Ultralight bivy sacks are utilized by backpackers for cowboy tenting or underneath floorless shelters, comparable to tarps or pyramids, to guard their sleeping luggage/quilts and sleeping pads from wind, bugs, mice, and different creepy crawlers. Most will not be waterproof and performance extra like sleeping bag covers encapsulating a sleeping pad and sleeping bag or quilt, with mosquito netting over the top and face for insect safety. They’re very totally different from heavier-duty waterproof bivy sacks used for winter tenting or mountaineering, just like the Out of doors Analysis Alpine Ascent Bivy, or the Rab Ridge Raider Bivy, which resemble mini-tents with collapsible rods to make them extra livable in harsh climate.
Most ultralight bivy sacks are sized to be used with a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag or quilt. However sleeping in them actually isn’t as claustrophobic as it would look. There’s nonetheless loads of room to sleep in your facet or prop your head up in your arm to learn at night time. Bivies with facet zipper entry are additionally lots simpler to get into and out of than ones with entrance openings the place it’s good to slide in ft first. That is significantly true at night time while you’re feeling particularly silly and uncoordinated.
Many ultralight bivy sacks have a wire loop that you would be able to tie to the underside of your shelter to carry the bug netting up off of your face while you sleep. You can too tie this wire to the rafters in a path shelter and use your bivy to guard you from bugs and mice. Your bivy sack additionally gives a wee bit extra privateness inside a shelter if you wish to grow to be your lengthy underwear.
When sleeping underneath a flat tarp or catenary reduce tarp, a bivy sack helps defend your sleep system from splash-back, which happens when rain bounces off the bottom and underneath your tarp and in your sleeping gear. This may be a difficulty you probably have a slender rectangular or catenary reduce tarp however is much less of a priority if you happen to use a wider one, whose sides are staked near the bottom in unhealthy climate.
Most ultralight bivy sacks don’t impart a lot additional heat to your sleeping bag or quilt at night time, perhaps 5 levels tops, though they’ll block a breeze from chilling you. They’re typically made with a prime cloth that’s fairly breathable to assist vent any condensation build-up at night time. In very popular climate, you should use the highest cloth of a bivy like a sheet for sleeping. Some ultralight bivy sacks can be found which can be all mesh to be used in hotter climate use, however the norm is a component mesh and half strong cloth.
Ultralight bivy sacks are fairly delicate items of substances made by hand and should be handled gently if you would like them to final. In the event you purchase a bivy sack that has a zipper, it’s good to lubricate it periodically with Gear-Help Zipper Lubricant so it doesn’t snag, and to dry your bivy sack out after each journey you are taking to keep away from mildew. In the event you see black mildew spots start to kind on the bivy cloth, washing your bivy sack out with Revivex Odor Eliminator will remove the mould and forestall harm to the material.
Really helpful UL Bivy Sacks
Why Would You Use an Ultralight Bivy Sack?
Up to now we’ve mentioned what an ultralight bivy sack is, however not why you’d wish to use one. There are principally two causes: tarp tenting (for gear weight discount) and wilderness immersion.
Tarp tenting with a flat tarp, a catenary reduce tarp, or a pyramid tarp is lighter weight than utilizing a tent, even an ultralight Dyneema DCF tent from the likes of Zpacks or Tarptent. You continue to want some type of insect safety underneath a tarp and at 5-8 oz, a bivy sack weighs considerably lower than an internal tent or web tent, making it attainable to hold an entire shelter system that weighs underneath a pound.
As well as, sleeping in an ultralight bivy sack is a way more immersive solution to expertise the wilderness than sleeping inside a tent, with partitions and a ground. In the event you cowboy camp in a bivy sack or sleep underneath a tarp, you’ll really feel a lot nearer to the surroundings surrounding you.
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