How Outdoor Companies Get It Wrong -- Trekking Pants for Hot Weather

After reviewing a range of trousers that are out there, it is striking that practically no producer at this point seems to have developed well-designed pants for outdoors in hot climates.

Fjällräven has excellent design and materials for a Scandinavian climate, but not for hot places. One of their few pants for hotter climates is not zip-off. Arcteryx has a great range of mountain pants, but again nothing that is zip-off. Craighoppers, otherwise often a company with sensible design ideas for mosquito areas, has only one thigh pocket, as if they'd never given thought to what you need when it is hot. Mammut, a company that created iconic mountaineering gear, similarly goes for snugness, not sensible design, with a narrow side pocket. Mayer-Sports, a quality firm from Germany made an attempt with its Marinus 3-zip-pants, with excellent textiles, but it still falls short.

Different Design Needed for Hot Climate

So what is the problem? Summer/hot climate pants need a different design from temperate climate pants, not just in textiles. Hot climates typically have stronger sun and shorter days; less reliable sanitation; and higher mosquito risks. Most importantly, in hot climates, the pants may well be the major piece of clothing to carry essential things, as people are not wearing jackets. This is a fundamental difference to more temperate or high mountain climates.

Double Pocket for Hat & Pockets on Side

Let's start with a key feature that is needed in any sensible design for hot weather: a large, ideally double leg pocket on the right. In hot climates, you almost always need to wear a hat, and thus need a large side pocket to put it into, as you may move in and out of cars and houses. This is in addition to other things that you may want accessible for your right hand, so ideally you should have a second pocket integrated. In this second pocket, I typically carry a string and some snacks. Other people carry a map in this pocket.

Moreover, you need a large pocket, too, to store the trouser legs you take off.

Leg pockets should be on the side of the trousers, not on top/upper side, as in hot climate you want there to be direct evaporation, and this is easier if the pockets hang off your legs while sitting, rather than lying on them. This is where the Marinus Mayer-Sports pants fail, in having a pocket that is half on top of the left leg. The Fjällräven Abisko has the same problem, with large pockets on the top of the leg. That may work when you are next to a fjord, but not in hot climates.

Flashlight, Tissues, Sanitizer

What else matters in a hot climate? Ideally a pocket for a flashlight, since hot climates typically have shorter days, and unless you just go on day tours and are reliably back indoors by nightfall, you may find yourself sorting something out in the dark, and having a flashlight, reliably, really matters. My own preference is for the Petzl Zipka headlamp, which packs away well, is waterproof, and can easily be attached so that you can open locks, or carry equipment.

Smart design, Petzl Zipka, for trekking anywhere, but especially in hot climates

Also, hot climates often are places with not-so-great sanitation. A sensible thing to carry are tissues or sanitizer, for which you need an elongated pocket. A separate small pocket for medicines or other trinkets that are important to you can make sense.

All of these pockets should close easily, and take account of how you often travel in hot climates – you're much more likely to sit on the ground, for one because there often is less infrastructure, and secondly, because the ground itself is warm. You thus don't want pockets that drop their content when you sit, for example, on the flat back of a pickup truck. Conversely, a zip on the immediate trouser side pocket, as in the North Face Explorer is a no-no, and unneeded. These are pockets for immediate access.

(And what is it with these triple zip offs? The only reason I see for them is that in some hot temperature environments, it's culturally appropriate to cover your knees. Otherwise, in my view, this is feature overload.)

Long Legs, Fairly Bright

One last item, that often matters: hot climates often have mosquitoes that carry disease. Consequently, clothing should be fairly bright (somewhere between gray and olive) which seems less likely to attract mosquitoes, and makes it easier to spot them. Conversely, you don't want it completely white, as this will quickly show stains. (Bizarrely, some zip off pants are dark or even black, specifically unhelpful in a sunny climate.) Moreover, the trouser legs should be long, to cover the ankles, and ideally it should be possible to close the ankles a bit tighter.

You would think that some designer/company had picked up on these issues, but sadly so far you see little difference on whether trousers are designed for Iceland or Jordan. This is a missed opportunity, not least because you could also suggest sensible accessories for the pockets, helping people be organized, and potentially differentiating your product from the pack.

The Sad Demise of Salewa Yandua 5 C

Yet there once was a design that worked. 

Salewa, had the perfect design with its Yandua 5C Five Continents pants – but they dropped it from production. On the right for the person [1], a double pocket, which was ideal for a light hat. On the other side [2], two small and one longer pocket (flashlight, medicine, sanitizer). All of this long, with velcro at the bottom of the leg against mosquitoes [3] durable, and quick-dry. Around 2010, I managed to buy three pairs of these pants, and I am still using them on most of my outings. I would pay €150 for a used version, but they are hard to find. The good news: if any company wants to develop good trekking pants, there is a model to aspire to.

I'm currently in the process of trying to reach designers at various companies, and will update if I find anyone who got it right.

Flying Gudauri to Kazbegi | More Routes

We found a few good ways of flying from Gudauri to Kazbegi. Here is a long video, showing one route.

Among the key lessons: fly along the ridge; don't get down into the valley, where the wind gets stronger, and often comes from the north. If you are at 3400 m above Sadzele, you can easily crossover to Kobi, and soar up. Otherwise, fly west of the road on the pass, hopping from ridge to ridge, and you will also get across nicely.

Definitely, as mentioned above, stay out of the narrow valley, you will almost certainly get washed down in unpleasant winds. The tracks are also on Leonardo.

Manavis Tsivi - New Flying Site

In the last two years, a crew has been exploring flying over Sagarejo, under the guidance of great local pilots, Here is a video that shows some of the great possibilities, in this case in April. 

More on this soon. 

Getting Thermal Forecasts in the Caucasus | Meteoblue

How can you get thermal forecasts in the Caucasus? In the Alps you may have other tools, in the Caucasus you can draw on Meteoblue.

How does this work? Check out the quick info video. (Note that this may require a basic subscription to Meteoblue.)

We will test this out more in the future, and share updates from time to time. 

Gudauri Paragliding Route

We have been having great flights lately. Here is one such flight from Gudauri, last Sunday. The wind was good (South-East), not too strong. It had rained the day before, but thermals still developing.

Here is the flight.

Key lessons:

1. the break-out thermal after launch is likely to be on the mountain before Kudebi, shown on the bottom right. Kudebi itself often is inconsistent. 
2. going along the ridge facing North is likely a good idea. I could have taken this even further. 
3. above Ukhati, good to get maximum altitude. It's not entirely easy, as there is convergence of winds. 
4. once you crossed the valley, keep on that broad face, to get up. I went toward Kanobi, and there is no lift there, because of valley winds. 

Great day, can't wait to go back.

Where to get Weather Information for Flying in Georgia

Where do we get weather information when flying in Georgia? Over time, we found the following the most useful resources. 

Meteoblue.com, which in my personal estimate is 80% right. Sometimes it misses details by 20%, so wind is not entirely strong enough for soaring, or the wind change happens a few hours earlier than predicted. But on balance it's proven fairly reliable. (Disclosure: my brother works there, so this assessment is not independent -- but conversely I can say I spent quite a few years watching the service, in flying, windsurfing and kiting).

YR.no - Norwegian weather service. Some paragliders use both YR and Meteoblue and believe that if both agree, then this really is the final & best weather forecast.  

Tbilisi Airport Information: ATIS: 132.8 MHz, with hourly updates. Almost always accurate. The highest recorded windspeed at TBS airport that allowed us to still fly in Rustavi was 12 knots, but that was borderline. Above 5 knots per hour from the Southeast is typically promising for the Tbilisi Sea flying site. Occasionally the online service, here, lags. 

Always watch out for lenticular clouds, as a sudden increase in windspeed (once more than doubling in 45 minutes) can be a bit unwelcome when in the air. 

Any other suggestions? Let us know. 

Flying high in Tianeti

Up to now, the flying site in Tianeti primarily worked for soaring. The peak draws the thermals from the entire region below, making it a reliable flying site in almost all conditions when the wind is from the South, or Southwest.

However, there have been a number of  longer flights from this location, typically heading out East.  Roland flew 15+ km, a good way towards Akhmeta, on our very first flight there in 2007, landing in a small clearing. Conditions that day turned rough, with the wind coming in from Southwest (unusual) with average speeds above 30 km shortly after Roland had launched.



The highest altitude in Tianeti was about 3800m above ground, which would be about 2000m above the launch site, on April 28, 2008. Above is the footage. We launched as usual, catching the thermal on the right shoulder of the mountain. Curiously, we did not find a single other thermal once we had topped out, when we were flying east, so that it ended up being a glide flight into the neighboring valley, north of Tianeti city.  It seemed that we had found one rare day with one rare gap in the inversion, but we did not stumble on any others.

The key point here is that there is still a long-distance flight waiting to happen from Tianeti, on a good & strong spring day, when you pierce through that inversion, to then fly on and on.