Question for fellow side sleepers

Many quilt users prefer a full sleeping bag for colder weather, let's say around 20F.

I like quilts, but was hesitant at first. I bought a used synthetic quilt here on BPL years ago, that was only good for warmer weather. But it gave me the opportunity to experiment with minimum investment. I think a lot of people buy quilts that are to small around the shoulders and it causes them grief.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=75939

I am a side sleeper mainly and use both quilts and bags, if using bags I try to move with the bag, its takes a bit of practice.

Appreciate the replies and thanks for the link Doug.

I use a super spiral sleeping bag from Montbell. It has a lot of give and is very light. I'm very active and the bag works for me.

I purchased a GoLite 20F quilt a few years back and it's been great in weather above 50F since I can spread my hands wherever I want outside the bag. In temperatures between 20 and 40 it's too cold for hands to be outside so I tend to wear a puffy and camp gloves to maintain my freedom. Anything colder and I'm trapped in a mummy bag – where if I were to sleep on my side I need to move the whole bag onto its side and endure a few minutes while the backside down lofts.

I'm what they call an athletic "rotissérie sleeper…" and I never liked mummy bags…I always got tangled up in them. I tried the Big Agnes system where you slide your pad in a sleeve in the bottom of your bag…worked like a champ in terms of not letting me get tangled up, kept me from falling off the mat; it was almost perfect. I just couldn't lie on my back with my knees bent – my most favorite position for bedtime reading.

I found a great deal on a golite 1+ season down quilt and I've never looked back. It was literally the solution to all my problems…except for the problem that I now own too many quilts!

I have slept all the way to the mid teens in a quilt with only an occasional minor annoyance of keeping it tucked in under me at those temps (no margin for error there!). But otherwise, they are perfect. I do make sure to buy WIDE quilts so I have enough width at my shoulders and butt to keep it tucked under me if I need to, and so far I haven't used any pad attachment systems. I can roll over on my mat, lie on my stomach, then roll the other way, and it all pretty much stays put.

It's nice because with the quilt system you don't breathe into the hood of the bag. This was a HUGE problem for me as a side and stomach sleeper and I'm sure contributed to some shivering nights.

I am a restless side sleeper. I use a foam pad, so after about an hour of sleeping on one side, I wake up a bit uncomfortable and have to roll over. This happens 5-10 times a night.

I started using a quilt last summer, and I find it much easier (and lighter, of course) than a mummy bag. Basically, I lie on my side, and I tuck the edges of the quilt under myself. When I roll over, I repeat the process. It takes just a few seconds each time. Once I got a few nights' experience, I found that I could do it without even thinking about it and fall back to sleep almost immediately. I only use the clips (it's a Katabatic quilt) to attach to my pad when it's going to be below freezing. Even then, they don't make much difference if you tuck the quilt under you.

My quilt is normal width. If you get a wide quilt, you will find you have even more margin for error, and you'd probably have little trouble keeping cold air out when you roll over.

Great info folks and LOL @ athletic "rotissérie sleeper…" Jennifer! I can relate!

It sounds like I just need to make the switch and move to a quilt… and get practice at keeping it on throughout the night.

I'll keep my eye out for good deals on gear swap for a long+wide quilt for me and a regular+wide for the wife.

Thanks,
Brian

"I use a super spiral sleeping bag from Montbell. It has a lot of give and is very light. I'm very active and the bag works for me."

+1

I have the ULSS#3 and it works great for me as a side sleeper.

I have most of the issues described above with mummy bags, but I'm also at an in-between height (5'8" or 9", depending on who you ask), and I feel like I'm always not fitting into the hood right. (Usually, I get a face full of sleeping bag and a ton of drafts because the face hole is wide open.)

I had a bad first experience with quilts, mostly due to poor choices in sizing, etc., but I picked up one of the Golite Z30 quilts when they were on sale and have been loving it ever since.

That said, my biggest problem is getting my pillow to stay under my head.

"That said, my biggest problem is getting my pillow to stay under my head."

Let me know when you fix that in a lightweight way. So I can steal you idea! ;^)

I think my next step is to try one of these: http://smackpacker.com/2013/04/22/monkey-pillow-handcrafted-backpacking-pillow-case-review/

It looks promising, but I want to figure out the rest of my sleep system (i.e. pad in this case) before shelling out the cash for something that may not fit.

Wallace is a BPL member. He offered a discount to BPL members a few months back and I picked up a couple of these pillow cases. As one would guess, my teenaged daughter wanted the black one because it was more mature and I wanted the one with the monkeys.

I use it with an Exped UL pillow and when I don't need to sleep with it on, I throw my down sweater in there too. As a side sleeper, it works great and is really comfy.

I've tried a "pillow pocket" on a BA sleeping bag and that didn't work for me, no where to put my arm…

I’m a thrasher when I sleep – lots of movement, many different positions. Using a mummy bag as designed, and a thin foam pad, resulted in many nights of poor sleep in the backcountry.

About two years ago, I switched to a 2-inch-thick Therm-A-Rest pad – vastly improved comfort.

I was tempted to try a quilt, but couldn’t justify the expense. So I started using my sleeping bag like a quilt. I just open up the zipper all the way, and drape it over me.

Much more comfortable, and just as warm into the upper 20s. Between the thicker pad and the sleeping-bag-as-quilt, I’m sleeping much better. My next major purchase will be a quilt, maybe the EE Enigma.

I’m also a pillow mangler – sometimes I want a thin pillow (on my back or stomach), sometimes I want a thick pillow (on my side). At home, I can reshape a feather pillow literally in my sleep.

Lightweight backpacking is a whole different story. If it’s cold enough, I don’t have extra clothes for a pillow, and water bottles & similar stuff doesn’t mangle.

Just a couple of days ago I got a Big Sky inflatable pillow. Haven’t tried it yet, but it looks promising. I can sleep on the skinny part in the middle, on one of the ends, or standing on a long edge.

— Rex

". . . being a side sleeper (and fairly restless at that)."

Something that was fairly liberating to me was reading in a BPL thread this idea that maybe it isn't a bad thing that we don't sleep straight through the night. It sounds stupid but it was a real "a-ha" moment where I realized it was ok to have trouble falling asleep (especially when I don't get out for enough nights in a row to get used to it), toss and turn, wake at strange noises and then go back to sleep. You could look at it as just another part of the skill set of UL backpacking, being "comfortable enough."

As for gear, I'm a side sleeper and have also been happy with a quilt (a Nunatak Arc Alpinist) for some time. There are more options that when I bought my quilt, but in general, I'd choose:

(1) a wide quilt (maybe slightly heavier than a narrow one but worth it)
(2) appropriate R-value underneath you.
(3) the right shape of sleeping pad for you (short or full-length, tapered or rectangular, horizontal or vertical tubes)

If the quilt doesn't work, you can always sell it here and go back to a bag (maybe a Montbell stretchy bag or a Western Mountaineering bag. Both brands are popular here).

"Just a couple of days ago I got a Big Sky inflatable pillow. Haven't tried it yet, but it looks promising."

Be sure to let us know how it works for you. I am curious to know if you liked it.

My habit is to turn side-to-side within the bag. I found that a down mummy bag worked most of the time… but a couple times, I had cinched the hood to a small opening because of the cold, and later woke up, not actually panicked because I recognized where I was and such, but probably slightly suffocating from side-sleeping inside the hood and therefore a reduced oxygen supply. Loosening the cinched hood was difficult in the dark when needing a good breath of air. Decided I hated hooded mummy's.

I bought a Z-packs bag (no hoods) and added a separate Goosefeet down hood. Perfect. Hood moves with me, nose is always able to breath, and no issue with air gap/cold getting in around the neck. Love it.

Kelly

Kelly G. Side to side in the bag. Also hate to wake up with my face in the black hole. But I kept and still use the hood when really cold. When near zero in my 15deg bag, there is nothing like going full mummy on your back, battening all the hatches. Somehow…my body seems to know this is not a night to thrash around. Mindful sleep? Who knows.

Edit to add: "full mummy" is shy of covering the mouth; never want to breathe into bag. Life of striving to nose-breath generally successful. If really cold, will cover mouth with raised Turtle Fur neck gaiter. Mummy hood when off head makes really nice pillow pouch. Never drifts away.

In 2007 a Marmot Helium was my goto bag and it was a very comfortable bag but I went to quilts to save 10 oz or more. But I was not getting a good nights sleep so
I gave up my quilt and went back to a bag. I was warm in the quilt as long as I laid in place but my sleep was not good, if I rolled from side to side there were drafts and I did this for a few years. But now Zpacks bags and Feathered Friends Vireo bags are 18 oz and I get a more restful sleep. I prefer a hoodless bag, it's just warmer to have my breath outside the bag. The Nanosphere protection on the Vireo is incredible, condensation just rolls off. I went so far as to leave my bag in the rain, weighing it before and after and no weight gain, bone dry. Yet no zipper is not for everyone but it works for me.
I use my pack for a pillow with my clothes inside but I'm going to try the zpacks stuff sack pillow.

once i flip around a few times i'm out for the night so quilts are not problem for me. get the sides tucked in and i'm good. with my EE rev x 20 i use the top snap to keep it around my shoulders. my myog summer quilt doesn't have that yet but it isn't usually necessary

as for pillow, i have the exped air pillow and took a piece of stretch cord from one loop to go under the pad and attach to the other loop with a mitten hook. if your pillow doesn't have loops you can make them with a few pieces of tenacious tape and a hole punch ;)

I have a Montbell pillow which has a hole in each corner. I used thick shock cord which runs in an X pattern through the holes, and is tightened with a cord lock. I slide the pillow onto my inflatable pad, and tighten the shock cord if necessary. It's difficult to slide the pillow even if I want to.

Nick is right that a quilt may not be the best choice for some of the more athletic sleepers (you know who you are) when temperatures drop significantly below freezing. That said, to me, a quilt can nearly always be just as warm as a bag. I would not unzip your ultra-lamina all the way to experiment with quilting. Most quilts have zippers that go up as far as(or above?) the legs. so you may want to try a 2/3 unzip. Quilts also usually connect around your neck. You "could" go fetal and find your back side exposed in a quilt, but if you get a wide enough quilt it's really nothing to keep it wrapped around you through the night. The colder I am I find the more surely I do so.