-
Columbia’s Daniel Doucette and I with their Omni-Tech Thermal Reflective technology.
I don’t often go to media events, but when Columbia sent Cottage Life an invitation to preview their new Omni-Heat technology and line of Omni-Heat outerwear, which launches in fall 2010, I decided to check it out. Why now? Because cottaging is increasingly becoming a year-round event. New cottages are almost always four-season builds, and every year summer cottages are renovated to add winter—or at least early spring and late-fall—use.
So what kind of clothes do you wear at your cottage when it’s cold? At our place we have a collection of bulky coats and sweaters that go back decades. The cottage isn’t winterized, so we don’t go there in the deep freeze, but we do pull out the warm duds in May and October. It’s no secret why our mothers called them our “heavy” coats. Wear your heavy coat, dear! Who knows if our life jackets could float us in our waterlogged wool. To be really warm in winter, we’d need to layer up till we looked like taller versions of overdressed four-year-olds, muffled to our eyebrows with arms stuck out straight.
Well, it seems that the winter gear Mom used to make you wear is history (like a lot of the stuff in cottages, come to think of it!). Modern technology has brought high warmth-to-weight measures. The Columbia folks say they’re trying to make people aware that outerwear can be as specialized as, say, golf clubs or cottage boats. Whether you’ll be slaloming down the ski slopes or simply out enjoying a walk in the woods with the dog, it’s worth doing a little research before you buy.
Twitter
RSS
Cottage Life on Facebook
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello,
The one with the child is my favorite. Let us hope we leave beautiful places by taking care of them now to our grandchildren!
Of course it depends on the temperature, but our visits to camp usually mean long johns, wool socks, neck warmers and pocket warmers [small oat filled bags that we warm up in the microwave!]
We wear our floater jackets when crossing the ice, but once at camp I switch to a lighter, down-filled jacket with hood.
Inside, I have a favourite fleece pullover. It belonged to my hubby from about 25 years ago. It’s stained, has spark burn holes in it and it’s covered in ‘balls’ but it’s warm and cozy!!