Dear David, Well at long last I can report to you on the ArcticShield suit you sent to me for use and evaluation during my recent polar explorations on the North coast of Alaska.

I spent the month of February there, exploring the sea ice and tundra. The Arctic Ocean was frozen over, and the tundra lay under a blanket of 2-5 feet of snow that was sometimes hard as concrete, and other times as fluffy as ashes. I saw a thousand wonders, things I’d never imagined I would see: caribou tracks, and places where the caribou had trampled down the snow to get at the tundra beneath; dozens of arctic fox trails, frantic scatters of paw-prints that bounded across the crystalline expanse; small holes in the snow where lemmings burrowed up for a look around, and—most incredible of all—snowy owls, perched on distant hummocks of snow.

I was alone out on the land; even the native Inupiat folks told me it was the coldest time of the year, the scariest time to go out, because any little mistake could cause you big problems. I listened to them, but did go ahead with my plan, and put in about 70 miles on foot. Although I’d originally planned to do about three times that distance, I changed my plans considerably in order to take advantage of some opportunities tha arose in Barrow; for example, being asked to attend a native dance ceremony, and other invitations that I could never have anticipated, or passed up. I decided to take the Inupiat folks’ leadd this time, and learn from them. Anyway, I’m going back for the next two winters, and will put in more miles then.

For most of the expedition I had temperatures between -10F and -40F (before windchill), with wind making it, normally, between -20F and -70F. Minus 20 wasn’t so bad, but minus 70 was crippling; a touch of that, and my face or hands would freeze almost instantly; so I almost never let my skin be exposed. I wore two main garments, the ArcticShield coverall that you generously sent to me, and customized suit I made for myself. The customized suit was really nothing more than 1-2 layers of synthetic pile overalls worn under a Tyvek coverall, which was windproof, six times more breathable than Gore-Tex, and about ten times cheaper than Gore-Tex. I carried several of these coveralls, and wore this system when doing very hard work, such as dragging my sled, as you can see at this link

This system allowed me to do heavy work – pulling my sled – for up to 12 hours a day, yet still was breathable enough that it vented my sweat, without letting in wind from outside. It was, then, a perfect windproof/breathable shell. It would not, of course, be any good in wet conditions, and is not very durable, but for this very specific purpose, it worked very well, preventing me from overheating. Of course, the moment I stopped moving I would begin to freeze, so that was not an option; Tyvek has no insulation properties!

The other main garement I wore was the ArcticShield coverall, size medium. Before taking the coverall to Alaska, I made several modifications to it. First, I added suspenders inside the suit, so that some of its weight could ride on my shoulders (I simply sewed the suspender straps into the waistline of the suit with artificial sinew, a very heavy thread-like substance); this also freed my knees from a bit of resistance when I tried to bring them up without the suspenders. Second, I sewed a white tyvek hood onto the coverall hood, as well as a military surplus artificial-fur ruff; the white cover was meant as camouflage (any little measure that could keep me from being spotted by a polar bear was welcome), and the ruff was meant to prevent wind from directly blasting my face. Third, I sewed a coathanger wire into the leading edge of the hood so that it could be bent/modified as needed.

All of these modifications worked as planned. The big question, of course, is “How did the ArcticShield coverall insulate you from the -40 ambient temperature???” The answer is that it did so perfectly. I could not believe that such a thin garment could provide such insulation. I wore only a single, thin layer of Patagonia’s Capilene insulation under the suit—not even a pile jacket—and found myself perfectly insulated for long periods exposed to -40F temperatures. No wind penetrated the suit, and the shell was durable. I believe the suspenders helped a lot to make the suit comfortable, and I wonder if people don’t buy one-piece suits often because they often don’t come with suspenders…Coveralls are so comfortable and easy to put on and off – and have no possibility of introducing the horrible ‘pant/jacket gap’ – that I will only wear them on expeditions these days; for me, it’s coveralls or nothing. The coverall was, as I said, very warm, and completely windproof, and suitable for most work oudoors for long periods daily in bitter cold. I think a few improvements could be made (some of these may be applicable to your bibs/jackets, since you are no longer producing the coveralls):

* The cuff liners are effective, preventing snow or wind from entering the sleeves, but they are pretty tight, and are of a very dense, constrictive material. It was hard to drag the cuff over my wristwatch when putting the suit on, or taking it off, and at -40F, those few seconds can hurt. I would suggest a lighter-weight, less-constrictive cuff liner, possibly simply a thick fleece ring with no elasticity; most of the time, heavy gloves will be worn over the sleeve-ends anyway.

* Suspenders help the suit a great deal, as mentioned above.

* The cord for securing the hood should be replaced with another fastening system; at -40F I simply couldn’t expose my fingers,a nd everything had to be ‘mitten-operable’.

* In one particularly hard day of dragging the sled through soft snow, I did perspire so much that the ReTain membrane was not able to vent the perspiration, which accumulated in the quilted insulation, and then froze over night. Since many workers will be able to dry their suits at the end of the day, this might not be a problem. But over several hard days, while the suit still insulated me, it did begin to accumulate persipiration ice in the quilted insulation, which I could feel as crunchy nodules of ice, with my fingers. Since I could not spare the stove fuel to melt these and drive the sweat out of the suit, it gained weight and lost insulation properties in those few days. Again, this would not normally be a problem, as refrigeration workers and so on can dry their suits at the end of the day. It should simply be noted, though, that this sweat accumulation should be monitored. Of course, you’ve already anticipated this with your tag on the garment, stating that ‘THIS GARMENT MAY BE TOO WARM”, which is, in this case, true! I wonder, would the ReTain membraned pass the water vapor more easily if there were no quilted insulation? In other words, is that quilted insulation even necessary? You might be able to ditch some weight and bulk from the suit by just going to the cotton shell with the ReTain liner -- is that feasible?

* Related to this last point is the issue of vents: because the suit is so warm, underarm vents would be very welcome: I almost added them myself, just before going up to Alaska, but in the end didn’t do it. I will do so before the next trek. These can really help keep the sweating down.

* Without a zipper or bit of Velcro, I was always afraid to put something in the pockets; you might be able to dispense with them altogether, saving a little weight and a manufacturing step. Perhaps one vertical-zipper pocket could be used, but that might not be necessary.

I think that’s about it for possible improvements: the main thing I have to say is that the suit was such a pleasure to wear because I wasn’t really conscious of wearing it. That is to say, it didn’t get in the way, I didn’t have to think about it, or adjust for it, I just put it on, and got to work. That’s different from many garments that you have to constantly adjust.

I’ll be back in Alaska this coming December, and will have more feedback for you when I get back.

Regards, Cameron M. Smith www.cameronmsmith.com