Mountain Clothing in El Bierzo: How to Care for Your Gear After a Route through Las Médulas or Pajariel

Here in El Bierzo, we know what mud is. Whether it's that characteristic red clay after a hike through Las Médulas or the wet terrain of a climb up Pajariel or Catoute in autumn, our mountain clothing suffers. And I'm not talking about cheap cotton shirts; I'm talking about those technical membrane jackets, windbreakers, and down jackets on which we've spent good money.

As the owner of a laundry in Ponferrada, I see many customers come in with fear. They bring their Gore-Tex® jacket or brand-name down coat in a bag, hesitating whether to put it in the machine or not. "Will the pores get sealed?" they ask me. The short answer is no, if you know how to do it. The long answer is that, in fact, not washing that clothing is what's killing it.

Today I'm going to explain, from a technical but simple point of view, how to treat your technical fabrics so they last for years, taking advantage of the technology we have in a professional laundry.

The "Do Not Wash" Myth: Why Your Membrane Needs Water

There is a popular belief that washing a waterproof jacket strips away its properties. This is false. Microporous membranes work by allowing your sweat vapor to escape, but preventing raindrops from entering. What happens when you sweat climbing La Aquiana?

The mineral salts from your sweat and the oils from your skin stick to the inside of the fabric. Add the dust from the trail, and the pores get clogged. Result: the jacket stops breathing, and you end up soaked inside, thinking it "isn't waterproof anymore."

To restore functionality, those pores must be cleaned. But be careful, domestic machinery sometimes doesn't rinse well enough.

Exact Settings: Temperature and Detergents

This is where my experience repairing appliances comes in. Home washing machines often have thermostats with a certain margin of error. In a professional self-service laundry like ours, the cycles are calibrated to the millimeter.

1. The Critical Temperature: 30ºC - 40ºC (86ºF - 104ºF)

Forget about washing in totally cold water. Ice-cold water doesn't dissolve body oils that clog the membrane well. But don't go over 40ºC either. The seams of your technical clothing are sealed with heat-adhesive tapes. If you run a cycle at 60ºC (thinking about disinfecting), you risk peeling off that glue and ruining the garment's watertightness.

2. Enemy No. 1: Fabric Softener

This is vital. Never use fabric softener on technical clothing. Softener works by depositing a layer of silicones or fats on the fibers to make them soft to the touch. It's fine on a towel, but on a thermal shirt or a raincoat, that layer "plugs" the fabric's technology. It turns a breathable garment into a plastic bag.

If you're interested in delving deeper into this, take a look at our article on how to wash Gore-Tex specifically, where I detail more about the recommended liquid soaps.

Drying: Reactivating the DWR (Water Repellency)

Have you noticed that when the jacket is new, water forms little beads and slides off? That's called DWR (Durable Water Repellent). With use, that treatment goes "dormant."

Many people in Ponferrada hang dry their clothes outdoors because "the dryer shrinks clothes." In the case of mountain clothing, moderate heat is your ally. The DWR treatment is a polymer that reactivates with heat. After washing the garment and rinsing it very well (our industrial machines perform deep rinses that remove all soap residue), putting the garment in the dryer at medium temperature for 15 or 20 minutes helps to molecularly "iron" that repellent treatment.

Note: Medium temperature, not inferno. If you overdo it, we return to the problem of heat-sealed seams.

Down Jackets and Synthetic Fillings: Volume is Heat

The cold in Ancares is unforgiving, and down jackets are the star garment. The problem with washing them at home is that domestic washing machines have small drums. When wet, down becomes a heavy ball. If it doesn't have space to move, it doesn't clean well.

At LaColada, our large-capacity drums allow the garment to "fly" inside. And for drying, the trick is patience and impact:

• Slow drying: Down takes time to dry. If you take it out damp, it will smell musty and rot.
• Tennis balls: I always recommend putting a couple of clean tennis balls in the dryer along with the coat. The impact of the balls breaks up the clumps of wet down and restores the volume (the "loft") to the jacket. If you want to know more, we have a guide on how to wash down properly.

Summary of the Process at Self-Service Laundry

So you have no doubts when you come to our premises in Ponferrada with your backpack full of hiking clothes:

1. Empty pockets and close zippers: Open zipper teeth act like saws against other fabrics. Close them all, including velcro.
2. Choose the soap: Use the machine's detergent (which is already dosed to avoid excess foam) or bring your specific technical soap if you are a purist. No fabric softener!
3. Synthetic/Delicate Program: Look for temperatures of 30ºC or 40ºC maximum.
4. Controlled Dryer: If it's a membrane, a short and gentle cycle to reactivate. If it's down, a long cycle with tennis balls until it is totally dry.

Caring for your gear is part of the mountain experience. A clean garment with open pores will keep you drier and warmer on your next outing in El Bierzo. And if you have doubts about any strange fabric, ask me when you see me around the laundry repairing a machine; I know all the fabrics.