A good sleeping bag can be the difference between a really pleasant camping trip and a miserable, exhausting adventure. Since it’s a somewhat hefty investment, you don’t want to make an uninformed decision. So when buying a sleeping bag, you should try on as many as possible, no matter what store you enter. Get inside and zip ‘em up. Roll around a bit. Wiggle your feet and toes.

To help you make sense of modern sleeping bags, we’ve compiled some info as a starting point to choosing a good bag. We’ve tried to keep it relatively simple.

First things first –

The Anatomy of a Sleeping bag:

• Footbox – A roomy contour in the foot area that helps your feet lay in a natural position.
• Baffles – Lateral compartments sewn into the bag to keep insulation evenly distributed.
• Shell – The outer fabric of a bag.
• Draft Tube – Insulated tube running alone the zipper to help insulate this heat leak.
• Liner – The material that sits next to your body.
• Hood – The material that surrounds the head, helping to lock in heat and greatly improving the efficiency of the bag.

Key Factors

• When/Where: Determine what time of year and in what kind of temperature you’ll use the bag. What’s its intended use?
• Insulation: You will have a choice between down and synthetic fill.
• Temperature Rating: Get a bag rated to the coldest temperature in which you’ll be camping or sleeping. Do you need 1 bag for all year, or will you be budgeting for multiple bags?
• Weight/Packability: If you’re backpacking a lot, ounces have a huge impact.
• Fit: Have you had problems with comfort of previous bags? What made you uncomfortable?
• Women Specific: Designed with more insulation in spots where women lose more heat then men; They are also shorter in length and tighter in the shoulders to reduce air pockets.

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This is the first of a series of Basics articles. In this series we hope to break down a series of topics into small introductory articles. This week we are going to look at layering:

Its natural to layer; when you’re cold, you put on a sweater. Cold feet? Slap on more socks! More layers means more ‘stuff’ between your skin and the cold outside- insulation. For the most part this gets the job done. The problem lies in that it can lead to bulky attire and inconsistent warmth. If you are insulated so that you are warm at rest, you will be too hot when active. Or if you plan ahead for that, you may be just right while active but cold when at rest.

Proper layering can help correct these problems and minimize bulky clothing, keeping motion free and unrestrained. Enter the 3-layer system that is able to wick moisture away, keep warm air in, and block out cold air and rain.

1st Layer: Base Layer or Wicking Layer

First things first – moisture. How often has a day out been soured when you stop and find some part of yourself cold and wet. I hate to point fingers, but I’m looking at you, feet. In addition to making us cold and uncomfortable, being wet inhibits movement and makes us more susceptible to colds and viruses in addition to making us uncomfortable.

Hence our first layer or “base layer”. The most important purpose of this layer is to keep you dry. That’s why long underwear is relatively thin, close-fitting to the body, and hopefully made of a wicking material. When we say wicking me mean literally like a candle wick – capillary action actively pulls water away from the skin to an outer surface where airflow and evaporate it away.

Synthetics and merino wool make ideal base layers because they are naturally wicking. These fabrics are ‘hydro-phobic’, meaning that do not absorb moisture. Instead any moisture just runs along the fibers away from the body. Many plant-based organic materials, such as cotton, are not good because they will just absorb moisture and become a wet rag against your skin, drying extremely slowly.

So the base layer is not insulating heat directly so much as it is keeping you dry so that you can keep in your body heat have already.

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