As I reported last week, I decided to buy myself a down bag. I found out that even the cheaper bags were quite expensive and I quickly discounted the likes of Rab, Mountain Equipment and Marmot; most models of which are over £150-00.
I had heard that Alpkit were reasonably priced, so I had a look. Alpkit are a strange company. They source their products directly which makes them cheap, but because of this, they more often than not have stock problems. They have three styles of down bag, but you'll find that even now that only one is available.
I've had a bad delivery experience with Alpkit where they got every single one of the 4 items wrong, but I think that was just a bad day. I've had no problems since and they are friendly.
I looked at the choices in their Skyehigh range to see if it ticked any of the boxes.
No more than £100? Yup -£95
4 season? So it says; Yup
Comfort -10C? Yup
Extreme -16C? Yup
Good fill power? 650 +; Yup
Weight 1570 gr; OK
Pack size 25x27cm; Seems OK
That seemed exactly what I wanted and out came the bank card.
Luckily the item was in stock and it was duly delivered two days later. I was impressed that the sleeping bag came with two bags; a stuff sack which disappointingly wasn't waterproof so it was quickly replaced with an Exped stuff sack. The other bag is a light cotton storage bag, which is just the job for putting the sleeping bag away when not in use without compressing it too much.
I had to wait 2 months before I could test it out in the field and then I only used it once because of my ruptured tendon; so this is a review based on that one occasion. I was also ground dwelling in a tipi so again this should be born in mind.
The bag compressed well but perhaps not as much as I originally hoped so I decided to strap it to the outside of the rucksack even though there was room inside.
Once out of the stuff sack at the site, the bag lofted after being shaken out a couple of times and sat there almost smugly as if to say, "Come on. Give it your best shot." By night time the temperature was down to -4C. Yes, it may well be tested.
I got a right-sided zip version to make it compatible with the Snugpack bivi bag. I was a little disappointed that the zip snagged in the material. There must be a sleeping bag out there that doesn't snag!
I retired in my thermals and ensured I'd followed the normal rules of turning in with a hot drink and couple of pieces of hot reindeer salami inside me. I also changed my socks. I settled down on the fully inflated Thermarest Prolite 3 and tried to adjust the baffles. These were two standard pull cord baffles one for the shoulders and one for the hood. I must say I don't normally use the hood. By not doing this it actually detracts from the efficiency of the bag but I favour wearing a balaclava. I did try it on this occasion though.
I woke up during the night but it wasn't because of the cold. I had indigestion from eating too much salami! In the morning, I found out (being a novice tipi dweller) that I hadn't vented the tipi properly and that the inside was covered in a thin layer of frost. So was the outside of the bag. The material was enough not to let any of the dampness through which I was quite pleased about. I would have to see whether it thawed through the bag during the day. This fabric is very soft lightweight micro ripstop DWR nylon fabric and lined with 300l Tactel nylon. Alpkit say it isn't the most technical fabric around but it helps keep costs down.
The next night was even colder dropping to about -6C and later to -10C. The condensation had stayed out of the bag and once again it was puffed up and waiting. I had already decided that if future trips were likely to be wet, I would bring along the Snugpack bivi bag which would allow a greater degree of water protection, especially when ground dwelling. Once again, I had a cosy night even though I had decided to insert a Nato water bottle full of hot water. Well, I am getting old and I'm entitled to a little comfort in my old age!
First impressions of the Alpkit Skyehigh 800 are very favourable. There's no bells and whistles but for a down bag of this quality, the price is good and it's well made. The only down side is that I expected the bag to compress a little more; but I suppose it is a -10C to-16C bag so there must be one or two compromises.
I'll see how this bag performs throughout the year and keep you updated.
Thanks for the visit.
Pablo.
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