Keeping down bags dry

[RossC]

This might be a silly question, but how on earth do you keep a down sleepig bag dry when you are wringing wet and there is no end in site for the rain?

Keeping it in a dry bag and unfurling inside a waterproof bivvy are obvious, but what do you do about the fact that your body is saturated? Is this just tough luck and there is nothing you can do, or does someone have a neat trick?

[bartspedden]

Strip naked.
Dry yourself off with a little camp towel.
Put your base layers on and a warm pair of socks.
Then get in the bag.

I would NOT try to dry out your wet clothes in your down bag, so sutff them in your pack and have a miserable time getting into them in the morning. 

I grew up hiking/climbing in the North East.  It rains there a lot.  I never used a down bag back then, but now that I live in Colorado... down is my friend!  I sleep in a sleeping bag 15-20 weekends a year and typically use a down bag now.  However, if I know it's gonna be raining I leave the down at home and use synthetic.  I've been able to dry out damp clothes inside my synthetic bag on lots of occasions. And even if I can't get it dry by morning, at least it's sorta warm.  I tried drying out clothes in a down bag once and the down just got wet.

Can't wait to see what others do to get dry!

[sanjuanrider]

I like using a down bag due to the weight it saves over synthetic.  I find that a 20+ down bag will dry quickly if you have about 45 minutes of sunlight and can drap it over a tree to vent it.  During the CTR last year my bag got wet on the outside every night but around mid morning I would stop riding and let it dry during my water refills/eating periods.  It kept me warm and dry every night by doing it in that manner.

[bartspedden]

I love the air it out technique   Works great even in winter.  That's one beautiful thing about low humidity areas like colorado, and in fact, the main reason why I switched to down.  I've never had a problem while tent camping in colorado with getting my down dry, and only on rare occasion have had issues with keeping it dry in the tent.  Sometimes the hoar frost during winter can dampen things up if you don't manage it well.  But for summer, down is a great option in colorado. Bivying is a different story though. I used a gortex hooped bivy sack for nearly 20 years.  It did an amazing job at keeping the elements out and a reasonable job at letting the elements out.  In other words it was great at keeping the water out and merely ok at letting the moisture evaporate through the material.  On almost all occasions the top of my bag either had frost on it or it was damp.  This never seemed to bother my synthetic bags, and for the most part, in colorado, my down bags held up well enough but sometimes I did get cold.  Hell on one 2 week car camping bike trip in colorado it rained almost every night and to be honest, even with drying the down bags out, the loft was visibly lower by the end of the trip. The bag seemed to have a dampness each night.  I never got cold in my bag, but it did leave an impression on me as to how important it is to really dry out down.

I'm not using a sleeping bag for the CTR just an old synthetic bag liner cut into a quilt, so it's not an issue for me, but if I were I would use an ultralight primaloft quilt (might just sew it myself).  While not as warm or light as 800-900 down it is still amazingly light and warm, and still darned compactable too.  Just one less thing to have to do, think about, stress about...  

That being said, there's a place for everything... this weekend I'll be heading out for an overnight and will definitely be using an 850 fill down bag.  It'll be cold enough where I'll want the sleeping bag and I know I can keep it dry for one night even if it's raining.

To get back on topic though.  Keeping the bag dry is priority numero uno which for me means that I'm dry before I get in it. Drying it out is secondary but is an absolute requirement in my book and not that hard to do if you have the time!