[pct-l] Sleeping Bag recommendations

[Melanie Clarke]

Please don't buy down!

I implore you to buy a cruelty free, down alternative!  Mountain Laurel
sells an ultralight, synthetic sleep quilt, 19 ounces for the extra warm
option, extra warm Balaclava 4 ounces.
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/    Before investing in a sleeping bag
or quilt please, consider!

Nearly all down in the world is harvested by pulling out the down from
alive screaming geese.  They are thrown back into their pens and 6 months
later this cruel process is repeated.  This cruel process has given us
cheap down but this is wrong!  These are animals who feel pain.  Imagine
having the hair from your whole body torn out every 6 months.  Would you
pull the hair out of your cat or dog?  It is inhumane to support this
industry so you can shave 4 ounces from your pack weight!  Yes, we harvest
down from dead geese, after we have pulled down out of their bodies for a
couple of years!  So sad!

Yes, down initially has marginally better warmth to weight ratio but this
ratio crashes when it gets wet or after months of compression in your back
pack.  Also, Mountain Laurel's bag is cheaper than a down bag.  This bag
kept me fairly comfortable in Glacier N.P. when my quilt was wet after 2
days of rain in about 32 degrees (at night).  A quilt can get a little
drafty so this year I'm turning my quilt into a bag by sewing a slightly
smaller "Neoair" sized fabric piece and zipper.  Then I'm placing the
Neoair inside this bag so the fabric is on the bottom of the Neoair so it
won't matter and the insulated part of the quilt (bag) will be nicely
tucked under the Neoair.  Ron mailed me some extra Denier fabric and I
ordered a 5mm 72" separating zipper from zippershipper.com.

Ray Jardine sells a sew it yourself kit on his web site but I like my "do
it yourself" modification on my Mountain Laurel quilt better.

If we all buy cruelty free options, the industry will make ultralight
synthetic versions available to us.  I'm still waiting for my zipper to
arrive but when I'm done, I'm going to send the photos to Mountain Laurel
to see if they might want to manufacture this design to help stop the
abusive treatment to geese!

There are also plenty of ultralight synthetic jackets on the market now
also.  Once again, PLEASE DO NOT BUY DOWN!!!!

Diet Plan

On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 7:53 PM, Jerry's gmail <geraldbking at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm planning a 2017 PCT thru-hike and after 40 years of backpacking (less
> than 3 weeks a year) I want to go much lighter on all my gear. I'm looking
> for opinions on quality 20F-30F down bags. I've looked at Western
> Mountaineering's 20F Ultralite @ 29oz; 30F Megalite @ 24oz and ZPacks 20F
> (6'1") @ 18oz.
> I'm 5'9" and ok with a "regular" width mummy.
> Are there other models you would recommend?
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