Comments on: Howff

By: PTC*

PTC* — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:21:55 +0000

Bivi style is big point, that drawcord hood on the Moonlight, the zipped-edge on mine, the various other cross-zipped and cowl-hooded affairs. As many variations as tents!

The Three Wire is a good middle ground, roomy, condensation-free with a tiny footprint, but it’s 900g.

Ach, I should leave well alone :o)

By: mattc

mattc — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:53:59 +0000

For a mere 200g I’ve been impresses with my Terra Nova Moonlite bivvy. Waterproof, fully taped, and has seemed breathable enough so far although I’ll admit it hasn’t seen massive amounts of use – but it packs down to nothing (about the same as a Haglofs Oz smock for comparison) and for me there’s simply no reason not to carry it, whether to beef up and protect a bag in a tent, as an emergency item, or simply to add options and flexibility on a backpacking trip to grab that impromptu opportunity to sleep out.

It’s not a full-on bivvy with room for kit, I guess some would describe it as a sleeping bag cover (it has a drawstring hood, so you can’t seal out the midgies), but I used it in the snowhole this winter with a PHD Combi bag and wearing my Yukon pullover and there was room for it all to loft.

I keep wondering about a ‘proper’ event bivvy or something hooped but tbh I’m not sure I’d give it enough use to justify it.

By: PTC*

PTC* — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:08:10 +0000

Aye, the Discovery Lite I’ve got is about 400g. Internal space is actually okay, but the breathability was what let it down. Well, that an impossible-to-use zip!
The MLD stuff looks good, I just worry about some of the non-eVent fabrics he uses.

For me going bivying is getting into the more inaccessible spots where I can’t get a tent, the rougher corners, and looking up at the stars of course. Next time!

By: Dave Hanlon

Dave Hanlon — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:13:36 +0000

I agree about the bag weight. Full on main stream bags are currently around a kilo (My Terra Nova Discovery in is just over 700g but it’s a small bag). You can get considerably lighter if you’re prepared to go to bespoke producers. My Mountain Laurel Designs Alpine bivvy is 360g in event. That sort of weight starts to look competative against a tent especialy since the pack volume may even let you get away with a day sack.

When all’s said and done though a tent is always going to win as a shelter. There’s no competition. But that’s not what bivvying is about. It’s about the in your face day and night being out there experience right?

By: PTC*

PTC* — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:22:06 +0000

I don’t mind double-layering a mat, I did that a few times in winter.
I’ll plan better next time too, I just wasn’t planning on being quite so “outside”, that cave would have been much drier!

Properly waterproof bivi bags need to be much lighter though, the top fabric anyway, the Laser Photon Elite is the same pack size for ten times the space of the bivi I was using.
Mmmmffff.

By: Dave Hanlon

Dave Hanlon — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:21:39 +0000

Had a similalry deflating experience with the alpikit wee airic. A bit of closed cell foam under your torso to protect your main mat where it gets the most grief and preferably putting your mat inside your bivvy bag is the way to go. Sounds a bit lavish taking two mats but a bit of that evozote foam (Gossamer gear thinlight for instance) doesn’t have to come in at more than around 50g and you can stuff it down the back of your pack. You could of course just accept the full stoney mysery of bivvying and go with an OM Duo mat or some such. Bivvying and wetness do seem to go hand in hand but it doesn’t have to be so. I’m sure you’ll do better next time:-)

By: PTC*

PTC* — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:20:12 +0000

The Airo looks like a nice bit of kit, and it’s a new manufacturere they’re using.
I did ask a little much of it, so I’ll repair it and see how it does like that.
I’ll try the Terra Nova bivi again as well and see how I do with it in different circumstances, it’s quite hard to tell what’s what as it was all new.
I’ll just maybe wait for a drier day next time.

By: Chris H

Chris H — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:57:28 +0000

One of my alpkit mats bubbled last year after 2 nights use in bothies. I emailed them and sent a photo and they replaced it no questions. I had to cut off the valve and send that in and they sent a new one back in a couple of days.

By: jamiebassnett

jamiebassnett — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:00:14 +0000

Closed Cell next time your on rough floor me thinks. I’ve got the cheap and cheerful Outwell Classic mat for those times, only weighs 180g and having it on the top of my pack has never bothered me, I quite like the old fashioned backpacker look it gives. Only problem is storing them as the mice love em!

I hope the Alpkit mats are better than they used to be, I know win this test it was being used as it probably shouldn’t obviously, the two I’ve had in the past both went crazy when wet and bubbled as the glue couldn’t handle the foam getting wet and cold inside.

By: PTC*

PTC* — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:34:00 +0000

Apprentices think they’re indestructable.