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 night time 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 presumably the deepest sleep of my life.
That high quality of sleep felt like a pattern 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? Most likely slightly little bit of each. Regardless, the Alpinlite has been excellent for backcountry sleeping from shoulder season by summer season within the mountains.
Western Mountaineering’s Alpinlite sleeping bag hasn’t modified a lot since I attempted to persuade a buyer I may stuff it right into a Nalgene after I labored in retail a decade in the past. Since then, it’s been a mainstay in GearJunkie’s Finest Backpacking Sleeping Baggage. So, I stuffed this long-standing fan favourite into my backpack and headed into the mountains.
Briefly: Western Mountaineering’s sleeping luggage are mild, 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 season 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 additional layering in very chilly circumstances -
Giant draft tube and collar seal in heat -
Premium high quality excessive loft down
Western Mountaineering Alpinlite Sleeping Bag Assessment
Weight & Supplies
Is there a greater feeling than tucking right into a heat sleeping bag on a crisp night time after a protracted day on the path? Perhaps, however crawling into the Alpinlite this spring and summer season actually stood out to me. It is a plump, cozy bag — and people aren’t adjectives I typically 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 luggage. It’s 65 inches on the shoulder and 56 inches on the hip — which suggests facet, stomach, and erratic sleepers alike can be thrilled.
Heat
Western Mountaineering makes use of a nonstandard score for its sleeping luggage. 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 accordance with this method, the Alpinlite is rated at 20 levels.
The Alpinlite additionally has a normal 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 typically as I’ve zipped up into full mummy mode. On the most well liked summer season nights in Colorado, it may be exhausting to be in the identical tent as a bag this heat and lofty.
On the flip facet, 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 Out of doors 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 typically heat sleeper, I wouldn’t hesitate to deliver this bag excessive into Colorado’s mountains deep into the shoulder seasons.
I discovered it straightforward to layer contained in the bag to broaden the heat additional. That’s a giant good thing about extra generously becoming sleeping luggage. However as a rule, I discovered myself stripping layers fairly than including them.
Down Fill
It’s exhausting to overstate simply how lofty this sleeping bag is. After I pulled it out of its storage sack and rolled it out on the bottom, it shortly plumped as much as a formidable 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 social gathering. 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 ft of top-quality down stuffed into these baffles.
A excessive fill energy doesn’t essentially make a sleeping bag hotter. A better fill energy, subsequently larger high quality down, simply signifies that much less down is required to make an equally heat sleeping bag. It’s actually all in regards to the loft and corresponding compressibility. Excessive-quality down puffs up massive 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 season is Out of doors Vitals’ 30 StormLoft Down Prime Quilt, which weighs in at 1 pound, 6 ounces within the lengthy model. The AlpinLite is simply 11 ounces heavier (and slightly bit bulkier), nevertheless it comes with a full mummy mode design that provides a ton of versatility.
Would I would like one thing slightly 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
Prime-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 luggage.
The 6’6″ AlpinLite makes use of 17 steady horizontal baffles that wrap all the way in which across the bag from zipper to zipper. They’re straightforward to see from the skin. And, the baffles make the most of separate inside 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 the zipper. It’s one of many delicate options on this bag that makes a giant distinction when tenting close to the underside of its temperature score.
The Alpinlite is without doubt one of the lightest luggage in Western’s vary. It employs a draft collar to additional seal within the heat and prolong the consolation of this bag into the shoulder season. It’s an extra horizontal down-filled tube that wraps properly round your neck while you’re zipped up into mummy mode. A drawcord cinches it all the way down to seal within the heat.
Choices
Western Mountaineering luggage are all handmade in its San Jose, Calif., manufacturing unit, so the customized choices are plentiful. The Alpinlite, like its different luggage, comes with both a left-hand or right-hand zipper. It’s additionally supplied in 5’6″, 6’6″, and seven′ lengths to accommodate extra physique varieties.
At 6’1″, I went with the 6’6″ choice so I may burrow into the bag when the temperature actually dropped. It added slightly little bit of packing bulk. However I undoubtedly appreciated having additional room, particularly for after I stuffed gasoline canisters, additional 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 basic 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 luggage do, too. And in the event that they don’t, they’re coated by Western Mountaineering’s lifetime guarantee.
The California manufacturing unit has different advantages, too. For one, they’re capable of deal with most repairs proper contained in the manufacturing unit. However the true secret is Western’s customized overfill program. For a small price, they’re in a position so as to add extra all the way down to your sleeping bag’s foot field or all the bag in 1-ounce increments.
Room for Enchancment
I’ve struggled to provide you with official cons for the Alpinlite. It’s easy and high-quality all through. I had the zipper jam fairly unhealthy as soon as in the midst of the night time on the very backside, the place there’s slightly 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. Prime-quality handmade sleeping luggage 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 without doubt one of the best 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 every one however promise a heat night time’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 some other in a single day journey you’ll be able to throw at it.
It comes at a premium value. However devoted open air 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.