My 15 yr old is off to Namibia for two weeks this summer doing some charitable work with his school. He will also be doing a fair amount of trekking and he and his fellow explorers will be carrying all their own kit. I need to get him a maximum 60L rucksack and sleeping bag that packs down as compact as possible. Overnight temperatures shouldn't drop below 7 or 8 degrees. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance
You should be able to get away with just about anything. Maybe one of the Tesco down ultralight things would do the job, it's rated to that sort of temperature. Failing that, I can't recommend the Alpkit bags enough. The one I have would probably be too warm for him, but maybe a lighter fill one would work.
WRT rucksacks, The world is your mollusc. I'd go for an issue bergen, but it's likely to be a bit heavy. Maybe something like a berghaus or similar would be lighter and better.
For a sleeping bag how about Alpkit http://www.alpkit.com/skyehigh
For a 60L rucksack, you can't go wrong with a Cilogear Worksack http://www.cilogear.com/60lws.html
Sleeping bag - down is ace for weigth and pack size, but avoid if he isn't going to get much chance to air/loft it, or if it will spend most of its time crushed up in the bottom of his bag. Synthetic can be much more bombproof. Bags that omit a hood are smaller if he does not need outright warmth.
Ditto sack - if he dosn't need super lightweight climbing gear, then bombproof ex army may suit being flung into the back of pickups etc more. Also helps if it is less 'flash' in other ways.
He already has an army surplus Bergen but Namibia and Zambia ( where they fly into) have strict rules about civilians wearing camouflage kit!!
Thanks for the suggestions so far
Dye it black?
Alpkit +1 for the sleeping bag. My eldest is doing the DOE so uses mine and I bought her a rucksack from Decathlon. Cheap, robust and not too flash. I suspect it will come back a bit beaten anyway so I wouldnt suggest buying anything too expensive or lightweight. The difference in price between a Decathlon bag and the one above is significant and not really worth the extra IMO.
If you want a synthetic bag, I've been very impressed with my Mountain Hardware Lamina (mines a lamina 35). There were some bargains around when I got mine YMMV.
I haven't had a synthetic bag which weighs less or packs smaller for the same temperature rating.
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