Viewing 12 posts - 41 through 52 (of 52 total)
  • how long could you bivvy for?
  • Chew
    Free Member

    For value you cant beat a Hunka. They are waterproof but the issue you’ll have with any bivi bag is condensation/breathability in heavy rain.

    For that reason i’d always say take a full length tarp to give you coverage to sleep under, store your kit, keep yourself dry.

    Weight savings for bivi’s over tents will always be marginal, but on short trips I always prefer a bivi. You’ll feel more connected with your surroundings as you can watch the sun set/rise from the comfort of your bed.

    Chew
    Free Member
    seosamh77
    Free Member

    Cheers chew, will have a gander at those links. Think I’m defo going to join the bivvy ranks, whether for this trip is debatable at the moment but be plenty for opportunities for me to use it.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Yes, you could get a super lightweight tent. It’ll cost you a fortune, and they all have one thing in common. Claustrophobic. Hunka and tarp roll up to about the size of two cans of juice, and space is more important to me than weight.

    seosamh77
    Free Member

    and space is more important to me than weight.

    That is my main motivation bulk is pain on the bike. Though does look like there would be some weight savings going by hunka/tarp verses the gelert solo, so I’d not complain.

    My main concern about bivvying now is midgy protection in the later months. What’s your thoughts on that? Rig up some kind of mesh for your head?

    Actually that’s one place where the gelert is good. I have just used the mesh inner alone on good nights. Great for midgy protection.

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    How much would your setup weigh?

    I various set-ups, the lightest would come in at 490g for tarp (proper full coverage not a micro affair), midge proof bivvy bag, pole, lines and pegs.

    asherh
    Free Member

    A few of us are planning on walking the Haute Route from Cham to Zermatt. We are hoping to bivvy for the full 10-12 days barring maybe a refuge stop half way to get clean etc.

    Has anyone ever done this or similar? I realise wild camping is illegal in France but we’d only be camping there for one night anyway, and i doubt the gendarmerie patrol the high hills.

    rene59
    Free Member

    My main concern about bivvying now is midgy protection in the later months. What’s your thoughts on that? Rig up some kind of mesh for your head?

    Actually that’s one place where the gelert is good. I have just used the mesh inner alone on good nights. Great for midgy protection.

    You could try suspending the tent inner underneath a tarp in place of the bivi bag? Might be best of both worlds.

    jameso
    Full Member

    seosamh77, a hunka and a large basic silnylon tarp and lines will be around 700-750g, maybe a bit more. Poles can help, or just use the bike. So not a lot lighter than a tent, but on the nights you don’t need a tarp it’s quicker and as people mention above, more open, better views etc.

    Has anyone ever done this or similar? I realise wild camping is illegal in France but we’d only be camping there for one night anyway, and i doubt the gendarmerie patrol the high hills.

    I didn’t know that .. we spent 10 nights bivvying out during a French Alps trip. One night was in a hut where the food smelled really good. I’ve used huts on other Alps trip but the food is usually much better than the sleep I get there ) The Haute Route looks fantastic.

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    There are bivvy bags with midge netting at the “open” end. I’ve also had excellent results using Smidge these last two summers. In fact, it was only after managing to camp in a midge-infested Glen Feshie with the tent door wide-open and not being eaten alive due to the Smidge that I really considered bivvy-ing an option.

    AlasdairMc
    Full Member

    If you’re worried about midges, put your midge net over your head before closing the bag. You then get the net over the opening in the bag instead of worrying about a bivi bag with an integrated net.

    alpin
    Free Member

    mate and i were out for six days a few years back…. just a tarp, a ground sheet, mats and sleeping bags.

    this was, however, in the alps and the height of summer.

    don’t know how long i would have held out in Scotland with the midges.

    reckon you’ll chuck it in after the first rainfall….

Viewing 12 posts - 41 through 52 (of 52 total)

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