Re: [at-l] Bivy advice

[Sloetoe <sloetoe@yahoo.com>]

--- Ray Harder <ccray@showme.missouri.edu> wrote:
> tell me, a novice -- how do you dress/undress
> using a bivy.  where do you store your pack
> during storms... ray harder
> >  
> > To: dmyers@zcs.k12.in.us, at-l@backcountry.net
> > Subject: Re: [at-l] Bivy advice> > 
> > < Mr. Toad wrote,
> > < I'm looking into joining the ever growing group of bivy sack users.
> > However, our local shop carries exactly zero models to look at.  What
> > experience have you all had with them?  What features should I look
> > for/avoid?  

### Please excuse the tardy response, ToaDan... Here's my bivyness:
1) Did AT in bivy from Fontana-->Katahdin in '79. In retrospect, I would
probably do it the same way: the early going was soooo wet that a tent was
handy to have from Springer-->Fontana. Obviously, I was sold. Never used
the sleeping bag (TNF Catz Meow) outside of bivy; kept everything nice and
dry AND CLEAN. (For us clean-weenies.)(...who don't wash...)(...and may
smell...) Bivy survived throughhike in great shape, as did bag.

2) Have used 'em in all kinds of weather, including -287*F in northern
Wisconsin. I stomped a coffin-sized pit in the snow, laid down, and was
totally out of the wind.

3) Have two slightly different designs now, of faux-GoreTex, from Mountain
Tools (made by Integral Designs), and from Integral Designs. These are
exactly like the Marmot Burrow I took on the AT (stolen off the back of a
motorcycle on my way home from college...Bummer.) They are like the ID
South Wall/Col (whichever is lighter/cheaper/and lacking "hoop pole") --
which means a "chest height" opening instead of the Outdoor Research
"way-the-hell-over-yer-head" opening. Much quicker in the rain. Even my
sixyearolds are in/out with speed in a minimum of practice. Weight is
around 20/24 ozs, for reg/long.

4) Fits nicely as a lightweight system: my shelter, sleeping gear, and
backpack weigh around 10.5 pounds, if I recall from this summer. 

5) With a bivy sac, "if you can lay down, you're home." This is very handy
in New England, where you might go many miles looking for a footprint big
enough for your tent. I camped ON the trail, on bridges, on pic-a-nic
tables, on puncheon, small ledges, UNDER bridges... all with the same
bombproof shelter. This summer's LT hike found the GPS crew stealthing
UNDER a pic-a-nic table, BETWEEN logs on top of some pointy-topped mountain
near Canada, and some other fascinating places which would have been HIGHLY
problematic without the ability to split up the required footie-print.

6) Stop over and see 'em (or *borrow* 'em) anytime.

Sloetoe'd
(no relation that my mother 
know of)

7) Oh, and the dressing/undressing thing? You handle that the same way you
might handle eating: anticipate. 

=====
There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotions of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder.

T.Roosevelt 4/23/10

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