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Posted by SteveTheFolkie on December 5, 2006 at 9:49:22 am EST
In reply to Re: Feathers posted by Bill S on October 21, 2006 at 1:42:27 pm EDT

Well - consider this "suitable for framing or wrapping fish" (as we're on a Mad magazine trend here) - your down bag will suffer the most loss of insulation from the normal breakdown of the down clusters - these are fairly fragile things - they get crushed when you pack the bag, they get crushed under your body weight when you sleep in the bag -they accumulate dirt and body oils, which doesn't allow them to "fluff up" all that well over time. When you're on an extended winter trip, they'll suffer a loss of loft just because of the moisture you convey to the bag (I've read that on Arctic expeditions your sleeping system can gain 20KG in weight over a couple month period ...). The amount of down and feathers that "sneaks out" has far less impact (unless, naturally, you manage to rip a good sized hole in the shell - no crampons in the tent please!).

temperature ratings - very personal thing - I sleep "hot" - so I can be quite comfortable in -20 weather in a bag rated for 0 - assuming that I've got a nice thick foam pad under me and my tarp is staked down tight so there's no heat loss from the wind (convection). My wife sleeps "cold" - she'd likely need a -40 bag to be comfortable on a -20 night (but I know there's no way in heck I'm going to convince her to head to the mountains in January). If you have to err, err on the conservative (warmer) side - diet, exhaustion, hydration, weather, a hot drink (no alcohol) before bed, will all impact how "warm" you'll sleep -I'd rather have to open for a bit of ventilation than lay there wearing every article of clothing I've got shivering in a sleeping bag for a very long winter night -

As I said at the start - take it for what it is - an opinion - suitable for framing or wrapping fish -

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