If you live in an area that experiences winter, and you’re a SHTF samurai – you NEED a quality sleeping bag. Lucky for you, I’m going to lay out a little info for ya. I’d like to think I know a few things about sleeping bags for cold weather conditions, because – before having kids – I used to have time for winter hiking.
There are basically two types of sleeping bags: synthetic and down. I’ve used both, and unless you’re allergic to down, I can’t understand why anyone would want a synthetic bag . . . unless they just want to spend less money. The only other non-allergic upside to a synthetic bag is that they’re more likely to keep you warm should the bag get wet – but that’s it! Further, this can be easily rectified – just don’t get it wet. Here, take a gander at my wife’s synthetic LL Bean sleeping bag:
She bought synthetic, because she said she was allergic to down. We bought this bag before we were married, about 9 years ago. We broke it in when I took her on her first overnight hike on Mount Chocura.
The downsides to a synthetic bag are:
- they’re heavier than down
- they don’t usually keep you as warm as down
- they friggin’ suck when you’re trying to stuff one in your backpack
She said she was allergic to down, yet for some reason she prefers my sleeping bag – a down bag:
This bag is pure sweetness. It’s rated to -25 F, stuffs easily into a pack, it’s long, and it has Gore DryLoft materials. That DryLoft action is sweet, because the bag breathes really well. Ever spend the night in a sleeping bag and wake up in the morning all damp and shit? Not with DryLoft. If I went to sleep in this thing on the side of a mountain in the winter, I’d wake up to see the entire outside of the bag covered in frost. THAT would be my perspiration being wicked away outside the bag.
Price on a bag like this? Friggin’ expensive! I bought it back in 1997 when I was preparing for a winter trip on Mount Rainier. That was back when I had money, again – before kids. I’m thinking the retail price was around $400 or so, but I had a SHTF homie’s girlfriend, who was working at LL Beans at the time, buy it for me with her insane employee discount, something like 30-40% off. It has treated me well ever since. Buy the good stuff once, that’s my equipment motto.
Other things you’ll want to consider in selecting your bag:
- When it says it’s rated to -20 or -25 or -40 – don’t believe it! It’s a friggin’ load of crap. I have a nice, warm bag, but I’d be freezing my tits off if I was sleeping in this thing and the outside temp was -25.
- Always get a mummy bag, not the rectangular version. A mummy bag will cinch up around your face to help trap in your body heat.
- When hiking, I stuff the sleeping bag – AND EVERYTHING ELSE – into a heavy-duty trash bag inside my pack. I line the entire pack with a big trash bag – or two. Then if it rains – no worries. If you fall off a cliff and into a raging river – no worries . . . .
- Always use a sleeping pad underneath to insulate you from the ground. The Therm-a-Rest versions are nice. That’s what I use. I started with the non-inflating type, afraid an inflating version would pop. That has never happened since switching.
- Get a long bag, longer than you are. It makes a big difference when you don’t want to take your little cold weather booties off to leave them outside and get cold. Just take ‘em off and push them to the bottom of your bag. The bottom of the bag is also a good place to store any drinking water you might want when you wake up in the middle of the night, because it’s just so damn cold. Hydration is key in cold weather.
BUT WAIT – there’s more! A BONUS TIP for you cold weather hikers!
This is a trick I learned myself. Most hikers carry a Nalgene bottle of some sort. Cold weather hikers sometimes carry an insulated bottle carrier for that bottle. I do, and when bed time comes, I fire up the backpacking, white gas stove and I boil some water. I pour the boiling water into the Nalgene bottle (note there are now plastic, chemical concerns with certain Nalgene bottles – now available in stainless steel), then I put the bottle into its insulated sleeve, crawl into the sleeping bag with it, and hug it against my chest all night long. It great! It acts like a freakin’ hot water bottle all night. Next to your chest (heart) it heats you up real sexy like, and when you wake up thirsty, you’re drinking warm water.
- Ranger Man
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{ 8 comments }
For those on a budget, look at the US Military Surplus Extreme Cold sleeping bags. I think I paid $70 at Sportsmans Guide a couple of years back. As of last year I was still seeing them available for that price. I’ve debated getting another (or more) as spares/loaners.
These are/were issued to the winter operations designated units. I have slept comfortably in a tent with several other guys in sub zero temps without waking up curled into a ball from the cold (new goretex bag anyone???). Now all of us were on army cots with sleeping mats but the stove(s) had been shut off as we were too lazy to watch them. I think most/all of us were sleeping nude but our clothes were in the bag with us so we wouldn’t have to put on freezing cold clothing. No, these bags aren’t pretty, they aren’t compact, they aren’t lightweight but they are tough and warm. When we were converting to the goretex bags the Army wanted $140 to keep your issue bag, as I’d already seen them for $70 I said no thanks.
Now the modular goretex bags, while we were told that they were as warm as the old bags didn’t impress me come winter. Our first overnight in them I woke up back in my poly-pro long underwear, curled up in a ball on my field jacket liner (this was all the clothing I had inside my bag. Everyone else in the tent was in the same shape. That year we did our Annual Training in winter at Camp Ripley in northern Mn. EVERYONE brought extra stuff to stay warm. I added a flannel liner to the bag and added my poncho liner to drap over my cot to both increase the insulation under me and to reduce/eliminate any drafts under the cot. We also ran the stoves all night (30 gallons of diesel per day just for our tent with 12 guys in it).
The goretex bags do have one advantage. The goretex outer bag will allow you to sleep outside in the rain if you chose/need to. Guys did it and they stayed dry. I wouldn’t want to try that with my ext. cold bag without some sort of bivy sack.
Steelheart
I was in Afghanistan back in ’04 for a tour of six months (yeah AF has six month ones) and towards the end of the Deployment some shmoe comes outta nowhere and says they are THROWING AWAY old school army down Mummy Bags! I couldnt FUCKIN’ Believe it! Pardon my language but damn that is just dumb. So anyway i haul my ass over there and Snagged like 10 of them bastards! Little did i know at the time that there was no way i could get all ten home by my lonesome. So i divvied them up and packed two home myself. When i got home and questioned my buddies on about getting them back thay had all decided it was worth it to keep them themselves. Well at least i got two of them and my boys got a couple too. I am still amazed that anyone would chuck such a useful piece of equipment. Anyway i think it was because it was hot as hell while we were there and someone thought that we didnt need em. Well on the trip home i hand carried one and everyone made fun of me asking why i was carrying such a heavy cold weather bag on the trip out. i just said “hey you never know when you are gonna need it” People still laughed. HAHA the joke was on them poor bastards. We stopped off in kyrgyzstan and they housed us in a hanger on the flightline… tons of cots, NO SLEEPING BAGS! HAHAHA! i was the only one who was able to get some sleep in my trusty, FREE sleeping bag! i did however hear a few choice words thrown my way about being an asshole or somthing about my ass… cant be sure, whispered tones and all. hehe. nice warm bag. cold ass hanger! LOL! I still have both bags and one is safely tucked away in the back seat of my truck. i still hear friends ask why i have it in my truck even during the summer, to which i reply “you never know when you are gonna need it” HAHA!
Here in the mountains of northern New Hampshire, which is something like a rain forest (and often a very cold rain forest) for a good part of the year there are some disadvantages to a down bag (and down clothing too). Most notably if the down gets wet it may very well become next to, or worse than, useless. In a 32-degree rain or falling into a stream at -20F is a bad time to discover it.
I’ve never seen a system that is wet-proof.
This is when a synthetic comes in handy and for me a few extra pounds and a little bulk are worth the trade off.
I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. Down is the bees knees in a place where it is QUITE CONSISTENTLY cold and dry. Even then Survival Topics had a great point that it could get wet even in that truly cold and dry environment. I am talking 0 degrees or lower. In a place where there is even a moderate chance that it will be 35 deg and rainy down is a horrible choice.
I recently bought a couple of Wiggy’s bags. I’ve known GIs who spent their own money to buy these to use in the field, so I took a chance on them, and so far, I’m pleased.
They are U.S. made, with a price tag to match but there’s that old saying about “You’ll stop crying about high price soon enough, but you’ll never stop crying about low quality.” The Wiggy’s bags seem to be good quality. Nothing to cry about there.
My son just got back from a week-long kayak trip in Berners Bay, just north of Juneau. He took the overbag, and said that he got into it when it was wet, and it kept him warm as it dried out over night. He’s not a warm sleeper, either. I’m looking forward to trying the Superlight this winter.
I ordered the Superlight and the overbag separately, and got an old style and a new style, so they didn’t match. I contacted the company, and they switched bags for me with no problems. I can’t fault the service; they’ve called me to keep me posted on progress. I don’t think I’ve ever had a company do that before.
The company claims that you can launder them, and should. That will be great: I’ve never before had a bag whose manufacturer said that. The bags are synthetic only, which will bother the down lovers, but they do compress fairly well, and they definitely regain their loft quickly. Here in Southeast Alaska, you WILL get wet, so synthetic is the only way to go for me. If I still lived in the Interior, where the winters are very cold and very dry, I’d lean toward a synthetic bag, because of the Fall rains we got up there. Nothing stays dry during moose season up there!
You definitely need to have a good bag, whatever kind you get.
Well, I’m not going to argue down vs. synth. But I will say that we use our sleeping bags all winter INSIDE the house. We have the plain old cheap square ones from Coleman. We unzip them and lay them down on top of our beds, and we wake up nearly sweating, no matter how cold the house is. So even a cheapo sleeping bag is perfect for, say, an ice storm or any other time during the winter when the power might be cut. I also highly recommend blanket sleepers for itty bitty’s…its like a sleeping bag they can’t wriggle out of it.
I have both the Old School military extreme cold weather down bag and the new 4 part sleep system. For pure comfort, the down bag. For my BOB, the multi sleep system. the Gortex bivy is worth it’s weight in gold.
If your looking for a cold weather bag give me a holla! I have (at last check) used US Extreme Cold Weather bags for….gasp… around $50.00. I can also get some very light weight ultra warm Snugpak bags at VERY deep discounts. Take a look at my site and tell me what you need. I will get you a price w/shipping if you give me your zip. then you can send a check and Viola! new bag in the mail!