Newbie Question here:

I just got my first 0F sleeping bag -- a synthetic Marmot Trestles. It's nice and toasty, but it compresses even less than I expected it would. It takes up nearly my entire 45L pack when it's in the stuff sack.

My question: How on earth am I supposed to fit my other gear in my pack? In an ideal world, I would have gotten a down bag, but the price difference is monumental. Any tips?

Cheers!

You made a mistake buying a 0 degree synthetic bag, should have sucked it up and bought a quality down bag. They make compression stuff sacks https://www.rei.com/product/766677/sea- ... ssion-sack that will make it a bit more manageable, other than that, buy a larger back pack.

My recommendation is return it and buy a Western Mountaineering or Feathered Friends down bag. They are conservatively rated so a 15 or 10 degree bag will be as warm as the Marmot synthetic 0 degree bag. 850 fill down will compress to less than 1/3 the size of a comparably rated synthetic bag, last forever, and have a wider comfort range. I do multi day winter alpine climbs with a 45L, but I have a 15 degree WM down bag, so it does not take up much room.

A zero-degree synthetic bag is for car camping. Excitable hit the nail on the head - get a down bag for cold weather, it will last FOREVER.

Down has it's risks, it's true. But take measures to keep your bag dry, and hang it out to dry when you can, and it will serve you well.

The only time I ever regretting having a down bag was when I tried to save weight. I took a down bag on a soggy 2-week climbing trip in the North Cascades. It rained like hell all day, every day. After the first day I didn't have a sleeping bag anymore.

It's not heavy for its volume, so you can lash it to the top of your pack and it's not quite as unmanageable as you'd expect. Not ideal for the eastern US: when the snow gets deep you're going to be ducking under branches quite often.

Equivalently, hang all your *other* stuff on the outside of the bag

Get a down bag, you'll be glad you did. Search hard enough you can find a zero-degree down bag on sale for $300 or less.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:A zero-degree synthetic bag is for car camping. Excitable hit the nail on the head - get a down bag for cold weather, it will last FOREVER.

Down has it's risks, it's true. But take measures to keep your bag dry, and hang it out to dry when you can, and it will serve you well.

The only time I ever regretting having a down bag was when I tried to save weight. I took a down bag on a soggy 2-week climbing trip in the North Cascades. It rained like hell all day, every day. After the first day I didn't have a sleeping bag anymore.

The Cascades are my home range, and if it rains, I go home. But if it is raining, it is not that cold so a light weight Primaloft bag makes sense. I have a number of winter enchainments/traverses that I want to do, so I have been looking into bags with 'water proof' down, or having a custom one made by FF with a NexTec Epic fabric interior, DriTec 850 down fill, and a NexTec Endurance shell. The hardest part of keeping a down bag dry in the Cascades, particularly in winter, is wetting it from the inside out and the general humidity.

ExcitableBoy wrote:

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:A zero-degree synthetic bag is for car camping. Excitable hit the nail on the head - get a down bag for cold weather, it will last FOREVER.

Down has it's risks, it's true. But take measures to keep your bag dry, and hang it out to dry when you can, and it will serve you well.

The only time I ever regretting having a down bag was when I tried to save weight. I took a down bag on a soggy 2-week climbing trip in the North Cascades. It rained like hell all day, every day. After the first day I didn't have a sleeping bag anymore.

The Cascades are my home range, and if it rains, I go home. But if it is raining, it is not that cold so a light weight Primaloft bag makes sense. I have a number of winter enchainments/traverses that I want to do, so I have been looking into bags with 'water proof' down, or having a custom one made by FF with a NexTec Epic fabric interior, DriTec 850 down fill, and a NexTec Endurance shell. The hardest part of keeping a down bag dry in the Cascades, particularly in winter, is wetting it from the inside out and the general humidity.

I'd like to see a Primaloft version of the Patagonia hybrid bag. http://www.patagonia.com/product/hybrid ... 70070.html

I saw that and thought it was overly expensive and rather silly.

ExcitableBoy wrote:I saw that and thought it was overly expensive and rather silly.

Well, it clearly looks pretty silly and they do show it paired with their $900!!! down parka but otherwise do you think there is a failure of concept?

Flatlandish wrote:

ExcitableBoy wrote:I saw that and thought it was overly expensive and rather silly.

Well, it clearly looks pretty silly and they do show it paired with their $900!!! down parka but otherwise do you think there is a failure of concept?

The concept of using an elephant's foot with a belay parka is certainly not a new concept, and other than it saves little weight over a regular sleeping bag, not a bad one. My issue is the implementation. Sewing a jacket onto an elephant's foot seems kind of silly compared to just using a bivi sack with the parka and half bag. I don't see any improvement over what has been done for a very long time.

I'm in a similar boat as Newbie (as I am a newbie as well).

I am going on a trip that calls for a -10F bag. The FF bag is as light and packs as well as any others, at least as far as specs go. It still is 23L+ compressed. No room left in a 55L pack for much more.

So I looked at a 0F or 5F bag. Not much difference in weight or packed volume from the -10F bag... hmmm...

And that expensive Patagonia parka, well I bought one. Its huge! But again, weighs considerably less than most competitors at 660g.

So my problem is volume, not weight. I'm going to try a 75L pack and see if that works out.

I hate putting a sleeping bag on the outside of a pack... but I guess I could lash some other stuff out there!

A

AustinKalb wrote:I am going on a trip that calls for a -10F bag. The FF bag is as light and packs as well as any others, at least as far as specs go. It still is 23L+ compressed. No room left in a 55L pack for much more.

So I looked at a 0F or 5F bag. Not much difference in weight or packed volume from the -10F bag... hmmm...

What bags did you compare? The FF Ibis EX 0°F bag has a packed volume specification of 17L.
In general a 0 or 5°F bag will pack smaller than a -10°F bag of the same design, materials and size .

That said, a 55L pack is kind of small for some trips.

JD wrote:That said, a 55L pack is kind of small for some trips.

I haven't used anything larger than a 45L pack except for Alaska and similar big range objectives for years. 55 liters is plenty big unless you are doing something like Denali, and I know quite a few climbers who used 50 liter sacks for that.

I think the key to getting weight down, is getting the size and weight of the pack down, which means starting with a very compressible sleeping bag. Get a 850 fill, high quality down bag (FF, WM, Valandre), etc.), understanding that these bags are going to be 10 or more degrees warmer than similarly rated big box brand bags, and you can really start to pare down your pack.

I have been cold in spring at 10,000 feet in the Seirra's in my Mountain Hardware Phantom Flame 15degF bag (not freezing, but cold in the morning).

I just bought a FF Eider EX -10degF Bag. I put it in a Black Diamond MIssion 55 pack and it took about half the pack. Oh Boy!

The differences between +10, 0, and -10 were like an inch in packed size based on the FF Website. In fact the 0 Ibis and -10 Eider call out exactly the same stuffed size, only 6 oz difference in wt.

I know FF and WM bags are going to be warmer than others at the same rating, but without real hard numbers (or EN ratings) for the difference I'm just going with the stated ratings.

I'm new to the winter stuff. Part of my dilemma is conflicting equipment lists for essentially the same trip, winter in the Sierra's:

Sierra Mountaineering Club: 35-55L Pack and 10 to 20f bag
Sierra Mountaineering Center: 65L Pack and -10F Bag (that's minus 10)
American Alpine Institute: 60-80L Pack, -10f to -20f Bag (minus 10 to minus 20)

To make matters more complex, I am going to Island Peak Nepal in April. Adventure Consultants are calling out a 0F Bag.

I have a Mission 75 pack being delivered today to try out. I figured it was just size and not really weight.

I was lost before, now I'm really lost. AND I'm quickly going broke!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

my advice is to not climb with sierra mountaineering club. period. full stop.

if you are set on hiring a guide in that area i would look at sierra mountaineering international, out of bishop.

http://sierramountaineering.com/

and just for the record, i am not affiliated with them nor do i get any kickback/commission from them.