Episode 130 | Bivy Sack Camping

I have done that – put my tent directly over me when it started raining.  For a few hours there wasn’t a lot of condensation.  All night there would be a lot of condensation.

Another thing I’ll do is stake one side of the tent and fold it over itself to my side.  Then, if it starts raining I can quickly erect the tent.

Or, if there’s only a small chance of rain I’ll just leave the tent and pole ready.  And rain jacket.  Then, when it starts raining, I can quickly throw the tent over my sleeping bag, then erect it, then go back to sleep.

I am wondering if one can just use their tent as a Bivy?

I did that once, when at 2am a large branch fell on the tent and broke the pole at the head-end.  Propped my pack up next to my head to keep the fabric off my face. Worked just fine…but not well enough that I’d want to do it again :)

I started backpacking in the ‘90s using a WPB OR bivy with the alligator mouth (2 poles which anchored next to each other .. that could be opened in various ways along with the inner bug net door), and still I stopped before rain (summer Colorado mountains) to enter with a synthetic sleeping bag. That and a few mixed group trips when wriggling around inside to change

Then there’s physiology.  I sold said bivy after a trip where the night was cool instead of cold, and the bivy’s inside felt stifling (had rain threatening so did a bit of zip up).  Having btdt, think I’d like a WPB bivy more for actual cold nights, but the simplicity is undeniable for dry nights.  Maybe the new synthetics could help (synthetic parka, and saw an MLD quilt that could use said parka).   Even a few thru hikers use a store-brand WPB bivy for a few thousand miles, albeit smaller hikers and at least one had a DIY tyvek hood she’d use to keep just the bug net open.  Read about some lighter DCF set ups (UK built).

Tempting.

So, since my last post, I have bought a bivy…. OR alpine ascent shell. Not as much fun as making one like dueurt, but I wanted really good fabric, and fabric+shipping was going to cost close to the OR bivy anyway.

I did make the tarp 😊. 1.8m x 2.2m.

And just got back from my first walk testing them out. Rain the first and third night, snow the second. Only the slightest bit of condensation at the foot on the snowy night. Sort of wierd having warm feet and legs but covered in snow.

1st time tarp camping too.

I had a great time.

This was a ‘training’ run for an off-track ridge walk im planning for. Can be hard to find tent sites and wind can be extreme (leave the fly down).

Id wondered about using my tent as a bivy if the wind was bad….would work as an emergency, but decided the condensation would be pretty bad….and extra extra miserable if I was stuck in it for a couple of days.

Cheers

2nd campsite. You can see the bivy sticking out the left side of the fly.

Day after the snow, it rained off and on all day – so i lazed around and stayed in bed. Flicked a couple of leeches off the bivy – none got in 😊. Bivy dries SO fast given half a chance.

Looks fantastic 😊

I use an XL MLD Superlight Bivy virtually always, whether with a Monk Tarp, SoloMid XL or cowboy camping. It’s familiar, cuts the wind and it’s become my happy place. So I’m very interested in using a WPB bivy as my only shelter, but it seems that WPB bivies would be vulnerable to the same limitations that WPB rain gear has. Correct?
What have your experiences been in overnight downpours above treeline in these? Do they eventually wet out? Do they require specific care and maintenance to keep the WPB membrane viable?

Im not sure if this answers any of your questions, but I was in my OR Alpine Ascentshell bivy when it ‘precipitated’  (snow then rain) around 30 mm/1.2 inches over a day and a half.  I stayed put because of the high winds.

The head end was covered by my tarp  – would have been unpleasant without that. I didn’t have to breathe into the bivy bag. The ground was saturated and the foot of the bivy bag ended up in a puddle.

The foot of my quilt was damp – not dripping, but heavier feeling than normal. There was a small puddle of water inside by the end of the 2 days  – in retrospect, I should have been wiping out the condensation frequently.

Yes, the bivy seemed to wet out.

But the next day stopped raining and wind-ing and I could walk on, and my quilt dried when I slept in it the next night.

I’d do it again 🙂.

I’ve been out in light rain with just the bivy bag and it was fine.

Often get light condensation inside – dries quickly.

Cheers

Thanks for that. It would seem that even in a tent, that would potentially be a very moist situation.

That’s what I thought 😏.

I’m taking the bivvy bag (and tarp) out on my next 10 day off-track track ridge walk in a few weeks. Can’t wait.