Doubling up sleeping bags

Jordan Budd

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I'll be going on an elk hunt the first week in November in wyoming. It will be a horseback hunt. My main bag is a BA lost ranger +15 but that's not going to cut it on this trip I'm thinking. The best bags in the -30 range that are small and light enough for horses are obviously pretty steep on the price. This will be my only late season trip away from a vehicle this year so I'd rather not spend the cash for a bag I'll use once. Has anyone doubled up bags before? I also have a 30 degree down bag I could double with my 15, but wanted some comments on that before I did it. Thank you in advance!
 
I've doubled a super heavy -10 bag with my Kifaru +20 and it worked very well. I was basically truck camping on that trip.
 
I have doubled up my mummy bag inside a rectangular bag once when truck camping in the snow. Worked out fine.
 
Two thoughts:

1) I second bcimport; it's important that one not crush the loft of the other, otherwise you won't be getting the full benefit of two.

2) If one of the bags is down and one synthetic, it's best to have the synthetic on the outside of the down. This moves the dew point (typically) to the inside of the synthetic bag, or even to the outside of it, so that you get markedly less condensation in the down bag. If you had synthetic on the bottom and down on top, you'd lose a good amount of loft due to condensation in/on the down bag.
 
I haven't doubled up, but froze my $&@ off on the first night of a late October hunt last year in my cats meow I was using. I hiked the two miles back out and got a wool blanket I keep I my truck for emergencies. Used that over my bag the remainder of the trip and was toasty. If I still used that bag I'd get one of the liners that add warmth.
 
Its a very effective system, that was my winter sleep system all through college when I was too broke to do otherwise. Not ultralight but definitely ultra warm with two 30-ish synthetic bags down to 10F. One mummy, one rectangular. Add up your fill weights and compare to actual cold weather bags for a good idea of what your two bags can handle and make sure you're not crushing one bag.
 
Yup, If winter car camping I'll use my feathered friends snobunting bag and a usgi heavy bag as an over bag...works well enough. There are certainly better combos out there but this works for me.
 
It works pretty well, if you get a larger bag for the out side bag. I did it several times with my OLD Northface cats meow inside of a Long Marmot Never winter bag, stayed nice and toasty.

Recently Ive been kinda pushing the temp limits of my current 30* bag by wearing my down puffy and a set of down booties, with pretty fair results.
 
I've used a fleece liner in your situation with a +25 bag this time of year in the Wyoming range. Worked well with a insulating layer of clothes on.
Also don't make the same mistakes I have in the past. Use you saddle pads either under or on top of you etc. I've even tucked my feet into a rain jacket to help retain some warmth.
 
I've used a Woobie over a 20 degree Enlightened Equipment quilt down to 10F and stayed toasty.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing (picking up a woobie to go over my EE prodigy 20) for the snowy season.
 
I've been thinking about doing the same thing (picking up a woobie to go over my EE prodigy 20) for the snowy season.

The hard part is keeping the woobie in place due to the low coefficient of friction. I've thought about replacing it with a synthetic EE 40F quilt or with one of the DIY quilts from the DIY section.
 
I also have used my Pendelton wool blanket wit my 20* bag when it gets real cold and it's worked great. Not a great backpacking options due to bulk but would be a great option on horseback.
 
I used my wife's 15 degree primaloft bag inside of a 20 degree down bag last winter in MN and that worked really well.
 
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