight as effectively. Its new cloth, Dyneema Woven Composites, is made for the ultralight backpacking group. It melds a completely woven Dyneema face cloth to Dyneema’s pre-existing composite cloth.
Dyneema Woven Composites was created together with Hyperlite Mountain Gear, and for now’s accessible solely within the firm’s core ultralight backpacks, together with the Southwest, Junction, and Windrider fashions.
Mike St. Pierre based Hyperlite in 2009 and was one of many first producers to embrace Dyneema (then often called cuben fiber). As crinkly because it was, that ultralight cloth endeared Hyperlite to backpackers. The corporate’s minimalist, stripped-down designs and unwavering dedication to high quality—my 2019 Junction pack, with lots of of miles on it, seems prefer it did the day I purchased it—made the corporate a pure match for this collaboration.
Sturdy as a Board
Courtesy of Dyneema
Due to that outer layer of Dyneema, the brand new Woven Composite has 10 occasions the abrasion resistance and 5 occasions the tear resistance of the older cloth. The previous statistic is especially excellent news for anybody climbing in locations just like the desert Southwest, the place brushing your pack in opposition to onerous rock tends to destroy your gear rapidly.
