As a background, I just recently came back from a 4 day vacation that I spent in the local mountains here in Southern California (San Jacinto Mountain - Peak Elevation 10,500 feet). The last 3 days of the vacation, I wore my Optimo Indy Brown to give it a nice thorough "field test". I didn't camp out, but rather, we rented a rustic cabin at about 5500 ft. One day, I really put the Optimo through a challenge where I started at 8500 ft and bagged the peak which was at 10,500. For those of you that backpack or hike, 2,000 feet up and 2,000 feet down can be a challenge. Most of the climb was within tree line with a 500 foot scramble up boulders above the tree line.
The Optimo performed quite well. I was nervous to take such an expensive hat through this grind, worrying mostly about pine sap, cob webs, trail dust, an occasional gust of wind, cigar ashes, etc. nevertheless the Optimo performed well as seen by the pictures below. The picture session was done on my last day on the mountain, where I took a lazy hike to a peaklet. The Optimo was carefully dusted off with my hat brush. I did take care of the Optimo during the extensive hikes, in making sure that my sweat off my head was minimized during the hike by frequent wiping of my forehead. In addition, special "felt shims" were place into the inside of the sweat band (to simulate my extremely round oval head, into a "long" oval) that absorbed any extraneous sweat. In addition, I placed a thin swatch of "paper" towel, into the sweatband to create a barrier as well. It worked. I did minimize the "salt" from the sweat appearing on the ribbon.
Bottom Line: Even though I did not run into any rain, the Optimo did perform well on trail.
Also take a look at the brims. No, stiffner what so ever. Every bash, swoop, curl was done naturally with no water, steam, stiffner, etc. I do put my Optimo on top of Western Straw hat (well that's my block), to "TRAIN" the curl and swoop. It works, you need to train it, train it, train it... I'm not done on the brims. I had the same issue with every Indy hat I have owned. It takes a month or two to train the brims so that they have the "memory".
Very happy camper!
Now this is the sheen, I am talking about. Look how it glistens off the light.
My favorite trail smokes, "La Gloria Cubana, Wavell"
Look at the clean lines. No taper!!!
Next: I will be posting more pictures on you fellas that have the special problem I have, "round oval" head.
Solution: "Felt shims" on the front and back to simulate long oval. The foam inserts ( ala Akubra) don't cut it. This was devised as a special creation from Optimo
Hat Specs:
- 5 3/4" crown shell
- 7 1/2 size, increase 1/16" larger to accomodate front/back shims to make Long Oval
- 3 inch front & back
- 2 3/4" sides
- 1 5/8" Black Ribbon
- White Liner
- Burgundy Leather Band
Take Care...
-Sergei
He is a miracle man.
) I had to lose mine once to realize it 
. It is not the first time I chased my hat around a mountain, and it will not be my last.
Two words: Scha-weet!
) The "arms length" shot technique does work since you want to keep the entire hat in the frame. Most people take pictures from too far away. Close is good.
