Please help with Sleeping Bag options...

[tjkenney67]

Need your opinions please...

I will be starting my thru the last week in Feb. (and I am a warm sleeper).

My present plan is to use my WM Caribou MF 35* and a Thermolite Reator Extreme Liner.

Sleeping clothes: Patagonia Merino 2 set / hat and WM Flash pants and jacket if needed. My thought was layering and using one bag for my thru.

Option #2: Bite the bullet and buy a WM Alpinlite 20* (or) a FF Swift UL 20* and use the Caribou for the second half.


Questions... Current plan or option #2?
WM Alpinlite 20* (or) a FF Swift UL 20* ?


Thanks for you help!!

[tjkenney67]

Almost forgot... also use a EXPED Synmat UL 7.

[swjohnsey]

I started same time and used a WM Highlight 35 the whole time. A couple of nights I slept in my fleece.

[Kerosene]

I sleep fairly warm also, but I'm a light sleeper and tend to wake up if there are cold spots.

Personally, I think you'll be pushing it with a 35-degree bag and liner. I've experienced a lot of March/April and Sept/Oct nights on the AT where my 35-degree WM HighLite wouldn't have kept me warm. Plus, these types of bags are typically cut tight in order to reduce the amount of air to keep heated, so you have very limited room to wear additional clothing before you start to compress the insulation. Now, using the Flash pants and jacket might be just enough to get you through, but I would want to test out the configuration in my backyard on a 20-degree night. It's not unheard of to get temps in the teens through March in the southern mountains. I see that Johnson City has a number of recent cold records in single digits through late February.

Best of luck. Just know that, regardless of your decision, you will probably be just quite uncomfortable rather than at risk of literally freezing. You can always get out of the bag and start warming up, walking until you reach a town down the mountain where you can switch out your gear.

[stranger]

Late Feb start, 35 deg bag, and you live in south Florida

Sounds great!

PS unless you have experience doing this, reconsider

[Dash]

I have a 20 deg. bag and a fleece bag i will use as a liner to add about 12-15 deg of warmth if it gets cold. Otherwise use it under my bag for added comfort as it warms i will sleep in the fleece one and use my 20 deg bag under me. As long as i don't get tired of the weight if so i will just bounce it home. Neither one will be used as a insulator learned lesson when i was a teenager i woke up and my cheek was frozen to the tent floor!!