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Minimal Multi-purpose Gear
Paul C. Griffith
We have great ultralight tents and sleeping gear these days, thanks to folks like Henry Shires, Ron Moak, and those 900 fill power geese at Marmot. But, if you are as lazy as I am, you'll lose the tent and half the sleeping bag, and sleep in your rain gear and a down quilt.
A sil-nylon poncho weighs six to eight ounces, depending on size and material (1.1 or 1.3 ounce fabric). It replaces your rain gear and your tent. For more protection, add an ultra-light bivy sack/sleeping bag cover. It will protect your down quilt/bag if a windy downpour challenges your poncho shelter. And it will add maybe ten degrees to your bag's comfort range. The Equinox model weighs just 6.5 ounces. and costs $59. See Backpackinglight (www.backpackinglight.com) for a review of the Campmor/Equinox poncho, or BackcountryGear (www.backcountrygear.com) which sells the Equinox poncho and bivy.
I've made a poncho that converts to a bivy bag, using a separating zipper to join the sides of the poncho and drawstrings in the end hems to close the foot end and cinch up the head end. Pertex "Epic" waterproof/ breathable fabric was used on the top side. The poncho is tapered rather than rectangular, to produce a tapered bivy. As a poncho, the wide end goes over the pack - the narrow end goes in front. It weighs 10.5 ounces. But a commercial poncho and Equinox bivy only add up to 14 ounces, and provide more protection and flexibility.
Compared to a tent, a poncho is multi-purpose (you can lose your other rain gear). A bivy bag protects only what needs protecting: you and your insulation. If you spend time sitting around in the evening, you will appreciate some dry and bug-proof tent space around you while you read or play solitaire. But if you hike until you start bumping into trees, then go to sleep - a poncho and/or bivy and a little DEET on your face is all you need. Plus, you don't need tent stakes or poles. And I've never seen an occupied bivy bag blow away.
Quilts: Ray Jardine pointed out the obvious, that lofted insulation loses its loft when you lie on top of it. But people seem as attached to those sleeping bag bottom halves as they are to their tents. Golite, for example, dropped the quilts it was selling. You can make a synthetic quilt in an evening following the directions in Jardine's book "Beyond Backpacking".
But down is better. I've also made and used a down version of the Jardine quilt. I was too cheap to buy a Nunatak (www.nunatakusa.com) down quilt. Sierra Designs has introduced a model they call the "Wicked Fastbag". It is an 800-fill down quilt that zips to a polyester bottom sheet. The 30 degree model weighs 21 ounces. You could leave the four-ounce bottom sheet behind, especially if you have a bivy bag, giving you a 17-ounce quilt. The 45-degree model weighs 15 ounces - maybe as little as 11 ounces without the bottom.
This is comparable to Nunatak's new "Edge" model. The Sierra Designs "Fastbag" (sans bottom sheet) can be wrapped around your shoulders like a shawl for warmth while cooking or taking a break on a cold day and it also opens flat like a Jardine quilt. The Sierra Designs quilts sell for around $200 and are available off the shelf. (See Recreational Equipment Incorporated items #707138 and #707129.) Nunataks are around $300, made to order, with lots of options on size, shape, fill, and fabric.
If the weather is nice you could take an Equinox bivy and the summer weight Fastbag (minus the bottom sheet) or Nunatak Edge for a total weight of 18 ounces! If it rains, put the bivy over your shoulders. If you're going on a longer, cooler hike; the poncho and a 30-degree Fastbag with bottom sheet total 28 ounces. Add the bivy for a total of 35 ounces and then it's "I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I got my plastic Jesus". And you don't need a rain jacket or insulated vest - just put on the poncho and/or wear the quilt as a shawl! It worked for me through the Sierras and North Cascades.
Lastly, three to five ounces of cut-down blue foam, RidgeRest, or Zrest is all you need under you. Pick a level spot of dirt, sand, or duff. Clear the rocks and pine cones. Make slight depressions for your hips and shoulders. Then lie down. You don't need a self-inflating pad to be comfortable.