[pct-l] ethical down sleeping bag

[giniajim]

I'd be interested in your experiences in the field Dan.  I'm probably going to buy a new bag in the next year or so.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dan Africk 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 7:40 PM
  Subject: [pct-l] ethical down sleeping bag


  "I use synthetic b/c I don't believe in the down process of getting
  the feathers off the birds...no they don't die they just suffer four
  times a year for the first four years of their lives..."

  For many years I refused to buy a down bag, primarily because of
  ethical concerns. I'm vegan and try not to support animal suffering in
  any form, and there is plenty of cruelty involved int the production
  of down. The lower cost of synthetics, and the supposedly better
  performance when wet, and more importantly the ability to dry faster,
  also supported this decision. I think the North Face cat's meow(20
  degree F) is one of the best choices for a synthetic bag- it is very
  well designed, has good features, and is one of lightest synthetic
  bags for the level of warmth. I have used this bag a lot and until
  recently I was planning on using it for the PCT. The most important
  thing about a synthetic bag is that it uses a quality insulation such
  as polarguard delta or primaloft.

  That said, I have been very envious of the lightness and
  compressibility of down bags, which currently exceeds any synthetic
  bag. It also seems that down bags recover from compression much better
  and lose less loft over time, which definitely happens to synthetic
  bags(especially if you use a compression sack). And it occurred to me
  that I have never had a sleeping bag get wet, ever(it helps that I
  always use a compression dry sack for my sleeping bag).
  So I finally decided to buy an 'ethical down' sleeping bag. Supposedly
  this down comes from a farm somewhere in Poland, where the geese live
  free-range, and are kept for breeding purposes only. Instead of
  painful live-plucking, the down is gathered by hand from their nests.
  Supposedly this down is actually superior and has a higher fill
  power(860). While I have no way of knowing that all their claims about
  ethical practices are true, I'm choosing to believe them. I just got
  my Pure -5(C) bag a few days ago, and I haven't had a chance to field
  test it yet. This is my first down bag, and so very it seems very
  warm, good quality, and definitely packs very small. If anyone is
  interested in its field performance, let me know and I'll contact you
  once I have a chance to test it(could be a few weeks).

  You can find out more about the company that makes them here(note that
  only their 'pure' and 'pure & dry' lines are made entirely of ethical
  down):
  http://www.tundrasleepingbags.com/


  I bought mine from here:
  http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/tundra_warmth_unlimited_pure_sleeping_bags/


  By the way, I'm not trying to preach my beliefs to anyone. But please
  hold the dead animal jokes. I know they're a great way to distract
  yourself from this unpleasant topic that threatens to make you
  question your beliefs, but they're also belittling to the seriousness
  of people's ethical concerns.


  -- 
  www.hikefor.com/haiti-2010-Dan
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