UKC

Recently moved into the wonderful world of Buffalo and so far used my Active Lite Shirt Spring to Autumn without getting totally sharted in by rain. My trusty Montane hardshell has started to delaminate but I don't want to splurge £200-300 for a super duper hardshell which won't get worn that much. With the relative bulk and length of the Buffalo, I got to thinking whether a poncho would be a good bet for when things got properly minging, but I'm aware that I've only ever seen soldiers or toddlers wearing them.

Anybody use a poncho for when it really tips it down? Any real negatives I should be aware of?

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:


looking like a tw*t? insert i or a, as appropriate.

In reply to summo:

Obvs, as the kids say.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:
I used to wear a big heavy woollen one at music festivals and the solstice celebration at Stonehenge, things like that, so that you could handily roll a spliff in the rain, away from all the elephants.

I can't really see a valid use beyond that, to be honest.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

So they are useful. I hear ya.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

They are really popular on the continent. I see a lot of them when I am guiding, but the obvious downside is when it is windy when they act like a big sail.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

Oh, totally. Heartily recommend, but yeah, there is the looking like a twit/tw@ to be aware of.

In reply to Removed UserMike Rhodes:

A belt or rucksack waistbelt would no doubt be part of my dashing ensemble.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

globetrotter.de have a good selection. I don't have one, but I've considered one having met a Norwegian guy who uses a Jerven one. Benefits - your bag stays dry and you don't sweat as much. You can buy poncho 'chaps' to keep your legs dry without getting sweaty.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

https://gearjunkie.com/arcteryx-capes-for-vancouver-homeless

In reply to summo:


Been there, done that. Nice woolen one with a hood and my lucky gogarth elephant potato-print tights in the White Eagle...

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

Yes- goes over daysack, saves 200 quid. Very common in the alps. So are umbrellas funnily enough.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

the only real technical downside i could see with them is the wind, sure a belt would help, but when it's 50mph winds on the summit i can't help thinking you'd still need waterproof trousers

and would it get in the way of a self arrest? (ie get wrapped round your arms / iceaxe?)

on the plus side it can double as a lunchtime shelter if you carry a couple of bungees

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

In my experience the cheap plastic ones tear around the pop studs within a week or so of use and considerably less time in a moderate wind. Even the more expensive Salewa one I have, which is made of PU coated nylon, had the pop studs tear out on a day of about force 6 winds in Wales.

They are fine for use on a wet not very windy day though, especially in the tropics.

You used to be able to get coated nylon ponchos, which chunky metal pop studs from Army Surplus shops and probably still can. They came in a couple of varieties, rather heavy duty Army surplus ones which were strong and lighter ones which were less waterproof, but about £10 (10 years or so ago). Putting silicon tent water proofer on this second type made them much more useful in our wet climate.

In reply to rallymania:

Hmmm, unlikely to use ice aces, but you got me to thinking about dexterity and general practicality.

Any suggestions for a not ridiculously expensive, packable jacket long enough to cover a Buffalo?

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

I used one in the jungle quite a bit and it is great for breathable use in hot weather, downside, as you've found out is that they aren't practical in the wind. If buffalo works, I suggest paramo, though that would replace the buffalo...

In reply to jonnie3430:

That's it, I just want the nuclear option for when I'm not working hard enough in the Buffalo.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

Used one on Dartmoor a lot a few years ago. Great bit of kit when not windy. Keeps you dry, your kit dry and not sweaty. Plus with a bit of fiddling you can sleep under it and stay dry. Well good

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

Any real negatives = wind

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

You can still get PU jackets such as this

http://www.dickiesstore.co.uk/product/WP7006-dickies-stanton-waterproof-pac...

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

I've worn them. Crap in bad wet windy weather and if you've got it over your rucksac and then need to get at something in your bag, you end up in a mess.

I've been with someone wearing one in wet windy weather in SW Eire and she was getting so wet with the thing flapping all over I had to lend her my spare jacket.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

I recommend what I once saw an old boy wearing on a walk in the Peak. It was so wet we were being dive bombed by gannets, my mobile phone died of pneuphonia when we passed a chap wearing a black bin bag tied round the waist with a piece of string.

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:


There's quite often old Berghaus Lightnings on fleebay. There's one now for £50 when I last looked. Good hood that would keep your buff hood in place.

In reply to Ann S:


This wasn't around Kinder Downfall by chance? About 18 years ago there used to be a trampy looking bloke that used to walk around there in that attire. I was young and dressed in new, hillwalking clobber. I felt sorry that he looked so impoverished that I offered him my food.
He told me to 'feck off', with good reason.
Apparently he was a very rich hermit that lived in Hayfield and chose to dress like that. Nowadays he would be offering me a butty

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Hi Dave-that could be about right cos 18 years ago mobby phones were bricks and mine was a dead brick. He was walking with a younger chap so I took them to be a father/son combo. I watched awestruck, thinking they don't make them like that any more, but I reckon he was a wimp compared to the chap I passed on my local moors in a thunderstorm who was naked to the waist.

In reply to Ann S:

Hi Ann- that is uncanny! When you say naked to the waist was it up or down? My mate claimed that when he was walking up to Kinder from Snake Inn with his girlfriend, that a bloke ran past them with nowt on his bottom half. Nearly lost an eye he did!

In reply to Dave the Rave:

Top half. I was a staff nurse on the elderly wards at the time- if he'd been naked from the waist down I wouldn't have batted an eyelid!!

In reply to Aigen:
Wind is more or less harmless (tie a piece of rope around your waist. Makes you look like some mad monk but keeps the poncho from flapping). The real poncho killer is bush whacking through your standard arctic willow thicket....

CB

Forgot the punchline: This is why it so weird that Scandinavia is the only place you see lots of people use ponchos!

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

I can remember the military ones, pretty weatherproof and you can stud two together to make a decent shelter/tent

In reply to cb294:
In the late 70s I had a commute that required an hour or so 's cycling each way over the Hog's back - I used a poncho when the weather was really awful and it worked pretty well