Reviews > Rain Gear > Gaiters > OR Rocky Mountain High Packcloth Gaiters > Roger Caffin > Initial Report

Initial Report - OR Rocky Mountain High Gaiters
Roger Caffin

Product Information

Product Claims

These are light-weight synthetic full-length gaiters designed for use below the snowline. The swingtag (or hang tag) which came with the gaiters claims the following features, with the bolding as in the manufacturer's text. There is a heavy emphasis on the 'light-weight' aspect although the material is quite strong. There are some minor differences between the swingtag and the OR web site with the swingtag being correct.

• Intended for those who require full protection, but prefer a lighter weight
• Ideal for those who mostly enjoy dry-weather outings, whether hot or really cold
• Light enough to be carried 'just in case', yet fully featured for top performance

In addition the finer print on the back of the swingtag lists the following materials and their (claimed) special attributes. I have summarised the claims and put them in some perspective.

• 1" wide Velcro front closure
  They claim Velcro® gives easy opening, won't jam like a zip, and make them easy to put on. There is a single press-stud (or snap) at the bottom of the Velcro, and a hook at the front to attach to the shoe laces. This is an arrangement in wide use by other manufacturers of gaiters in Australia.
• Uncoated packcloth leg section
  Increased ventilation is claimed, but with a Durable Water Repellent (DWR) treatment to keep your legs dry.
• Coated packcloth foot section
  It is claimed that this 'offers maximum protection to keep your boots as dry as possible in rain, snow and morning dew.' Of course, sometimes some things are just not possible.
• Strap and cam buckle top closure
  Claimed to be easy to operate under difficult conditions and won't slip or dig in.
• Elastic bottom edge
  Creates a tight seal over a wide range of footwear.

Finally, the web site added some more general information as follows:

• The weight was listed as 7 oz (199 g), but it was not clear to which size this weight applied. It is more than the measured weight of 6.4 oz (182 g), so perhaps it is for the Large size.
• The packcloth fabric is 8 oz or 400 denier nylon, not Cordura. This is of some significance as Cordura has a reputation for being tougher than ordinary nylon.
• The loop under the boot is shown as a strap with a buckle on the web site, but it turned out to be a length of nylon cord through some large eyelets. In fact, the web site diagram for this packcloth version is exactly the same as the web site diagram for the Gore-Tex version, although the two diagrams had different file names. One is left to wonder whether OR had made a small mistake with the diagrams.

Initial Impression

The parcel arrived just after my wife and I had finished packing for a trip. The immediate impression on opening the parcel was that these gaiters are very light in weight, soft and flexible, and despite being dark blue and black, fairly bright in colour. A snap judgement had to be made: were they good enough to take on the impending trip? I took the risk and threw them in, replacing some heavier canvas gaiters (which were getting a little old, it must be admitted).

The very lightness of these gaiters means they may offer less protection against really rough scrub in the Australian bush than the heavy canvas gaiters they are to replace. Of course, the advertising did specify that they are light-weight: light enough to be carried 'just in case'. Against that is the idea that the nylon may be tougher or more abrasion-resistant than the cotton canvas. Certainly, the material seems quite slippery compared to canvas, and this may help them avoid damage.

A major difference between our older canvas gaiters and these ones lies in the design of the lower section around the shoe. Our canvas gaiters have a really heavy multi-layer lower section and a stiff lower edge. This combination is stiff enough to make the shaped lower edge stay down with nothing tied under the shoe, even in very rough country. (This does not work in the snow!) These OR gaiters have a single layer of light (400 d) packcloth for the lower section and an elasticised lower edge. The elastic is meant to make a seal around the shoe. By itself the tight elastic causes the lower edge to work up above the shoe; to keep it down (and the mud and gravel out) it seems essential to use the cord under the shoe.

While neither I nor my wife have had any trouble with the use of a cord or similar under our ski boots when on skis, it would seem that walking over the harsh rocky terrain we frequent could be a severe test for the nylon cord. It may well fray through in a day or two. If this happens I will have to replace it at once as the design does not work without that pull down. Unfortunately, OR does not supply spare bits of cord.

The lower edge of the gaiters has a band of fairly conventional elastic ribbon on the inside. This is much more porous than the nylon cloth, and may pick up dirt easily. If it does this dirt could cause abrasion to the elastic fibres inside, and the elastic could fail fairly early. Such a failure might make the lower seal around the shoe ineffective.

The top edge of the gaiters is held around the leg with some webbing and an over-centre cam-clip. The operation of such a clip is critically dependent on tolerances in the cam and the thickness of the webbing. We have met this particular design before on the very similar OR Gore-Tex gaiters we use for ski touring. I have found that the clip works well enough there and the design keeps the light gaiters up, but the load on the clip in the snow is perhaps less than will be met in the bush. The use of webbing rather than string has proved to be comfortable, although other gaiters with string around the top have not really been uncomfortable. It should be noted of course that stiffer gaiters sometimes stay up by themselves.

Also included with the gaiters were some window stickers (ho hum), but otherwise there was minimal packaging. I liked the minimal packaging.

Planned Testing

Testing will be simple: I will take these gaiters on our next few trips and see how they survive what will probably be quite harsh treatment. In doing so I will bear in mind that they are meant to be light-weight units.

These gaiters will be replacing some heavy canvas gaiters (380 g, 13.4 oz, twice the weight) which not only keep out mud and gravel but also (we think) provide some protection against the thorny scrub, spiky grasses and whacks across the shins we encounter during our off-track explorations. I will see if I get more injuries from spikes and whacks: whether they assist with my survival.

The manufacturer's data says the Medium size is suitable for shoe sizes 38 - 42.5. I wear either a 41 or a 42 size shoe, mostly the latter. This is towards the top of the quoted size range: it will be interesting to see whether the gaiters are the right size. However, I note that a size 42 boot is going to be a lot larger on the outside than a size 42 lightweight running shoe such as I normally wear.

It will be interesting to see how the lighter fabric itself survives: whether it develops abrasion holes at the same speed as does the older canvas material. In all honesty, it would not be realistic to expect this fabric to last as long as the heavy canvas, but the weight reduction is attractive.

Just how well the elasticised bottom edges survive will be monitored: how muddy the elastic gets and how long it lasts. The elastic in our OR Gore-Tex ski gaiters have lasted quite well, but they do not get muddy.

The flat nylon cord under the shoe is critical to the functioning of the design, and its lifetime in our bush will be carefully monitored. The design of the underside of the shoe may have some impact on this life, and the sort of terrain traversed will too. Both of us wear joggers and even lighter footwear all the time, rather than boots, but our terrain is very harsh. Of equal interest will be whether the length of cord supplied is adequate, both to hold the gaiter down the right distance and to allow a reliable knot to be tied.

A minor point, but one which could be significant in practice, is the position of the eyelets down the sides of the gaiters and the quality of the eyelets themselves. If the eyelets are too far forward (or too far backwards) the gaiters will not 'fit' over the shoes properly. If the eyelets have been put in poorly they may tear out. It's a rough environment down there near the ground.

The life of the cam-clips at the top is open to question. Gaiters do not go off and on very often during the day, but a poor match of cam action to webbing thickness or a high rate of wear on the cam will mean the light-weight fabric may be collapsing around our ankles. It is also possible the clip may get easily knocked open while we are walking.

The front closure uses 1" (25 mm) Velcro. In my experience this is rather narrow relative to other gaiters. My experience is also that the stitching down the front of the gaiter holding the hook and loop (or hook and pile) tape on the inside is the first area to suffer abrasion, so the tape starts to fall off after a while. When this happens the tape tends to get damaged down the exposed side. As the Velcro used on these OR gaiters is narrower than the tape on most of our other gaiters it would have less ability to cope with the loss of some width.

Canvas gaiters 'breathe', but not very much. We usually have hot calf muscles, although that is not a bad thing in itself. It will be interesting to see whether I feel any temperature difference.

The swingtag claims these gaiters are ideal for dry-weather outings. It is likely they will also be used on river walks where part of the trip is spent walking in the river. It will be interesting to see how the fabric and the DWR survive this treatment; we do not expect to stay dry of course.

Reviewer Details

Reviewer:	Roger Caffin
Age:	58
Gender:	M
Email address:	r dot caffin at acm dot org
City, State, Country:	Sydney, NSW, Australia

Backpacking Background

I started bushwalking (the Australian term) when I was about 14 yrs old, took up rock climbing and remote exploration walking at University with the girl who became my wife, and later on we took up ski touring and canyoning. These days my wife and I do all our trips together, very often by ourselves. Our preferred walking trips in Australia are long ones: up to about a week in the general Blue Mts (east coast of Australia) and Snowy Mts (alpine region), and up to two months long in Europe and the UK. Ski touring trips would also typically last up to a week. We favour fairly hard trips of some length and prefer to travel fast and light. Many of our trips are explorations in wild country which sees few other walkers. In between these long trips we do some day walks, often exploring the start of longer trips. On average, we would spend at least two days per week walking or ski touring. Over the last year or two we have become converted to the concept of ultra-lightweight walking, and have been cutting our combined pack weight down from 36 kg (80 lb) total to about 25 kg (55 lb) for week-long trips. We have also been designing and making our own ultralightweight gear for our own use.

Reviews > Rain Gear > Gaiters > OR Rocky Mountain High Packcloth Gaiters > Roger Caffin > Initial Report