Mountain Hardwear - Bishop Pass 0F/-18C

For posterity, the sizing is indeed important.  The non goretex versions are "performance mummy cut" which mean these are smaller.  The goretex ones are the ones you bring for expeditions, these are the big bullet proof tankers known as "Expedition mummy cut".   Inside the Expedition Cut, you can gear up with your belay down jacket and stuff, theres more room and then you can get a -18c instead of a -40c for example. The beefier goretex expedition one is interesting if you sleep straight outside in winter, with no tent.  It stop wind and melting snow wont wet the sleeping bag.   For serious winter stuff you can add a VBL in that melting pot of kit to manage humidity and dew point but its not in the main subject. Things to remember: - Performance cut; - Expedition cut. I personally have the blue and red MHW -40c goretex, the -18c, the -18c goretex and the -9c. Each sleeping bag have its particular usage in my activities.

I have 2 MH bags, they're great in theory and I love the design of the junior bag in particular (the adjustable length is fantastic) and they're manufactured to a good quality, but the temperature ratings are way off. I have 0°C bags but I consider them 2 season *at best*. That said, they're so roomy and do feel comfortable so I like using them in summer. I would recommend them with the caveat of adding an extra 15°C or more onto the comfort rating. I don't know that the weight to warmth ratio works out particularly well at that point but it's nice having a wide bag. With that in mind though, if I'm advising to compensate the temp rating for a nice bag I'd suggest EE or FF, which are much lighter for the weight to get the same real work temp and is a quilt so inherently more roomy. I think as someone else states, MH are a decent brand but they just don't do any feature (besides the adjustable length which might actually be discontinued now anyway) better than anyone else

I really enjoy my mountain hardwear bishop pass. It’s not top of the line though. It’s rated 15* Fahrenheit, 2.5 lbs (just over a kilo), and packs to a decent size (not super small but not huge). For reference I usually backpack in the sierra Nevada range of California. So average nightly temps are around freezing. I would recommend this bag but of course you can get nicer if you have a larger budget. I think the two most important things to consider are nightly temps and material: 1) do you really want a -9*C bag? I’m not sure how cold it really gets where you are but I feel like there is a good chance you are going to be dripping in sweat with that for a lot of nights that aren’t mid winter. 2) synthetic vs natural down. I prefer natural because it’s so fluffy and warm. But both have their pros and cons. Side note: not even sure if mountain hardware is offered in NZ lol

If you're not into making your own synthetic quilt as suggested above, some sleeping bags come in both a right hand zipper and a left hand zipper and can be joined together at the zippers. Looking now I'm seeing fewer options that do this than before. ☹️ For example the Women's and Men's Mountain Hardwear Bishop Pass bags are left and right zipper respectively, but neither the Kelty Cosmic Down 20 nor the REI Magma bags seem to come in alternating zipper sides. Mountain Hardwear Lamina Eco AF comes in both left and right zips. It's a synthetic bag so it's cheaper but will be a bit heavier and take up more space in your pack than a down bag. But so would a MYOG quilt as described elsewhere.

Thats good to know! Thanks I only discovered them recently by accident when I was trying to find a midlayer fjallraven in my size and the quality of that from haglöfs blew me away I ended up getting the mountain hardware bishop bag because of the advertised range being better and the goretex that mountain hardware makes it with. Im canadian and will be using it in the outback which means possible water exposure in the canoe and in the winter; which our winters which i assumed is pretty comparable to your winters which is why I appreciate my fjallraven stuff so much. But I think ill be keeping Haglöfs' bags in mind for when anyone i know is shopping replacements or upgrades

My current down mummy one from Mountain Hardwear that I got for a crazy deal (<$90). There are zippers on both sides and the toe area. I move a lot in my sleep, and the slightly wider area up top makes it easier. (It's wide enough for my arms to go to my shoulder area, even zipped up.) It's a huge step up from my previous one, a cheap synthetic mummy.

It's really a personal choice. I would suggest you try the MH sleeping bag. It's a free way to test a type of sleeping bag. Worst case, you buy another one later. I personally use down sleeping bags because they are lighter and compress better. But they are more expensive and take a lot longer to dry if it gets wet.