My climbing companions and I trudged into camp round midday on Mt. Rainier, and I instantly tore off my boots. We’d been on the transfer since 9 p.m. the evening earlier than — a 15-hour push to the summit and again from a low camp. I dragged myself into my Western Mountaineering Alpinlite sleeping bag and plunged into what felt like a 5-hour coma — fairly probably the deepest sleep of my life.
That high quality of sleep felt like a development whereas I used to be testing the Alpinlite. Was it due to the bag’s prime quality down and roomy inside or extra a results of my pure exhaustion each time this bag accompanied me into the backcountry? In all probability somewhat little bit of each. Regardless, the Alpinlite has been good for backcountry sleeping from shoulder season by means of summer time within the mountains.
Western Mountaineering’s Alpinlite sleeping bag hasn’t modified a lot since I attempted to persuade a buyer I might stuff it right into a Nalgene once I labored in retail a decade in the past. Since then, it’s been a mainstay in GearJunkie’s Finest Backpacking Sleeping Luggage. So, I stuffed this long-standing fan favourite into my backpack and headed into the mountains.
In brief: Western Mountaineering’s sleeping baggage are gentle, handmade, easy, and downright premium. The AlpinLite is their 20-degree providing, which sports activities a full hood, offset steady baffles, and 21 ounces of top-quality 850+ fill goose down, all wrapped in a roomy but ultralight 12D ripstop Nylon shell. I put this poofy bag to the take a look at over the spring and summer time in Colorado’s snowy backcountry and within the Cascades, and man, did I sleep effectively.
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Shell cloth
12-denier ripstop nylon -
Packed quantity
5L -
Weight
1 lb., 15 oz. -
Insulation
850+ fill goose down -
EN temperature score
(Decrease restrict) 14°F -
Consolation score
25°F
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Huge girth permits further layering in very chilly circumstances -
Giant draft tube and collar seal in heat -
Premium high quality excessive loft down
Western Mountaineering Alpinlite Sleeping Bag Evaluation
Weight & Supplies
Is there a greater feeling than tucking right into a heat sleeping bag on a crisp evening after an extended day on the path? Perhaps, however crawling into the Alpinlite this spring and summer time actually stood out to me. It is a plump, cozy bag — and people aren’t adjectives I usually use to explain ultralight gear.
It’s not a secret how Western Mountaineering overcame the dichotomy. The model merely stripped a sleeping bag all the way down to its truest essence — ultralight and breathable 12D nylon ripstop nylon shell, 21 ounces of premium goose down, and a #5 YKK zipper. That’s principally it.
But the model didn’t skimp on consolation. The Alpinlite’s inside is beneficiant in comparison with most ultralight baggage. It’s 65 inches on the shoulder and 56 inches on the hip — which implies aspect, stomach, and erratic sleepers alike can be thrilled.
Heat
Western Mountaineering makes use of a nonstandard score for its sleeping baggage. The model claims it’s someplace between a typical consolation score and a decrease restrict score based mostly on real-world expertise and buyer suggestions over a few years. In line with this method, the Alpinlite is rated at 20 levels.
The Alpinlite additionally has a regular EN temperature score: 25° Consolation, 14° Restrict, and -21° Excessive.
The Alpinlite is a heat bag, and I’m a heat sleeper. And I’ll be sincere: I’ve used this bag as a blanket as usually as I’ve zipped up into full mummy mode. On the most well liked summer time nights in Colorado, it may be laborious to be in the identical tent as a bag this heat and lofty.
On the flip aspect, I deeply appreciated the Alpinlite’s loft throughout freezing nights above treeline whereas tenting on the snow throughout spring snowboarding overnights. I discovered it greater than heat sufficient to lull me to sleep even within the coldest components of the shoulder season so long as I had a sufficiently insulated sleeping pad. My Outside Vitals Oblivion, paired with a foam pad beneath, did the job.
It’s a real three-season bag. When temps dropped to round 20 levels, the Alpinlite’s decrease consolation vary, I nonetheless felt heat sufficient. It’s a conservative score. Being a usually heat sleeper, I wouldn’t hesitate to deliver this bag excessive into Colorado’s mountains deep into the shoulder seasons.
I discovered it simple to layer contained in the bag to increase the heat additional. That’s a giant good thing about extra generously becoming sleeping baggage. However most of the time, I discovered myself stripping layers somewhat than including them.
Down Fill
It’s laborious to overstate simply how lofty this sleeping bag is. Once I pulled it out of its storage sack and rolled it out on the bottom, it rapidly plumped as much as a powerful 5.5 inches tall off the bottom. Pure lofty insulating down and air. That loft is a product of the high-quality 850+ fill down that fills the sleeping bag’s baffles.
A sleeping bag’s fill energy is the quantity of 1 ounce of its down (cubic inches) decided by a standardized measurement course of in a lab by a 3rd occasion. So, the Alpinlite’s 850+ fill energy down takes up over 850 cubic inches per ounce. So the 6’6″ Alpinlite’s 21 ounces of down equates to about 10 cubic toes of top-quality down stuffed into these baffles.
A excessive fill energy doesn’t essentially make a sleeping bag hotter. A better fill energy, due to this fact greater high quality down, simply implies that much less down is required to make an equally heat sleeping bag. It’s actually all concerning the loft and corresponding compressibility. Excessive-quality down puffs up large and packs down tiny. That’s why Western Mountaineering swears by the stuff.
The lightest bag that I can confidently backpack with throughout Colorado’s summer time is Outside Vitals’ 30 StormLoft Down High Quilt, which weighs in at 1 pound, 6 ounces within the lengthy model. The AlpinLite is simply 11 ounces heavier (and somewhat bit bulkier), however it comes with a full mummy mode design that provides a ton of versatility.
Would I need one thing somewhat bit hotter for the useless of winter? You wager. I wouldn’t hesitate so as to add a lofty liner, like Western Mountaineering’s personal Everlite, to push it deeper into the colder months.
Baffling
High-notch down is barely a part of the heat equation, although. Baffles, or the chambers and tubes that home all of the down, distribute the fluffy stuff evenly round your physique in a sleeping bag. Western Mountaineering places an emphasis on the baffling format of all its baggage.
The 6’6″ AlpinLite makes use of 17 steady horizontal baffles that wrap all the best way across the bag from zipper to zipper. They’re simple to see from the surface. And, the baffles make the most of separate inner and exterior stitching joined by a wedge of cloth to get rid of chilly spots from the seams.
The Alpinlite additionally has a full draft tube — a full-length vertical tube of down that parallels the bag’s zipper. When the bag is absolutely zipped up, the draft tube blocks heat air from escaping and chilly air from penetrating the cocoon of heat by means of the zipper. It’s one of many refined options on this bag that makes a giant distinction when tenting close to the underside of its temperature score.
The Alpinlite is likely one of the lightest baggage in Western’s vary. It employs a draft collar to additional seal within the heat and lengthen the consolation of this bag into the shoulder season. It’s a further horizontal down-filled tube that wraps properly round your neck once you’re zipped up into mummy mode. A drawcord cinches it all the way down to seal within the heat.
Choices
Western Mountaineering baggage are all handmade in its San Jose, Calif., manufacturing facility, so the customized choices are plentiful. The Alpinlite, like its different baggage, comes with both a left-hand or right-hand zipper. It’s additionally provided in 5’6″, 6’6″, and seven′ lengths to accommodate extra physique varieties.
At 6’1″, I went with the 6’6″ possibility so I might burrow into the bag when the temperature actually dropped. It added somewhat little bit of packing bulk. However I undoubtedly appreciated having further room, particularly for once I stuffed gasoline canisters, further socks, and lengthy underwear that wanted to remain heat or dry within the footbox.
Longevity and Sturdiness
Although I’ve been testing this sleeping bag for a couple of months, that is removed from my first Western Mountaineering sleeping bag. I’ve been sleeping in a Versalite, one step up in heat from the Alpinlite, for a decade. Whereas barely hotter, it sports activities the identical Extremelite cloth, zipper, and common format.
I can attest to its longevity. After 10 years of heavy use however ample care, my Versalite stays impressively lofty. Certain, I’ve punctured it a couple of instances — 12D ripstop Nylon isn’t bulletproof — however Tenacious Tape has sealed it again up. Excessive-quality down lasts a very long time, and Western Mountaineering baggage do, too. And in the event that they don’t, they’re lined by Western Mountaineering’s lifetime guarantee.
The California manufacturing facility has different advantages, too. For one, they’re in a position to deal with most repairs proper contained in the manufacturing facility. However the true secret is Western’s customized overfill program. For a small value, they’re ready so as to add extra all the way down to your sleeping bag’s foot field or the whole bag in 1-ounce increments.
Room for Enchancment
I’ve struggled to give you reliable cons for the Alpinlite. It’s easy and high-quality all through. I had the zipper jam fairly dangerous as soon as in the course of the evening on the very backside, the place there’s somewhat gusset of cloth that received snagged. And the tiny piece of Velcro on the collar is fairly weak.
However these are each so minor that they barely justified a point out.
The one trade-off most readers will care about is the worth. The Alpinlite ranges from $695 to $715, relying on the size. That’s greater than thrice the worth of an entry-level down bag like The North Face’s Path Lite Down 20 and over $100 greater than Mountain Hardwear’s high-end Phantom 15 sleeping bag. High-quality handmade sleeping baggage include a price ticket to match.
Western Mountaineering Alpinlite Sleeping Bag: Conclusion
The Western Mountaineering Alpinlite sleeping bag, with a 14-degree decrease restrict, is likely one of the most interesting down sacks in existence at that temperature score. All of it begins with the fill. The Alpinlite makes use of extremely lofty 850+ down fluffed into steady offset baffles that each one however promise a heat evening’s sleep for 3 full seasons of the yr.
And all that premium down, mixed with the ultralight cloth and no frills, means the Alpinlite can pack down right into a tiny package deal. In its stuff sack, it’s sufficiently small for bikepacking, fastpacking, thru-hiking, and every other in a single day journey you possibly can throw at it.
It comes at a premium value. However devoted outdoor individuals can be thrilled with the bag’s high quality, versatility, and long-lasting loft in the event that they deal with it with care.