One of Columbia Sportwear's slogans is "Trying Stuff since 1932." Great things come from trying stuff.
Among the stuff that Columbia is trying is their Omni-Freeze ICE line, which is designed to cool off when it gets wet. Unlike most clothing, which cools off initially, then warms right up, this stuff has a treatment that chills the fabric and keeps it cool until the moisture evaporates. At Columbia's Spring 12 preview, I received the Solar Polar ($70), a long-sleeve half-zip shirt made up of the Omni-Freeze ICE fabric.
The material is given a food-based chemical treatment that cools it off when it gets wet, which helps keep you cool while providing coverage from the sun, poison oak, and any other stinging/burning/rash-inducing things that you may come across on a hike or trail run. Therein lies the genius of Omni-Freeze ICE - you get the coverage of a longsleeve shirt without the accompanying heatstroke.
Since I live in a spot where triple digit temperatures are the norm, this fabric is right up my alley. I took it out for some hot-weather trail runs this summer to see how well it worked. One of the most grueling tests was during one of my runs up Whiskeytown's Kanaka Peak. I wasn't excited about getting a longsleeve shirt to test, but as I
waded through fields of poison oak in Whiskeytown Park, I quickly
learned to appreciate the extra coverage.
The shirt was lightweight and breathable, so even without the Omni-Freeze ICE tech, it was pretty cool (literally). The areas of the shirt under my hydration pack and right below my neck were the first to get wet, and they cooled off noticeably. As the moisture spread, the shirt cooled even more. It wasn't the arctic chill that I was anticipating, but more of a subtle cooling that I found really refreshing. I wasn't overheating, so all I had to worry about was the 50-degree incline in front of me.
The Omni-Freeze ICE line will be available for order January/February 2012.
