Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > Sierra Designs Van Winkle 15 degree > Dennis Shubitowski > Field Report

Field Report - Sierra Designs Van Winkle 15 F (-10 C) Sleeping Bag

I began backpacking in the early 1990s. I hike in every season including winter, and I also enjoy other outdoor activities like hunting, canoeing and riding horses. My beginning pack weights were monstrously heavy, but now my average three-season load for a multi-day trip, including food and water, is usually less than 25 lb (11.3 kg). Gear that I carry tends to be the lightest I can go without sacrificing comfort or convenience.

Product Information <back to top>

Measurements

*Measured with cloth seamstress tape measure. Take these measurements with a grain of salt as this Flex sleeping bag is a little tough to measure, and I do not know exactly where Sierra Designs measured on the bag for their listed sizes.

Field Conditions <back to top>

I have used the Van Winkle for backpacking, as a comforter on my bed, lounging around while watching television, and napping on the couch. In the field, I have two trips with the bag so far and countless hours of use at home. Conditions for use while hiking have been pretty miserable and pretty cold. Temperatures have ranged from 70 F (21 C) to well below freezing with rain, snow and high winds. I have had the bag to its stated temperature rating of 15 F (-10 C) and lower several times so far. I have also used the bag with my Hennessy hammock and my four-season Garuda Pattar tent.

Field Report <back to top>

Sleeping bags are a subjective thing - what is warm to one is not warm to another. I am fairly tall and built pretty thin or aging-athletic if one prefers. At home, I tend to sleep quite warm, but in the field I sleep pretty cold for some reason. I prefer to not wear much when I sleep, and I would much prefer to have to add clothes here and there to keep warm as the temperature falls as opposed to having on everything I brought with me on the hike. The latter option gives me a few outs depending on the state of my metabolism for the night. My definition of a sleeping bag temperature rating should mean reasonably warm at the stated temperature while inside the bag, zipped up, hood on and cinched up, and not wearing any clothes.

One of the first trips I had with the Van Winkle was also one of the more interesting ones. I hiked the Manistee River Trail with a few other members from BackpackGearTest.org on the last weekend in October. The temperatures were overly-warm for the start of the weekend and were near 70 F (21 C). I set up my hammock and used a thin blue oversized closed cell foam pad for insulation that I normally use with my hammock. Instead of using the bag as a quilt like I normally do, I decided to use the Pad Locks and attach the bag to the pad in an effort to stay on the pad all night which would be an achievement for me. All that warm weather in the middle of autumn surely meant a humdinger of a thunderstorm to come. I spent the start of the night inside the bag but left it unzipped and the upper layer off me as it was so warm. The storm did not disappoint and it rained most of the night, really hard at times, and the winds were very strong with gusts probably near 40-50 mph (65-80 kph). At one point, the corner on my hammock tarp ripped - that is how strong the winds were. I zipped up the bag completely during the night as the temperature dropped. Rain was coming in sideways so it was a good test for the weather worthiness of the shell. The hammock is covered in mesh, and when rain does come through, it is like a fine mist. The bag shell was fairly wet in the morning, but water did not seem to have soaked through the fabric. I was able to wipe off the water and lay the bag over my hammock ridgeline where the wind dried it. The low of night was around 60 F (16 C) and I was just fine in the bag wearing only a silkweight Capilene base layer and SmartWool socks and throwing the upper layer over me as the wind increased.

Over the rest of the weekend, the weather continued to get colder and dropped to around the mid 40s F (7 C), but the winds stayed strong and it was raining most of the rest of the weekend. The weather was pretty miserable - it felt like it was 20 F (-7 C), humidity was high and the cold moisture seemed to infuse everything from clothes to the sleeping bag. I used the hammock/pad/bag in the same combination as the night before. I ended up pretty much sleeping with my clothes on as the group had been socializing most of the evening and I was pretty tired when I finally went to sleep. I ended up sleeping in the same base baselayers as previous, but also had on a Capilene Expedition Weight bottom, the IBEX Icefall jacket, and a Schoeller beanie cap. This combination kept me fairly warm over the night, but I did notice that my feet were cold so the hood was pretty thoroughly cinched around my head for the night going on the "if the feet are cold, put on a hat" theory. Even though I probably should have been more than warm by the bag's temperature rating, the night "felt" bitterly cold. Combine this with the vagaries of keeping warm in a hammock in nasty weather and I thought the Van Winkle did pretty well for this trip. The Pad Locks were very effective at keeping the pad underneath the sleeping bag. I had a pile of room in the bag and could move about at will - even curling up in a fetal position. I found the hood to be spectacularly large and it was one of my favorite features. I could position it closed around my face but still have plenty of room to bring my arms up behind my head and even cross them!

The next major trip was to a yearly gathering of my local hiking list in the middle of November to the old schoolhouse on the North Country Trail outside of Newago, Michigan. Most people set up a shelter and slept outside with simple facilities being available on the inside. I used my four season Garuda tent as we would be dayhiking and I could afford to bring it minus the weight penalty normally associated with carrying it. It was darn cold that weekend for fall - the weekend lows were around 15 F (-10 C) for the first night and closer to 10 F (-12 C) the next night. I brought with me all the clothes I would normally bring for a weekend if I were hiking. I used two pads - a full length Ultralight Therm-A-Rest and a full-length RidgeRest Deluxe. The RidgeRest was on the bottom and the inflatable on top. The Pad Locks were outstanding in this situation, keeping both pads together and me on top of the pads and not sliding off onto frozen ground and snow. The bag, unfortunately, was less outstanding in the "keeping-me-warm" compartment. I started the first night in my usual baselayer and socks. As the temperature kept dropping, I ended up waking up about every half hour, reaching out, and grabbing another layer - all night. I never really was warm in the bag and it felt like there was a chill about me. The next night in the bag should have been much better. We hiked during the day and had a big potluck dinner, so the metabolism was in high gear and I was kicking out warmth from all the food and fun. I started the night wearing all my layers (and I mean all of them). I had on my Capilene baselayer, a second SmartWool lightweight top layer, the expedition weight bottom layer, two pairs of socks, my beanie cap, my IBEX Icefall jacket, AND a GoLite Coal jacket with hood. I happened to forget gloves this weekend, but I made some out of an extra pair of socks. It was not a restful night and I was pretty cold even with all of these clothes on. The only option I did not use was boiling water to put in a bottle and holding that against me. If I was not so tired, I probably would have gotten out the stove to do so. I never achieved "warmth" but I was not going to shiver to death and die at those temperatures.

So, is this a 15 F (-10 C) bag? Nope - not for a skinny guy like me. It is impossible for me to say whether or not the bag is true to the temperature rating as other, larger folk may find it perfectly suitable. This is a huge bag for me. I practically swim in the bag and two of me could probably almost fit in the bag at the same time. So far from my experience, I believe that I have a lot of dead space to fill with my warmth and the bag does not feel as warm to me as a result.

Other Considerations <back to top>

At home, this is a pretty warm bag to have on the bed as a comforter. I have stopped using it for that purpose is it is hard to thermoregulate and the bag is slippery and would end up on the floor. The dog, however, loves it when this happens. I still like to use the bag lounging about on the couch though. This bag is brick to pack, but this is applicable to any bag of this size. It weighs over 3.5 lb (1.6 kg) and takes up a good amount of space in my pack. It is not soft and flexible so it takes up all the space of the stuff sack it comes with in very solid form. The Van Winkle lofts up fairly quickly in a couple minutes after being removed from the stuff sack. I have had minimal down leakage from the shell so far - just few feathers here and there. All the zippers work well and indeed are non-snag and easy to operate. I was uncertain of the point of the second short zipper on the right side of the bag, but I have actually found it quite helpful to unzip and reach out and grab things or adjust the hood. The hood, as mentioned, is awesome and the cords are fairly easy to find and adjust in the dark of night. The outer fabric shell is remarkably water resistant so far and the inner fabric is smooth and comforting. I have not really generated enough heat that would have me sweating inside the bag during weekends out, so I can't really judge how well it moves moisture or how the fabric would feel when damp. The main feature of this bag, the Flex Baffles, do not really apply for me. I am not big enough to expand the baffles out and thus have them provide the benefit of staying with me. Instead the baffles are always contracted but do flex and move when I shift my legs about.

Continued Testing Plan <back to top>

The temperature only goes down from here so I do not have much of a choice but to use two sleeping bags. This is not something out of the ordinary for me and winter camping, but I was hoping the bag would be good to 15 F (-10 C) by my scale and then the range extendable with clothing and other options. Not to be, so I will likely use my Western Mountaineering Highlite, which is a very trim-fitting 40 F (4 C) down bag) layered inside the Van Winkle. This is pretty much the same situation I have used previously for several winters except the Van Winkle replaces my other synthetic bag. Obviously, if the weather is warmer I will use the bag solo and will also try it in a quilt configuration outside instead of just in the home. I plan on measuring the loft after more bag nights and see if it still achieves the lofty status, and I will continue to monitor any down leakage. I will also wash the bag at the local laundromat and report how that works out.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Sleeping Bags > Sierra Designs Van Winkle 15 degree > Dennis Shubitowski > Field Report