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[pct-l] 45 degree bag?? North Cal and Oregon?



Good evening, Monty,

You are likely to experience more than a few 30 deg. nights, but a 45 deg.
bag will probably be OK for most of the trip.  Much depends upon how warm
you sleep, what else you wear, and what shelter you will have.  My practice
is, on a cold night, if I don't sleep with every stitch I brought, I brought
too much.  You may sleep a bit cold now and again, but you won't die of
exposure.  You might consider trading the weight of one of your four layers
for the equivalent additional weight in sleeping bag down.

Very important is wearing a stocking hat to reduce that rather considerable
heat loss, and avoid sleeping hungry.

Below is a piece I posted earlier in reference to a question about snow in
the Cascades.  It may give you something to think about.

Enjoy the trip,

Steel-Eye

======================================================

"Concerning the snow, I reviewed my trail notes for a section of the PCT
between Santiam Pass and Mt. Jefferson.  At the time I had noted there the
trail had patchy and intermittent snow around 5000 ft. elevation, and it was
substantially snow covered by 6000 ft.  The trail in most of that section is
5500-6000 feet, with Park Pass north of Jefferson around 6900 ft.  I camped
somewhere in that stretch, and it began raining after midnight.  By
mid-morning the rain had turned to snow, which continued for the remainder
of the day.  The overcast was so heavy that I could not see any part of the
craggy peak, Three-Fingered-Jack, even though the PCT passes about 2000
horizontal feet west of its summit.  The snow pack on the trail was
side-sloped and heavily crusted, but very scalloped by earlier melting.  The
wind had blown wet fluffy snow across the trail, and had filled the scallops
so there was no way to determine a good stable place to step.  The blowing
snow, the poor visibility, the lack of visual references, and the incredibly
poor footing created some the most bizarre hiking conditions I have ever
encountered.  I was not using trekking poles at the time, and to this day
whenever I am inclined to leave them home to save weight, I remember how
badly I wanted them on that occasion."

"So, when was this interesting little snowstorm?  It was Monday, 30 August,
1999."


-- Original Message ----- 
From: "Monty Tam" <metam01@earthlink.net>
To: "pct-l" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:09 PM
Subject: [pct-l] 45 degree bag?? North Cal and Oregon?


> How well would a 45 degree bag work right now north of the Sierras?  When,
if at all, would I need to change bags on the way to Manning?
> I do have four layers of good warmth besides the bag.  I'm looking at the
Mountain Hardware Phantom +45, 17 oz., half zip  (REI # 706122).
> Thanks
>
>
> Monty Tam
> metam01@earthlink.net
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