I tested out Colin’s sleeping bag on the balcony to see how it would work in the weather today. The weather was 8C, with a NE 13km wind. It was raining. Although I was out of the rain on the balcony, the air was damp. Colin’s bag is a MEC Oasis sleeping bag. It’s rated to 10C if you have the light side up and 0C if you have the heavy side up. Unbeknowst to me, I had the light side up, so it was rated to 10C. I was wearing synthetic gym socks, cotton leggings and a long sleeve cotton shirt (I know cotton isn’t good for winter/spring camping but I thought I’d see what happened). I was also wearing a belaclava made out of light polarfleece. I synched up the draw strings at the top so that the bag was fairly tight at the top- a bit smaller than shoulder width on me.While in the bag, I tried changing position a few times to see how that affected things. I stayed outside for about 20-25 minutes.
The first thing I noticed is that Colin’s bag is considerably larger than I am. I warmed up the space around me and the part of the bag that I was touching fairly quickly. When I moved around a bit I cooled down. The parts of the bag that I wasn’t directly touching were cold to the touch.
I’ve never bothered to pull the draw strings on the top of this bag before and I really liked the effect. Normally when I move around, I can feel the cold air rushing in to the bag. This time, the bag moved with me and I felt very snug, even though I could feel the wind quite strongly on my face.
After about twenty minutes I was feeling cool and my toes were getting cold. However, it wasn’t too severe. If I had been wearing thicker socks and a sweater I judge that I could have made it through the night, although I suspect that even with the extra clothes I would have been a bit uncomfortable by morning.
Now I need to test out the 0C side to see if that makes any difference.
posted at 19:59 on Sun, 03 Apr, 2005 |
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