Adventures in India

It is no joking matter to be able to be comfortable in the great outdoors and ensure free body movement, if you are inexperienced. Being comfortable is an important element of having a good time in the outdoors. And it is not only about staying dry, or having shoes with a good grip either. It is about wearing clothes you can forget about after wearing them.

Being comfortable in the outdoors is rarely an issue worth looking up, until, something happens to make you aware of the need. Often, it is about finding sufficient dry warmth in a cold climate, or being comfortable in a stuffy place. The beginning is always with planning well.

Most of us have preferences of temperature and even humidity we are comfortable with. It is important to understand how different your destination could be from these, when preparing to leave. There is a wide range of outdoor clothing available, if only we take the time to consider our needs. It always works better, if clothing is adaptable and works for a range of temperatures a little above and below expected as well.

Here, I will try and share some of my preferences when travelling, which could bring ideas to those who want them.

• Clothing for hikes I am assuming here, that this is a one day scenario, where the last thing I want is to add weight on my shoulders to carry around. For such stuff, I prefer strong cotton clothing with sleeves, to protect me from any scratches I might be in for. I keep a light jacket that is windproof if things get cooler than I expect. This serves to provide light warmth as well as protection from the wind/rain.
• Clothing for snow: I use layers as far as possible that I can add or remove to satisfaction. It also keeps my number of changes low, as changing an outer layer that gets wet is often sufficient to restore comfort levels. Water and windproof outermost layer is half the trick, and something surprisingly many people ignore. Bright colours are good and keep me visible (and feel cheerful too).
• Clothing for wildlife: The bright colours are out. I want to be invisible now. I'm back to full sleeved clothing to take care of the inevitable mosquitoes, scratches and other evils out to get my skin in a dense forest canopy. Its bound to be humid as well, so I'll go with thin cotton that keeps drying out too with the least breeze.
• Clothing for high altitude Himalaya: Again, maximum coverage, slightly thicker, but relying mostly on layers of clothing than "difficult to pack" heavy stuff. I try and bring stuff I can mostly wear round the clock, rather than needing changes involving precious loss of body heat. Also, I wear the stuff round the clock, as the heat of the day is deceptive, and the lightest of wind and shade brings a chill factor.
• Clothing for camps: Depending on where I am, but shorts have their own valid place in my bag now. So do floaters, but I keep my standard full-coverage for adventure activity time. Warmth requirements based on where I'm going.
• Clothing for rock climbing/other mountaineering activities: No baggy clothing. Everything must stay neatly close to my body and not interfere with either body movement or equipment. Stretchy tights are often a part of my packing for stuff like this. A jacket or so for resting times if the weather is cold. During the climbing, my body heat is sure to keep me fine, as long as I'm not on a night-climb in the Himalaya.

This can go on and on, but I think the basic idea is fairly clear.

I'd like to share some observations from experience. In the Sahyadri, on a monsoon hike, it is far more comfortable to get wet in the rain and dry out/change clothes at the destination than struggling to keep the downpour away from the clothes. It rarely gets badly cold here, and mostly, thickish clothing is adequate for warmth, even when wet. Getting specialized outdoor clothes in India can get difficult, but some basic planning easily ensures that what you wear works well to keep you comfortable. Wearing a windproof something or the other might be good in the rare cold weather spell. Most of the hikes are reasonably short, and the heat from the exercise works very well until the inevitable mountain cave is reached. The key is packing absolutely everything in plastic bags (these can be reused many times after drying) so that you have a really dry set of clothes to wear on reaching.

In the areas like Ladakh and Spiti, I find that thick layers give me protection from the heat as well as cold, and I am the healthiest, when the change in the quantity of clothes between day and night is minimum. It may sound insane, but I've stayed for long enough to have experimented with very many options, and this is what suits me the best.

On wildlife tours, I find that I am often staying in a resort, and I try to keep a set of clothes to wear around there, so that I don't really spend the whole day looking like an untidy tangle of humanity. Wildlife tours in general need more changes of clothes, as the humidity can make them unusable really fast from perspiration. Monsoon hikes are clothes intensive too, as clothes get wet really fast in the torrential rain here, and there is no question of them drying - the humidity is almost like walking in a swimming pool.

Do share your ideas as well. Who knows, I might find something I'd never thought of.

Happy wanderings!