RE: [Philmont]: sleeping bags

Sleeping bag ratings are a guide, not a rule. That is, if you are
comfortable in a 35-degree back by one manufacturer, you will likely be
comfortable in any 35-degree bag from _that_ manufacturer.

What I recommend to Scouts (and adults) is to use a set of polypro underwear
as pajamas. If you tend to sleep warm, use a lightweight pair. If you get
cold in your bag, use a mid-weight set. For snow camping, I use an
expedition-weight set (and a lower-temperature bag). On our 1993 trek, I
used a 35-degree bag with mid-weight polypro. This year, I'll probably use
a 20-degree bag with lightweight underwear.

The advantage of polypro (or its equivalent) is that if you or your bag gets
wet, you still have some insulating power. It wasn't true for any of our
Philmont crews, but at our Sierra Nevada summer camp, we sometimes
experience enough rain that cheaper tents can't keep it all out. One year,
it was three days of constant rain with night-time temperatures in the
mid-thirties. Several troops left mid-week because they could no longer
keep their Scouts warm (dry was long out the window). Our troop was the
only one where we required no support from staff to keep our Scouts from
hyperthermia.

Alan R. Houser
ASM, Troop 24 Berkeley
Philmont Crew Advisor, 1993, 2006

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Received on Fri Mar 10 14:26:19 2006