Overall

Gyakorta élcelődnek velem a barlangász kollégák azon, hogy műnyulam és overallom minden alkalommal makulátlan. Szerintük a tisztítás teljesen felesleges, hiszen barlangi körülmények között percek alatt úgyis megint piszkossá válik, arról nem is beszélve, hogy — egyesek szerint — a sok mosás az anyag gyors elhasználódásához vezet. Úgy sejtem, főleg a lustaság beszél belőlük.
Nézzük hát mit ír a témáról Georges Marbach és Bernard Tourte a “Bibliában“:

Cleaning your equipment just to put it right back to the mud seem a bit silly and, reinforced by our natural tendency toward laziness, this perspective leads many people to neglect their gear between uses. There may even be a bit of pride involved in nonchalantly emptying one’s pack outside the cave in a dusty cloud of dried mud, then shaking out a caving suit stiffend with clay before putting it on. After all, isn’t all this dirt proof of numerous challenging adventures, a gauge of competence and qualifications? Clearly, only rank beginners and losers would unpack spotless, new gear…

Wrong. Neglecting your gear can have serious consequences:

• Dirty equipment wears out quickly. […] Cave mud contains microscopic calcite crystals that cut through fabric like mini-razors, working their way into seams and slowly cutting the threads of harnesses, packs and caving suits. […]
• Cleaning gear after a trip is the perfect opportunity to inspect its condition. It helps you find weaknesses before they worsen and compromise the strength and safety of the material. This is when you see […] the tiny gash in the caving suit, the thread that is unraveling at the bottom of the cave pack, […]
• Some metallic materials are sensitive to the combination of moisture and mud. This mixture […] attacks steel and even aluminium and its alloys. […]
• Finally, a few words on comfort: your caving suit, undersuit and socks are much more comfortable and warm when they are soft and dry, rather than stiff with dirt and dried-out perspiration.

A lustaság tehát nem kifizetődő. Arról nem is beszélve, hogy a műnyúl és a zoknik kimosását a mosógép is kitűnően el tudja végezni, egyedül az overallt kell kézzel pancsolni.

És van még valami. Az a bizonyos “dried-out perspiration” piszkosul büdös!