To Bivy, or not to Bivy, that is the question

[Jkrew81]

Does anyone here Bivy in the winter when they want to travel very light. If so what are you experiences with it? I have only done it once in the summer, so the experience was abit different.

 

[DougPaul]

Does anyone here Bivy in the winter when they want to travel very light. If so what are you experiences with it? I have only done it once in the summer, so the experience was abit different.

I have done it as a planned bivy. Just added a sleeping bag, pad, bivy sack, stove, pot, and some extra food to my day gear. It helps to pick a night with nice weather.

Doug

 

[Hampshire]

Bivy

Jkrew81,

I've bivied many times in the winter. Works great, especially the weight saving and set-up (just slide your sleeping pad and bag inside). Never above treeline. Normally, when we hike after work on Friday night, spend the night near treeline, then summit and hike out the next day. Multiple nights might be a little tough.

 

[skiguy]

Personally I only Bivy in the Winter. Great way to go light. The ground moisture is so much less in Winter than Summer.

 

[Warren]

I do the bivy thing in the winter. You're more exposed when doing camp stuff and spindrift can be a problem. There is no interim temperature space that the tent provides, you are outside or in your bag. The simplicity is nice and where you can set down for the night expands considerably. It's an acquired taste for most folks but is really just a very useful technique for certain types of walks. If you add a tarp or tarp tent you get an even more flexible set up but you begin to approach the weights of some of the lighter tent setups. There are two types of bivies: waterproof breathable useful as your only shelter but can frost on the insides and not water resistant- breathable which are lighter, frost less, but are more an over bag than a bivy. In the winter I'd favor the water resistant more breathable, but if you think you will be in rain with just the bivy waterproof is desirable. Water resistant ones are a useful piece of kit as they are light, can boost your bags rating 10°, are excellent in-tent frost barriers, good for emergency bring along on a day hike, useful in a snow cave, will protect you for a time from rain and are considerably cheaper than the waterproof ones.

 

[Remix]

Its a good light-weight compromise if the lean-to ends up being full and you only have a heavy 4 season tent.