[actiongirl76]

Hi there all you trampers/mountaineers!

We have recently arrived in Welly and have signed up for some tramping and alpine mountaineering with the local mountaineering club :raebanana
and just need a bit of advice on sleeping bags...

We will be camping year round, and will mostly be staying in lodges/huts over the winter.. with one or two night out on the mountain. We are going to get some down sleeping bags, that will keep us warm down to -7..... BUT the question is should I get waterproof ones? They are considerably more expensive, but work so much better in damp conditions. Do we need this in NZ or is it overkill?!

Any advice appreciated.

Actiongirl.

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi,
I would say you definitley need waterproof ones. Theres one thing that NZ gets plenty of and thats rain.Our friends are campers and I just checked with them and they said they would not get anything other than waterproof ones .Having said that they do use a tent an awful lot. Although they are more expensive, they will be worth it in the long run

Dave and Caroline

[Kate D]

Hmm, so far I've done two tramping weekends in a mixture of huts, roadside shelter and a rock shelter! For all nights, my trusty normal down sleeping bag was fine. Huts have mattresses, and roadside/rock I used a thermarest. In the rock shelter I took the precaution of throwing my waterproof on top to keep damp off. Truth be told, I ddn't know you get waterproof down sleeing bags...

The bigger issue is to make sure it can be kept toally dry in a pack if it rains. Which it obviously does here:-)

[Grey Granite]

Mr Granite used to work in an outdoor shop and I used to help out with stock takes etc. We've done a lot of camping and walking in our time, both as bikers and as hillwalkers so what I would say would be:

why dont you go for the down bag and just take a survival bag along with you if you are not in a tent? Saves you having to pay over the odds for a bag that will be more flexible in the long run?

Just a thought...

Mrs Granite

[Grey Granite]

Morning folks

Mrs Granite again! Ooops! I got it wrong :exit

Mr G says 'no, no, no!' re the survival bag option. It was WAY too late to come back on here last night, so he'll give you some advice, hopefully, tonight.

I can reiterate tho that he said no bag is 'waterproof' but he mentioned bivvy bags (which is probably what I meant instead of survival bag.... he's just being picky on my part!!!).

I'll ask him to do the techni-jargon when he gets home from work!

Cheers folks
Mrs G

Sorry!:o

[actiongirl76]

Thanks for your resposes so far....
I look forward to hearing Mr Granites POV.
We are currently looking at the Kathmandu range (as they have 50% off until tomorrow! ;) they would be way out of our price range otherwise)

http://www.kathmandu.com.au/14.html?category=sleepingbagsdown&id=871219337

(its the Austrailan site, as the NZ one isn't listing their new bags - although they defo have them in the shops)...

Either the Navigator Epic v2 (the waterproof one)
or the Cicerone (non waterproof)

Does anyone have either of these bags, or can shed some light on the notion of waterproof down bags?

Actiongirl76

[actiongirl76]

PS: Kate D - Yes it has been raining a bit here over the past few weeks, although this week its been bliss... I even caught the sun yesterday and I was wearing SPF30 all day!. The weather here knocks socks off the UK.
PPS: A rock shelter!! Was this by choice?!

[Grey Granite]

Not too familiar with these bags but the specs look pretty good. Personally I would go with the Cicerone, and save some cash, unless you want a mountaineering bag. Epic is a water resistant (rather than waterproof) shell fabric which is very similar to the Pertex Endurance fabric on my Rab down jacket, it is there to help water bead off from the fabricl. The temperature ratings are not dissimilar to each other so it all depends on how cold a sleeper you are, although the Cicerone has an extreme rating of -22, which means that the comfort temp should be in the -8 to -12 range, good enough for what most users will experience.

Make sure you know what type of down fill is used.

European Goose Down is the top-drawer stuff for any number of reasons and even European Duck Down (which traps less air than Goose Down) is generally thought to be of better quality than many Asian-sourced Goose Downs. The flip side of this is that European fills will be more expensive.

make sure that the baffles (which hold the fill in position) are at the least, of box-wall or similar construction, to prevent cold spots inside the bag. If the baffles are described as being stitch through, then avoid. This method is only really suitable for lightweight, summer bags.

As to the waterproof question, No bag is waterproof unless the seams are taped (as in a Gore-Tex jacket etc), the more waterproof/water resistant the fabric the lower the rate at which the fabric can breathe (sometimes stated as the MVTR) which will make the bag sweaty, therefore damp. If you really are going to be putting yourself in a situation where the bag will be getting wet, buy a good quality, breathable bivvy bag or sleeping bag cover. I would simply try to stop my sleeping bag getting wet in the first place, think carefully about how and where you use it. Most of the water resistant shell fabrics used in the really high quality bags are there because those products are aimed at the Mountaineering market, where conditions are very hard on both Kit and the User, so unless you plan on scaling Mt Cook or K2 I would go for the lower spec bag. It's almost as warm and a bit lighter too.

Hope this helps and hasn't been too techy for you.

[StevieD]

Bivvy bags are cool and perfect if you wanting to stay outdoors without tent.

[actiongirl76]

Thanks very much for everyones advice.

We bought 2 bags yesterday - Kathmandu Navigator V4's, which you can zip together to form one double sleeping bag (the OH was very excited about this!)
It has a comfort rating of -1 to -7 (I sleep cold). and an extream rating to -24!

We decided not to go for the water resistant ones ...

I came down this morning to find the OH asleep in his in front of the TV - having got up at 5.30am to watch the Man U / Chelsea game! I think he likes it ;)