What’s your winter bag temp rating?

I have both a 0F and -25f bag,
sometimes I might add dpwn clothing or an over quilt in to the mix.

My winter down bag is -20*F. If it gets any colder than that outside, I'm not going.

It took me a while to get all of that fancy waterproof treatment stripped out of it.

–B.G.–

in tights, soft shell pants, base layer top, power stretch hoodie, wind shirt and beanie i'm good to -5* inside a single wall tent. Still in the tent, but with a full event overbag and layering inside the bag(not wearing) an ff volant (with the hood detached and on my head) and adding or neoplume pants, i've slept ok getting really close, if not past -20*. As a footnote, any time i push the bag i always start the night off with at least one, if not two hot water bottles. Also, when it gets really cold and keeping heat in your bag is clutch, don’t leave home without your bee bottle.

Of course a 0F bag is not really a 0F bag.
That's just the marketing name.
you must look at the EN rating for any kind of objective rating… the rest is marketing.
For instance, The Marmot Plasma 0 has an EN rating of 5.5F for men and 18.3 for women; not 0F

Skurka used a 0ºF bag (the GoLite Adrenaline 0) on his Alaska-Yukon Expedition with the expectation that it might hit -40. His notes say the coldest it got was -25, and it was plenty warm with the rest of his gear.

Of course, not all of us are Skurka.

"not all of us are Skurka."

His metabolic rate is probably about ten times mine.

–B.G.–

layering is key for me as i sleep warm, bag bivy clothes pads etc. slept well down to -16 layering xtherm pad, thinlight pad, zpacks bivy zpacks bag, puffy down jacket

Billy, yer keerect about advertised temp ratings. I've had "-5 F" bags be barely OK at -5 F. with polar weight long johns, balaclava and heavy sox.

On the other hand my WM Megalite 30 F. bag was JUST warm enough at 24 F. so it all depends on the company. I feel very safe with the high quality EB bag being close to its advertised rating.

Skurka used a 0ºF bag (the GoLite Adrenaline 0) on his Alaska-Yukon Expedition with the expectation that it might hit -40. His notes say the coldest it got was -25, and it was plenty warm with the rest of his gear.

I would be very careful interpreting the above info.
I followed that trek with great interest and IIRC he managed to find some sort of fixed structure to sleep in on at least many of the coldest nights.
Those were certainly not 65F room temperature accommodations like I'm in as I type this but even just a 10-20F temperature improvement closes the gap between his gear and his environment.
And don't forget that his cold weather technique is rock solid and tested … that being just as important as the gear.
With the amount of planning he seems to do I'd bet that those inside options were not just lucky finds that he stumbled upon.

Of course, not all of us are Skurka.
Indeed we aren't (speaking for myself, anyway)!
Also note "the rest of his gear" includes VBL clothing almost from head to toe … it helps!

My cold temp rating is 0°F , so going to try nesting my 2 EE quilts (20°F plus 40°F, one wider than the other) … probably in a XL bivy. At 0°F hot breakfast starts icing over without an insulative mug IME, so not interested in going lower.

"Billy, yer keerect about advertised temp ratings. I've had "-5 F" bags be barely OK at -5 F. with polar weight long johns, balaclava and heavy sox.

On the other hand my WM Megalite 30 F. bag was JUST warm enough at 24 F. so it all depends on the company. I feel very safe with the high quality EB bag being close to its advertised rating."

It's really hard to compare different bags with different temp ratings from different manufacturers on different trips at different temps at different humidity at different wind factors and different individual body conditions (how exhausted you are, what you ate for dinner, how you are dressed in your bag, etc etc)…

you can kinda get a feel for it, but it is TOTALLY subjective even when using EN ratings…. unless maybe you had about 6 bags on the same trip to jump in an out of to compare… but that's not likely.

The best comparison is the EN ratings, but that is problematic across all manufacturers because some of the best bags like WM and FF don't do EN ratings :(

Billy

Billy

There was a thread recently that highlighted that the EN system is not accurate for winter bags. I'm on my phone and searching is a pain so maybe someone else can link to it. There is a PDF published by Mammut that shows the evidence as to why the testing methodology for EN is no longer valid below about 10F.

"Also, when it gets really cold and keeping heat in your bag is clutch, don’t leave home without your bee bottle."

I'm pretty sure bee's aren't going to last very long in negative temps… ; J/K.

I have a 0 degree quilt that's technically for Becky when we go out in 20 degree temps, but which i've used on solo trips at 0 degree and down to -3 or so degrees no problem, except for that night where i had to share it.

It will be even better when i sew some M50 material to the bottom like i did with my previously 40 degree quilt. I've also decided to cut out the foot box zipper and sew it up instead. Don't see the point in a foot box zipper on a cold weather quilt.

I have one of the original GoLite 20˚F quilts and a WM Puma MF (-25˚F). I find these are the sweet spots without owning a half dozen bags.
The GoLite can be taken colder by wearing additional layers – I'd say down to 0˚F on an XTherm mat. From there the Puma works until you add a vapour barrier taking you down to, say, -35˚F.

two "bags" as well, one actually a quilt (Palisade) and a 15 degree Helium- the Helium is used most often for winter outings- w/ my down parka, pants and booties I can comfortably sleep in 0 degree weather (xtherm and a 1/4 ccf pad underneath). on the rare (very rare) occasions that I go out w/ colder temps expected, I'll throw in the Palisade too

I had a 0 degree bag (Lithium), but found my Helium was up to the task the majority of times I'm out in the winter

I really wanted to be happy with using a 20f bag with a 30f quilt
over it, but find a dedicated bag much warmer (and lighter)

Stephen- I agree, if you're doing a lot of overnights in -0 weather it's better to bite the bullet and get a dedicated winter bag; if it's only occasionally- a 10-15 degree bag and a 30 quilt will cover most of the temp spectrum year round

I would have kept my Lithium, but it was seeing such infrequent use, couldn't justify three bags

Where I live in Michigan gets some brutaly
cold temps, this time of year I am either packing a WM Kodiak or Puma, I don't like getting cold at night :-)

Stuart, is that Mammut PDF this one?
https://www.mammut.ch/images/Mammut_Sleep_well_pt1_E.pdf

Section 8.7 (p29) suggests bags rated below -24C would be “outside the standard” due to differences in clothing conventions (VBLs, down suits), heat lost from sweat and respiration, etc.

-J

Jeremy & Stuart.

Verrrry interesting Mammut monograph on EN ratings. Thank you.

So, as of now we just have the manufacturer's reputation for temperature ratings on bags. Western Mountaineering and Feathered Friends come to mind as U.S. makers of winter bags whose temperature ratings are close to accurate.

Also Montbell's spiral "Down Hugger" winter bags seem like they would be accurate in their temp. ratings.

I may never know if Eddie Bauer's bag ratings are accurate because I've decided to send my Karakoram 0 back due to the faulty so-called down collar. It is just too much to remove it and make a proper down collar while swallowing even their bargain price. Maybe they will get it right next year.

I DID get a reply from an EB tester/guide on Facebook when I complained there about the strange "collar". He said he would call it to the attention of EB designers.