[at-l] Helping a newbie Part 8: Sleeping Bag Selection

[Jean-Paul Miller" <jeanpaulmiller@hotmail.com (Jean-Paul Miller)]

> Nunatak Gear.   www.nunatakusa.com    Mine is a small ghost blanket.
> They have a couple different types.  There's one on clearance right
> now.  :)  (But it wouldn't fit Shane's friend.)
>
> -amy

amy and anyone else that has suggestions

i have thought of goign with a blanket and i used my sleeping bag that way
many a times.

i am in the market for a new sleepgin bag. i think i ruinedmy synthetic.. it
is not workgin quite as well anymore.  i used to be allergic to duck down or
goose down or chicken down (some bird feather) when i was a little kid. i
dont seem to be anymore.  and i never got my sysnthetic wet ever even in
massive down pours the only time i ever got it wet was from sweating in it
cause it was to warm (whihc i hear down regulates better) so i was thinking
of goign down sleepgin bag this time...  my primary candid has been teh
campmor 20 degree mummy or rectanglur (depending on which one was more
comfortable) i have picked this bag becasue of its relative lightweightness
(goign form a zero degree sythetic to a 20 degree down anything is a great
weight saving)  and at only ~120 dollar it is aroudn the right price

but i have also seriously considered goign with a blanket(more then a pound
lighter and seemingly more room)... things that consern me with
blankets..they are much more expenisve($299)whihc is not two big a concern

but i am also worried about a three other things which make the money matter
alot more.

how do you keep you feet under the blanket (do they have a foot box to shove
them in like my mummy) . they say they have a foot box is it the same thing
as a mummy liek thin a cup to place your feet in?

i tend to sleep on my stomach and my back(aleternating)... (i also sleep on
the floor at home - after my thruhike attempt i can not stand beds and i
sleep with nothign more then a blanket underneath me so i dont have carpet
face in the morning and some sheets on top so i sleep the same way when
hiking).

while sleeping on my stomach i tend to have one leg bent up a bit (so i dont
feel as rolly) then i am confortable and with a shirt under my head and
chest(or a really old flat pillow) i sleep like the dead. this
whiel sleeping on my back i sleep classic mummy style (or sometiems with my
arms on my face) and no pillow under my head

this all conserns me becasue i would be worried abotu tossing and turning
and coldness always comign in.. and also worried abotu my knee escaping the
warmth and waking me up all night. with a mummy i think it expands out more.
then the blanket would and my knee was always safe.

i also use a bivy
http://www.outdoorresearch.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?action=SERVE&item=catalog/b
ivy_sacks/basic_bivy_sack.html
(it is a 20oz apprently although mine is only 16oz go figure)
it is a simple bivy no hoops or anything jsut a bag you can sleep in. keeps
the bugs off ya with a net and you can fodl a cover over  your head to keep
the rain out.. it is not the most comortable but it works and i try to stay
in shelters. i used to also have a tarp but theat went missing on me <sigh>
how would a blanket work in a bivy do you think?

what are your thoughts? anyone?

that Nunatak company (inuit?) makes two things that interest me... they make
the "ghost blanket" and the "back country blanket".. am i missing anything

i have looked at go-lite and was NOT impressed. and i have consiered makgin
it myself but getting all the right materials becomes very expensive time
consuming and can be royal messed up.

any other blanket companies out there?

wisperlight