Costume "Gorka". Private opinion

The costume "Gorka" recently quite actively advertised and discussed on the Internet. Having personal experience of many-days mountain campaigns and service in the army, I considered it possible to share my opinion on this in the hope that for someone it will prove useful.

First, you need to determine, in fact, what a suit is "Gorka". The name is slang, and originally it was the set of field clothes of the USSR Armed Forces. It was developed in the late seventies, widely used in Afghanistan, and incidentally became very popular among Soviet tourists, hunters and fishermen. The prototype of this costume is considered to be the shape of the German mountain shooters of the Second World War.

Currently, on the wave of interest in retro and in general to military-style clothes, many Russian and Ukrainian companies produce a variety of clothing sets under loud names, for example, "Gorka-camouflage", etc. The common for these costumes is "Gorka" only the name, and even that they are made of cotton fabric.

Are these modern suits good? To answer this question you need to know exactly what for, in fact, this form is needed. Initially, as already mentioned, the Gorka suit was intended for use in the mountainous area, hence its name, therefore, it must necessarily have such qualities: to be both light and strong, not to restrain movements, not to be blown by the wind, to withstand torrential rain, Quickly dry, "breathe".

Why such a long list, and yes even obligatory? Yes, because the mountains are special conditions, as Vysotsky sang: "Here you do not have a plain ...". In the mountains, even low, the air temperature and weather can drastically change during one day. Long heavy transitions without the ability to hide and dry clothes quickly tire both physically and morally. In such conditions, the preservation of heat and minimal comfort in clothes are critical for the success of a hike, health, and often for survival.

What do modern producers of the "Camouflage-Hill" costume offer us? As for the cut, there are a lot of options, all of them protect to some extent from the wind, and are quite comfortable. However, the model with a fastener on the buttons, even with an additional valve does not save you from a strong wind. The jacket will certainly be blown in this place, even if it's not deadly, but take my word, it will be very unpleasant.

All modern manufacturers make a "Gorka" costume from dense cotton fabrics, which has a long history and well-deserved fame. However, before it was not replaced, and this was the only possible option, combining cheapness, strength and high indicators of wind and moisture resistance. For all that, he is not completely devoid of serious shortcomings. So, the tarpaulin does not soak for a long time in the rain, but everything in the mountains is saturated with moisture (even the skin of shoes), besides, due to constant upswings, a person sweats profusely, and clothes wet not only from the outside, but also from the inside. It does not help even ultra-modern materials such as Gore-tex. You can be sure that after a daylight shift all clothes will be wet. And here it is very important that it quickly dried, which can not be said about cotton. Moreover, moist cotton fabric not only does not heat, but, on the contrary, removes heat from the body (in case of a strong wind this is a disaster), and it is noticeably harder to the same. It turns out that a mountain suit made of cotton fabrics is not so good, especially since modern synthetic fabrics have a number of advantages and have not been "floated" for a long time, as it was at the dawn of their application. And most importantly, synthetics dries right on the body and continues to warm, despite the amount of water between its threads.

If the supply of clothing from cotton fabrics for the army is dictated by savings, then why modern costume manufacturers for general use still use tarps, it is difficult to understand. Although everything I said relates to specific mountain conditions and is not so important in the campaign for mushrooms, when going to nature or playing airsoft. Here, the suit "Gorka" will probably be in place, because in these cases the main thing is to enjoy.