Sleeping Bags

Hello Everybody,

While climbing in the Scottish winters and also earning a healthy GBP salary I bought a Mountain Equipment sleeping bag. Though ME products are exceptional quality, mine was put to serious and intense use, on average two out of three weekends (I was a truck driver of no fixed abode, spending most weekends in the mountains!) it still performs as good as the day I bought it, five years down the road.

The key factor is storage: never leave it compressed for longer than is neccessary, especially if it is a bit damp. Wash it once in a blue moon. I do not even store mine in the so-called "fluff bag", I leave it on the spare bedroom bed.

I have slept with mine plenty of times in the snow, no tent, just a plastic survaval bag underneath and many mornings I woke up completely covered in snow and I always remained warm and dry. That said, when the insulation is good and the outside temperature below -10°C the snow don't really melt, only above your face.

For very good advice on cleaning and washing, see www.alpkit.com/support/products/cleaning-down-sleeping-bags/

They also produce very good products at very good prices and offer excellent service.

Adios

Hi all, I have read as many sleeping bag posts on the forums as I can but I still am not sure of what sleeping bag or rather general spec I should be looking at for autumn/winter, escarpment, berg hikes.

I have an old K-way bag that was bought about 12 years ago rated at 0 degrees - synthetic. I might sound a little doff, but even after reading up I'm still not sure If a hike on the amphitheatre in April needs a minimum of 0, -5,-7,-10?

One of the previous posts says something to the effect, that maybe they should take a synthetic -7 bag and risk freezing....that makes me nervous as if a person is doubting a -7 then I need to go shopping.

I get extremely hot at night and evertime I've used this bag I end up completely unzipping it using it as if it where a duvet. I unfortunatly have never had a themometer with me and I haven't been on the escarpment before, and with that I don't really have any exprience to know how cold it gets on the escarpment. The coldest place I've been was the Giants cup during thick snow and I was hot in the bag.

-Sorry for the clear noobishness, but I hope you guys can help:)
Regards
Matt

Personally I always feel that the clothes you wear and what is between the ground and you make a bigger difference than the bag itself. I am using a Mountain Hardware Pinole -7 bag for my GT this month, combined with thermal inners, I will be sleeping in 2 pairs of thermal pants and shirts and wearing a thermal fleece, thermal socks and gloves when I go to bed. This combined with a self-inflating mattress which significantly reduces the amount of heat you loose to a cold ground should be more than adequate. Also remember that a tent is usually warmer than a cave, so it really depends.

Last year at contour path level I was adequately warm without thermal inners in a -2 K-Way Alpine Cowl bag, so the same bag with thermals would probably have been ok at escarpment level.

To be safe, take a space blanket in addition to everything else, it isn't comfortable and it will make you sweat, but if it is really cold you can avoid going "through the never" and I will not become "unforgiven" by you

I was going to respond with a reference to the Memory Remaining and Nothing Else Mattering, but lets not go down that road

Thanks, I will have a nice long writeup on the GT, and I expect to take many photos (3000 is my goal), so that will be good...

Sleeping bags.... probably my favorite topic of all time on VE! I love it.

I've read all that everyone has to say about sleeping comfortable in cold berg conditions, hear my thoughts.

1. If you are a cold sleeper, go for -15 for all others FA Ice breaker
2. Use a bag liner. I like the idea of making your own out of polar fleece, thx.
3. Use a foam mat of a foam & self inflatable combo but not just self inflatable.
4. Put a good thermal base layer on but don't over dress as you need to have unrestricted blood flow to all limbs to keep warm.
5. Cover your head with a beanie or polartech buff and use the cowl of the bag.
6. Have a high carb meal before bed and drink a hot beverage inside the bag before sleeping.
7. Don't pick fights with your tent buddy, you might want to spoon him/her in the early morning hours.

Haha, I'm seriously loving all the metallica references - it's kind of weird when you sit at a PC and find yourself bursting out laughing and people look at you funny...

So after reading everyones comments and the previous posts as well, I am a little more confident to use my bag with all the other accessories on the amphitheatre at the end of the month. Who knows, I might get a little cold if I don't use my brain, and in turn, the rest of my gear correctly, but at least I will learn if I need a newer better bag in the process. I'm sure I wont peg.

By the way those referencing "jump in the fire" "Trapped under ice" "Nothing else matters""memory remains" ect ect ect....you guys have got some flippen amazing taste in music, as if you didn't, you would not know those names.... especially trapped under ice !

Regards
Matt

@Matt: Good luck with your hike, I hope it doesn't become like my hike for this weekend - The Day That Never Comes... Yet another hike cancelled (just had to do 1 more)

The trick is to zip them together ,then spoon.

But wait, it goes further - ever heard of Eisbrecher ? German techno-metal band, which is best played loud when the neighbours are far away, and then there's Rammstein's Rosenrot album - the entire cover-art is dedicated to an Ice Breaker theme.

Seems to me First Ascent is choosing some pretty devious ways to push subliminal messages at us !