CHOOSING A HIKING SLEEPING BAG

 

“GREAT THINGS ARE EXPERIENCED WHEN MEN, MOUNTAINS, AND A WILDERNESS MEET”.

UNKNOWN

CHOOSING A HIKING
SLEEPING BAG

Choosing the right sleeping bag is a crucial part of hiking. And it very much depends on the circumstances you want to use it in. In most situations, a three-season bag will do the job. These are designed for use in spring, summer, and autumn. For hiking at altitude or in winter, then you may need a four-season bag.

   The most expensive, lightweight, and compact bag use high quality down. Synthetic fillings give cheaper but heavier and more bulkier bags.

   If you want to save weight when hiking, choose a three-season down bag. These are not cheap, so it’s best to get one that’s suitable for a wide temperature range. A comfort temperature rating of -5 degree Celsius should mean the bag is warm enough for most days in the Drakensberg Wilderness. In summer you will have to open the zips to remain comfy, while on colder nights simply slip into your base layers before getting into the bag.

   Your sleeping bag needs to keep you warm and comfortable, but still be light enough to carry any distance.

   Down is so efficient you don’t need much of it to keep you warm, so a down bag will be compact and low in weight, meaning you can stow it easily in a backpack.

Weight
It’s also worth noting that box construction methods produce a lighter bag than other, more elaborate designs; but other methods hold the down in place better for a more even distribution of insulation.

Fill weight
The better the down, in terms of fill power, the less of it you will need to stay warm – so a lower fill weight is required if the best down is used. By comparing the fill weight of bags with identical fill power, you can judge how warm they will be. But construction methods will also affect warmth, particularly over a period of time.

Lining material
Fast-wicking, breathable fabrics are needed to keep you dry inside a sleeping bag, but they must also prevent the down from escaping. Lower priced bags use poly-cotton, but this can feel clammy over time as it is relatively slow-drying.

Fill power
This gives a gauge of how efficient the filling is at trapping air (and therefore keeping you warm.) The higher the number, the better – and a fill power of 750 is the best generally available. However, different test methods can be used to determine fill power, so a 750 fill power down-tested in Europe may rate as 800 or 900 when tested in the US, for exactly the same product.

Temperature ratings
These are only useful as a guide: how warm you feel inside a sleeping bag depends not just on the bag itself but also on your gender, metabolic rate, food intake, exertion levels, and environmental conditions such as wind and humidity. Ratings also assume a sleeping mat is used. A season rating may be provided, such as three seasons, on cheaper bags. Better bags come with a comfort rating and an extreme (low) temperature rating.

Shoulder baffle
Sleeping bags work by trapping air next to the body, and a shoulder or neck baffle helps to keep that warm air inside the bag.

 

Side zip
Side zips that extend the whole length of the bag are provided so you can get into your bag easily and have a degree of temperature control. Two-way zips are often used so that you can open them at the bottom to allow your feet to cool down. Half-length side zips make a bag lighter and less expensive, but this may render the bag too hot to use in mild weather. The side zip should always have a substantial baffle to prevent draughts and cold spots, while an anti-snag design is essential to prevent the zip from jamming when operated.

Filling
Eider duck down is the best, but it’s also the most expensive, because it has to be hand-picked from the nests as eider ducks are a protected species. Goose down is almost as good, while duck down is a cheaper alternative. The amount of feathers that are mixed with the down affects performance, because feathers don’t provide as much insulation as down. The quality of down is therefore given in terms of how much down and feathers it contains. The best possible down is 96/4 percent, but the feathers have to be removed by hand to achieve this ratio. So usually a 90/10 mixture is used on the best bags, with 70/30 being common on lower-priced bags. Quite simply, the better the down, the more expensive, but also the more effective it will be – so you’ll need less to stay warm.

Shell material
The shell has to be breathable to allow condensation out, and yet the holes must be small enough to keep the down trapped inside. Ideally it should also be water-resistant, as down is a poor insulator when wet, so the latest bags use a highly water-resistant shell to combat the damp environment of a tent in winter.

Size

The measurements are taken across the largest ‘footprint’ made by the bag, with a measurement at the shoulders as well as from the head to toe.

Construction

The long-term performance of a sleeping bag is dictated by the construction method used. Basically, the better the construction method, the less opportunity there is for the down to ‘migrate’ and leave cold spots. A system of fabric baffles inside the bag is designed to trap the down where it is most needed, and the best bags use a number of construction methods to optimize long-term performance.

We as hikers, explorers, and
adventurers have the absolute duty to respect and protect our Wildernesses.
Nobody else will do it for us. Take ownership!

The End.

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book – The Ultimate Hiking Skills Manual –

                              A Hinkes / C Bagshaw

Photos – Willem Pelser

Compiled by Willem Pelser

Storms in the Drakensberg Wilderness

  

"WE HIKE THE WILDERNESS, SO THAT WE FILL THE SOUL, MILE AFTER ENDLESS MILE, WITH THE GOODNESS OF NATURE.”

UNKNOWN

Storms in the Drakensberg Wilderness

The magnificence and tremendous impact of a storm in the Drakensberg has to be seen to be believed.  First come the black clouds, enmeshed with billowing soft puff-balls of gleaming white. It grows ominously darker and the clouds are heavy as lead. There is a distant growl of thunder. And suddenly the storm is upon you. The cloud is split by a fiery javelin of white-hot light, a sharp crack which merges instantly with the mighty roll of thunder, and you know the dreaded thunderbolt has struck not far from you. And then they come, one after another, hammer-blows, and you stand appalled at the fury of the storm. Sometimes so rapid are the discharges that the whole sky and the boiling clouds seem to throb and glow with fire. Cataracts of flame pour down on the earth, glowing like molten iron, and the roar of the storm is an unending, deafening cacophony of sound.

   No wonder the ancients thought they were witnessing the anger and black hatred of their gods. Modern science, of course, has explained much of the wonder of the storm, especially the mechanics of lightning, but still there is much that we do not know, much that is still unpredictable.

   We know that as the thundercloud builds up it becomes a huge dynamo, generating millions of volts of electricity. Then a separation of electrical charges takes place, the positive charge streaming to the top of the cloud and the negative to the bottom.

   Then, by a complicated interaction of electrical forces, the negative charge at the bottom of the cloud induces a positive charge on the earth below it. As the cloud passes slowly over the countryside, it draws the positive charge below on the ground after it, and the two drift together, down-wind.

   It is, of course, a well-known fact that if a positive charge is brought into contact with a negative charge, electrons flow from one to the other. But the two charges do not necessarily have to touch. If they are brought close enough together, the electrons will jump the gap, causing a spark. The spark is nothing more than air intensely super-heated to 30 000 degrees Celsius in a split second. No wonder you hear a crack (the air expanding with the heat) when you touch the two terminals of your car battery together. And no wonder you hear a mighty roar of thunder, and see a spear of light, when the lower terminal of the cloud and earth come close enough together.

   One consequence of all this is that lightning, contrary to popular believe, does not strike down. Actually, three things happen almost simultaneously. First there is certainly a downward discharge of electricity, about one million volts in barely one hundredth of a second. But then there is a surge of high voltage electricity flashing back up the original path, again in a minute fraction of a second. It is the second, upward flash that does the killing. Lastly, there is a sustained and longer charge between the cloud and the earth, lasting for about one-tenth of a second. It is this charge that burns or melts the object struck. The total voltage, in a single flash of lightning, can reach 100 million volts. Of course, all this can also take place between one cloud and another, if they are differently charged. High-speed photography has proved all this.

   Heat is the main killer. When a tree is struck by lightning it looks as if the bark has been split open. That is exactly what has happened. The intense heat, passing through the core of the tree, causes the sap to expand explosively, and to burst open the enclosing bark. The electric current runs through the roots and trunk and out through the branches and leaves, raising the temperature in the flash of a second to millions of degrees centigrade.

   Lightning is completely unpredictable. There are certain general rules, but the main rule appears to be that these are continually broken! For instance, climbers are told to avoid high points during a storm, on the theory that lightning will always strike the highest point. But often, sitting on a hillside during a storm, you will see lightning striking down in the valleys below. Even so, it is a wise precaution to choose low, flat ground (not a slope) as a place to sit out a storm.

   What other precautions can one take? First of all, on no account shelter under an isolated tree. Clumps of trees, or forests, are safer, but it is better to even avoid these. Also, keep away from wire fences, posts, horses, and cattle. If you are mounted, dismount and move away from your horse. Drop anything metal you are carrying, and don’t, whatever you do, run for shelter. Running seems to produce a magnetic field which can attract lightning.

    Deep caves are safe, but avoid shallow caves and overhangs, and also cracks and chimneys, especially if water is flowing down them.

   The safest place in a storm is a car or a building. There is some evidence that in a dry storm the bodywork of a car can be damaged by lightning, but there is no known case where a person sitting in a car has been killed or even injured.

   If you have no car or house in which to shelter, the best course is to sit down on some insulating material, such as a sleeping bag, draw your knees up, put your arms around them, and sit the storm out. It is a good idea to drape something like a cape around you. Don’t lie down and down stand up. Above all, don’t panic. Remember that, statistically speaking, it is extremely unlikely that you will be hit.

   Actually, although African huts in the Drakensberg are often struck by lightning with fatal results (thatched huts are potentially very dangerous, South Africa holds a world record in this respect. Some years ago a hut in which 64 Africans were holding a party was struck by lightning, and 61 were killed instantly.), very few climbers and hikers have been struck.

   Two incidents are worth mentioning. Years ago 2 climbers were standing in the middle of a group of horses. Lightning struck and killed the 2 climbers and a horse. Years later, at Injasuthi, a park Ranger, his girlfriend and a dog was standing in one of the most exposed positions one could imagine – the highest point on a bleak, remote and rock-scarred plateau, next to some Protea trees -  watching an approaching storm coming from Monks Cowl. Then came a freak thunderbolt – one blinding flash of light – and left all 3 dead.

   Don’t take a chance, respect the mountains and her weather patterns, and always play it safe.

The End.

 

Safe Hiking.

References and Acknowledgements

From the book: Dragon’s Wrath – J Byrom/RO Pearce

Photos:  ©Willem Pelser

Compiled by:  Willem Pelser