High Peak Alpine Pack Dura Loft Sleeping Bag
| Page Type | Gear Review |
|---|---|
| Object Title | High Peak Alpine Pack Dura Loft Sleeping Bag |
| Manufacturer | High Peak |
| Page By | Arthur Digbee |
| Page Type | Jan 27, 2008 / Jan 28, 2008 |
| Object ID | 4686 |
| Hits | 14691 |
| Vote |
Product Description
This is a three-season bag, not a winter bag or a bag for serious mountaineering. I’m reviewing it for backpacking use.Features
The manufacturer describes the bag as follows:“Built to be compact for the avid hiker and backpacker, this High Peak Alpine Pak Dura Loft Sleeping bag is built for your comfortable camping and travel enjoyment.”
It lists the following specs:
* Ripstop nylon taffeta outer
* Breathable nylon taffeta liner
* Temperature rating of 20 degrees F
* Dura Loft Micron Insulation
* Sewn-in draft tube and chest collar
* Hood with drawstring closure and barrel lock
* 210D Oxford Nylon Compression Sack
* Compression sack measures approximately 12 in. x 6 in.
* Weighs only 1.65 lbs
* 90 inches high x 34 inches wide x 20 inches deep
Those specs seem right to me, except for the temperature rating. The bag has a label along the zipper that says “41F for comfort, 32F for tolerance, and 20F for extreme.”
Strengths and Weaknesses
I’ve been using it for about four years, in a family with two warm sleepers, one cold sleeper, and one medium sleeper. The temperature rating is about right for the medium sleeper. I wouldn’t use it below about 40F for the cold sleeper. More on this question below in my review.The first strength of this bag is that it packs really small—small enough so that I’ve actually packed two of them while playing Sherpa for the family. It’s long enough for me (at 6'2"). It’s also available at a very reasonable price, though that comes at some cost in performance.
This bag’s first weakness is its foot box. For all four of us, this is the body part that gets cold first in winter use.
The bags also seem to be losing their loft after about four years of use. I haven’t decided yet whether the bags are getting less effective as a result (yet). This loss of loft may be connected to the way that the bag stuffs small. (Yes, I do store it out of the bag, hanging in a tool shed.)
There’s also a feature issue. If you’re inside the bag, the interior draft tube and chest collar is hard to use in conjunction with the main drawstring and velcro snaps. It’s easy for me to help other people with it from the outside, so if it’s cold, I can tuck the kids in just fine. But I can’t get it to work right from the inside of my own bag.
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Arthur Digbee - Jan 27, 2008 8:17 pm - Voted 4/5
How cold can you go?I only do that for our two warm sleepers in the family, and here’s what it takes to work. As pads, we use a closed-cell bag with an inflatable Thermarest on top. We’re in an REI Half-Dome tent, which is ostensibly a three-season tent but one that keeps warmth in really well if you close the vents on the fly. We sleep clothed, with an extra pair of socks because of the weak foot box, with hat and sometimes gloves. We’ve also used this in a three-sided AT shelter with temps in the 20s, while wearing our fleece coat layers as well as clothes.
So, at least for us very warm sleepers, the “extreme” tolerance goes below 20F with good planning and good layers. Experiment in your backyard before relying on this, though.