The Bivi Bag Experience

Do you actually need a bivi bag?

• Rock ledges (eg Al Cap. in Yosemite)
• High wind areas - tops of mountains
• Snow caves and above the snowline - nowhere to put the tent pegs
• Fast packing/unpacking - military use
• Stealth camping. It is hard to beat a green or dpm bivi bag as the ultimate in low-profile discrete camping
• Emergency shelter - not ideal. Buy a Bothy bag instead

Now within their limitations Bivi bags are fantastic. If you can find an area of ground large enough to lie down on then you can use it. For sleeping out on a mountaintop I don't think anything can beat it. It may be too windy or rocky to pitch a tent but even a small rock or cairn can provide enough of a windbreak to allow a bivi to be used in relative comfort.

So, if you think that a bivi bag might be for you then why not try out one of these three fun experiments?

The drawcord hood bivi bag - home experience

This type of bivi bag is typically designed as a sleeping bag cover and for military use. It is assumed that you are either not expecting bad weather or don't mind the exposure of your face. Lots of people use them in the summer months and warmer climates or in conjunction with a tarp. For a Home trial:

• Get into your normal sleeping bag and zip it up so that only your head is showing. Now try and do something such as read a book, cook or listen to music.
• If you want to re-create the joys of bad weather then have a friend or partner put a fan near your head and occaisionally squirt you with a waterpistol.
• For the final authentic touch you could try and get out of the bag, get dressed and cook breakfast whilst still being squirted with the waterpistol

The alpine or fully enclosed bivi bag - home experience

This is a bag that is for the roughest and most extreme of weather. It will keep you warm and dry. It will also allow you to experience firsthand what it might be like to be buried alive. For a home trial:

• Get into your normal sleeping bag and zip it up so that only your head is showing.
• Have a partner or friend throw a Gore-Tex jacket over your head.
• Now try and do something such as read a book, cook or listen to music or even sleep.
• For the bad weather experience have a friend or partner put a fan near your head and occaisionally squirt the jacket with a waterpistol.
• When you are bored prepare to remove the jacket from your face and prepare to be squirted with the waterpistol.

The hooped bivi bag - home experience

As you may have worked out by now bivi bags are not designed to be luxury hotels. They are minimalist practical shelters with some severe limitations. The hooped bivi bag was designed to counter some of these limitations. The cost of this is that it is is heavier and needs to be used with tent pegs. For a home trial:

• Hop into a single bed and have a partner throw a sheet over the bed so that it hangs over the headrest and the footrest. (hooped bags typically have a maximum height of 45-60cm)
• Enjoy the spacious comfort. Read a book, sleep, listen to music. It is all possible!
• If you want to re-create the joys of bad weather then have a friend or partner put a fan near your head and occaisionally squirt the jacket with a waterpistol.
• Again, when you are bored and want to remove the sheet have a friend ready with a fan and a waterpistol

Summary

If all you want is a very simple summer (or hardcore winter) bivi bag to keep the condensation off your bag or add a little bit of security then consider something like the Khyam Bivi Bag (340g and £17.50) or the Rab Survival Zone bivi (350-450g and £45 ).

If you need more protection then a fully sealed Gore-Tex or eVent Alpine bivi bag. A Terra Nova Scout would be a good basic bag to start with. Of course, if you are seriously claustrophobic or actually want to do something in your bivi bag then you will need to buy an expensive hooped bivi like the Terra Nova Saturn or Jupiter (940g and £180)

As a final note. I do often use a bivi bag but these days I tend to use it with a micro-tarp as well so that I at least can do something whilst still in the bag and don't need to zip myself in completely. You can read more here