Down sleeping bags

yeah, right… that bird up there was plucked live, and will be again every couple of months, i bet it doesn’t hurt at all…

Which is why I said that ‘responsible manufacturers’ will not use live plucked birds. Most UK outdoor brands will have an ethics policy which will rule out the use of live plucked down.

Noone in the outdoor industry would want to be associated with live plucking nowadays, see the Patagonia response below:

http://www.thegearcaster.com/the_gearcaster/2010/12/patagonia-gets-down-via-live-feather-plucking.html

Flatfish very concise and helpful, however I would be sleeping in a tent not a car, although can’t imagine I’ll eb getting soaked, if it rains that hard I’ll get in the car with the bikes! 😉 Down still suitable?

If the bag will only ever be used for car camping / sleeping on mates floors, then I would get a synthetic bag. Water resistant, easy to wash and generally less hassle. (and much cheaper!)

However, if you ever plan to carry the bag, or plan to use it over the winter, then its probably better to get a down one. The down one will last longer too – synthetic insulation loses loft much faster than down.

Whichever one you buy, make sure you store it uncompressed at home. This will extend the life of the bag, and keep its performance high.

Sorry my fault I meant travelling in the near watertight car then putting into a tent rather than hiking/bike touring etc.

@benman, why would you need a waterproof bag to sleep on a mates floor?

Flatfish cool that makes sense!

Its not the fact that its waterproof (it isn’t anyway, its water resistant), its the fact that its not worth spending £100 on a down bag, just to kip on a mates floor… When a £50 synthetic would do.

What you really need is a synthetic for slumming it, and a down for more serious stuff 🙂

Where abouts in the alps are you going MC?
Some of the valley bases are fairly high up, so you might be pleased to have that warm 3 season bag.
Somewhere like Chamonix is fairly low and quite open, so gets plenty of sun. But, we were in Saas Grund in Switzerland last August, which is at about 1500m. the valley is narrow and so steep sided that Saas grund only got the sun for a few hours each day. I took my old cheap car camping bag and was bloody frozen every night.

If you do buy a down bag, I would definitely recommend using it with a liner or wear baselayers/pyjamas to keep it clean. You can’t just stick a down bag in the washer (one of the other advantages of synthetic bags).
TBH most of the year I use a synthetic bag for general car camping (an old ajungilak), didn’t prove suitable in Saas Grund in August tho. Down for winter and other stuff ie backpacking etc.

Not sure yet looking at Chamonix and possibly Pila or Switzerland. MMM down one is sounding more appealing. Oh I’m ALWAYS wrapped up in base layers and pyjamas. I’d probably keep my ancient cheap sleeping bag as I think it was £20 about 8 years ago.

Don’t think anyone has responded to the comment down would be good to pack small for storage.

Down isn’t the best if kept small for long periods of time, ideally it should be stored lofted, keep the expansion properties and also prevents dampness.

As for the ethical side, benman, good choice picking Patagonia recognised as one of the most ethical companies in the industry, sure they are not all like that.

Saying that I do have down bags and jackets and find them much warmer than the synthetic options I have used, only used relatively cheap synthetic sleeping bags though.

The Aosta valley (Pila), If you stay at a campsite in Aosta or elsewhere in the low valley, you might find a very warm bag unpleasent. I’ve camped in Aosta a few times, the campsite we use has lots of tree cover, but you couldn’t sleep in beyond 9am, it got so hot in the tent, that one was a particularly nice week in July tho. Same with Chamonix IMO, I’ve camped in Chamonix when it was very wet and overcast for the whole time (June), but it was never cold.

BTW I love Aosta and Italy in general, Italian people are really nice and friendly.

This article by Andy Kirkpatrick is interesting.

I like down, but as a person who never manages to keep his gear dry…

(Shouldn’t go out when it’s wet maybe 🙂 )

I’ve never been to Pila but heard a lot of good things about it, is it good for MTBIng? Should we do Chamonix and Pila then for our hols?

Alpkit explain it best,

http://www.alpkit.com/spotlight/choosing-a-down-sleeping-bag

Epicyclo it started of interesting then got completely bored especially with the appalling spelling! would’ve thought with WORD nowadays someone could have used spell check 🙄

Now that Alpkit article is fair more interesting and to the point! Mr MC laughed at me earlier when I told him I had started this thread .. he’s a git 😆

Munqe-chick – Member
Epicyclo it started of interesting then got completely bored especially with the appalling spelling!…

I noticed that too, but he’s dyslexic so I just ignored the spelling. Certainly tests his gear more than most of us here would dream of trying.

haven’t read most of this. but a DECENT new synthetic will be a lot better than your old cheap bag.

down seems a bit unnecessary (expensive) for what you need

Okay so what synthetic would you recommend? As again it is like a minefield and I have no clue where to start.

I’ve never been to Pila but heard a lot of good things about it, is it good for MTBIng? Should we do Chamonix and Pila then for our hols?

If that’s for me (don’t want to appear rude by not answering), I’ve never gone on a MTB specific trip. We did take MTBs to Chamonix and Aosta a couple of times for bad weather days, but that was in the mid/late 1990’s, so then it was just more traditional low level MTBing like you would do in the UK, certainly it never occured to us to use the lifts. I don’t think I had suspension forks then, so you can imagine the sort of thing we would be doing. We bought a guidebook in the bike shop in Aosta, being in Italian, it was quite entertaining working out the routes sometimes.
I’ve also heard good things about Pila, but also that there are only a few days of trails there (unless you are prepared to explore beyond).
Same in Chamonix in 1997, I think I had front suspension then, but we bought a guide and did traditional lower level XC routes. There must be loads of great stuff in and around Chamonix and all quite close together, there’s certainly chairlifts all over the place. In the Aosta valley, Beyond Pila, it’s all very spread out. It’s only a couple of hours drive from Cham to Aosta, there’s a big lift station in Aosta IIRC, which will take you up to Pila.

Mmmmm did i post the Pila stuff in the wrong thread muppet but hey still got a useful response!!!

Mountain Hardware Lamina 35 should fit the bill quite nicely.

Good for 2 deg c, packs down nice and small and is just about 1kg in weight.

I got one as an alternative to my Pipedream 400 for wetter nights, Cotswold were doing them for £45, but the cheapest I can find at the moment are:

http://www.gear-zone.co.uk/mountain-hardwear-lamina-35-reg-pid7243.html

Nick that’s quite useful thanks, if only it was still £45 I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

I have a LifeVenture one I got from GoOutdoors. Really nice bag – toasty when needed. They do a really nice waterproof bag that you can squeeze up for packing and then put a bung in to stop it expanding again. Only takes a few seconds to fluff it back out when getting ready for beddiebyes. 🙂