[at-l] Bivouac Bags

[Tom McGinnis]

I did the whole AT in Gore-Tex model (back when dinosaurs walked the trails, blah blah blah), and never remember a problem. (But I think *'remember"* is a key word here.) It could be that I left myself a little tunnel (as per winter camping) and slept without issue...

Fast-forward to now, and I've got Integral Designs "Todd-tex" models, which seem to breathe less/condensate more, and ventilation becomes an issue. (For people who haven't bivied, we're talking rain/storm conditions here, not just zipping some mosquito netting across your face and using boots or a baseball cap to keep it off your face.) But like I just suggested, if you treat things as if you were in a winter bag and leaving just a nose-tunnel with which to breathe, you'll be just fine.

(And while we're talking bivies -- something I re-discovered this January, when Southern temps sat around 10°-5°F for a week plus(?) -- with the Todd-Tex (ID's own -- I think it's the same as Bibler's, right? Or is it that "IntegralTex is the same as Todd-Tex? Hoo boy.), IT WILL NOT PASS H20 VAPOR BELOW ~10°F -- it will be quickly overwhelmed. I left my car at ~0°F (with a vapor barrier in the trunk), figuring things would warm up. 5 days later (and I don't think it got above 15°F at any time), the accumulated condensation was turning my bag into a brick -- more like New England than Springer Mtn. I'd been spoiled by warmer winter hikes for a few trips; keep that vapor barrier handy for the cold stuff.)

bivitoe

--- On Thu, 7/22/10, Bob Quinn <bob.quinn1 at comcast.net> wrote:
I just got a bivouac bag, never had one 
before.  When I got in, and zipped it up it was really stuffy.  Has 
anyone ever heard of  a person suffocating in one of these things when it 
is all closed up as it would be in rain or snow?
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