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Comment by XorNot | Hacker News Reader

I feel like downplaying 1.8 degrees C of performance is a weird choice in the article.

1.8 degrees C is a huge temperature change in biology. Human bodies keep thermal equilibrium in a margin smaller then that.

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Also weird phrasing: "a staggering 1.8 degrees" begs the reader to think of it as a large number (which in fact it is, as you point out) yet their intent seems to be, ironically and paradoxically, to diminish it.

I felt like that’s more like a rhetorical device for shorthand-saying “one might expect a ten or twenty degree difference based on modern marketing”, and I’m annoyed the article didn’t say that because it’s a pretty good point delivered rather poorly.

A 20* swing in body temp would render you dead…

One might expect to be dead if following Modern marketing guidelines.

Yep! That's what makes marketing against the imaginary foil of death so impactful: the alternative, "if not for our technical fabric, you'd have to fluctuate between zero and six layers of fabric based on exertion, humidity, inclement weather, and personal thermal comfort", is a lot less manipulative than "wear our fabric or die before the peak". Sure, it's true that you have to wear something or die (unless you're a statistical anomaly, anyways), but marketing based on glove weight doesn't cause as many sales as marketing based on frostbite.

Yeah, for "real" mountaineering, weights a concern, but not as much as "I don't my limbs to freeze off".

For my use cases (backpacking/bikepacking), it's all about the weight. But, I tend not to camp when it drops below 40*F (I do, but I have a travel trailer for that).

It would be hilarious if they did find a 10 degree difference. “Old gear keeps you chilly but fine. Modern gear straight up kills you!”

Because a machine wrote it, not a human.

I’m useless at recognizing AI writing sometimes; so, if this is that, email the mods and ask them to flag it off the site. (Explaining why you view it as AI writing will save a round or two of reply.) I’m all for what the twins are doing but AI writing should be purged here.

I didn't quite clock what they meant in that paragraph. I'm pretty sure that a 1.8 degree drop in body temp is approaching hypothermia.

Also: Freezing right away when you stop moving at 8k altitude? I was just skiing at 11k and it never even crossed my mind.

Not right away. But a lot depends on the wind.

The article says meters, not feet.

Yes. They were talking about 8,000 metres of altitude. (Talking about Mallory should have been a clue too.)

8k meters. There is no place at 11k where you can ski.

You could be on skis they might make it harder to control your parachute.

My friend skis make it easier to use your parachute https://youtu.be/3CDyQXtBGBw?si=YMXZOqvkCLaaLamy&t=1457

People who paraglide often launch (and land) on skis and can then use thermals to ascend above their launch site. No-one's flying to 11,000m though!

(The highest recorded paraglider flight was 10,054m – unintentional, got sucked into a cumulonimbus cloud updraft - also lost consciousness).

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