There are a number of reports on the web that certain items of outdoor gear break boundaries and can perform so much unbelievably better than one might think. Naturally when there is money to be spent these can be hard to believe but none-the-less I have to throw my sticks on the fire and so here’s my (brief) experience of:
The Rab Survival Zone Bivi
Mason at the bivi ledge the night before…
So I’d carried and used this petite bivi bag for a couple of years, mostly on dry nights in the lakes, cold nights on El Cap and general extra warmth on comfortable bivis. Naturally it performed perfectly in these environs as it was being used as little more than a windproof sleeping bag cover. With memories of warmth and dryness then along with the quote on the Needlesports website that reads:
The original version was personally tested by Needle Sport’s staff in The Himalayas, the Arctic and, worst of the lot, the Cuillins in February. Brilliant!
I felt like it would be my perfect Patagonia bivi sack. In hindsight my assumption was that I would never need it in anger, and so perfect meant tiny and light. And so as the others in the group rolled out their Bibler Big Wall sacks I was still quietly confident I’d made the right choice.
Roll on a few weeks and we’re up on the high bivi below the West side of the Torres after a monster but hugely successful day. We get back to the bags just as the sun dissapears and quickly try to cook something before we crash out exhausted. Just as we make it into out beds however it started to rain. Nothing to serious at first and so, following advice, I cinched up the bag, rolled onto my front and slept. I think I woke once in the night to realise that it was pouring down which filled me mostly with disappointment that I wouldn’t be sleeping any more. However next thing I know it’s light and still raining. The highlight came here when I realised I was dry enough to sty dosing in my sleeping bag till I decided to face the weather properly!
So what am I trying to say? It rained HARD for about 6 of the 8 hours I was prone. By the end I wasn’t perfectly dry, nor was the outside of my sleeping bag, however I was comfortably warm and the dampness was mostly around my face so was bearable if not exceptionally comfortable. I was to all intents and purposes blown away by how well I slept and how dry my clothes were inside the bag. And now the qualifiers. I was in a good quality synthetic bag, I slept on my front all night and we were VERY very tired when we went to sleep.
So take what you will from that but I’m pretty sure I’ll be taking it to Chile next season and if nothing else I now know fully what to expect!