• Henry Iddon & Max Leonard: Mountain Style | Podcast

  • Aug 5 2024
  • Length: Less than 1 minute
  • Podcast

Henry Iddon & Max Leonard: Mountain Style | Podcast

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  • Everyone who explores the outdoors has a special relationship with their clothing. A cagoule can keep you safe in a storm, a duvet jacket might keep you warm through a freezing night, or a pair of gloves may save your hands from the numbing cold. In their new book, Mountain Style, Henry Iddon And Max Leonard are taking a look back over the years to the birth of outdoor equipment. in this podcast I'll be chatting to them about how the birth of specialist mountain clothing in the UK charts not only the growth of the outdoor industry but also a socail history of rising social mobility. When George Mallory made his fateful attempt on Everest in 1922 he was wearing was a high-tech windproof gabardine material, cut as a traditional Norfolk jacket style. Hi partner Sandy Irvine had fitted new-fangled zippers on to his clothing, to help with doing it up at altitude but that was all the specialist equipment the pair had. Until the 1950s most hill goers wore adapted street clothes and were wet and uncomfortable in all but the most benign mountain weather. Then things began to change. In Mountain Style, Max and Henry chart the rise of the out door industry and the growth of clothing designed for use in the outdoors as climbing and hillwalking boomed in the UK, creating a demand for functional, rugged clothing that could cope with the mountain environment. Henry Iddon Max Leonard For my generation of outdoor folk most of our kit came from Army Surplus stores. My first pair of winter walking trousers were my uncle's RAF trousers. They were wool, incredibly warm and comfortable. There's something reassuring in knowing your trousers played their part in the downfall of Hitler. For decades the image of a hillwalker in the public imagination was of someone in a bobble hat. That was probably because Tom Weir was the only walker most people saw on TV and he was never with out his woollen bonnet. Berghaus advertFootloose issue 27 July 1985 The story of the development of outdoor clothing is a social history. In the early years mountaineering was the reserve of a small number of people who had the leisure time and the funds to be able to travel to the mountains. Specialist outdoor gear began by a small number of elite climbers combining the technology from North sea oil and the sailing community to make the clothing they needed Over the years working class folk became more affluent and outdoor clothing attracted big manufacturers and entered the mass market. Then, being practical and comfortable, it made its way to the man in the street who had no intention of going near a hill but wanted something that would keep him dry. I know I'm getting old because my early mountain kit is now preserved in a museum. Mountain Style is available to pre-order now and will fascinate everyone with an interest in the history of outdoor pursuits whilst many old codgers like me will delight in in finding something and saying. "I had one of those!"
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