Keeping Dry and Staying Warm (KDSW)
Newsflash: Our first publication Keeping Dry and Staying Warm Part 1 is now published in paperback and Kindle formats and available on Amazon.
Book cover
Keeping Dry and Staying warm is about you, the garments you wear, what you are doing, your skills and location.
Garments are your mobile environment ……..but they don’t provide heat!
Out in the real wilds only you and the food you eat are the heat source.
Food for TGO Challenge
Garments are designed to prevent heat losses by conduction, convection, evaporation and radiation and manage water coming from you (perspiration) and the environment (rain/snow) at the same time. At other times they must be be adaptable enough, combined with user skills and know how, to prevent overheating. In the age of global warming we apply the same principles to keeping cool.
KDSW is a series of 3 books. Part 1 includes what you might expect: the basics of garments, size, fit and how they are tailored to our specific needs. Key definitions of 8 different garment types, the construction methods and how to do repairs/recycling. Plus some layering principles.
Then we move to the unexpected. Part 2 covers the basic sciences of nutrition, human physiology, (where heat comes from) and how it is lost via the 5 major heat losses.
Al Hinkes, Ice Climbing
Finally there is Part 3 which includes the core technologies used in garments to achieve this, and layering skills for all activities.Al HInkes adds his insights into High Altitude issues in Part 3.
Each part and or individual chapter has its own ‘Explanation of technical terms and measures’ if we judge it’s needed.
This series is not the work of one or 2 people in a single country. The 4 person team based in UK and USA has experience in multiple activities over 7 continents. Every chapter has been cross checked by at least one garment brand and reviewed by outdoor professional guides, instructors and leaders, sometimes adding in their experienced user comments. Certain science chapters have been reviewed by academics with subject specific knowledge. A key issue shaping our writing and training courses is to appreciate just what shop customers and their retail staff serving them understand and what are the communication problems between the two.
Who are we aiming at?
Everyone from consumers to shop sales staff and buyers, product managers and even designers and manufacturers. Outdoor professional instructors and guides. Within all these groups, there is a small proportion of people who are ‘early adopters’ (see graph below) and they are influential and therefore our target readers. When, at the ‘tipping point’ the early majority want to buy a new product or service, they ask an ‘early adopter’ friend who has done all the reading and research and bought new products.
Diffusion
This short video clip illustrates the process
To find out detailed contents of our book follow the links below.
Part 1 The introductory starting point for retail staff and mountain /outdoor professionals.
Part 2 covers the basic science needed for a fuller understanding of KDSW.
Part 3 Ideal for those who want to know more and apply to experience.