Ian, thats not a tent, thats a handkerchief! one sneeze and it'll blow away! Sup-air
Also, not waterproof?
Yep, pretty waterproof. I've certainly had no problems in the rain, though being a single skin you do suffer condensation issues if you're not careful. In strong winds it doesn't blow away, but it does get's flattened on a regular basis. It does re-inflate after the gust passes but it's a bit disconcerting 
I certainly wouldn't want to use it for longer than a weekend.
That fella in the grey bag has his bag a bit tight. was he chilly at all?
he's got his sleeping mat inside the bivvy bag-despite our advice 
don't think he was cold but he had a LOT of whiskey to keep him warm!
I guess on an XL hunka you could get away with that.
only problem then is if it's raining and you wanna turn over and pull the bag over your head, bit of a faff.
My bivvi kit weighs about 2 kg less than what i'd take tent camping - because it is just a sleeping bag bivvi bag combo. In a tent i'd need a mat and a tent extra whereas the bivvi has no real weight penalty over a sleeping bag.
It doesn't feel risky either - very waterproof, and the 800g one is okay down to -something degrees.
I did camp out once with a blizzard survival bag - foil and plastic thing, high up in a snowstorm. That was not the most comfy night's sleep ever - my current solution is a lot better.
I like both bivvying and camping - both good for different things. There's something special about sleeping under the stars, and it is great not to carry a bulky tent and to be able to do proper riding whilst on a tour.
Joe
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locations?
I do alot of this, bivvy bagging and guerrilla camping with a small tent. Got the bug years ago when doing DofE, as part of it we had to spend one night in an old orange plastic "survival bag" but my group only had a small tent so I ended up doing the whole week sleeping in the plastic bag! Bivvying is great and as others have said you can easily get your overnight kit down to an easy weight. Always use a 30l backpack including water bladder myself and if the chest and waist belts are done up well I find it fine to ride with. If you're out with your bivvy bag my top tip is look at the weather forecast! Not the general one on telly after the news but learn to read the pressure and wind charts on the met office website, with a bit of experience you can guage pretty well what the next day or so has in store, especially this time of year. As others have said it's not as great in cr@p weather no matter how hi-tech your bag is.
I'm on a limited budget so most of my stuff is cheap and cheerful I've had alot of use out of a >£20 pro action 1 man tent I got from Argos a couple of years ago, don't know if they still do them but a friend got one off ebay earlier in the year. Surprisingly robust, not too bad weight-wise (about 1kg-same as a litre of water), give it a good fab-sil and its waterproof and packs up small especially if you put the poles on the outside of your bag/tape them to your frame, leave the door, essentially one side of the tent open and it's pretty much the same as being outside with the benefit of a bit of shelter if the weather does turn. It has a net inner door aswell for insect protection. Only one skin so does condensate badly (especially hassle in sub zero temps when the condensation freezes-was a lovely clear winter night though!)
Agree with the other top tips, wooly hat, fresh socks etc. mine would be long johns to change into. Sleeping in padded cycling shorts is not good. Also a sleeping bag liner, adds a bit of warmth if you need it and easy to wash.
TJ-You can change in a bivvy bag, just takes a bit of wriggling.
Doughnuthead-I always have my mat inside the bivvy bag, means you don't slide off it in the night.
Sorry about the essay, after mountain biking this is my favourite subject 
looking across to Mt Blanc side of chamonix valley
steps outside top station, below petit aguille verte
Inside station, ?which
?below the inn pinn, black cuillin
billyboulders-i've heard great things about that tent too, certainly much cheaper than the terra nova stuff .....mmm, laser light
i've never had a problem of slipping of the mat. try sleeping on a flat ground
polarisandy-did you do the cullin ridge? would love to have a go sometime.
Flat ground, good tip I do tend to move about a bit when I'm asleep (usually dreams involving one or more of girls aloud and the like!)
Army surplus bivvy bag, ancient softie copy sleeping bag, few other bits and bobs, berghaus mach 25 pack. Used my Roast but planning on using my inbred this summer when I finally get a chance to repeat it.
stato,
for underneath insulation i used an evazote equivilant foam pad which rolls up quite small and weighs just a few grams, came in a 8'x4' sheet 5mm thick which i cut down to suit the shape of the hennessy, cost about 6 quid a sheet from a local supplier.
my friends use homemade underblankets one of which is a standard issue army summer sleeping bag(butchered) the other was sylnylon outer with two layers of thinsulate both were a bit bulky, all of which are quite warm.
down underblankets are our next trial although hennessey sell the under blanket for $130.
he's got his sleeping mat inside the bivvy bag-despite our advice
whys that a bad idea? Don't fancy a balloon bed on the outside of bivi and sleeping bag? Also got a top bag so meant to have mat inside bag?
Bivi system is 770grams! Mat, sleeping bag and bivi bag. Just hope its practical. Thats less than my tent on its own by 200 grams!
I've been making home made wood gisification stoves for a while. All part of the fun. Couldn't do without some kind of stove.
A wood whatification stove?? Sounds outdoorsy, do tell more.
Doughnut
yes on the 5th attempt...
A fantastic (slightly intimidating) place.
Well i was inspired last night so a quick stuffing of gear and i was out in the wilds... well almost, i could still hear the faint sound of the nearby A1 but i couldnt be arsed to ride right out into the countryside
Kit wise i had the hammock @3lb, sleeping bag (4 season alpkit) @3lb, selfinflating mat at about 2lb and a change of clothes. Pretty heavy really but ive always tent camped (with car transport) before so warmth was always above weight.
Was a bit warm in the 4 season but easilly solved by opening zip at bottom. Sleeping mat did move around a bit, not really the right shape for a hammock but it did a top job as i could really feel the cold if i moved my feet off it. Got some heavy rain in the night and it was windy in the treetops but not a drop hit me thanks to the tarp, even tho id tied one side high so i could see out over the fields...
Bring on the next one!
Polarisandy, the top photo looks familiar. Is it Lac Blanc by any chance? I was up there a couple of weeks ago but it was all covered in snow.
Yes slug, i think it is, heres another view from the Aguille Rouge side, i think showing the Argentier Glacier.
What were you doing over there?
What were you doing over there?
I tried cycling up to Lac Blanc but I got turfed out by a ranger soon after starting the climb 'cos it's in a wildlife reserve in which cycling is banned. So I walked up there the next day from Argentiere then down into Chamonix. A nice snowy 7 hour trek in SPD's!
TJ is clearly looking at camping
Which is why he keeps suggesting a tent.
But a tent isn't bivvying.
It's like I can't go motorbiking in a car. You still travel by the power of internal combustion but in one you're more in contact with the world around you. Same difference.
Err, because you can write off that central triangle bag for most full suspension designs and that thing hanging off the seatpost will only take a fraction of the load a rack can.
Wasn't suggesting a frame bike, you need a bike as ugly as SSP's for that to work ;o)
Seatpack, handlebar bag and a Wingnut, distribute your kit between all three = some semblance of decent handling still and a happy arse.
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lucky fella, would love to be there at moment. AFAIK there is a downhill course from the top of the Brevant station- but i guess that doesn't mean you can cycle along the tops of it all.
Gives great view across to the Dru/Mt Blanc/ Aguille du midi doesn't it?
cheers
Dave - but no one has told me what the advantage of bivvying is. You save a kilo max over a tent. probably much less. Why not be comfy for the price of carrying an extra few hundred grammes?
As I said - I have bivvyed often but see no advantage bar the small weight saving and many huge disadvatages
Dave - but no one has told me what the advantage of bivvying is. You save a kilo max over a tent. probably much less. Why not be comfy for the price of carrying an extra few hundred grammes?
Because you'd then be camping not bivvying.
I can drive a car and be comfy but I'm not then motorbiking, it's similar but a different experience.
If you can't understand that, I'm giving up.
its the singlespeed vs gears argument all over again 
As I said - I have bivvyed often but see no advantage bar the small weight saving and many huge disadvatages
pro's and cons - being able to look at the stars, lighter, more stealth etc are pro's for bivvying...
Sorry Dave - but thats still not saying what the advantage is
You get nothing bivvying that you don't get camping from my experience
I think looking for advantages/disadvantages is the wrong way of going about it TBH. If you enjoy doing something do it, if you don't then don't. I love both camping (lightweight or fully laden on an official site with all the luxuries in the boot of the car) and bivvying equally and do either whenever the opportunity arises.
You say you didn't enjoy bivvying, although to your credit, you gave it a go so thats your experience. Stick with camping if thats what you like best.
(Good luck pitching your tent somewhere like polarisandys last pic on the previous page tho!)
Sorry Dave - but thats still not saying what the advantage is
It is, but you can't see it.
And it's not my job to make you understand, which is why I'm not going to try any further.
You've tried it, you didn't get it - I doubt I'm going to make any difference to your lack of understanding.
no one is claiming there is an advantage bivvying TJ, its about a different experience.
If your desperate for an advantage to bivvying...
1. cheaper? a light 1 man tent (thats not a POS!) is not cheap, bivvy bags are available from £10?
2. bulk, my cheap (and heavy) 1 man tent is still 2/3 times the size of my cheap bivvy bag.
Experience wise, i think what most people get is the sleeping in the 'outdoors' feel, somthing you dont get in a tent. Also, if there are more than 2 of you (as shown in some pics on this thread) then bivvying is a bit more sociable, rather than shouting through your tent walls (oh and you cant claim that you can leave the door of your tent open to chat, as that negates most of the tent 'advantages')
Ok - thanks for attempting to explain the differences. Its not just I have "given it a go" ( bivvying) I have probably bivvyed for 50 or 60 nights over the years. ( and camped for of thousand nights) One occasion every night for 3 wks many many miles from anywhere out in Patagonia. Maybe I'm getting older but the discomfort simply ain't worth it and the lack of safety margins if the weather turns.
I think the issue is I like to go into the wilds - not on the edges of towns. Have a look at the photos from people like Druidh and see if you can understand why for many of us bivvying simply is not a reasonable option. I have gone to bed in glorious sunshine and woken up with an outside temp of -5. In the above instance I was with a group and we had people suffering from exposure and hypothermia.
So maybe for a stealth "bivvy" on the edge of a town it has a point, but when you are out in the wilds?
TJ i think you should have said that in the begining , were not all adventurers you know!
I think for most people (including me) camping is sleeping in a damp tent where the greatest inconvenience is having to walk across boggy grass to get to the toilet block, what you do is called exploring/adventuring/crazy mate! Your reasons are obviously incredibly valid for the sort of situations you find yourself in, however i think in this situation youve brought a cannon to a knife fight 
. Dont know about everyone else but im pretty sure most on here are talking 1-2 nights at most, maybe never much further from civilization as just over the next hill.
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