My First Overnight Bivi

In the summer of 2005 I was on a camping/walking/climbing holiday near Ullswater and Helvellyn. The weather was wonderful with most days being dry and +25c.

After a few trips around parts of Helvellyn - both walking and looking for suitable crags for bouldering - I really began to warm to the idea of spending a night out on the hills near one of the tarns. There was only one problem - I had no suitable kit.

Planning equipment for the first trip

I took a long hard look at the camping kit I had with me to see what I could use and what I would need to buy or replace. Since this was to be my first trip I was reluctant to spend lots of money and wanted to make as much use of what I had with me.

The biggest bag that I had with me was a 30L Karrimor Hot 30. I decided that I would use this as my overnight bag and then everything would just have to fit into it somehow. This led me immediately to a problem. My 4 season sleeping bag and traditional Thermarest completely filled the bag leaving no room for anything else.

In the end I decided that I would need to buy just two pieces of kit: A very small sleeping bag and a bivi bag.

The village outdoor shop in Ullswater was having a sale. Of particular interest to me was a 1-Season sleeping bag (Snugpak 650) that packed small and weighed only 650g. It was on sale for £30. Perfect.

The next item on my list was of course a Bivi bag. I did not want to spend lots of cash but I did want to buy something that I could add to my emergency kit list and that would keep me dry whatever the weather. In the end I bought a Terra Nova Scout Bivi bag in Ambleside for £75. I also decided to buy a small 1-man Bothy bag - Vango Storm Shelter 100 (370g) - as a backup for the Bivi bag and for use on winter hill walks. That proved to be a wise investment of £20.

I was originally planning to take a Trangia with me but the thing was just too bulky and heavy to fit into the pack...

The Final Kit List

This is what I ended up taking in total:

  • Karrimor Hot 30 Pack
  • Terra Nova Scout bivi bag
  • Snugpak 650
  • Vango 100 Bothy Bag
  • Standard Thermarest
  • Camelbak Bladder
  • Petzl Tikka Head torch
  • Map
  • Silva Type 4 Compass
  • Ortlib A5 dry bag
  • Magellan GPS
  • Mobile phone
  • iPod :-)
  • Gore-Tex Jacket
  • Pertex trousers
  • Leki Photo Makalu Antishock walking pole (one)
  • Micro-fleece (spare)
  • Rohan hiking trousers (spare)
  • Spare socks and pants
  • 0.5L flask of coffee
  • Food
  • Keyring compass / Thermometer
  • Whistle

I've no idea what the pack weight was but I am guessing it was around 8-10Kg. I do know that it completely filled my pack and an outer pocket and weighed a lot more than I normally carry for even a winter hill walk.

The Trip

By the time I had bought the kit I needed and waited for some storms to pass it was Wednesday and I had only two potential nights to do the trip. I decided to trek out on the Wednesday. The overnight mountain weather forecast for Helvellyn was for some cloud with a cloudbase of around 1000M. Perfect.

I decided that since this was a first trip I would plan to do a 1-2 hour walk-in and not do anything too strenuous. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Unfortunately, since my pack weighed twice what I was used to and the ground was quite rough and steep the trip in ended up taking closer to 3 hours. I ended up reaching the Tarn at close to dusk and very tired and sweaty.

I changed into my warm and dry clothes and set up the bivvi in a small natural depression that was free of marsh grass (and so should stay dry).

It was a wonderful experience to watch the stars and the clouds whilst listening to Vangelis. My fears of being attacked by mutant killer sheep also soon passed.

At around 3am I was woken by rain on my face. I decided to fully zip up the bivi bag and stay with it.

At 6:30am I woke up and I could still hear the rain outside. I now had a problem - how to have breakfast, suit up, pack up and stay dry...

The bivi bag contained a lot of condensation (due mainly to my breathing) but the sleeping bag was still dry due to the pertex outer and my body heat.

With a little bit of thought I figured out that I could use the Bothy bag as a temporary shelter over the bivi bag and with a little creativity pack everything up and stay dry. This is what I did.

My coffee was cold and so I had to make do with water.

I then had a two hour walk in the rain across rough ground and peat bog to return to my campsite.

Post Mortem

That first trip convinced me that sleeping out in the hills was a wonderful thing to do.

It also convinced me that I needed to drop my pack weight a lot. The amount of weight I was carrying was making it needlessly hard work. Sure I could get fitter and sure I could lose a few pounds myself but fundamentally there was just no need for me to take heavy stuff into the hills.

As is usual in the UK hills, despite the weather report being good the result was still rain - in this case largely because the cloud-base dropped to below 1000 feet and I was at 1500 feet. So, in the UK,I think it is wise to have some contingency for bad weather.

Over the winter I planned what I could do to drop the pack weight a lot - a mixture of using lighter kit and taking less stuff. My goal was to get an overnight pack weight down to near what I normally carry for a day pack weight in the autumn - around 5Kg. At this weight I can walk all day and still be comfortable.

The plan was to do the following:

  • Weigh everything
  • Decide what was safe to leave at home (not a lot)
  • Replace kit based on the lowest cost per gramme of weight

The result of these investigations actually resulted in very few changes. The biggest surprise was that my no-name no-frills Gore-Tex jacket weighed in at 500g and so the weight saving of 100-200g by moving to Paclite did not justify the cost. Instead, my 'breathable' cheap nylon jacket at 350g compares well with Paclite for weight if I am not expecting really bad weather.

So, the final results of kit changes were as follows:

  • KIMMLite AR25 L daysack - 520g saving 300g
  • Thermarest Prolite 3 - 600g saving 600g
  • Replace the Thermos flask (320g) with a lightweight stove (currently a Vargo Triad + Ti Mug for 78g complete)
  • Leave the walking pole at home - saving 336g
  • Leave spare clothes at home on 'nice' days - saving 1Kg
  • Take less water and carry some Puritabs- saving 1Kg
  • Take cheap jacket if rain is not expected - saving 150g
  • Leave waterproof trousers at home if rain is not expected - saving 250g
  • Replace Gore-Tex bivi bag (610g) with pertex bag for warm weather - saving 400g
  • TOTAL SAVING: 4.5Kg
  • TOTAL COST OF SAVINGS £150

The key points to note here is that I have not spent a lot of money on new kit. I still have reasonable safety still built in for bad weather and I still have reasonable levels of comfort. There are still lots of ways that I could lighten my load even more if I was willing to reduce my safety margins or live with less comfort or spend more money on ultralight kit.

However, I now have a comfortable overnight Bivi that weighs in at 3.5Kg + Food/Water for a warm summer night in a sheltered spot and maybe 4.5Kg or 5Kg + Food/Water if I am planning for a night on the hills and need to play safe.