[pct-l] Heavier Sleeping Bag versus Lighter Sleeping Bag & Extra Clothing

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

In my case a 15-20-degree bag is simply what works.

I live in So Cal. A 20 degree bag will be a little uncomfortable for  
those 20-something nights but warm enough for most nights during the  
So Cal hiking season. Great for Sierra hikes in the summer. A good  
sleeping bag is expensive. Best to get one that works for most  
expected conditions and in my opinion, it's better to be too warm  
than too cold. Anything less warm than 20 degrees is going to  
require, for me, extra clothes almost all the time, maybe even extra  
clothes that won't need to be worn much otherwise. Seems like dead  
weight that could be better spent with a warmer bag. Down's way  
lighter than sleeves and zippers.

As for keeping clean, I slept in my clothes (note that there is an  
'e' in there, cloths are rags) and my bag did not look or smell dirty  
at the end of my PCT hike. It looks almost brand new. I still have  
not washed it.

Put me down as having a Go-lite Ultra 20 and now I also have a Jacks- 
R-Better 45-degree wearable that I can layer over my go-lite for  
extra warmth and wear as a jacket. I now wish I had only the JRB  
wearable in a 15-20-degree version because it's too lightweight to  
use by itself unless I go hike on the Nor-Cal PCT in the summer or  
something.


On Jan 11, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I just want to thank everybody that has joined in on this discussion
> of heavier bags verses bags+clothing.
>
> While it got a bit side-tracked with the topic of silk liners, I think
> for the most part is showed that the vast majority of those who shared
> their thoughts felt it was better to go with a lighter weight sleeping
> bag and augment additional warmth with clothing. What also came out of
> the discussion was that the vast majority of us target the 20-degree
> mark as the sweet-spot for sleeping bags (+clothing).
>
> Based on a ton of private email I got the vast majority of hikers out
> there are using these three sleeping bags:
>
> Marmot Helium (15F / -9C)
> Western Mountaineering UltraLite (20F / -7c)
> MontBell U.L. Super Spiral Hugger #1 (15F / -9C)
>
> So even though the majority of those who responded are already using
> 15 or 20 degree bags they still indicated that they liked lighter bags
> with layering of cloths. Makes one wonder if this is an indication
> that they are wishing that they went with lighter bags from the get-go
> and instead took more clothing, or if they really do love their 15/20
> bags and just feel the need to have the ability to get down to the 10
> or 15 range. Another interesting bit of response I got back was that
> while the vast majority of people said that they preferred using silk
> liners, almost nobody that responded indicated they did so to gain the
> extra warmth that a silk liner is suppose to gain you, rather the vast
> majority of hikers are using them to help keep bags clean. While on
> the other side of that, only two people that responded said they took
> dedicated 'sleeping cloths' and thus never had the need to worry about
> their bag getting dirty. This raises the interesting question of
> whether it makes more sense to have some super light weight clothing
> (perhaps something along the lines of 150gram superfine merino wool
> tops, bottoms and socks) that could be dedicated for sleeping and in
> using while washing your other cloths, rather than going with a silk
> liner.
>
> I hope this discussion has given some of you out there some things to
> think about.