Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ex Officio Micro Stretch Tops > Cora Shea > Field Report

Field Conditions I wore the MSF Skivvy on three trips. On all trips, the MSF Skivvy served as my under-most layer (i.e. directly against my skin with nothing under it at all) and it never came off for the duration of each trip. Trip One: (2 days) Ice climbing in the Sierras, California Weather: Cold (-5 to 25 F / -20 to -4 C) and Clear Elevation: 8000 ft (2500 m) Use: This trip involved talus hopping up a snowy canyon (a hot and sweaty activity), then sitting and belaying for hours (a cold activity) and finally climbing (another hot and sweaty activity). I layered the MSF skivvy under my bibs and a fleece, and sometimes under a shell and down jacket. Brief Comments: This was a great first trip. I put the MSF Skivvy through a wide range of demands, and I often forgot I even had it on at all. Nice! Trip Two: (1 day) Hiking in the Angeles National Forest, California Weather: Cool (45 to 60 F / 7 to 18 C) and Windy (30 mph / 48 kph) Elevation: 6000 to 9000 ft (1800 to 2800 m) Use: This trip involved hiking uphill for a while on dry trail, and then lounging and playing in the snow for a few hours. I layered the MSF Skivvy under my softshell jacket, and sometimes under an insulated vest. Brief Comments: I was very surprised at the poor wicking the MSF Skivvy had. With the previous trip, the Skivvy worked great. But here, I spent 10 hours of hiking in what felt like a plastic bag. This may seem a bit harsh, but I tried different layering systems every half hour (even including the Skivvy alone) to no avail. To take a break from it, I took it off and wore the softshell alone over my bare skin, and all my sweat immediately wicked away. Of course, this is but one trip. More field use will hopefully give me more information, because I am baffled why this performance was so starkly frustrating relative to the previous trip. Trip Three: (3 days) Skiing in the Sierras, California Weather: Cold (10 to 45 F / -12 to 7 C), Windy and Snowing Elevation: 10,000 ft (3000 m) Use: I put the MSF Skivvy on under my bibs and forgot about it for three days. I layered fleece, shell, and down jacket over the Skivvy. The weather was blowing snow sideways, and it snowed over 1.5 ft (0.5 m) in two days. We traveled over 12 miles (19 km) during those two days, breaking trail in the thick 'Sierra cement' snow. This type of activity is the most aerobic activity I do in my life. Brief Comments: At first, due to the bad wicking ability demonstrated during the previous trip, I was nearly ready to leave the MSF Skivvy at home. But, I brought it anyway to keep trying. And, lo and behold, it turned out to be another great trip where the MSF Skivvy performed without any effort on my part. Yay! But this confused me even more. Two great trips, and one terrible trip? What is going on?

Field Use Opinions Ventilation: The zipper was a great way to either vent or add a lot of warmth around my neck. The sleeves stayed pushed up when I pushed them up for even more ventilation. No complaints here, just a nice overall design to keep with changing climates. Wicking Ability: As discussed above, I had two trips with decent wicking ability, and one trip where it performed so badly that sweat literally ran down my arms and fingers with the Skivvy on alone, and my softshell (wind jacket) alone breathed considerably better than the Skivvy alone. What went wrong? Well, I don't know. I just know what the differences were. First, Trip Two was much warmer than the other two trips. That could affect the wicking. Also, I had many layers on over the Skivvy all the time on the two good trips. Layering can often help keep moisture out of the base layer, much as an overbag over a sleeping bag will help draw sweat out of the inner sleeping bag. Whatever the theory, I sure was surprised on Trip Two, and more testing in above-freezing climates will be my next goal so I can gather more data. Warmth: I liked the warmth the MSF Skivvy provided. The conforming stretch did a lot to keep warmth in. Unfortunately, I could not use the thumb slots because they chafed my thumbs from the short sleeve length, but the sleeve ends were tight enough to keep warm air in without using the slots. The neck especially kept me warm when zipped up. Weather Resistance: I found the MSF Skivvy to be somewhat more wind resistant than I've experienced with other long underwear tops. I liked that. However, due to the fuzzy outer, snow sticks to it like Velcro (along with fuzz, down, dirt, hair, etc). It also shed melted snow fairly well, but after the terrible wicking on Trip Two with above-freezing weather I might stick to below-freezing trips from now on to avoid liquid water. Comfort: I found this to be great. I always wore the MSF Skivvy with nothing under it (not even a bra) and had no chafing or rubbing spots. I only had a problem with two things: (1) The 'Ex-Officio' band around the neck does not stretch, and sometimes it would pull quite uncomfortably against my neck, and (2) the sleeves are just too short for me to use the thumb slots (they chafe the spot between my thumb and fingers from the pulling). Odor Resistance: After my first trip with it, the MSF Skivvy stunk worse than any shirt I've ever owned. Whew, did it stink! So, I washed it (delicate cycle, non-detergent soap, line dry) and it stinks much less. But, it certainly stinks more than any other long underwear shirt I've had. If the odor treatment is working, I sure would not want to wear the MSF Skivvy without it. Ease of Layering: The heavy soft face on the outside of the MSF Skivvy makes it quite difficult to pull fleece and other fuzzy jackets on over it. This I noticed especially while skiing when layers come off and on as often as every half hour. Due to its stretch, the sleeves of the MSF Skivvy will often catch somewhere up in a fleece sleeve, and stretch out to my wrist rather than slide out. The result of this is that the sleeves slowly creep back up toward my armpits under my fleece over time. The solution I found was to pull the sleeves carefully without shoving, but this requires a lot of attention. Durability: The stitching and workmanship are still fine, but the fabric pilled up on both the inside and outside on the first day of skiing (the fourth day in the field). It pilled all over the inside, even all the way down the sleeves. The outside pilled more in isolated spots, especially around my shoulder blades and waist. I take pilling to show low durability in fabric (as in, the fabric wears away due to normal-use friction), so I was rather disappointed. Time will tell more. I included a picture on the right to show one of about ten palm-sized spots that pilled on the outside. I apologize for the blurriness - I found pilling very difficult to light and photograph properly. :)

Summary Overall, the MSF Skivvy has been a great base layer in cold weather. It feels nice on my skin, and wicks well as long as it is cold outside. Compared with the many other long underwear shirts I've used, the MSF Skivvy is much more comfortable overall, but has less wicking ability and more nitpicks (short sleeves, tight neck band, difficult to layer) than I am used to. Likes Dislikes Comfortable against my skin The fabric pilled up after only four days Very stretchy Poor wicking ability on my warmer aerobic trip Warm The sleeves are too short to use the thumb slots

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Reviews > Clothing > Shirts > Ex Officio Micro Stretch Tops > Cora Shea > Field Report