sleeping bag/quilt advice

I keep talking myself in circles on this and am wondering if I can get some recommendations.

I am a heftier guy (5'10"/265lbs) and am looking for a new sleeping bag or quilt for summer backpacking trips in the high sierra's. It generally stays well above 40° at night, but the possibility of unseasonably cold weather even snow is their. I am a back and side sleeper and tend to toss around a bit at night.

I was eying up a Big Agnes Zirkel and then getting the wedgie expander if I needed more room in the shoulders, but have been reading about how you cannot pull your feet up (in the fetal position) with a BA. Now I'm thinking being attached to my sleeping pad might not be the best idea. Another question would be if I should get a long or regular bag. My height puts me at the top end of the regulars. I know its not a good ideal to have lots of room around your feet, but the tall bags seem to have much more room in the shoulders.

A quilt intrigues me, but I'm not sure it would work well for me if I toss and turn at night. I have Jacksrbetter.com bookmarked but since I've never seen anyone use a quilt, I am having a hard time understanding the in and outs.

Ideally I would like to get something at REI with my dividend but I seem to be finding better stuff at other sites.

If you are interested in quilts call the Jacks and talk to them. They will provide insight. From what you say here, if you go quilt, one of their larger models would probably be best.

I toss and turn, and that is part of why I love my quilts. When I toss and the quilt shifts open, I wake and re-tuck it, instead of having a claustrophic panic episode when the mummy bag gets twisted up around me.

You have very different experiences in summer in Sierra than I do - I have never been sorry to be carrying a 20F setup.

Part of the equation is always the pad - if I have a nice comfy pad beneath I toss and turn less. (If I am in my hammock, I toss around very little at all.) The more comfortable I am, the less I move around in my sleep. Which is why I have a NeoAir and have eyeballed the Expeds - but the Neo is much, much lighter and adequate for me.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah maybe I was being a bit generous with the "well above 40°" comment. I am targeting a 20-30°F bag.

I'm pretty much the same size as you, and I often, but not always, get the long bag - it really depends on the fit of the bag.

I sleep much like you describe.

I do most of my backpacking with three bags:

1) an MEC cygnet barrel bag - comfy, and was my colder weather bag - its a regular, reasonably light, down, inexpensive. I've recently replaced this with a Western Mountaineering versalite. - the cygnet was a regular, WM bag is a long.

2) an MEC merlin down mummy, rated -3C - (25f?) which I usually use quilt style - i.e. only the footbox zipped up. I can use this as a bag if it's really cold, but it's tight on me, so I tend not to - I use this as a quilt - this bag is also a long.

Really? try them on. people will tell you all sorts of stuff, but it's like boots. if it feels better to you, it's gonna be better to you.

Thanks for reply! Its great to hear from someone with a similar fit. Did you leave #3 off your list?



Yeah, I may end up doing that, but that will limit me to what REI has in stock at the local store. I've been thinking I would like to try out one of these small specialized manufacturers. I see options that I *think* would work better for me.

Look for stores that carry Western Mountaineering and Montbell - there's one in Santa Cruz, for example. Chances are good they will also have other gear that is NOT at REI to try.

California is lousy with backpacking gear places that aren't REI. Like this one - http://www.adventure16.com/content.asp?itemid=10

[quote=BZH]Thanks for reply! Its great to hear from someone with a similar fit. Did you leave #3 off your list?
[quote=phat]

Not really, I was counting the Cygnet and the Versalite as two bags OTOH the versalite is new (but I love the fit on it)

if you wanna get techical I also use an MEC emperor penguin overbag (in awful cold weather), a cheap Walmart square polyfill bag (overtop of my good down bag in REALLY awful cold weather) and I also own an exped wallcreeper pl (which is nice, but a bit heavy compared to my down bags for it's warmth - it gets used sometimes as a pseudo hammock underquilt).

If you can find a place to try on a WM versalite, and you can afford it, I'm betting you'll like it in long. but try other bags too. a really good sleeping bag, well taken care of is an investment that you can pretty much cheap out on everything else..

I definitely know that. The bag I am replacing is my father's 30 y.o. bag from REI. It still works great but it weighs over 5 lbs and is a bit of an overkill for where I am going.

Thanks for the Western Mountaineering suggestion. The Versalite looks great but a little warmer than I am looking for. However, the Alpinlite and Megalite are in the 20-30°F range. It looks like lori's suggestion of Adv. 16 carries WM.

Also, I emailed JacksRBetter he recommended the Sierra Sniveler Long with wings or the Mt. Rogers. The Mt. Rogers ends up being a little cheaper and more roomy.

I've used a quilt and don't mind them if it's above 50F.

I have the Montbell Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 (800 down, 30F, 21 oz). I really like the comfort, but haven't overnighted with it yet. It's nice because you can have the freedom of a quilt with the draft protection of a bag. And, it works great as a quilt when unzipped.

I hear these are rated a little optimistic, so get the #1 (15F) for 20F temps.