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The Other Quiver

By

Alex Lee

From left to right...coldest to warmest: Montbell Down Hugger 800 Expedition, Feathered Friends 20-degree Hummingbird UL, 40-degree Feathered Friends Flickr UL Wide, and the Patagonia Hybrid.

From left to right…coldest to warmest: Montbell Down Hugger 800 Expedition, Feathered Friends 20-degree Hummingbird UL, 40-degree Feathered Friends Flickr UL Wide, and the Patagonia Hybrid.

  A pile of gear on my garage floor spells out a late summer adventure in the Brooks Range. I am packing for a week and half long packraft trip in the Arctic to gather water samples and data on climate change in the far north. We’ll be boating and backpacking in Gates of the…

Responses

  1. Slim

    Like Alex, my preference is for a few bags/quilts that can sometimes be combined.
    1- a 40 or 50F quilt, synthetic, for summers here in the upper Midwest where nights don’t cool down much. In these thin layers, down doesn’t save a lot of weight.
    2- a 30F degree bag (or quilt) for summer in the west or fall/spring at home.
    Combine 1+2 for lightweight spring or fall trips, or mild winter weekends combined with appropriate puffy clothing.
    3- 10F bag. Use on its own (with clothing as needed) for moderate cold trips of 1-3 nights. Layer with 1 for longer outings to manage condensation, or for deep cold outings.

    6- Plain nylon ‘bivy sack’. Not waterproof. Provides a waterproof ground sheet, adds some warmth to thin bags/quilts from wind protection, provides some protection from spindrift and from condensation in winter temps.

    7- WPB bivy sack. Only use if planning to sleep without tent or tarp.

    One key point if you are going to layer at night:
    Sufficient circumference. Each layer needs to be (able to adjust) big enough to layer over the underlaying bag/clothes, without compressing it, or you lose a fair bit of the extra warmth that layer brought you.

    1. Slim

      Edit: I had mixed up lower limit and comfort limit ratings. The warmest bag I have is a “0 F” bag.

      So my quiver is:

      40 F quilt

      30 F Bag

      0 F Bag.

      (I sleep a bit cold). And I do have others, older quilts and bags, that overlap, but this is the way the quiver is set up.

  2. J K

    Oh man I don’t want to even bring out all the bags to review my quiver as my spouse may think I’m crazy.
    Up Next: sleeping pad quiver.

  3. Sam Child

    possible for other lower 48 contributors to weigh in on their quiver?

    1. Jason Albert

      Nothing too earth shattering for this cold sleeper. Summer/shoulder season: Patagonia 19F 850 Down Bag. Pretty solid bag. For a warm sleeper, prob overkill for even summer alpine. Winter/Spring Traverses: Older TNF 0 Inferno Sleeping bag. 1/2 center zip could be longer, and takes space up in the pack, but it’s a warm bag. Expedition: Older Feathered Friends Ptarmigan (25+ yrs. old and still in good shape). Bag I wished I hadn’t traded away for a piece of gear I no longer use: Feathered Friends Rock Wren, a cool bag they no longer make. Featured a draw string closure at the bottom and zips for arm holes. Yes, you could wear it as a funky looking vest poking around camp. FF does still make a Winter Wren—so there’s still hope.

    2. Gavin Hess

      Sure thing, but honestly my scene isn’t too different from Alex’s. Here’s what I’ve got:

      – Homemade 50(ish) degree quilt with teijin octa and nylon shell – mostly used as an overquilt to add some warmth to other bags/quilts (Check out the Nunatak Alfabatik for a similar option for purchase)
      – Homemade down quilt – similar to the Featherd Friends Vireo, 40 degree upper/20 degree lower, weighs just under a pound. My workhorse the last few years, alone in the summer and with the above quilt on top for shoulder seasons down to around 10 degrees F.
      – North face inferno -20, winter trips, expeditions, etc. This thing is just okay but the price was right and replacing with something nicer is $$$$

      I also just received a Rab Mythic Ultra 360, 20 degree bag. I’m excited to see how this compares with my homemade quilt, and how cold I can take it with various clothing/bag layering.

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