The title, “Particularly Cold Sleeper,” references a graf on Feathered Friend’s (FF) site where the brand helps guide customers to choose a sleeping bag. Under the temperature heading, of which FF claims their bags are conservatively rated, they state, “As a rule, it’s a good idea to select a sleeping bag that is rated to a temperature slightly below what you expect to encounter. Hearty climbers and thru-hikers may be willing to utilize other insulating layers to extend the comfort range of their bags (or just be a bit more uncomfortable in order to save weight), while particularly cold sleepers may want to select a bag up to 20 degrees colder than the temperatures they anticipate experiencing.”
Although this will not be a further review of the FF Raven 10 UL, you can find that here, consider it a jump off point for a failed attempt use a 10-degree bag in sub 10-degree temps, and, along the way, hopefully mitigate the fact that I am, without a doubt, a particularly cold sleeper.
Most recently, I jettisoned into the toe of the Vowell Glacier to begin a traverse. This was toward the end of March, a time when it was decidedly winter in this Canadian zone. Usually, I’m attempting longer traverses in May, and in the Lower 48. We had some time/scheduling constraints to work around, so we made a go of it.
