Sunday, 14 September 2025

New sleeping bag

Unaccountably, I failed to write this up at the time I bought it, which was round about June. Context: I'm trying to strip weight off my back, and my existing lovely Mountain Equipement 3 seasons bag weighs 910 g. Not only that, it takes up quite a bit of rucksac space. It is nice and warm, but perhaps too warm, in that I'm usually in it naked, or near so. So why not get a lighter, smaller, less warm bag that I can supplement with e.g. a down jacket, that I'm carrying anyway? Bring on the Sea to Summit (S2S) Spark Ultralight Sleeping Bag, of which I have the 7 oC variant. This weights 343 g, and packs down quite small.

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It is full length; the hood fits over my head. The zip is only half length and this is a bit of a pain.

7 oC is not all that cold; the bag itself whilst beautifully featherly light is a touch on the thin side:

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You can see though it in a strong light. And so while it was fine in the Swedish lakes, it was definitely a touch on the cold side at 2,500 m in the Alps in early September. To be fair, I was waking to find patches of frost on the ground, and 0 oC is well under the 7 oC limit. To get a decent night's sleep I was wearing a down jacket - which made my top half fine - leggings, and two pairs of thin socks; and then the "footgloves".

Overall: it is a nice bag, but a compromise: trading lightness for warmth.

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