Dyneema’s New Fiber Composite Is Lighter, Stronger, and More Durable Than Ever Leave a comment

In case you went again in time 150 years and informed those who sooner or later they may carry all the pieces they should dwell for every week on their backs, you’d get run out of city. Carrying gear is the job of horses and mules, not individuals! Quick ahead to the current, although, and right here we’re, schlepping into the backcountry with the necessities on our again. Progress!

The excellent news is that as we speak all the pieces it’s essential dwell for every week weighs significantly lower than it did 150 years in the past. The ultralight backpacking motion, born from obsessive thru-hikers and finally broadly adopted by weekend warriors, has pushed innovation within the outside gear trade for greater than 20 years. Each iteration of backpacks, tents, and sleeping luggage has been lighter, stronger, and hotter.

However simply whenever you assume they could not presumably get any higher, these backpacks are getting lighter and extra rugged. Immediately, Dyneema launches a brand new cloth composite referred to as (shock) Dyneema Woven Composite that’s being utilized in up to date backpacks by cult traditional Hyperlite Mountain Gear, which is a long-time collaborator.

Mild as a Feather

Dyneema’s namesake cloth has lengthy been famous for being not simply robust, sturdy, and waterproof, however featherweight as properly. Its new cloth, Dyneema Woven Composites, is made for the ultralight backpacking neighborhood. It melds a completely woven Dyneema face cloth to Dyneema’s pre-existing composite cloth.

Dyneema Woven Composites was created along with Hyperlite Mountain Gear, and for now’s out there completely within the firm’s core ultralight backpacks, together with the Southwest, Junction, and Windrider fashions.

Mike St. Pierre based Hyperlite in 2009 and was one of many first producers to embrace Dyneema (then often known as cuben fiber). As crinkly because it was, that ultralight cloth endeared Hyperlite to backpackers. The corporate’s minimalist, stripped-down designs and unwavering dedication to high quality—my 2019 Junction pack, with tons of of miles on it, appears to be like prefer it did the day I purchased it—made the corporate a pure match for this collaboration.

Sturdy as a Board

Courtesy of Dyneema

Because of that outer layer of Dyneema, the brand new Woven Composite has 10 instances the abrasion resistance and 5 instances the tear resistance of the older cloth. The previous statistic is especially excellent news for anybody mountaineering in locations just like the desert Southwest, the place brushing your pack towards exhausting rock tends to destroy your gear shortly.