Winter goes brutal and deadly fast. I am thankful you and everyone else is fine. The paradoxes that come from snow being a great insulator are amazing, and lake slush is a great example.
I don't have personal experience with falling in slush in my ventile (or anything else). Colorado has very few lakes able to produce such an effect, and none close to me. But intuiting from what I know and have experienced, the primary difference between a Ventile jacket and your canvas anorak is the sponge like absorption and pass through of water thought the surface of the fabric. Water would still come through the hem and cuffs and neck of a Ventile jacket if submerged, but not through the entire surface of the jacket where submerged, so on the whole your upper body would remain significantly dryer. You would instinctively raise up your hands out the the water anyway, so the main seepage point would be the waist hem. With the cotton analogy lines anorak I have from Hilltrek, it actively draws moisture from the inside to the outside to evaporate, so in such a situation (without shelter close by) I would leave my anorak on while I moved briskly yet with slow care (stupid things happen in the cold when you move fast) to stay warm(er) and try and draw as much moisture out while I built a fire and prepared shelter, survival style. I talked recently with the owner of Empire Canvas to pick his brain on cold weather gear since he isn't selling any this year. When I mentioned I'll be using my Ventile jacket and was very excited and said there is no way he can beat that. If I could get mittens and mukluks in Ventile, I would. Keep on enjoy the wild wonders of winter! You have an excellent head on your shoulders and that is the best piece of equipment you can have in the wilds. With abandon, Patrick On Monday, February 3, 2014 1:19:18 PM UTC-7, Liesl wrote: > > I think this qualifies as Riv content given the nature of this winter for > many of us in the cold climes, so indulge me for a moment.... > > This weekend, since it's too crappy to ride bikes, I went to my college > dorm-mates (circa 1977-78) reunion on a small lake in northern Wisconsin. > Cold temps (below zero as we drank morning coffee) and 2-3 feet of wet snow > on the ground. Five of us headed out with our snowshoes onto the lake in > the morning just as ice-fishermen were also heading out in their heavy > 4-wheel drive pickup. I was attired in fantastic gear for snowshoeing: > vintage buffalo plaid thick wool hunting pants, a down sweater with a > wind-proof Empire Canvas cotton anorak over it, Empire boots, and leather > chopper mitts. Very quickly, though, the truck got into trouble with > 'snow-ice/lake slush" and as we watched it, we realized the same thing was > happening to us. We came to call this deep and foot-thick layer of slush > 'quicksnow', because it acted a lot like quicksand. This slush can form > when there's a really heavy snow cover on a lake and it depresses the ice > and water seeps over the top or through ice fishing holes. Anyway, we see > the truck spinning up green slush, look down at our feet and see that we > too are sinking into about a foot of wet wet slush, and elect to *urgently* > move to the shore, which was about 50-75 feet away. (see attached photo of > the truck's standing-water tracks—water still standing 8 hours after this > story happened!) > > Thinking the pier that someone hadn't taken out for the winter would do > the trick, my friend Kris and I made a b-line toward it. But the pier was > too high and covered with, again, over 2 feet of snow, and it became clear > in a hurry that the pier was not our salvation; we're now about 20 feet > from the shore. I look down and the decks of my snowshoes are covered in > very watery slush that is instant-freezing to their decks and bindings. I > attempt to move my literally freezing feet and fall over onto my side. > Immediately and with dread, I feel ice water seeping in at my wrist and > elbow. I now have a sense of panic because I am wearing a down sweater > with a cotton anorak over it and my boots also have cotton tops. I can > see that my wool hunting pants are in the water, but I don't feel it > seeping through. I knew if I tried to right myself I would wallow more in > this icy water and become perhaps really soaked. I calmly yet urgently > said to my friend Kris, "I need help getting up." She swiftly pulled me up > and I got myself to a sappling on the shore. All of us made it out to the > shore/road and back to the cabin with no hypothermia. I've attached before > and end-of-the-day photos with both fetching ensembles. > > Okay, here's the Riv point: I wore my heavy wool pants, wool lined > choppers, and wool-lined Empire canvas boots for the entire rest of the > day, which was spent outdoors. I traded out my upper torso garments for a > ski sweater and a Filson vest. Wool, the miracle fabric. Keeping people > warm and alive for 10,000 years. > > My question: how would the Riv Rain Jacket have done? Would it have kept > my down sweater dry in this situation? Any ventile-wearers (meaning at > least you, Deacon Patrick) with any kind of similar experience? > > -Riv Chica Warrior of the Quicksnow! > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. 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