Stone Glacier’s New Chilkoot 15F Sleeping Bag test

307

WKR
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
Messages
1,765
Location
Cheyenne
I'm buying A 10-20* bag ASAP. About ruined my last trip and promptly got sick the day I came home. Deciding between this and a WM alpinlite/versalite. Only a slight price difference...

Is SG really in the same tier as WM? I guess time will tell, but I need a bag now...
 
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Messages
1,179
Location
WA State
Man this bag seems awesome. I'm still torn between this bag and a Kifaru slick bag for the synthetic insulation aspect. The SG down bag saves about 1.5lbs plus it packs much smaller. Sometimes I feel the down bag wetting out gets over blown. in the Lower 48 how often does this really happen? I've used a down bag for years and have never had it happen but I haven't used it in really wet conditions or days on end that have rain.
How's your bag gonna get wet if it's in a tent? Realistically it won't, save some crazy hurricane type scenario or something. And if you're worried about your tent collapsing on itself in a storm while you're away from camp then just stuff your bag in a dry sack when you're out in the field or when you're packing around and it will stay dry in there. If you become so wet and hypothermic after a disaster in the field then you'll be hiking to the truck anyway. If you fly into Alaska and you have no control of when you can get back to a warm and dry vehicle then pack the extra weight of a synthetic. That's how I look at it at least.
 
OP
robby denning

robby denning

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
14,992
Location
SE Idaho
I leave in 8 days .. it will be cold at elevation. Will report back how it handled the temps. Im a cold sleeper

Please do let us know. I just got back Saturday from five days in the high country. We had a low of 3°. I had to put my Kryptek Takur rain jacket around the foot box and throw a bottle of hot water in there on that night, and I slept in my puffy. Was comfortable enough, but would’ve liked to of had the 0° bag that night. Still loving this bag though, I’ve got over 25 nights in it now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

rodney482

WKR
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
3,815
Ive done the puffy around my footbox and hot water in my bladder trick... worked great


Please do let us know. I just got back Saturday from five days in the high country. We had a low of 3°. I had to put my Kryptek Takur rain jacket around the foot box and throw a bottle of hot water in there on that night, and I slept in my puffy. Was comfortable enough, but would’ve liked to of had the 0° bag that night. Still loving this bag though, I’ve got over 25 nights in it now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

afalcone

FNG
Joined
Oct 27, 2018
Messages
14
Location
Oswego, IL
Hey Roksliders,
Long-time sponsor Stone Glacier has now expanded their business into sleeping bags with their new Chilkoot bag, among other backcountry products. I successfully ran their EVO 3300 pack since last May (video review here) and can see why these guys are at top choice for the backcountry crowd.

They asked me to give their new sleeping bag a test run and post up my experiences here. All the bag features and specs are here

They sent me a pre-production prototype model, so the first thing you’ll note is the color is blue. The production bag is offered in the gray shown at that link above.

They also sent me an email about this bag with this note: "That is a hand sewn prototype. The production bags will be much tighter."

I decided to test the temperature rating first. So Friday afternoon on 2/1, I set up my Cimarron tent in my backyard in 20-something degree temps. Although there is 6” of hard-packed snow back there, the afternoon sun had melted off some bare grass under my Colorado Blue Spruce trees, so I was able to set up on dry ground.
d07615452e1744b68a0cfc7263ce92ba.jpg
c20279eb0cbf71d7a5df070b5fbf569d.jpg

Although I have the Stone Glacier Skysraper (that mulit-author review is here), I wanted to test the bag in a floorless tent as that is what I’d likely be running in weather where I’d use a 15-degree bag, i.e. when the bugs are gone. I’ll run it in the Skyscraper at a later date, and post it up on here.

The ground was frozen solid, so I only pounded the tent stakes in a few inches (that will play right into this test later on as you’ll see).

I set up my E-Kot and a thermarest-knock-off pad inside and laid the bag out.
7fdd6aebea5637f09d31da5c9cf00d31.jpg


Temps were forecasted to be in the low 20’s.
4fcb2c9252db6484d311c6693486a9f9.jpg


At 10:30 PM, the outside temp was 25-degrees. I kissed the wife goodnight and headed outside. She shivered at the thought of me sleeping out there but those are mild temps compared to late October in the high country, so I wasn’t worried.

I wanted to test the bag in what I’d typically be wearing when I knew the forecast called for temps in the mid-teens. I donned my First Lite Fuse LS top, the Furnace Long John on bottom, and the new First Lite Sweater prototype (it’s a light weight down jacket with hood) and a pair of Smart Wool socks. I also wore the First Lite prototype work glove, and a fleece beanie.

I crawled in the bag for the very first time and zipped in. I found there was plenty of room around my shoulders (I’m 5’9”, 180lbs). I could clasp my hands together across my chest and spread my elbows out fully, just touching the sides of the bag.

The 2/3 zip formed a foot box around my feet with some wiggle room for movement but not too big so my feet could get cold.
70257d14869ecedf88e3bf200f07c2c8.jpg


I had a light down pillow in the hood of the bag that didn’t quite allow me to zip the hood completely closed, but the collar inside the bag kept any drafts from sinking into the bag (there is a magnet closure on the collar, but I didn’t use it). I fell asleep to the sound of the horses eating from a hay bale a few yards away.

I woke up around 1:00AM. Outside temp was still in the mid-20’s as it had clouded over a bit, keeping the temps up longer than I expected. I hadn’t gotten cold at all and only woke up because I had to take a leak. Back in the bag, I was asleep in minutes.

I had the alarm set for 6AM and heard it go off, but laid in the bag for a bit longer. I was still warm but had woken up in a semi-fetal position on my side (bag is roomy enough to allow a guy my size to roll around—nice!). I wasn’t as warm as I had been earlier in the night, but never got chilled. I headed in the house and checked the outside temp: 21-degrees.

48094ee0075dd966fda4c2c2be5842d4.jpg
Pretty close to the rated 15-degrees.

The forecast said the next few nights were only going to get down into the high twenties as a snowstorm was rolling in with some warmer temps. I decided to just leave the bag out there until the temps dropped again in a few nights. This is where the real test was about to begin and I didn’t even know it!

3/7/19 Update. Looks like Stone Glacier just released this Chilkoot to the public and is taking orders. Got this email this morning: https://mailchi.mp/stoneglacier/new-chilkoot-sleeping-bags-are-in-stock-shipping?e=f329aad5c8
 

afalcone

FNG
Joined
Oct 27, 2018
Messages
14
Location
Oswego, IL
Hey Roksliders,
Long-time sponsor Stone Glacier has now expanded their business into sleeping bags with their new Chilkoot bag, among other backcountry products. I successfully ran their EVO 3300 pack since last May (video review here) and can see why these guys are at top choice for the backcountry crowd.

They asked me to give their new sleeping bag a test run and post up my experiences here. All the bag features and specs are here

They sent me a pre-production prototype model, so the first thing you’ll note is the color is blue. The production bag is offered in the gray shown at that link above.

They also sent me an email about this bag with this note: "That is a hand sewn prototype. The production bags will be much tighter."

I decided to test the temperature rating first. So Friday afternoon on 2/1, I set up my Cimarron tent in my backyard in 20-something degree temps. Although there is 6” of hard-packed snow back there, the afternoon sun had melted off some bare grass under my Colorado Blue Spruce trees, so I was able to set up on dry ground.
d07615452e1744b68a0cfc7263ce92ba.jpg
c20279eb0cbf71d7a5df070b5fbf569d.jpg

Although I have the Stone Glacier Skysraper (that mulit-author review is here), I wanted to test the bag in a floorless tent as that is what I’d likely be running in weather where I’d use a 15-degree bag, i.e. when the bugs are gone. I’ll run it in the Skyscraper at a later date, and post it up on here.

The ground was frozen solid, so I only pounded the tent stakes in a few inches (that will play right into this test later on as you’ll see).

I set up my E-Kot and a thermarest-knock-off pad inside and laid the bag out.
7fdd6aebea5637f09d31da5c9cf00d31.jpg


Temps were forecasted to be in the low 20’s.
4fcb2c9252db6484d311c6693486a9f9.jpg


At 10:30 PM, the outside temp was 25-degrees. I kissed the wife goodnight and headed outside. She shivered at the thought of me sleeping out there but those are mild temps compared to late October in the high country, so I wasn’t worried.

I wanted to test the bag in what I’d typically be wearing when I knew the forecast called for temps in the mid-teens. I donned my First Lite Fuse LS top, the Furnace Long John on bottom, and the new First Lite Sweater prototype (it’s a light weight down jacket with hood) and a pair of Smart Wool socks. I also wore the First Lite prototype work glove, and a fleece beanie.

I crawled in the bag for the very first time and zipped in. I found there was plenty of room around my shoulders (I’m 5’9”, 180lbs). I could clasp my hands together across my chest and spread my elbows out fully, just touching the sides of the bag.

The 2/3 zip formed a foot box around my feet with some wiggle room for movement but not too big so my feet could get cold.
70257d14869ecedf88e3bf200f07c2c8.jpg


I had a light down pillow in the hood of the bag that didn’t quite allow me to zip the hood completely closed, but the collar inside the bag kept any drafts from sinking into the bag (there is a magnet closure on the collar, but I didn’t use it). I fell asleep to the sound of the horses eating from a hay bale a few yards away.

I woke up around 1:00AM. Outside temp was still in the mid-20’s as it had clouded over a bit, keeping the temps up longer than I expected. I hadn’t gotten cold at all and only woke up because I had to take a leak. Back in the bag, I was asleep in minutes.

I had the alarm set for 6AM and heard it go off, but laid in the bag for a bit longer. I was still warm but had woken up in a semi-fetal position on my side (bag is roomy enough to allow a guy my size to roll around—nice!). I wasn’t as warm as I had been earlier in the night, but never got chilled. I headed in the house and checked the outside temp: 21-degrees.

48094ee0075dd966fda4c2c2be5842d4.jpg
Pretty close to the rated 15-degrees.

The forecast said the next few nights were only going to get down into the high twenties as a snowstorm was rolling in with some warmer temps. I decided to just leave the bag out there until the temps dropped again in a few nights. This is where the real test was about to begin and I didn’t even know it!

3/7/19 Update. Looks like Stone Glacier just released this Chilkoot to the public and is taking orders. Got this email this morning: https://mailchi.mp/stoneglacier/new-chilkoot-sleeping-bags-are-in-stock-shipping?e=f329aad5c8
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
48
I'm buying A 10-20* bag ASAP. About ruined my last trip and promptly got sick the day I came home. Deciding between this and a WM alpinlite/versalite. Only a slight price difference...

Is SG really in the same tier as WM? I guess time will tell, but I need a bag now...
Just picked up the 0. I'll let you know how it is. Taking it out into temps around 15 this week.
 

tdot

WKR
Joined
Aug 18, 2014
Messages
1,888
Location
BC
How's your bag gonna get wet if it's in a tent? Realistically it won't, save some crazy hurricane type scenario or something. And if you're worried about your tent collapsing on itself in a storm while you're away from camp then just stuff your bag in a dry sack when you're out in the field or when you're packing around and it will stay dry in there. If you become so wet and hypothermic after a disaster in the field then you'll be hiking to the truck anyway. If you fly into Alaska and you have no control of when you can get back to a warm and dry vehicle then pack the extra weight of a synthetic. That's how I look at it at least.


Dont forget that down can also get wet from perspiration and breath, or even condensation dripping on it. But I've found these new coated types of down to be sufficient to deal with that type of moisture. But I have seen untreated down, get clumpy from moisture with zero rain.
 
OP
robby denning

robby denning

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
14,992
Location
SE Idaho
Dont forget that down can also get wet from perspiration and breath, or even condensation dripping on it. But I've found these new coated types of down to be sufficient to deal with that type of moisture. But I have seen untreated down, get clumpy from moisture with zero rain.

You’re right. And I’ve woke up this fall several times with wet all around the face opening from my breath but it never clumped and was dry by the time lunch rolls around.

Went to bed with damp socks and pants and didn’t have any issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2019
Messages
48
Spent 1 week in the field. Minor rain. High wind. Temperatures were as follows; 33F, 32F, 23F, 12F, 6F, 11F.

The Chilkoot was FANTASTIC. It came down to a WM Kodiak and the Chilkoot and the SG was lighter so I decided I would give it a whirl. I LOVED IT. The bag was big enough for me, 6'3 215 but not too big. I never once felt cold in this bag. I was able to sleep the whole night and definitely did not want to get out in the morning haha. The durability seems great and for being a true 0 degree bag it was super light. A few ounces lighter than the WM. I thought I would be regretting this bag or wishing I had spent a few hundred more on the WM. Time will tell if she holds up but at this point I love the bag.
 
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