View Full Version : Western Mountainneering bag
troglobil
02-17-2007, 11:08
I tried out my new Western Mountaineering Ultralite last night. Low temps were to be about 25. The bag is rated to 20, but everyone says that this is a modest rating. I had on powerstrech tops and bottom, hat and socks, but was still cold. I was using an REI lightcore pad, one of those silver/blue ground sheets (silver side up), and a tarp to block wind.
Am I just a weenie or what? I really thought that set up would have easily handled 25 degrees.
hopefulhiker
02-17-2007, 11:10
Different people have different tolerences.. Also after sleeping in the cold for a while I think you aclimate to it. I mean it was really cold when I did the same thing out on my deck once coming from a warm house...
You're not a weenie....I also have a 20 WM bag and I layer on clothes like they are going out of style when it hits the 30's. You may just be a cold sleeper like me. Try eating some cheese (slow to digest) and doing jumping jacks before crawling in. Also, fill your water bottles w/hot water and take those in your bag. Those are my best lines of defense.
Get a silk sleeping bag liner and call it a day/night
troglobil
02-17-2007, 14:57
that reminds me, I also had a silk liner. My thoughts are #1 the pad. Its like the prolite 3, full of holes for air straight from the ground. #2 perhaps I ad too much of the down on the top side of the bag, compounding #1. I figured at 25 degrees this would not be problematic. Any idea at what temps these types of pads become ineffective?
I am a weenie when it gets cold. I discovered that Marmot is the only way to go for me. While most bag manufactures over rate their bags, Marmot does the reverse.
maxNcathy
02-17-2007, 16:49
I am a weenie when it gets cold. I discovered that Marmot is the only way to go for me. While most bag manufactures over rate their bags, Marmot does the reverse.
I have a few sleeping bags but not a Marmot. Which bag/s from Marmot do you have that really do the job?
Thanks, Max
Sandalwood
I tried out my new Western Mountaineering Ultralite last night. Low temps were to be about 25. The bag is rated to 20, but everyone says that this is a modest rating. I had on powerstrech tops and bottom, hat and socks, but was still cold. I was using an REI lightcore pad, one of those silver/blue ground sheets (silver side up), and a tarp to block wind.
Am I just a weenie or what? I really thought that set up would have easily handled 25 degrees.That is surprising. In my experience the WM ratings are conservative. Do you have another bag similarly rated? It coukld be that you sleep cold. It has nothing to do with being a weenie, or an ironman. It has to do with the fact that some people sleep warm and some cold.
The pad is key. I'm not familiar with the REI light core.
One thought - did you put the reflective tarp UNDER the pad? That is the way to go, let your body heat up the air in the pad and then not let it escape. If the reflective tarp was over the pad, the trapped air in the pad wouldn't warm up at all. I have had good luck laying a tarp like yours under my pad, then laying the end over me, so that it forms a taco-shaped covering under and over me. Reflective side in, of course, as you did.
no the down underneath you (or lack there of) actually would help you b/c anytime you lay down on (haha) down it compresses and becomes relatively useless, my recomendation would be to carry the extra 8 ounces of a cheap blue ccf (closed cell foam) pad to put underneath your rei one because it would add to the insulation underneath you and keep you off of the ground (be more comfy too) also the jumping jacks would be a good thing to do and if your absolutely against the extrra pad you could try a spaceblanket underneath your pad to get the extra warmth radiating into your bag...
just some suggestions
also experiment with other stuff like crazy!
I agree with getting a closed cell pad in the winter, but jumping jacks? They may help you for a short time when you get in your bag but they're not going to help at 3 or 4 in the morning when it's the coldest.
GlazeDog
02-17-2007, 17:52
WM is known throughout the industry as being consistantly one of the most conervative companies when rating down. When all the big boys were allowed to use new techniques to falsely (in my opinion) over-rate down fill, WM stayed true to more honest ways of rating down fill. For instance they don't use clothes dryers and hair dryers to fluff the down up before a test as these will NEVER be available in the backcountry.
In other words, you're just a cold sleeper (I'd bet).
Sincerely,
GlazeDog
troglobil
02-17-2007, 19:06
In other words, you're just a cold sleeper (I'd bet).
Sincerely,
GlazeDog
Thats my thinking too.
Oh well, now I have an excuse to buy a 0° bag!:banana
You wanna tell my wife?
I have a few sleeping bags but not a Marmot. Which bag/s from Marmot do you have that really do the job?
Thanks, Max
Sandalwood
I have the Couloir Reg 0 degree 3.3lbs and the Helium Reg I pound 13 ounces 15 degree
I am going to sell my O degree bag because its to hot. I end up using it as a blanket. The Helium is the best all around bag. Light and warm
pyroman53
02-18-2007, 11:31
that reminds me, I also had a silk liner. My thoughts are #1 the pad. Its like the prolite 3, full of holes for air straight from the ground. #2 perhaps I ad too much of the down on the top side of the bag, compounding #1. I figured at 25 degrees this would not be problematic. Any idea at what temps these types of pads become ineffective?
My experience is that at about 35 degrees, my thernarest 3 starts to get chilly and at 30 degrees, I'm starting to get cold, no matter how warm my bag (which is a WM Versalight). A thermarest 3 IMO is not effective for me below 35 degrees.
GlazeDog
02-18-2007, 12:22
now I have an excuse to buy a 0° bag!:banana
You wanna tell my wife?
Of course.. We have to stick together on these things. Just promise you'll return the favor when I want my next piece of gear.:Dhahaha
GlazeDog
sleepwalker
02-18-2007, 12:49
I am a weenie when it gets cold. I discovered that Marmot is the only way to go for me. While most bag manufactures over rate their bags, Marmot does the reverse.
I'm not so sure. I just recieved my new Marmot Hydrogen bag and I tried it out. Now it's a tad on the cold side outside here in upstate NY so I turned off the heat in my bedroom, which gets it into the 40's(I've got a 10 foot bay window in my bedroom that hasn't been caulked since the 70's)and slept on the floor. I was also in powerstretch top and bottom with my thin smartwool adrenaline socks. It took absolutely forever for it to warm up and I'm a hot sleeper. I woke up a few hours later freezing cold. The hydrogen is rated 30 degrees. I almost returned it. Man was I ticked.
I picked up a cocoon silk bag liner and it made all the difference. With a repeat of the test I was too hot and I had to get out. Now I just have to find a happy medium. But I think if I took just the bag alone even with my prolite 3 and had a 30 degree night, I'd have been in trouble...or at least seriously uncomfortable.
I'm not so sure. I just recieved my new Marmot Hydrogen bag and I tried it out. Now it's a tad on the cold side outside here in upstate NY so I turned off the heat in my bedroom, which gets it into the 40's(I've got a 10 foot bay window in my bedroom that hasn't been caulked since the 70's)and slept on the floor. I was also in powerstretch top and bottom with my thin smartwool adrenaline socks. It took absolutely forever for it to warm up and I'm a hot sleeper. I woke up a few hours later freezing cold. The hydrogen is rated 30 degrees. I almost returned it. Man was I ticked.
I picked up a cocoon silk bag liner and it made all the difference. With a repeat of the test I was too hot and I had to get out. Now I just have to find a happy medium. But I think if I took just the bag alone even with my prolite 3 and had a 30 degree night, I'd have been in trouble...or at least seriously uncomfortable.
You have to take it out of its bag and get in it
sleepwalker
02-18-2007, 13:16
You have to take it out of its bag and get in it
Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for the tip, friend.:p
Let me just jump in here and sat that the Helium has truely become my winter bag of choice. I almost went for the WM Ultralight when I was comparing the two, and I'm mighty glad I made that choice. For 1 lb. 13oz, it's surpassed my expectations again and again.
Don't get me wrong; I own the WM HiLite and it's an impressive bag. These guys make solid bags (and vests). I believe WM is conservative with the ratings, but the Helium's rating (I believe) is spot on.
'Funk
I am a weenie when it gets cold. I discovered that Marmot is the only way to go for me. While most bag manufactures over rate their bags, Marmot does the reverse.
Until a few months ago, I thought WM was rated very conservatively. You are now the third person I have heard complain about the rating. I just got a Big Agnes Mystic-15, and I am convinced it is at least a 0 or 5 degree. I love it, and it has an integrated pad system which is unusually comfortable. I spent 3 cold nights in it last week.
troglobil
02-20-2007, 10:24
In WM's defense, My mounain Hardwear 20° also leaves me cold. But it may be due to all the extra space in it, it is rather wide.
copythat
02-23-2007, 00:50
:sun i don't know about how all these bags and ratings and people compare, but i do know i sleep cold and have been mis-er-a-ble ... until i started carrying a scrap of closed-cell foam that i shove under my legs (calves and feet) when i tuck myself in. now i'm toasty. 1/4-inch, i think.
To test a bag in just one night is not a real good test. The first night that I camp is always the coldest. By the third night I cant belive that I can take the same temps that were killing me the first night. I am sure this is true for all of us.