Posted by: oregonhiker | May 13, 2008

Ultra light sleeping bag

I have received a question about my Ultra Light Sleeping bag. Not being a technical expert on sleeping bags I am going to stick to my experience and that of a friend that I hike with.

 My bag is a 30 degree down bag and weighs about 1 pound. It is made of a very light weight material and has a standard hood and drawstring and the ½ length zipper. As the rest of my sleeping system I have been using a Thermorest Z-fold pad.

 I say sleeping system because I have become a day and night believer in the layering approach. I now take a set of layer cloths that will cover my needs both during the day and at night. Starting from the skin and working out, depending on the expected temperature I take:

Body layer short sleeve shirt (I take 2 pairs and wash)
Body layer long sleeve shirt
Mid-weight long sleeve shirt
Puff jacket
Rain Coat
 
Underpants (I take 2 pairs and wash)
Pants with zip-off legging
Light/mid/expedition weight long underwear (I usually take two weights)
Rain Pants

 I had nights at fairly high elevation in the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon where the nighttime temperatures were in the 20s. I wore the expedition weight long underweight and everything up to the rain coat. I was very toasty. I also had a night on the Olympic Peninsula on the beach where it didn’t get down below 40, that night I was comfortable with minimal on. I personally prefer not to sleep with my bag unzipped as that seems to either invite cold drafts or crawly critters.

I mentioned the sleeping pad. This is a critical part of the system since the bottom insulation from my bag compresses to nothing on the bottom so I depend on the pad for insulation. I Z-Fold has an R factor of 2.2 which I have found to be adequate for the camping that I have done, not sure about what it would be like in snow conditions. I have just invested in a new self-inflating bag with a higher R-factor. The reason for going this route is for increased comfort versus any real problem with the Z-fold.

 Another approach which a friend has used is an all season bivy sack and down coat and pants. His bivy sack has the ability to form a “shelter” over the head and also has a built in bug screen. The first night that he used this I had a bit of a shock in the morning. I looked over in the direction that he was sleeping and there was a black bear sitting there, or so I thought. It turned out to be him in his down suit. That is one of the advantages of his system; you don’t have to leave the comfort of the warm sleeping bag in the morning.

On a little bit of the technical side, I have read about the impact of compressing your bag. Each time that I bag is compressed it looses a bit of its loft and therefore insulating effectiveness. I know that my much used -20 degree bag is not good that temperature any more. It is very important to keep you bag stored unstuffed when not in use. My bag came with a cloth bag made just for this purpose. I also don’t use a compression bag for my bag, but rather let the other things in my pack stuff it down to as small is necessary. I made a nifty sil-nylon bag for my sleeping bag that is somewhat oversized but weights virtually nothing and is waterproof. This just compresses down with the bag as needed.

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Responses

Hey Dad! Blog is looking great. I thought I’d chime in on the topic of ultralight sleeping.

I think that no matter what route one goes with an ultralight sleeping system, it is most important to think consciously about how you are camping. Every little thing adds up to keeping a body warm at night. If you have been hiking all day and don’t eat just before bed your soaring metabolism will run out of calories to burn and start cooling off, therefore it may be a good idea to keep some high calorie food bedside for that 4am “I’m freezing cold” snack.

Back country basics also apply:
+ Camp in sheltered places. Don’t camp in a windy place. Don’t camp in a low place where cold air settles. Tree cover can spare you a lot of radiant heat loss on a clear night (and prevent dew cover as well).
+ If you are just sleeping in a place one night and moving on, don’t sleep on hard compacted ground. Sleep on fluffy humus that will help insulate you from the cold ground.
+ Sleep feet to the wind.
+ Pitch your tarp close to the ground to lock in the heat
+ Don’t sleep in anything wet, including sweaty socks.

My temperate weather sleeping system (above 20deg F) is a 35deg synthetic bag with a zipper that runs only half way. After removing the extra pillow flap and a few other unnecessary parts (including making a silnylon stuffsack) it weighs about 1.5 pounds. I use a synthetic bag because I am vegan, but also because I don’t have to worry that if I get my sleeping bag wet it will be another week before I have any night time insulation.

I cut my Z-rest pad so that it only goes from my hips to shoulders and is only as wide as my shoulders. I am terrible at staying on my pad anyway, so really it is more important that I find ground that isn’t too cold. On really cold nights (and snow) I just put my backpack or other extra gear under my legs. The other reason that I cut my pad is because my ultralight pack is a version of a G4 homemade pack that essentially uses my z-rest as an external frame for the pack. It doesn’t add stiffness, but it gives a more optimal shape against my back and provides some air pockets and padding.

I haven’t slept using a Jardine quilt yet, but have camped with some who do and back them wholeheartedly. As mentioned in the blog, when you sleep you compress all of the fill below you, so theoretically it is wasted weight. A quilt is probably most effective when you have someone to share it with!

By: Toby on May 13, 2008
at 8:58 pm

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