Stories
AN ODE TO BASELAYERS - NOT A BASIC PIECE OF THE LAYERING PIE
Picture this: you've scored first chair of the day and there's 45cm of blower pow on the ground. Your chair crests the ridge-line and you feel an icy cold blast of deep Antarctic wind. You tuck your chin a little deeper into your face mask; you know what storm skiing is all about and your layering game is as refined as they come, the product of years of hard earned lessons and cotton filled mistakes. You skate a couple steps and ski toward the next chair as you steal a glance to your left; all those suckers inside, you know what they got wrong? Their thermals. Getting your base layers wrong can be one of the most uncomfortable, and even most dangerous mistakes you can make in the mountains. If you're not prepared for what the weather will be doing, then you’re not prepared for anything. So with all manner of options on the market, what makes the perfect set of thermal underwear? Le Bent are unique in this space as we offer a unique merino and bamboo blend that allows us to offer a silky soft hand feel that keeps our customers coming back for more and keeps you on the chair or skin track when others can’t hack it. How do we do it? Well, we ask ourselves some key questions and set our goals on delivering the most comfortable, durable and performance-orientated answers possible... What Material Is Best? When deciding on the perfect set of men’s, women’s or kid’s base layers you have two options: synthetic or natural. Synthetic base layers are generally spun with a variant of thermoplastic polymers that will work to keep you warm, but who wants to wrap themselves in plastic, right? And often they tend to stink before the day is out. Natural thermal fibres have traditionally been spun with merino wool. If it’s good enough to keep a sheep warm, then it’s good enough for humans. So, what’s the catch? Scratch. While merino wools are the perfect insulator, they’re not the perfect fabric to have pressed against your skin for twelve hours a day. So the question arises: what’s the perfect fibre? Honed over years of research and development and a collaboration with Australia's peak scientific body (CSIRO), we unpacked on a simple idea to combine the benefits and sustainability of bamboo rayon fibre with the warmth and durability of merino. The result? The highest quality, comfort and performance you can expect from any other material. An on skin layer and a layer of skins. Our 200gm Le Base Lightweight Crew Top. On paper, it’s an unlikely romance - merino and bamboo. Although the latter is technically a grass, and therefore beloved by the former… What makes the two materials so compatible is their differences. Individually rayon from bamboo and merino wool are world-class materials, but combined, they form a bespoke yarn that redefines what we thought was possible in a fabric. As the thermal will be the closest to your skin, the advanced wicking properties of the merino and bamboo blend ensure that moisture is worked quickly through your layers, keeping you both warm and dry with no odour build up or stink. The bamboo ensures the fabric feels nice and soft on the skin with no irritation, no itch. How easy is it to get your choice of material wrong? Earlier on in the article we alluded to some hard-earned lessons in the layering game. We thought we’d highlight them here so you can learn the easy way - if you haven’t already made the same mistakes we and many other snow-goers once made. Cotton: trite as it is to say, but cotton is not at home in the mountains. Layers keep one warm by trapping warm air next to the skin. While cotton does this to some capacity, when it gets wet, those air pockets become water pockets and cotton will stay soggy - or frozen, depending on where you find yourself - until you head back inside. A fun fact for the skin trail... cotton can absorb around 20 times its own weight in water. Synthetics: While not as abhorrent in the mountains as cotton, synthetics - of which there are many - aren’t an ideal substitute either. While better at wicking moisture, synthetics aren't as successful as merino at suppressing odours. Some manufacturers might attempt to solve this with an anti-microbial coating, but these tend to fall well short of mother nature's solution in the lanolin wax within merino. au naturel. No cotton or synthetics in sight on these base layers. What Fabric Weight Do I Need? The final consideration is weight. As you’ll be aware, varying conditions call for varying levels of insulation, and getting it right starts at the base. That is, the base of your layering, and the base of the mountain. Lightweight to midweight, Le Bent offer two options: a 200gm or 260gm variant – 200 for milder conditions – think Australian winters, or spring skiing overseas – and 260 for when it’s really blowing from the Arctic – think mid-winter in the Rockies, Europe or Japan. Of course these suggestions are subject to personal preference and the level of exertion you expect to be doing in your base layers. For those on the skin track all day, we suggest opting for the lighter 200gm blend, whereas if you’re riding cold chairlifts all day you might want a little more insurance and insulation. The right fit? No matter what weight you choose, you’ll barely notice it’s there thanks to our semi performance fit. We believe thermals should fit like a glove, not necessarily squeeze the life out of you by being skin tight. Our fit is designed specifically for activity and insulation in the mountains. It just so happens that it also looks at ease on an après deck. Cheers to a day made better with the right layers. At Le Bent we call it our Signature Blend and the quality of finish is immediately noticeable. It’s a unique combination of Mother Nature’s finest attributes – the growth, sustainability and softness of bamboo combined with merino, the finest natural insulator known to mankind. It’s not rocket science, it’s simply the result of years of research and design, innovation and a deep-rooted love of the mountains. No matter if you’re a skier, snowboarder, man, woman or child, Le Bent has a perfect set of men’s women’s and kid’s base layers for you. Let us take care of comfort, so you can focus on having a good time. Le blend benefits: NO ITCH Naturally smoother and rounder fibres for itch-free comfort. IDEAL TEMP Warm in the cold and cool in the heat. DRY Naturally moves sweat away from the skin leaving you feeling drier for longer. NO STINK Helps control odour producing bacteria. UV 50+ Keeps you covered from the sun's harmful rays.
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INSIDE AN ULTRA TRAIL RUN
Over the weekend, hundreds of pairs of Le Bent socks ran hundreds of kilometres through the Aussie bush… Whilst we hope our socks are always out and about, helping our athletes float over trails, last weekend was a special one in that it saw our ever expanding team of trail runners converge on the multiday Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA). The race that began in 2008 and had 160 entrants and barely 130 finishers has evolved into not just Australia’s biggest trail running event, but the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and the second largest on the planet. This year the UTA attracted nearly 7,000 runners and over 12,500 spectators to cheer on the former as they battled not just each other but the challenging Blue Mountains world heritage listed landscape. Le Bent athlete and UTA Hall of Famer Brendan Davies on the home straight on Saturday. THE STATS: Ultra-Trail Australia – May 16-19, 2019 – Katoomba, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia Total runners: 6700 (50/50 male/female split) UTA100 – 1500 runners, sold out in 3 days UTA50 – 2100 runners, sold out in 3 hours UTA22 – 2100 runners, sold out in 22 hours UTA11 – 600 runners, new race distance for 2019 Injinji 1km-4-Kids – 400 runners We sat down with two of Le Bent’s finest ultra-trail runners and talked about what goes into competing in such a grueling event. We’ve divided up what we wanted to know (and what we think you’ll want to know) into some short clips below… Left to right: Le Bent sales manager Steve Walshe, runner Ben Duffus, runner Brendan Davies and Le Bent director Simon Blondel, pre-race. QUESTION 1 – TRAIL RUN SOCK SELECTION “I’m always in the lightweight socks to keep my feet warm.” – Brendan Davies QUESTION 2 – TRAIL RUN LAYERING “When running you do heat up really quickly so it’s good to be able to strip off when necessary.” – Ben Duffus QUESTION 3 – LONG TERM PREPARATION “From six months, or even the race last year, I could argue that I’m planning in my mind, how I’m going to time my year leading up to it and how other races are going to fit into that timeline.” – Brendan Davies QUESTION 4 – FOOD “When you’re training a lot, you’re eating a lot. I mean, my friends make fun of me because I don’t eat out of regular bowls; I eat out of family sized salad bowls.” – Ben Duffus QUESTION 5 – MENTAL TRAINING “When there are challenging training days that’s an opportunity to build up that mental grit. If it’s cold and wet outside, well it might be cold and wet on race day. If it’s hot and humid, well again, that’s a great opportunity to practice suffering.” – Ben Duffus QUESTION 6 – RACE LEAD UP “I tend to hide in my cave a little bit more. I stay away from all the excitement and stay off social media, all that kind of thing. Give myself plenty of distractions and try not to think about the race too much.” – Brendan Davies QUESTION 7 – EVE OF RACE/RACE DAY “I keep things routine. Tonight I’ll kick back on the couch, watch the footy, maybe have a beer and then go to bed the same time I usually go to bed.” – Brendan Davies QUESTION 8 – RACE TACTICS “That third quarter is when the going gets tough, you’re far enough in to be tired but you’ve got far enough to go for it to be still intimidating. So I really focus on nailing that third quarter.” – Ben Duffus QUESTION 9 – RECOVERY FOOD (BEER & PIZZA?) “I’m probably the first one lining up for a beer or if someone’s throwing a beer in my hand I’ll gratefully accept it.” – Brendan Davies QUESTION 10 – TIPS FOR FIRST TIMERS “Don’t go out too hard...” – Ben Duffus Beers are on us fellas! Congratulations to everyone who competed and to all of our Le Bent team for doing us proud as always. As for what Le Bent socks our guys trusted to compete in? Lucy Bartholomew, of course, ran in her signature Le Lucy sock, Brendan was in the Trail Light 3/4 Crew and Ben was wearing the Outdoor Light Mini. Race results: Ben Duffus – 1st UTA22 Brendan Davies – 9th UTA100 Lucy Bartholomew – 2nd UTA50 Vlad Shatrov – Leading 1st UTA100 but DNF (injury) Wes Gibson – 16th UTA22 Matty Abel – 49th UTA50 Paige Penrose – 1st UTA11 Michael Milton – 1957th UTA22 (Badass 1-legged paralympian) See more results.
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