sleeping bags for winter camping or sleeping on Kilimanjaro

People often find getting a new sleeping bag a confusing and stressful task, I have been asked loads of times about sleeping bags and to be honest there is no right or wrong answer as it is a very personal thing. There are however a few things we can do to make a sleeping bag work in just about any conditions. when I have been camping at altitude for instance on Kilimanjaro or on the cairngorm plateau in winter my base sleeping bag is a Rab Alpine 600 which I find to be warm enough in almost every condition that I have found myself in. should I find myself feeling cold I top up my bad by pulling my down jacket inside and using it as a floating blanket inside my sleeping bag. My partner prefers to use a synthetic 3 season bag with a light 1 season bag inside she will argue that not only is this a cheaper option but reduces dead air spaces within the bag. My opinion although she is right I feel the increased weight penalty of carrying two synthetic bags around is not justifiable when there are lighter options. I am not being obsessive about weight for nothing as you will read shortly.

Something that a lot of people don't give sufficient thought about in my opinion is their sleeping mattress. I always use a Thermorest Trail Pro the extra thickness gives much better insulation from the cold ground than thinner mattress and it levels out little humps and bumps that little bit better. unfortunately there is a small weight penalty for the extra thickness but I argue if you are going to all the bother of insulating above what is the point of having a cold back! there has been a few arguments at night between my partner and I as she try's to steal my mattress during the night as she has been suffering from the cold due to the conductive properties of the ground through a thinner mattress. The temperatures have used this setup range from -18C in Scotland to -20C on Kilimanjaro.

Something that I always do and others have laughed at me for this but before I go to bed I run round the tent a few times just to get some heat up but not enough to start sweating just as if you do this you will quickly warm up when you get into your sleeping bag.

I will stop there as I fear I might make more questions than answers

Kilimanjaro kit list

I have been asked loads of times since I went up Kilimanjaro about my kit list and it surprises me how people try to take clothing for every eventuality when a few key items are all you need. Layering is the key to warmth and light weight travel for example rather than taking three different gloves of varying warmth just take an merino wool pair and a set of synthetic fill gloves- the merino wool gloves for the cool stages, synthetic fill gloves for cold stages and for the extremely cold stages (summit night) wear the merino gloves under your synthetic gloves. A similar concept can be applied to jackets, trousers, feet etc.

here is a copy of my kit list:

1.       1xMountain equipment classic lightline Down jacket (only used on summit night over Rab Photon Jacket)

2.       1x Rab Photon Hoodie Jacket (Primaloft) (used a lot around camp and as a mid layer on summit night)

3.       1x Rab Latok Alpine jacket (used a lot over base layer to block out rain)

4.       1x Rab alpine 600 sleeping bag (kept me very warm every night)

5.       1x Berghaus waterproof over trousers

6.       1x RAB Icefall Gauntlet gloves (used on summit night)

7.       1x Mountain equipment wool hat (used a lot at night around camp and on summit night)

8.       1x Columbia Roc II Booney sun hat (used on higher slopes when sunny)

9.       1x Bloc Cat. 3 sunglasses

10.    5x thin inner socks

11.    3x thick wool socks

12.    3x pants

13.    2x Icebreaker 150

14.    1x Icebreaker 260

15.    1x Helly Hansen Prowool trouser Baselayer (only used on summit night)

16.    2x bear Grylls/ craghopper walking trousers

17.    1x craghopper lined walking trousers (only used on summit night)

18.    Asolo Imperial Gv boots

19.    1x Gelert Hot Pad Hand Warmer Twin Pack (used inside my gloves on summit night)

20.    1x High five, Zero Highs electrolyte sports drink tablets

21.    1x 1L Sigg alu bottle with neoprene cover

22.    1x 2L cammelbak classic

23.    1x berghaus freeflow 36 +8 backpack

24.    1x pair of Leki walking poles

25.    2x packs of Life systems Chlorine Dioxide tablets (I treated all water I drank)

26.    1x Petzl Charlet Tikka 2 Plus head torch plus extra batteries

27.    1x tooth brush

28.    1x tooth paste

29.    2x packs of baby wipes

30.    1x 100ml dry wash hand cleaner

31.    5x 250mg Diamox tablets (half a tablet in the morning half in the evening)

32.    1x camera plus extra batteries

33.    Selection of dry bags

34.    1x 90L north face duffel bag

35.    1x The North Face Base Camp Seat Companion wallet

36.    1x spare boot laces (also handy to make a washing line to dry clothes at night)

37.    1x first aid kit (selection of plasters for blisters and cuts, bandage, zinc tape, paracetamol, Imodium, scissors, antiseptic cream and gaffa tape)

38.    1x bottle of factor 25 sun cream

39.    3x packets of jelly babies

40.    12x whole grain bars

41.    1x small padlock

42.    $150 US dollers for tips and spending money

43.    3x zip lock freezer bags (to store passport, insurance papers, mobile phone etc)

 

44.    1x thermorest trail pro (only needed if you are staying in tents as huts have mattresses although this should be checked with your travel guide)

 

Total weight 13.5kg

I also recommend for people going to high altitude to have a quick read of this booklet

http://www.medex.org.uk/v26%20booklet.pdf