Ultralight bivy sacks are utilized by backpackers for cowboy tenting or beneath floorless shelters, similar 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 pinnacle and face for insect safety. They’re very completely different from heavier-duty waterproof bivy sacks used for winter tenting or mountaineering, just like the Outside 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 evening. Bivies with facet zipper entry are additionally rather a lot simpler to get into and out of than ones with entrance openings the place you want to slide in toes first. That is notably true at evening once you’re feeling particularly silly and uncoordinated.
Many ultralight bivy sacks have a wire loop which you could tie to the underside of your shelter to carry the bug netting up off of your face once you sleep. It’s also possible to 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 develop into your lengthy underwear.
When sleeping beneath a flat tarp or catenary minimize tarp, a bivy sack helps defend your sleep system from splash-back, which happens when rain bounces off the bottom and beneath your tarp and in your sleeping gear. This may be a difficulty you probably have a slender rectangular or catenary minimize tarp however is much less of a priority should you use a wider one, whose sides are staked near the bottom in dangerous climate.
Most ultralight bivy sacks don’t impart a lot further heat to your sleeping bag or quilt at evening, perhaps 5 levels tops, though they are going to block a breeze from chilling you. They’re usually made with a prime material that’s fairly breathable to assist vent any condensation build-up at evening. In extremely popular climate, you need to use the highest material 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 an element mesh and half strong material.
Ultralight bivy sacks are fairly delicate items of substances made by hand and have to be handled gently if you need them to final. When 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. When you see black mildew spots start to type on the bivy material, washing your bivy sack out with Revivex Odor Eliminator will remove the mould and stop harm to the material.
Beneficial UL Bivy Sacks
Why Would You Use an Ultralight Bivy Sack?
To this point we’ve mentioned what an ultralight bivy sack is, however not why you’d wish to use one. There are mainly two causes: tarp tenting (for gear weight discount) and wilderness immersion.
Tarp tenting with a flat tarp, a catenary minimize 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 form of insect safety beneath a tarp and at 5-8 oz, a bivy sack weighs considerably lower than an internal tent or internet tent, making it potential to hold a whole shelter system that weighs beneath a pound.
As well as, sleeping in an ultralight bivy sack is a way more immersive method to expertise the wilderness than sleeping inside a tent, with partitions and a ground. When you cowboy camp in a bivy sack or sleep beneath a tarp, you’ll really feel a lot nearer to the surroundings surrounding you.
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