Katabatic Gear Quilt advice

Aaron- ouch!

the loft in the chart has worked pretty well for me, but it's just a rough guide, nothing in stone for sure- too many variables, the individual being one the biggest

Yes, that was before I learned that eating a good 1200+ calories before going to sleep helps immensely.
I'm pretty sure I was feeling crapy that night with my 30 pound load and just wanted to go to sleep without eating much.
Crazy what 5 little more ounces of down can do in terms of warmth in a quilt.

For 30 degree and under quilts, I much prefer a hoodless sleeping bag. I very much prefer the ZPack designs. For above those temperature ranges, I prefer a wide quilt that can be fully opened up. I have an overstuffed 40 degree quilt (~35deg) and a 20 degree ZPacks bag. For my location, this setup works great.

There are many contributing factors toward whether we will sleep warm or cold on a given night with a quilt vice mummy bag:

> metabolism/fitness/exhaustion level
> evening/a.m. calorie intake
> R-rating of pad (often overlooked, especially by gram weenies)
> Shelter (or lack thereof)
> Beanie/balaclava