The Humble Anorak.....

[Dudleydoright]

Here's a couple of anoraks that get my vote to get things going.....

Dave

 

[pipvh]

Humble they may be, but surprisingly difficult to find.

As far as I'm concerned, the ideal =

As represented in actuality by The Bobby (Bobby Sportswear double-ventile anorak as seen here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-M-VENTILE-CLOTH-ENGLISH-MOUNTAIN-PARKA-ANORAK_W0QQitemZ390145036329QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad674d029

which in turn has been more or less exactly copied here:

Simple is better, as befits a 'humble' piece of clothing. Doesn't need much more than a hood, a kangaroo pocket, elasticated wrists and a drawstring waist. As for colours, I find I quite like the royal blue kind, perhaps because I owned so many (rubbish nylon) ones in the past...

 

[pipvh]

Trouble is, the Norsea Rudda doesn't appear to be a proper outdoor garment, just a (pretty cool) fashion item, which is too bad.

 

[BellyTank]

Seems like the Cadet Smock would be your cup of tea, then-
that orange Anorak is a dead-ringer for it and Tintin's is very close,
as is Bobby's.
A fan of the Raglan sleeve, are you?


B
T

 

[nobodyspecial]

I love the leather reinforcements at the drawstring openings on Dave's anorak, that's a nice touch. The snaps on my oldest mountain parka are backed with leather, they won't ever pull out. I also love the Eddie Bauer down balaclava, great stuff.

 

[pipvh]

A fan of the Raglan sleeve, are you?

Not really, in fact I hate them, except apparently when it comes to anoraks - how odd. I'm seriously considering one of the Rudda ones. They aren't that expensive (seem to be on sale everywhere), and if I treat it with Nikwax or something similar, I might have myself a winner.

I particularly love Dave's museum photo - the dummy recoiling from the stuffed skua...

Btw, any thoughts on the 10th Mountain Division pullover anoraks? They don't get mentioned but are classic. Any idea of materials, etc (I'm talking about the reversible kind with kangaroo pocket)?

 

[Dudleydoright]

Pip,

If you treat the anorak with the right stuff like nikwax, you will have yourself a winner.

The 10th Mtn division anoraks are brilliant i've had several - just not for temperate climates. Too hot, too heavy and don't take a waterproofing agent very well. Fur and rain doesn't mix well either !!

We have mentioned them on other threads already.

I've just been looking at photographs of British Post WW2 expeditions to the Antarctic and I see people wearing those reversible anoraks, the M43 parkas with seperate alpaca liner, British 50 / 60 patt combat smocks and trousers and lots of other 50's army surplus. Funny enough I have a lot of that gear already so can now post photos of it legitimately on the Antarctic Gear Thread !!!

Dave

 

[number6]

BAS kit

Don't forget that BAS grew out of Operation Tabarin and the Falkland Islands Dependancy Survey, lots of Naval / military kit in use . In fact I recall BD trousers still being issued by BAS in the early -mid 1980's. Nice and itchy!

 

[H.Johnson]

BT,

This is almost a dead ringer for the cadet smock - which usually came in olive green (SCC18 to be exact) like Tintin's but more rarely in orange (used by cadet instructors and marshalls on the Ten Tors yomp and other child torture events.

Chronologically, I believe the cadet smock design predates the Belstaff, Bukta and Jemtex anoraks of almost identical design. In turn, its design was based on Scandinavian anoraks. I am not familiar with the Bobby's example, but it looks like a copy of a Belstaff Dalesman, having the contrasting lining, etc.

Seems like the Cadet Smock would be your cup of tea, then-
that orange Anorak is a dead-ringer for it and Tintin's is very close,
as is Bobby's.
A fan of the Raglan sleeve, are you?


B
T

 

[pipvh]

the Ten Tors yomp and other child torture events.

I grew up on Dartmoor but never actually did Ten Tors, though I've always been extremely grateful to it for putting people off the Moor - the danger! The bogs! The Hound! Keeps the crowds down...

Properly speaking, I've always thought of Ten Tors as the preserve of the dreaded cagoule.

 

[Erik]

The evolution of the anorak, an ode to the past of things of the present, if you will:

Tad Gear Combat Anorak
http://www.tadgear.com/shop.php?id=622

I've a friend with one, and the quality is evident.

 

[Erik]

And these seem promising from a more traditional point of view:

http://duluthpack.com/clothing-accessories/mens/mens-jackets/canvas-anorak.html

http://www.empirecanvasworks.com/arcticanorak.htm

 

[gfirob]

Tradition

Aren't we talking about two traditions (not to be a troublemaker)? One is associated with the British military/outdoor and the other with North American native people. In terms of the root designs.
Rob

 

[pipvh]

Aren't we talking about two traditions (not to be a troublemaker)? One is associated with the British military/outdoor and the other with North American native people. In terms of the root designs.

I don't think we are. The military/exploration/mountaineering anoraks all derive from the basic Inuit design - which the British 'military' would have encountered very early on through the Hudson Bay Company. And, of course, Scandinavian explorers and hunters were doing the same thing at the same time. So one root, one basic tradition.

 

[Dudleydoright]

Aren't we talking about two traditions (not to be a troublemaker)? One is associated with the British military/outdoor and the other with North American native people. In terms of the root designs.
Rob

I haven't a clue Rob !!
But I suspect that as the Arctic was explored earlier than the South, that designs from places like Greenland and Northern Canada (which are basically the same indigenous peoples) got to Europe that way rather than being a seperate but identical solution to the same problem..........

But what do I know ??

Dave

 

[H.Johnson]

There is a paper by Wilfred Grenfell in which he describes the type of anorak (or whatever they called it) worn by the natives of Labrador (who he was evangelising and providing with healthcare) with drawings. There are drawings of an overhead garment with few seams and a pair of high-waisted trousers - what we call salopettes today.

He points out the practicality of the designs, but feels that the native cloth can be improved upon. He presented the paper in missionary meetings around England and legend has it that one such meeting (in Burnley) was attended by a weaver called Walter Haythornthwaite. The result was a conversation that led to Grenfell cloth being produced and supplied to Grenfell and his workers. Many of the smocks shown in both early Arctic and Antarctic expedition photographs also resemble this design, although many are claimed to be in Burberry or other cloths.

The type of overhead smock that we are discussing seems to owe more to Norwegian (and, perhaps, other Scandinavian) smocks of the pre-WW2 period. The cadet smock discussed above appears to be a direct descendent of these. A late friend (Army Commandos) who trained in Mountain and Arctic warefare (with Free Norwegian instructors) after the fall of Norway told me that the instructors were very dismissive of the performance of the British Army smock and wore their own smock/anoraks (or whatever they called them in Norway) instead, when they could. The postwar cadet smock resembles this type of smock almost exactly.

Just an observation on my part.

 

[H.Johnson]

Recently, yes. But the TT started in 1960s as an Army Cadet exercise organised by the Junior Leaders Regiment. If my memory serves, the first one had about 200 entrants - all Army cadets. It was done in standard cadet kit - including the 1937 or 1944 pack, battledress (1949 pattern) and....the cadet smock. Unless you visited le continent I doubt if you had heard of les cagoules then!

I grew up on Dartmoor but never actually did Ten Tors, though I've always been extremely grateful to it for putting people off the Moor - the danger! The bogs! The Hound! Keeps the crowds down...

Properly speaking, I've always thought of Ten Tors as the preserve of the dreaded cagoule.

 

[Creeping Past]

There is a paper by Wilfred Grenfell in which he describes the type of anorak (or whatever they called it) worn by the natives of Labrador (who he was evangelising and providing with healthcare) with drawings. There are drawings of an overhead garment with few seams and a pair of high-waisted trousers - what we call salopettes today.

I've lost pictures I had saved of a simple anorak labeled "Anarak, Labrador Type" and dated 1944, as I recall.

British or Canadian military, I'm guessing. So the tradition and link with the indigenous North American roots of the anorak was apparent up to the 1940s, at least.

 

[nobodyspecial]

I grew up on Dartmoor but never actually did Ten Tors, though I've always been extremely grateful to it for putting people off the Moor - the danger! The bogs! The Hound! Keeps the crowds down...

Properly speaking, I've always thought of Ten Tors as the preserve of the dreaded cagoule.

For those of us on the other side of the pond, what is the Ten Tors?
Also, what do you mean by "preserve of the dreaded cagoule?"

 

[pipvh]

For those of us on the other side of the pond, what is the Ten Tors?
Also, what do you mean by "preserve of the dreaded cagoule?"

Ten Tors is a rather sadistic event that takes place every year on Dartmoor, which is a large, wild upland in South West England with a very high rainfall, lots of marshes and more than the usual quotient of mist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_tors

A cagoule is basically the French term for anorak, which became popular in the late 60s/early 70s - usually horrid nylon things made by firms like Campri (which I always thought was Campari). As someone who spent most of his spare time on the Moor I took an insufferably snobbish view of weekenders who would rock up to the local carpark clad in hundreds of pounds worth of hiking gear, invariably topped off by a cagoule of flourescent hue even in high summer... and struggle a couple of hundred yards off the beaten track, holding on grimly to their maps, before collapsing into their deck-chairs with a nice cup of tea.

Ho hum - and now it's me who's scouring the web for a neon orange anorak...