Here at Webtogs, we are lucky enough to have some fairly gnarly mates, and they don’t come any gnarlier than Keiths buddy Nick Parks (not be confused with Aardman animation!) Nick is a full IFMGA Mountain Guide, and has been leading mountain expeditions on skis and on foot for almost 20 years, journeying with his clients to some of the most remote corners of the globe.
He’s currently helping out Bear Grylls in charge of rope safety, mountain safety etc for everyone on the new series. Whilst he is out filming, we asked him to test some gear for us in some of the toughest environments that Planet Earth can offer. We gave him some Keen H2 Sandals and Icebreaker socks to use & abuse, today we received this missive back from Vietnam where they are filming at the moment.
“Now my first despatch on the Keen sandals and Icebreaker sox…. first off a quick weather report so your readers can appreciate the conditions I’m testing these under. Vietnam is about to enter its rainy season, which means temperatures and humidity are at their highest, I can only describe it similar to being in a warm shower! Sweat is just pouring off us, our shirts are drenched, the only respite is in the a/c of the restaurants or from the rush of air travelling aboard our 4 wheel drives.
Sandals first, very impressed, super comfortable, no rubbing which is so often a problem in high humidity. The insole claims to be odor preventing and so far, admittedly only 3 days, that’s true. This is highly significant as I’ve never had a pair of shoes or sandals that didn’t honk to high heaven from day one! This afternoon we scrambled around on the boulders next to the Saigon river and they felt very secure. I particularly like the protection offered by the chunky toe piece, not that I’ve tested this feature but if I do inadvertently
kick a rock ‘m confident I won’t lose my toe nails!
Sox, equally impressive.. I was dreading pulling on boots and sox in this temperature although admittedly I did this under my room fan. Beautifully comfortable in my very basic jungle boots providing much needed cushioning. They stayed this way throughout a hot jungle yomp, never got sweaty and where even dry and not smelly! when I pulled them off 8 hours later! But most impressive I was the only person out of our group of nine whose sox weren’t penetrated by leeches, I’m not sure if Icebreaker advertise this fact… maybe they should.”
We’ll have more from Nick over the coming weeks as filming progress. We’re sending him some icebreaker boxers to make sure the leeches don’t go anywhere else they shouldn’t!
Tags: Bear Grylls · Gareth · Keith · Nick Parks · VietnamComments
