Bivvy advice

arsenal

Hey all,

I'd like to try a bivvy. How much is a bivvy bag going to cost me? I don't need anything serious, it's not going to be used that much. It's going to be a hike up in wicklow, a few hours up, spend the night and back down in the morning. Maybe the sugarloaf, I've a sleeping bag rated to -20.

Basically I'm looking for advice on the bivvy bag, how much is it going to cost me? I'm going to head up with a bag and stove, have some soup, sleep and back down. Is that abit ambitious this time of year? I don't have that much experience but I'm not planning on straying that far from civilisation. Any advice appreciated?

Thanks

adagio

Hi Op...
If your sleeping bag is down filled then you will have to be more exact in your choice of bivvy bags.
And no, it not over ambitious... was on Tonelagee wild-camping on Sat/Sun and in hindsight if I had a bivvy bag I would have left the tent @ home.. but my sleeping bag is synthetic.
Check out http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16312&category_id=253
Enjoy the hills...
A.

Sev

The alpkit Hunka model mentioned above is basic, but good value. You can close it up with a drawcord, and the only exposure you will have to the elements is a tiny hole. If you turn to your side, you wont get wet in the rain. Although breathing into your bag will cause cause moisture to condense on the inside. I've used it to bivvy in very cold conditions in Patagonia, Antarctica and the French Alps, with a -10C rated bag (Alpkit PD600), and had no problems.

You ought to be fairly comfortable in a -20C bag in an alpkit bivvy bag in Ireland, in fact you will probably be too warm.

You can spend more, say 120e or more, and get bivvy bags made from advanced materials with better breathability and air exchange that allow you to close up the bag entirely with a zip. But I've never used these and don't know much bout them. I would consider buying one for myself. The lack of a zip on the Hunka calls for some awkwardness and acrobatics when getting into it in a tight spot, and for climbers it helps to have a u-shape zip opening for anchoring yourself with a rope.

Sev

One more thing. You'll need a sleeping mat too. You can still have a miserable night's sleep in a highly rated sleeping bag (especially with down) if you're losing all your heat to the ground. The down underneath your body gets compressed and loses its insulating properties.

arsenal

Thanks for the informative replies guys. Yes the bag is down. I don't want to spend too much as I said it's not going to be used that much (well you never know....we'll see how this goes first!) or for more than a night or two. 40 pounds sounds pretty good.

Will any sleeping mat on that site do the trick? Had a quick look on GODS website and they're only selling therma-rests and they're pretty pricey!!! Like everything else I suppose...cheaper online!?

Thanks again folks.

Mitch Buchannon

arsenal wrote: »

Will any sleeping mat on that site do the trick? Had a quick look on GODS website and they're only selling therma-rests and they're pretty pricey!!! Like everything else I suppose...cheaper online!?

Thanks again folks.

Thermarests can be quite expensive alright. You could bring a thick closed cell foam mat or maybe 2 thin ones and they would be good enough. I believe that many climbers etc bring the closed cell mats as they have no chance of failing on them compared to a thermarest or similar which could puncture.

I have 2 Thermarests and an Exped downmat 9 and they have never failed on me (One of the thermarests is over 10years old), but dont go rushing out to buy them until your sure ye want one.

Sev

I agree with the previous poster. I believe a closed cell foam mat should do the job and at a fraction of the price. I've seen these on sale for like 5e. They're more awkward to cart around because they don't pack very small and they're probably less comfortable to sleep on than a thermarest.

irishlostboy

get a cheap ex army bivy bag online for peanuts. have experience with french, dutch, british and american models. all performed very well.
foam mat is fine. thermarest type mat is luxury you have to pay for