Winter Sleeping Bag

[LiMoDad]

This season I would like to invest in a good winter bag; I have been making do with an inexpensive negative 20 Slumberjack for 15+ years. Super bulky, super heavy, and the negative 20 rating was very generous, I freeze. (I should mention to Slumberjack's credit however, that when I let them know my feelings on their temperature rating they sent me a fleece liner free of charge, and admittedly the bag was super inexpensive.)

So please, I'd appreciate all suggestions, pros cons etc. Looking for warmth, packability, cost. If I could keep in under $700 that would be great. I should mention I'm still kind of partial to synthetic because of freeze thaw cycles but it would be paired with an OR Alpine bivy so maybe down is an option.

Please pardon all grammatical errors. I know my writing isn't the best.

[bakerjw]

What is the lowest temp that you would expect to ride?

[LiMoDad]

Hi bakerjw - I do a lot of winter backpacking/camping as well so I'd like something that will be as comfortable as possible in extreme cold, negative 20/30. I read different reviews but get paralysis by analysis. I'm hoping I'll get a few answers and see some consensus with what folks feel works best. Thank you for taking the time to respond

[bakerjw]

My coldest bag is an Outdoor Vitals 20 degree bag. It won't work well at those temps. There are options out there but as always, cheap ones are heavy. They have a zero degree bag with a decent weight to it.

[MikeC]

Look at options from Feathered Friends and Western Mountaineering.  They aren't the only ones that make good winter bags, but they're widely considered to be among the best when factoring in material quality, durability, loft, etc...  Not cheap, but what price comfort in winter?

[LiMoDad]

Hi Mike C - Thank you. Not to sound to much of a sycophant, but you were one of the contributors to these forums whose opinion I was hoping to hear. I've run into a few people using Western Mountaineering and they all give rave reviews. Pushing my budget but may be worth the extra expense. Do you mind me asking what bag you use for winter trips? I was also wondering if anybody has used a Big Agnes Crosho SL - 20 which is also on the radar.

[MikeC]

What works for me is irrelevant -- you have to figure out what works for you, given your experience, habits, haunts, other gear carried, etc... 

Temp rating of WM and FF bags is much more honest/real than the temp ratings given by almost everyone else.  TNF, Marmot, Big Agnes -- etc... all make decent bags but I've never found them to be particularly accurate when used in an ultralight bivy style. 

[Eastman]

I have two WM sleeping bags; the Summerlite which covers me to 0C (32F) and the Versalite, which gets me to -12C (10F).  I then can put the Summerlite inside the Versalite which I have used to -20C (-4F) comfortably.

[Bob]

A good winter sleeping bag will be expensive and for most people won't get used a lot. I've a bag rated to -30C and I've used it fewer than 30 times in 25 years! (I bought it when I was doing a lot of winter alpine climbing but after giving that up we don't get much seriously cold weather in the UK so it's sat unused in a cupboard.) The bag would cost £700/$1000 if I bought it now - quite a high cost per night!

Unless you are doing a race/event that mandates a single bag to a temperature rating then I'd go with Eastman's suggestion above and get two quality bags rated to summer and autumn (fall/shoulder) temperatures then combine them for when you head out in winter. You'll get more use out of the kit and it will be much more adaptable: if you are out in coolish weather then you can take both and just use whichever combination is appropriate. As an example I've got a summer bag and quilt that are both rated to around 5C, together they are good to -5/6C. This is good enough for year round camping in the UK.

As for ratings, I'm not sure how many US/Canadian manufacturers list the EN 13537 ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_13537 but it should help in comparisons if they do.

Edit: I couldn't find this page when I wrote the above but came across it just now https://support.enlightenedequipment.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002770588-Quilt-Layering gives a table with a rough temperature guide when combining insulating layers, in this case it's quilts but it won't be far off with two bags or a bag and a quilt as I use.

[Sparkyga]

I've run a Feathered Friends bag for cool weather adventures and have liked it overall. I believe mine is a -9C rated bag with 900 down fill and believe it was about $500 USD. Very good warmth to weight ratio, compresses down to nearly nothing and I have had no issues with it over the course of a few years/~120 nights of use. I've camped a few nights in it below -15C and the bag was still pretty ok.

Check out Montbell sleeping bags as well (order directly from Japan if your lucky to know someone there, cheaper). I've had a couple of them over the years and think they are an awesome value for your dollar and I find their ratings to be very conservative. I've abused the living daylights out of their warm weather bag (+13C), sleeping consistently in the dirt, rain and dust and the bag looks like new after a few hundred nights. Never a rip, tear or zipper issue and even had a few sub zero nights in it under a tarp without too many complaints .

[BikeFisher]

I know this is an old Topic, but i Have a Western Mountaineering Puma, rated to -32 C. it was very expensive, but if you are playing in those temps it's better safe then sorry.

For the Temp rating it is about as light as you will find, and i wouldn't hesitate to use it at -32 or even below that.  Just by Luck i haven't been out in that cold yet, but at -10 it is almost too much, unzipped and maybe eve a leg out intermittently. it's that warm.

My other good bag is only 0 deg (C), so i decided i wanted to get something for shoulder season/light winter use.  i decided on around the -10 c range, and try as i might, even at nearly half the cost i couldn't bring myself to purchase anything besides WM. there was a good sale on a Marmot Helium, a well regarded bag, same temp rating, and i really thought about it, and was going to save a couple hundred $, but it still wasn't cheap, and in the end i went with Western Mountaineering.  There are many other Good Sleeping bags out there, but from my experience, the WM bags are well worth the money, and are about the only bag i have ever used that i would knowingly push to or below it's rated temp without being worried about it. side by side with other sleeping bags i own the difference in quality is readily apparent. 

[digibud]

This is an old thread but for those that might look to it in the future I'll give some input. I've spent a fair bit of time sleeping out in winter including sleeping at -40F with no tent and have several bags including a Stephenson Warmlight that keeps me toasty at -40F.  Those looking to camp out in winter have a lot to consider if they have not worked there way to winter camping. By the time you want a -30F bag it would be best to have a fair bit of experience such that you don't really need too much advice other than this bag maker vs that, but such isn't always the case. One consideration is whether you expect to spend multiple nights out. Multiple winter nights require either a vapor barrier liner of some sort for a down bag or a synthetic fill. For winter bike packing, bags are often for emergency use and most folks would only expect to spend one, two or three nights at the most, which would allow down to be used, with the user taking care to air out the bag in the sun during the day if at all possible.  Goretex shells are super great if going without a tent but make a bag much less compressible. IMHO for winter bikepacking only down makes sense.  If you aren't going way the hell back and have a SPOT for emergency or can otherwise think that the bag would only be used one night or two at the most you don't have to worry about a vapor barrier. Get a bag without it and buy a vapor barrier liner if/when that need arises. All the top names make good bags. Avoid duck down and go with a well known name you can find on sale and you're good to go. Some advantage of down is lost in the need to have a thicker pad than when using synthetic so there is that but overall for -30F, sythetic and bikes seems to me, kinda cray cray.

[eec]

I haven't used it in the dead of winter (CLE, OH area), but I will say that I bought a 30-degree (F) military surplus bag that is rock solid. It might be a tad heavier than all your big brand name bags, but the zippers are 100%. Construction is 100%. A tenth of the cost. Packs pretty small. It's a 3-piece system if you buy the whole thing, which includes a bivy. There's the green patrol bag rated at 30 F (which I have, and I'd probably say that's a pretty generous rating); then the black cold weather bag rated at -10F, which I don't have, but am considering. I'd rather be heavy than freeze. Honestly, I've never owned a sleeping bag that is better constructed for the price. Zipper snags are always a PIA, but this thing never snags. Never.

[brambor]

For your budget I got -40 western mountaineering bag on eBay...their gore line


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