cirpich

Not many options, but thanks anyway! I cannot find a magazine review that I like. They all talk about the same brands from year to year and never discover anything revolutionary. For news, I really like places like this forum

I wonder is there a good paper magazine to subscribe where I can check the latest gear news and read non-biased gear reviews? What are your favorites?

From the top of my head: I use frameless packs with foam sleeping pads for support. One big tent for the group helps to save a lot of weight, better if singlewall e.g. Bibler Bombshelter. I can take lighter sleeping bag if I know that I can zip it together with somebody else. Another lightweight idea is to sleep in a jacket and a shortened sleeping bag e.g. Bask Aconcagua.

I always stay in Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge. Very clean, lots of room options, playground, sauna, hot-tub, price depends on the season, but always is very reasonable.

Most of down bags in the market are made of water-resistant shells. Personally, I doubt it's worthwhile to spend extra $$ for the extra water resistance. Here are my thoughts: 1. I do not expect a sleeping bag to be rain resistant. I have a tent that should do this job. 2. More water resistance usually means extra weight. 3. Shell that helps to keep water out also helps to keep it inside the bag. The moister inside a sleeping bag is always an issue to me during long trips in cold weather. Seems that sleeping bags with lighter fabrics dry faster. I bet there should be at least one reason why manufactures uses more and more water resistant fabrics. Maybe it really works better in permanent 100% humidity conditions. Don't know because I never tested down bags in that environment. You may want to take a synthetic bag for 100% humidity. So far, Nylon RipStop worked great to me. It's light, compact, breaths great and it is very durable. FF who produces decent bags still has Nylon as an option and there are others. Hope it helps.

I believe MEC Gryphon is synthetic bag. For down bags check Moonstone 800 Liberty Ridge (usually sells cheaper that the suggested retail price $435) or Bask Pamirs (~$250). REI 700 Down EL -5 also looks great for the money.

I drove it this April. The condition of the road was poor ( a lot of holes and boulders). However, it was drivable. 4x4 is recommended. Good Luck

I originally thought that FF bags are sewn in Seattle from down processed in Poland and from raw down materials coming from Russia. Now I think I was mistaken. What stages of FF sleeping bag production are still in the US? How legitimate is it with “Made in Seattle since 1972”? What FF writes on sleeping bag labels – made in US? I know WM states made in US. I hope WM do sew their bags or perform the legitimate percentage of work in the US. I think that something wrong going on with this industry. It seems that producers can easily lie about FP, the country of origin, and etc. Can you guess who will be the winner? My suggestion is that the winner always be the company who produces sleeping bags in China from the cheap grey down and after that states 900 FP and made in USA. I hope I am mistaken here.

Hey, thanks for all responses. If 900-fill is not a myth, that's cool. But, I, personally, don't buy it! I like Feather Friends down products. Crackbolter, do you know where Feather Friends gets their down from?

Crackbolter, Thanks for your very informative postings. I have read one technical article before about FP test procedure "On evaluating the quality of feather-down ware" at http://www.bask.info/tech/down2.php . Everyone interested in more details can check it out. This producer of down and down products has different point on how the quality of down depends on the climate. You stated: "In truth, the climate the goose is raised in has very little to do with the quality of the down". An article at http://www.bask.info/tech/down1.php says: "The quality of feather is influenced greatly by the natural conditions of breeding of the birds. The raw materials gathered in the cold Russia are appreciated greatly in the West – the down is bigger and its content in primary products is bigger." I would appreciate if anybody has more information and can clarify how down depends on the climate the goose is raised. One more question, if I want to buy 10F (summer) down sleeping bag should I shop around for higher FP or 650 would work the same as the higher FP? I suspect that high FP is really important only for winter bags.

anybody tested these down jackets www.bask.info ?

uups, i made a mistake converting from Celsius to Fahrenheit, Trekking sleeping bag extreme temperature is -15C which should be +5F (not -4F)

I have some climbing clothers for sale of the top Russian manufacturer Bask. Down Jacket Ertsog, fill power 750 $212 Down Jacket Shamonix, fill power 700 $97 Down Bag Karakoram, fill power 750, -35F $342 Down Bag Trekking, fill power 650, -4F $139 and more... Check out the web site www.bask.info for more info. All stuff is in the new condition and was used for presentations only. thebask@telusplanet.net