emergency bivy ?

[DougPaul]

Do they sell them at Walmart? or any other chain store?

Walmart Pad
I have one that I got at the EMS bargain basement 20 years ago. Despite a few rips and burn marks, it's still good. It's especially usefull when sleeping in a hammock in cooler weather, like next weekend.

I have a cheap pad from Target that I bought for hammock use because it is wider than most pads. It is not as good as my blue foam pads from REI or an older 1/2 inch white foam pad from (one of) EMS/REI/IME.

FWIW, most pads these days seem to be 3/8 inch thick. For winter camping I prefer the 1/2 inch pad but I generally carry a 3/8 pad as emergency gear.

Doug

 

[Chip]

Walmart Pad

I have one that I got at the EMS bargain basement 20 years ago. Despite a few rips and burn marks, it's still good. It's especially usefull when sleeping in a hammock in cooler weather, like next weekend.

I have one of those, too. It is much stiffer than my old ensolite pad, which may just be more flexible now due to it's age and use. My old black ensolite can be folded flat, rolled, folded to fit as a pack back pad, etc. - much easier to carry than something that has to be rolled and occupy that amount of space, but somethings certanly better than nothing. My evazote pad is more flexible than the blue Walmart one, but less than the old black ensolite. FWIW.

 

[DougPaul]

I have one of those, too. It is much stiffer than my old ensolite pad, which may just be more flexible now due to it's age and use. My old black ensolite can be folded flat, rolled, folded to fit as a pack back pad, etc. - much easier to carry than something that has to be rolled and occupy that amount of space, but somethings certanly better than nothing. My evazote pad is more flexible than the blue Walmart one, but less than the old black ensolite. FWIW.

Ensolite (foamed neopreme, IIRC) was always very flexible (limp would be a good description...), but it was/is heavy (slang name "ensol-heavy"). I witnessed white (summer) ensolite crack into little pieces in the cold. Green held up better in the cold, but was even heavier. Don't recall black.

A number of the newer foamed plastic pads are stiffer. (IIRC, foamed polypropoline came next (mid-1970's) and was much stiffer. It was also pretty delicate. Mine was light blue.)

Doug

 

[Quietman]

Yup, my old EMS pad is the old, heavy, soft variety. I don't care for the new stuff.

 

[Chip]

I witnessed white (summer) ensolite crack into little pieces in the cold. Green held up better in the cold, but was even heavier. Don't recall black.

Doug

again, FWIW, as there may be only 1 or 2 other people on this board who even know what the heck we're talking about......but I've always had the black ensolite, that was "It" back in the day. Primarily winter use and always has had the same amount of flexibility, regardless of temp. I still bring it as a base for my inflatable pad. Never noticed the weight, so it's apparently indiscernible. I could weigh them all for comparison.

 

[Little Rickie]

Walmart Pad have one that I got at the EMS bargain basement 20 years ago. Despite a few rips and burn marks, it's still good. It's especially usefull when sleeping in a hammock in cooler weather, like next weekend.

Is that what you all are talking about? I get lost in all that jargon talk. I have one of those. It's lite all right but bulky.

 

[Chip]

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Is that what you all are talking about? I get lost in all that jargon talk. I have one of those. It's lite all right but bulky.

There's 2 that Walmart sells; the thinner closed cell pad - sometimes sold as a "yoga" or work-out mat and the thicker pad that's egg-crated on one side.

 

[DougPaul]

again, FWIW, as there may be only 1 or 2 other people on this board who even know what the heck we're talking about......but I've always had the black ensolite, that was "It" back in the day. Primarily winter use and always has had the same amount of flexibility, regardless of temp. I still bring it as a base for my inflatable pad. Never noticed the weight, so it's apparently indiscernible. I could weigh them all for comparison.

OK.

Just pulled out my 73/74 EMS catalog. (The EMS catalogs from that era were very useful--half gear tutorial, half catalog.) It lists:
* Beige Ensolite (the summer stuff: flexible to 0F)
* Black Thermobar (flexible to -40F, appears to be similar to my green Ensolite)
* Blue Volarafoam (flexible to -50F, my light blue stiff foam)

Whatever... There have certainly be a variety of closed cell foam pads over the last few years (~1971--present, for me).

Doug

 

[sierra]

Ive carried a survival blanket for years, very durable its silver on one side and red on the other, cant remember what its called but its bombproof. It has grommet holes to hang like a tarp, but My thought to survive out in the winter would be to 'dig in" and wrap myself in it. MY pack is not light in the winter. I carry full goretex upper and lower, patagonia r.5, retro-x jacket, heavy fleece pants, gloves (goretex ODR)3 hats ie,small beanie, heavy over the ears, full balacava and a patagonia guides jacket. Its alot, but I solo alot and feel the weights worth it to ensure long survival if need be. Ive been toying with the idea of a full bivi bag but havent made the move yet, I feel my tarp would be insufficient above treeline and a full bive would be better.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I've been reading the various points of view with interest, and would offer this:

For many years I carried heavy duty trashbags, and after helping evacuate someone saw how versatile the orange/silver tarps were in wrapping someone up on a litter (blankets underneath). But, the combined weight of the HD trashbags and sturdy tarp was beginning to add up. And, from experience with a poncho I knew that a tarp in windy conditions unless securely fastened wasn't very effective - and how do you secure it properly when you're inside it. And then there's the warmth factor - sure, an aluminized tarp reflects body heat, but there's little inherent insulation in a tarp. So, in some situations, particularly in winter, a sleeping bag is in order.

When I saw the Blizzard Survival Bag I realized I could combine all the above functions into one entity that would do all of the above and weigh a fraction of the combined total. And, it's easy to tell whether it's in your pack.

I always carry an emergency pad of some flavor in winter so that was a wash in terms of weight.

So ... consider "cutting to the chase" and get a single solution which will cover all the bases.

 

[Tuggy]

MSR E Bivvy

I have an MSR E bivvy. It is about the size of a coke can. I haven't used it much but I slept out in it the first night I got it to try it. It rained. My sleeping bag and I stayed dry. It is a bit claustraphobic inside as there is nothing to keep it off your face when closed up. About 3/4 of the way up it is slit across from side to side(kind of like a pillow sham slit to get the pillow inside) so you can get your head in if cold or inclement weather. I supppose you could rig a way to get it off your face. I suspect on a warm summer night, like I tried it, that is more of an issue than it would be on a cold night. In that case I might be happy to just burrow into it. I was also able to roll it up to fit back in the stuff sack after using it. It takes up less space in my pack than one of those space blankets that come in the yellow stuff sacks. With whatever clothes I had on I think I could spend a reasonably sheltered night out. With a sleeping bag I'd be snug. It is pretty lightweight so I'm not sure how much prolonged use it would stand up to. But for an emergency I think it would do nicely.
http://www.rei.com/product/781507

 

[TrishandAlex]

Here's what I carried last winter (Alex can fit into these with me).

Black Diamond BiPod Bivy

Western Mountaineering Puma sleeping bag (-25 degrees), packed in a compression sack

In addition, I also carried multiple chemical hand and body warmers, plus those "emergency" bright-orange sacks you can pick up for $5.00 at REI.

Also carried stormproof matches and stove, multiple layers of clothes, and a full-length closed foam pad.

 

[Little Rickie]

There's 2 that Walmart sells; the thinner closed cell pad - sometimes sold as a "yoga" or work-out mat and the thicker pad that's egg-crated on one side.

I've look at the yoga mat but it seemed heaver than the egg-crated mat.

Is it just as warm?

 

[Little Rickie]

When I saw the Blizzard Survival Bag I realized I could combine all the above functions into one entity that would do all of the above and weigh a fraction of the combined total. .

Is the blizzard a standard piece of reusable equipment or is it just for emergency use and does it make that space blanket wrinkly noise?

 

[Chip]

Everything is reusable if you don't wreck it the first time you use it !

I'd imagine most would probably replace it after use due to the packability and relatively low cost of a new one.

After reviewing and weighing my gear and trying to imagine a real scenario, I started thinking the poles and fly from one of my 2 man tents might make sense to carry: Free Standing, relatively full coverage, light. Then I saw I could get the BA Seedhouse SL 1 for $200. I decided I could sell one of the 2 man tents and my Kelty Noahs Tarp that I never use for at least that much. So for about 4 1/2 lbs I can carry the SL1, an evazote pad and my old Northface bag cover. This would be for more serious winter outings as it is certainly over kill for an easy or average outing, but me or my injured partner would be pretty dang comfy, and I get a nice, light 1 man for the rest of the year.