High Sierra Topix

Wandering Daisy wrote:Why are you limiting your camping in the Sierra to 10,000 feet or under? There are entire huge basins that are in the 11,000 foot range (such as the wonderful upper Kern).

It was just a general elevation. My buddy is not into exploring the higher elevations and i was thinking of him being along on the trip, but you're right. 11,000-12,000 should be a consideration, since i believe i will have to begin going solo more to see what i want to see.

as for wearing a down jacket while sleeping, i've started bringing a lightweight down puffy this year for around camp, when my friends and i like to hang out and chat/BS/eat/etc. so it's already in the bag along on the trip.

as for general quilt vs bag, i REALLY like to stretch my legs out and toss and turn. it's always been constricting for me in a mummy bag, but i've always considered a necessary evil and made do with the design. now with quilts, i can sleep as i like. i'm 6'-0", and just over 200 lbs. it was such a revelation to me this summer in the new summer-temp quilt. i didn't think quilts were that great either at first. just a weird fad. in the end it's all part of the fun. dialing in your gear, testing new ideas and approaches.

thanks for all the insight everyone. very interesting, helpful, and fun to read.

-eric
fresno, ca.

Late to the discussion as I haven't been on here for the past couple weeks. I have an EE 20 deg Revelation quilt, and I love it. I don't carry a thermometer with me, but it has kept me warm in conditions where I woke up to frost on the inside of my tent and solid ice coating my bear canister. I was wearing a balaclava over my head but only a light base layer that I always use for sleeping otherwise. My sleeping pad has a 2.7 R rating. I was somewhat surprised that I felt so warm when I saw all of that frost and ice the next morning.

As far as not counting the weight of my puffy down jacket, as you pointed out, I have it with me anyway, and based on past experience, I would need it just as much with a similarly rated sleeping bag (actually haven't needed it with my quilt the 2 years that I've had the quilt). I discovered how enjoyable a quilt would be when the zipper broke on my mummy bag during 13 days in the Sierra and I had to use it like a quilt for 5 days. It was soooo much more comfortable not to feel like I was in a straight jacket, and I slept much better.

Great Post EricZ.
I've been curious about these new-fangled quilts for awhile, especially since I'm in the market for a new sleeping bag for potentially very cold winter outings. Lizzie and I effectively turned our ancient, once rated -30 F. bags into quilts when we would snow camp with our boys; we'd unzip our 2 bags halfway, and drape them over us and the boys. We all slept fine, though we never got into any temps below 10-15 F. now with Bear, I have done the same with a 0 F. down bag, and Bear hasn't complained yet. Are these new quilts any different from an unzipped Z-bag? I assume they are much lighter due to less material, but in terms of the comfort level for those of us who like to thrash around at night, isn't the open z-bag option is the same.
I want to be warm down to 20 below, windy nights- what are the lowest rated quilts? Thanks for your insights, I'm too lazy to do the real research right now. Ian.