RE: [Philmont]: Christmas bags?

Re: ALPS Mountaineering and their scout discount site www.scoutdirect.com,
take a look at the Clearwater bag - $90 list price in 20 degree regular,
made of very compressible Thermolite Extreme, or $70 list in MicroX, a
Thermolite knockoff. These will sell to you for about $50 and $39
respectively. True, they're mummy bags, but it's hard to find a
good-quality, lightweight, 20 degree rectangle bag these days...too many
built-in oxymorons.

Don't be afraid of down. I don't recommend it for scouts to use, as they can
be notoriously careless and the consequences of a wet down bag put them well
into Health and Safety territory. But for an older, careful scout or a
similarly disposed advisor, it's a good choice. Many quality down bags have
newer technology breathable shells that repel small amounts of water fairly
well. Look at Mountain HardWear for examples (theirs is called Conduit SL),
many manufacturers offer similar fabrics now. As another poster mentioned,
be sure your tent is reasonably dry and use a trash bag liner in the stuff
sack for insurance. The only problem I encountered with my bag at Philmont
this summer was a slight loss of loft as it absorbed moisture from my body
which the weather we experienced the last half of our trek didn't allow to
dry. A high fill-power down bag is about the lightest and most compressible
bag available (and among the most expensive).

>Ched Hudson
ASM, Troop 994
Fairfax Station VA
Philmont 67, 04

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Received on Fri Sep 10 18:08:15 2004