Personal Information:
Name: Christine Korhonen
Age: 32
Gender: female
Height: 5' 4" (1.6 m)
Weight: 150 lb (68 kg)
E-mail: chris@wormguy.com
Location: Western Montana
Date: November 26, 2005

Backpacking Background:
I'm in Montana enjoying the summers and becoming re-acquainted with winter. Now that I'm back above the snow line, I'm attempting some winter camping and snowshoeing. I'm a lightweight backpacker mentally, if not always in practice. My summer pack weight is around 19 lb (9 kg) with a tent, but my winter pack still hovers around 25 lb (11 kg).

Product Information:
Manufacturer: Sierra Designs
URL: www.sierradesigns.com
Style: Women's Mist
MSRP: US $359.95
Color: Blue/Gray
Size: Regular

Measurements:
Sleeping bag
Listed weight: 3 lb 6 oz (1.5 kg)
Measured weight: 3 lb 8.4 oz (1.6 kg)

Dimensions:	Length	Shoulder	Hips	Feet
Listed	72" (1.8 m)	59" (1.5 m)	58" (1.5 m)	40" (1.0 m)

Stuff sack
Measured weight: 5.8 oz (160 g)

Dimensions:	Length	Diameter
Listed	20" (76 cm)	10" (25 cm)
Measured	19½" (50 cm)	10" (25 cm)

Storage bag
Measured weight: 4.4 oz (120 g)
Measured dimensions: 29½" (75 cm) long x 13" (33 cm) diameter

Mist Description:
The Mist is a 0 F (-18 C), 800 fill goose down mummy-shaped sleeping bag from Sierra Design's DriZone series. The Mist is a women's specific bag, advertised as narrower at the shoulders, wider at the hips, and with more insulation in the torso and foot box than the men's bags. The Mist's outer shell is made of DriZone, a type of laminated fabric. This fabric is supposed to be both waterproof and breathable. The DriZone outer fabric is light gray on top and blue on the bottom and sides. The material is crinkly and cool to the touch. The inner liner material is a darker gray, smooth and soft.

The Mist came with a multi page hang tag describing the features of the Women's DriZone series. These features are also enumerated on the Sierra Designs website and include:

Zipper - The zipper is on the right side of the Mist and is full-length. There are two sliders so the zipper can be opened from the head or the foot of the bag. Only the head slider is double-sided to be used inside and outside of the bag. This slider has a 2" (5 cm), glow-in-the dark hard plastic zipper pull with the Sierra Designs logo. A piece of DriZone material with Velcro covers the closed zipper at the head. When not in use, the Velcro fastens to itself. A 2½" (6 cm) piece of grosgrain ribbon is sewn into the sleeping bag next to the foot. This can be held when unzipping the bag from the foot end. There are two stiff cords, snag-free zipper tracks, sewn inside the bag along the zipper to prevent snagging of the zipper on the draft tubes.

Draft tubes and collar - There are two, 3" (8 cm) high draft tubes inside the sleeping bag, one on either side of the zipper. In addition to these draft tubes is a draft collar which goes around a sleeper's neck. The draft collar has a Velcro closure on the side near the zipper. The Velcro fastens to itself when not in use. The draft tube has a left-side drawstring for tightening.

Hood - The Mist has a large, well-padded hood with a left-side drawstring. The cord has two strings, one to tighten the forehead and one to tighten the chin side of the hood. The two strings are different sections of the same cord and use only one cord lock. I will test to see how difficult it is to adjust the hood properly, especially when I need to adjust one side more tightly than the other.

Pad locks - Two sets of ½" (1 cm) grosgrain ribbons with ladderlock sliders are sewn onto the side seams of the sleeping bag and are not removable. These connect underneath the bag to hold a sleeping pad in place. I will see if I can feel the sliders beneath me, and if being attached to a sleeping pad allows for a more comfortable sleep. I sleep on my side and tend to toss and turn. Does having the sleeping pad attached to the bag prevent me from doing this, or can I turn inside the bag? I'm particularly interested to see if the pad locks are useful when sleeping in a hammock.

Stuff sack - The Mist comes with a very large compression stuff sack. The stuff sack has a top compression lid attached by four sets of 1" (2.5 cm) grosgrain ribbons. Two of the sets use ladderlock sliders to connect them and two use large buckles. I am used to a compression stuff sack that has thicker nylon webbing and uses ladderlocks only, so I am interested in seeing how well the grosgrain ribbons and buckles work. In my first try stuffing the sleeping bag, the stuff sack seemed incredibly large. I was able to get the Mist in easy enough and compressed it down as far as it would go. It seems that the sleeping bag could compress more than the stuff sack allows. This stuff sack has a larger diameter than I prefer and cannot compress down smaller than 8" (20 cm) tall.

Storage bag - A bright yellow cotton storage bag with top drawstring closure came with the sleeping bag. The storage bag seems kind of small for such a large bag. I hang my sleeping bags for storage and will not be using the storage bag.

Initial Impressions:
I was initially impressed by how large the Mist is. From the outside it didn't look long, but seemed very well stuffed with remarkable loft. I got in first thing and was surprised that the bag felt a little tight. Since I'm 5' 4" (1.6 m), I was afraid the regular sized Mist, advertised to have an inside length of 6' (1.8 m), would be too long. Instead, it's the perfect length. No cold spots down at the feet of this one. In fact, it feels shorter than the short bag I've been using.

When zipping up the bag, I got the draft tube caught in the zipper quite a few times, in spite of the snag-free zipper tracks. I had a hard time zipping the bag all the way. The shoulder area was tighter than I'm used to, and it took some maneuvering to get the zipper at the right angle from inside the bag. The Velcro on the outside of the bag was easy to open and close over the zipper. The Velcro for the draft collar inside the bag was more difficult to open, although it closed easily enough. The Mist's hood also tightened easily. I'm used to closing my hood all the way so only the tip of my nose protrudes, and I wasn't able to close this hood so tightly on this first try.

I expected the draft collar to be located at my neck, but instead it's a little lower, stitched into the bag right at my shoulders. Since the collar is 4" (10 cm) wide, it was able to reach and tighten around my neck when the drawstring was pulled. I feel like I should move lower in the bag so the collar didn't hit my shoulders, but I wasn't able to do this. Once I was situated, the bag was extremely comfortable. I felt warm immediately and wanted to go right to sleep.

Test Plan:
I will test the Sierra Designs Mist on backpacks and car camping trips in Montana, Wyoming, and Michigan. I will use the Mist mostly in my hammock. I expect the temperatures to be in the 10's and 20's F (-10's and -singles C), with the potential of getting down to 0 F (-18 C).

Read more reviews of Sierra Designs gear
Read more gear reviews by Christine Korhonen

Initial Report

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