Smartwool Merino & Silk Base Experience

[Sailor (The other one)]

Looking at baselayers for our 2018 thru. I need to hear from thru-hikers who have experience with Smartwool 150 merino, with Terramar merino and/or silk and anyone who found a silk baselayer brand that stood up for the whole trip.
Thanks.

[Tipi Walter]

Looking at baselayers for our 2018 thru. I need to hear from thru-hikers who have experience with Smartwool 150 merino, with Terramar merino and/or silk and anyone who found a silk baselayer brand that stood up for the whole trip.
Thanks.

This is right up my alley as I'm a misquided expert on both silk and merino baselayers.

The Smartwool/Icebreaker 150 weight merino is very thin and good for the summer (and I have found Smartwool generally is less beefy than Icebreaker). Most of the time I use Icebreaker 260 wt leggings for all my backpacking trips---both to sleep in as pajamas and to hike in under my shorts as cold weather "pants".

My standard torso baselayer is a long sleeve silk top in either crew neck, mock turtle or full turtleneck. I love silk tops against the skin because they feel good under whatever you want to wear for a midlayer---merino tops, capilene tops, duofold, etc. And my silk top is also generally what I sleep in too, unless it gets wet.

The secret to buying silk is to find the Midweight model---I just ordered a couple midweight silk tops from Wintersilks. The lightweight silk is just too sheer and thin. LL Bean also makes a decent silk top.

[colorado_rob]

I used a short sleeve smartwool "base layer" for my entire AT hike over three years. I put "base layer" in quotes because it was basically my hiking shirt, pretty much on my body 99.5% of the time, only time off was when in laundry. that's what is nice about merino wool; it does resist stink better than anything I've worn.

Sure, yeah, you will stink anyway, but wearing merino make you stink less.

[Uncle Joe]

TI have found Smartwool generally is less beefy than Icebreaker.

My Icebreakers both have holes in them and did so fairly quickly. I believe they are lightweight, though. That and I didn't initially wash them in a delicate cycle and hiked a time or two as my only layer. That said, I can't get the idea that they don't hold up well for the money.

[KDogg]

I used patagonia and icebreaker merino and found both to be good. The Patagonia wasn't quite as soft. I did get a hole in the icebreaker but that was from pulling them on too quickly and poking my foot through the side. Got it repaired at trail days for free and never had a problem again.

[RangerZ]

My Icebreakers both have holes in them and did so fairly quickly. I believe they are lightweight, though. That and I didn't initially wash them in a delicate cycle and hiked a time or two as my only layer. That said, I can't get the idea that they don't hold up well for the money.

i agree with Tipi, Icebreaker hold up better than SmartWool. I've hiked (not yet on AT, but I'm working on that) in SmartWool 150 short sleeve shirts and the underarms have gone to holes, almost more repair than original shirt. Also seemed to hole from jagger bushes more often. Not so much with Icebreakers.

I have a set of Icebreaker 200 long base layer that I use for sleeping in warmer weather. I move to UA cold gear plus socks plus UA balaclava plus beanie plus puffy when it gets cold.

[fastfoxengineering]

Smartwool imo is overpriced. It's a good value when found on sale. I am happy but not estatic with my on sale $75 midweight bottoms.

I think minus33 is worth looking at right now. Especially when found on sale.

I find midweights are ideal for me. Lightweights are just too thin for my liking. No matter time of year. I typically never hike in my long underwear. If I did, I would prefer lightweight merino.

In the colder months. I have gone a few days backpacking in my normal hiking clothes. On the last day I typically throw some running shorts over my merino long bottoms. I gotta admit. It's the most comfortable thing to hike in. And you feel like a ninja.

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[Highland Goat]

I wore the same Icebreaker merino t-shirt every day on the AT, and it lasted the whole length, with some holes by the end. I wore a SmartWool shirt and Icebreaker leggings on the long trail. Both shirts looked the same at the end of the treks, but the SmartWool shirt had about a third a many miles/days on it. The Leggings made it for thirty days without holes, but I did not wear them every day. All three were 150 merino.
I still buy both brands, but I will pay double for the Icebreaker products.

[The Cleaner]

I've used both Smartwool and Icebreaker and like them. Helly Hansen make a polyro wool blend that works well to.

[Dogwood]

Make sure you're comparing oranges to oranges and apples to apples! Note wt(grams/meters^2), thread counts, thread size, how seams are constructed, if the piece is 100% silk or merino, etc. Just generally comparing brands leads to misleading comparisons.

80% of all hikes I include a 150 wt merino tee top in the layering. Sometimes it's a mid layer. Sometimes it's a baselayer. Sometimes it's a stand alone single layer. Probably 90% of the time I'm carrying another shirt or piece to rotate into.


No matter what brand I've used, which is seven different brands, the 150 wt merino tops get rips, tears, and unsightly pulls after 500 or so miles on any trail I'm employing them. This can be cut down by proper laundering. *Don't wash with anything else on a gentle cycle on cold setting. Don't wash with anything that has zips, snaps, buttons, Velcro, toggles, cord locks, with anything these pieces can become entangled, with other hiker's filthy clothes, in beat up old top loading washers(seek out front loading wash machines, treat these pieces with the care you would for a high end down sleeping bag or quilt). Don't wait to launder until they get so darn filthy they repel a Billy goat. Same with lighter wt silks.


How long the 150 wt merino top is functional without it looking like a rag hanging off me depends on these factors. Don't discount these factors when considering durability as some do.


Silks you should note if anything is combined with the silk. For example, I've had some silk bamboo and silk hemp blended baselayers that lasted longer than the same wt and thread count 100% silk baselayers in comparable situations. Likewise, the same can be said with merino tops that are blended composites like the Patagonia merino tops which are blended with Capilene. I think Patagonia nailed it with honesty in this marketing excerpt: http://www.patagonia.com/merino-wool-baselayer.html


Too often we fall into a rigid dichotomous mindset - we see things as either or, black white, good bad, etc. This has happened with outdoor apparel. Some believe it's either natural fibers or synthetics. Or, that a layering piece has to be 100% of one type of material. That does not have to be. Sometimes, possibly the best choice is a compromised combination of construction materials receiving pros and cons of the different materials, construction techniques, etc. The Cleaner realizes this.

[Tipi Walter]

Dogwood---You're overthinking it. Backpacking baselayers whether silk or merino are disposable items---and this goes for the best of merino socks too. If I get a year out of any of these items I am happy and prepared to upgrade to another new item for next season. Silk gets worn with frayed edges and rips, merino tees are bad for getting wear holes, even the best merino leggings will get holes in the butt and at the knees, smartwool socks wear out fast etc.

[Dogwood]

Tipi I agree that these pieces are disposable like all outdoor gear that eventually needs to see the bottom of a trash bin. HOWEVER, with the high prices of these pieces there is no reason to shorten their lifespan through negligence, inappropriateness, or ignorance.

I disagree with you about merino being bad about getting wear holes. It's exactly those generalized comments that deserve context or they are misleading or simply incorrect. It depends on the wt, how the piece is being used, how the piece is constructed, if the merino is combined with other materials(Didn't you read the Patagonia link?), if trail work is being executed wearing such a piece(like cutting trees and brush!), if one is on a wide maintained single track or not, if the trail is narrow and has briars adjacent(like some of the Slickrock, BMT and AT tread!), if one will be considering going off trail when these pieces are used as an outer piece, how heavy and what kind of a pack is worn over them, how often they are laundered(2 1/2 wks before being laundered is likely going to reduce durability, Don't you think so?), if they are laundered according to manufacturer's directions... etc.


Do what you want with your money but I'm certainly going to have a keen eye out for extending my resources including my merino and silk apparel.

[Tipi Walter]

I disagree with you about merino being bad about getting wear holes. It's exactly those generalized comments that deserve context or they are misleading or simply incorrect. It depends on the wt, how the piece is being used, how the piece is constructed, if the merino is combined with other materials(Didn't you read the Patagonia link?),
Do what you want with your money but I'm certainly going to have a keen eye out for extending my resources including my merino and silk apparel.

Here my pair of supernice Icebreaker 260 wt leggings after just one year of use---a wear hole on the butt. Simply incorrect about wear holes? Not so.

P1000048bbbbbb.jpg

Here's a pic of my Icebreaker T-shirt after a couple months of use---
P1000054.JPG
These are back wear holes due to my pack.

The merino tees are so bad I switched back to regular polyester Tees like North Face Reaxion---

[QiWiz]

FWIW, I like silk when it's hot and merino when it's not, as far as sleepwear goes for me, in which I'm typically lying directly on a NeoAir pad with a quilt over me. Silk is lighter and merino is warmer and amazingly non-stinky.

[Dogwood]

Here my pair of supernice Icebreaker 260 wt leggings after just one year of use---a wear hole on the butt. Simply incorrect about wear holes? Not so.

P1000048bbbbbb.jpg

Here's a pic of my Icebreaker T-shirt after a couple months of use---
P1000054.JPG
These are back wear holes due to my pack.

The merino tees are so bad I switched back to regular polyester Tees like North Face Reaxion---

Both easily explainable.

Holes in the butt are caused by all the gassy organic foods you eat on trail compounded by all the darn sitting around you do in camp instead of hiking.

Holes in the back of the shirt were caused by you refusing to give into that back zit. I told you to leave it alone.

[Sailor (The other one)]

Thanks everyone.

[Elaikases]

This is right up my alley as I'm a misquided expert on both silk and merino baselayers.

The Smartwool/Icebreaker 150 weight merino is very thin and good for the summer (and I have found Smartwool generally is less beefy than Icebreaker). Most of the time I use Icebreaker 260 wt leggings for all my backpacking trips---both to sleep in as pajamas and to hike in under my shorts as cold weather "pants".

My standard torso baselayer is a long sleeve silk top in either crew neck, mock turtle or full turtleneck. I love silk tops against the skin because they feel good under whatever you want to wear for a midlayer---merino tops, capilene tops, duofold, etc. And my silk top is also generally what I sleep in too, unless it gets wet.

The secret to buying silk is to find the Midweight model---I just ordered a couple midweight silk tops from Wintersilks. The lightweight silk is just too sheer and thin. LL Bean also makes a decent silk top.

Thanks. I've found that lightweight wool is really lightweight. Even mid-weight capaline from Patagonia is pretty light.