My buddy swore by using a 40-degree bag for summer in the Smokies, and I froze my butt off last weekend.

3 comments

3 Comments

People always underestimate how cold it gets at night in the mountains... it's like a universal thing. My cousin did the same with a cheap sleeping bag for a desert trip, swore it was fine, and we all ended up shivering when the temperature dropped. It happens with jackets too, someone will say a light shell is enough and then the wind cuts right through it. There's just this weird gap between what people remember and what actually happens when you're out there.

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andrewt414d ago

People forget how much their own body heat changes things. You're moving around in the afternoon, feeling fine, and pack for that feeling. Once you stop for the night, your internal furnace dials way down. That's when the cheap gear shows its true colors. It's not just memory, it's a total shift in your physical state that most folks don't plan for.

alice_chen4819d ago

Maybe it's just people being too optimistic about their gear. A little cold won't kill you, and sometimes you just have to tough it out. It builds character more than buying expensive stuff does.