Sleeping Bags for Drakensburg

Many thanks Jaxz - I think you’ve confirmed my thoughts - price looked good, maybe too good compared to everything else available (price \ weight \ rating). I have a Sea to Summit Comfort Light Mat.
Regards
Mike

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Here’s a good read linked below, so I know the author is in the UK/EU hence having abundant choice, but the idea is interesting and worthy of consideration. As you’ll see he’s actually tried it out, it’s beyond hypothesis…

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Hey Carl. Agree with you on that, layering is a nice option and adds a lot of flexibility.

The difficulty comes in sizing, particularly with bags if you want to keep them viable individually. They have to fit in such a way that the outer bag isn’t over compressing the inner and make it redundant, but if have your outer too large then when you are using it by itself you have a lot of cold air space to deal with :man_shrugging: I’ve found quilts a bit easier for this as the lighter top layer can be left open. But lots of cool potential in mixing and matching down and synthetic like this

EE Layering article. This is quilt focused but similar principles.

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Lots of models of those comfort light mats, but look like they hover around a R2 value. Been digging through some Vertical-Endevour threads about Berg temps and they are talking R3 as year round viable.

So the comfort light seems good most of the time, and maybe throw something like a reflective foam mat under to stack the values if you needed in winter. The foam mats are generics at this point and seem to have a range of between R1-R2.

Yup. Seems a great idea to pick and choose if the buffet is in front of you. I’ve scoped out local fare a little to see if I can achieve this but answers are in short supply. Though I could dig more…

We’ve chatted about quilts before, intriuing for sure.
Love the images in that article, the leaf dappled forest floor. So mossy. Though, sadly, gone are the days when bikini clad ladies were used to peddle us things, this is more inclusive I suppose, perhaps a lady in a bikini, a Viking and a fox looking on admiringly could do the trick?

Anyway, the quest for perfect kit goes on.

I’m looking at getting the Marmot never summer sleeping bag. I will never support first ascent

I’m looking at doing a long summer hike on top of the Berg over December, presently deciding which sleeping bag to take. The options are: FA Ice Breaker, or FA Explorer with a warm liner. The latter is at least 250g less. Any opinions?

@Litchi I use a FA Down Lite during my summer fastpacking trips in the berg, really a decent bag. FA Ice Breaker is a bit overkill for summer (not necessarily a bad thing), I would suggest using the FA explorer…could even drop the liner if you are counting grams.

Where are you planning on going? I might see you ontop :+1:t2:

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Anyone using a FA Down lite with a SeaToSummit Reactor liner? The +8 degrees of the STS liner should bring the comfort range closer to 0 where being able to take a liner in and out gives one a few options should you get too hot.

I’ve used both of those together - the SeaToSummit reactor most definitely does not add 8° as advertised - more like 2°-3°. That being said, it is a very versatile combo. If dressed warmly (trousers + 2-3 layers on your torso) you could spend a night at 0° reasonably comfortably when combining the FA Down Lite and Reactor.

All of this obviously dependent on a decent sleeping pad.

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Hi All,

Has anyone come across the Oztrail Treksmart 3 season (-10degree celcius) sleeping bag?

https://www.oztrailstore.co.za/product/oztrail-treksmart-3-season-10-degree-celsius/

I am struggling to find any reviews or comments on this product, and the price seems quite reasonable to fit the description of a 3 season sleeping bag?

I am not familiar with the brand.

Any thoughts?

If no one has any personal experience I would suggest digging around a bit to find some numbers on the bag. If you find the overall weight and the fill weight (How much insulation there is, and what type would be helpful) that will give you an idea of the warmth of the bag. As you can use those numbers to compare it against other sleeping bags that do have reviews.

They seem to be quoting a limit rating on the bag (-10), so you might want to go check the EN standards for sleeping bags and see what that sort of limit rating generally means in terms of a comfort rating, which is the actual usable temperature for the bag. Limit ratings are you curled in a ball shivering with all your clothes on trying to remember the symptoms for hypothermia, and less sleeping nicely listening to the wind.

Only numbers I can find are that it is 1.6kg, 57-80x220cm and 19x29cm packed. If you were looking for more info I would see if you can find an Australian forum to ask on.