Equipment notes (2): "no cloth can be too strong"

Alpine outfitting advice from the mid-1930s

Clothing —In the choice of material for clothing many vicissitudes have to be provided for: in the first place, the toilsome walk up to the hut in the oppressive heat of the afternoon; secondly, the chilly halts for meals high up on the mountainside, and thirdly, most important of all, voluntary or involuntary bivouacs. 

Involuntary bivouac
Illustration from the Badminton Library: Mountaineering

Voluntary bivouacs may be infrequent and it may be a matter of pride to avoid those that are involuntary, but the wise mountaineer will always have something in reserve, and extra clothing for nights out will form part of his equipment. Two tourists who were once lost on Mont Blanc, spent a summer night with their guides crouching in the snow near the Dome du Gouter. The two guides alone survived till daylight, solely because they were wearing the stoutest native homespun.

In choosing stuff it should be noted that no cloth can be too strong for the inexpert rock-climber, and even the most highly skilled will prefer to have something very tough for seat, knees, and elbows. It is well to choose a medium or heavy-weight material for waistcoat and breeches.

An ideal cloth is the strong whipcord which was employed in old days for making riding-breeches, and the French homespun, known as drap de Bonneval, is reputed to be good, but nowadays, owing to the introduction of machinery, most of the advertised homespuns are homespun only in name and utterly lacking in the strength of the genuine article. A light windproof and more or less waterproof material, such as the Grenfell cloth, has been recommended, but it remains to be seen how far it will withstand the wear and tear of rock climbing. Further information on the subject of clothing will be found in the chapter on arctic mountaineering.

References

Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.