America’s Best Backpacking and Outdoor Adventures
Sleeping Bag
Big Agnes McAlpin SL (5° F)
$360, $380 long, 2 lbs. 14 oz. (reg)
Sizes: regular and long
bigagnes.com
What should you look for in a winter sleeping bag? I want it to be warm enough, sure, but I also look for several other attributes, like a little extra space, resilience to moisture, and that it’s not too heavy or bulky and doesn’t cost more than my winter tent. Big Agnes has answered my demands with the McAlpin.
Sleeping Bag Liners
Insect Shield Cocoon Safari Bag
$80, 6 oz. (with included stuff sack)
cocoon.at
Sea to Summit Premium Blend Silk+Cotton Liner
$55, 5.5 oz. (regular, with included stuff sack)
moosejaw.com
Sea to Summit Coolmax Adaptor Travel Liner
$53, 10 oz. (mummy style, with included stuff sack)
moosejaw.com
Sleeping bags liners are essential gear for hut trips and a useful supplement to a sleeping bag, increasing a sleeping bag’s temperature rating by several degrees and keeping the inside of your bag cleaner longer—and it’s easier to wash a liner than a bag. I took several bag liners on a weeklong hut trek in Norway’s Jotunheimen National Park using them under thick, wool blankets, and these three emerged as my favorites. Each has strengths that will appeal to different personal preferences.
Sleeping Bag
MontBell UL Super Spiral Down Hugger #3
$339, 1 lb. 7 oz. (regular), $359, 1 lb. 9 oz. (long)
Sizes: regular and long
Montbell.us
We tend to buy a sleeping bag based primarily on temperature rating, price, and weight, ignoring a key characteristic that will affect how well you sleep in it as much as its warmth: comfort. I’ve slept in many bags—especially ultralight models—that are cut so narrowly to shave grams that they felt like a straitjacket. Montbell’s UL Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 provides superior comfort through a simple but unique feature: elasticized baffles that stretch and contract with your movements. The bag effectively acts like a second, much thicker and warmer layer of skin, moving wherever you move without inhibiting you at all.
Sleeping Bag
Marmot Plasma 30
$419, 1 lb. 6 oz. (regular)
Sizes: regular (6’), long (6’6”)
marmot.com
I don’t have room in my life for a heavy, bulky sleeping bag. If I’m backpacking with my young kids, carrying most of our food and gear, or loaded down for a multi-day climbing trip, I need to cut ounces everywhere possible. If I’m backpacking without my family, I want to go as light as possible. The newest bag to raise the superlight bar—or lower it, if you will—is the Plasma 30. I used it recently for five nights on the Ptarmigan Traverse in Washington’s North Cascades, and earlier this summer camping at Idaho’s City of Rocks and rafting Oregon’s Grand Ronde River.