Simond Thermal Top review
It’s freezing outside. I know I can hike out in just my shirt—I know I should—but it’s soooo cold. Not cold enough for a puffy, though. I’ll put my thermal on. Ten minutes into the hike, I regret it. I need to change. I have to take my pack off. Taking off a pack as a thru-hiker is like having to restart your laptop for some stupid app update: an unnecessary waste of time.
You learn to do everything with your pack on—eating and drinking? Sure. Crawling under blowdowns? Totally doable with a pack. Taking a dump? Don’t see why not. Changing clothes? Done with the bag on and while walking. Unless, of course, the clothes are in the bag—then you’ve got no choice.
Maybe I’ll just keep hiking in the thermal until I can’t stand it anymore. So you sweat and sweat, and eventually, you give up, stop, and take the damn bag off.
How do you find that perfect base layer—the one that keeps you warm without overheating, wicks sweat, dries fast enough after you've sweat out all your bodily fluids, and doesn’t reek after a few wears?
I’ve tried quite a few, and I think I’ve finally found my favorite! And the best part? It’s cheap.
Let me introduce you to the Simond Long Sleeve Seamless Wool T-Shirt – ALPINISM.
I bought it in Decathlon for 35 EUR as a temporary solution to cold and 3 years later I still have it. Here’s why I think it’s great:
Price: Well, 35 EUR, you be the judge.
Comfort: It’s a blend of 50.0% polyamide, 38.0% wool, and 12.0% polypropylene. Somehow, it’s just right. I’ve worn it on cold, snowy, and rainy days, at -20°C as well as while hiking under a blazing L.A. sun in +30°C. I never seemed to get too hot or too cold. It also seems to be breathable without feeling too thin. You can feel the wind going through the fabric (which is nice when it’s hot), but it doesn’t make you cold.
When wet (usually from being too lazy to stop and change during a big uphill), it dries really fast.
Durability: It has walked 2,650 miles (~4,200 km) of the Pacific Crest Trail and 1,900 miles (3,000 km) of Te Araroa, plus some hikes in Swedish forests, the Slovak Tatras, and work on film sets. After three years of sun, ice, and mud and brambles it has only a slight bit of armpit color fading (from the profuse sweating on trails). On the PCT, I wore it about twice a week—ramping up to almost every day during the final month. On TA, it served as both my sleeping attire and my hiking shirt when it got colder.
It’s been washed at a range of temperatures (did not shrink!), often alongside borderline toxic hazard socks and other hiker-trash clothing that smelled—well, like trash—and after all of that, it STILL. DOESN’T. STINK.Honestly, not even a hint of sweat aroma.
You know that sports clothes smell—the one that seems gone after a wash, but creeps back when you warm up the shirt? This shirt just doesn’t have it.
What could be better? The color. But this complaint really goes to the whole outdoor industry, which somehow still thinks—here in the 21st century—that women want to wear baby blue or pink, or generally look like a bright traffic cone, while men get all the nice nature tones. Okay, this shirt is slightly better, since it’s “pink granite”—a more toned-down shade of pink—but still. I’m waiting for the day I can wear something moss-colored or just plain grey.
That’s my only complaint about the Simond Long Sleeve Seamless Wool T-Shirt.
It’s a perfect base layer. I just bought a second one, and if they ever make it in nicer colors—I’ll buy ten more. That should last me until retirement.