What degree sleeping bag in NE Alaska in Sept?

[mooster]

My n=1, 0 degree is fine in 20’s but below that barely adequate. When in teens I wear light weight puffy pant and jacket. Could always use a less rated bag and add a liner.

 

[Jimss]

I would recommend WM Badger 0 degree if you can afford it. You can always open your bag if warm but if cold you are screwed. I have used down inside a dry bag on many Alaska trips and it's worked well. Just be overly careful to keep it dry....no wet clothes in bag and everything around it. The nice thing about down is it's so compact. Obviously if you are traveling to Alaska the less bulk the less baggage you are lugging around....and less extra baggage fees!

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

0-5+ degree down works for me, always. I bring a twin flat sheet for extra layer and a cooler option on warm september nights. Western Mountaineering bags are my choice.

Bumping this post up.
Are you taking a bivy too if weight allows? WM or another slick bag at 0 are what I’m looking at. Have a 20 def slick now that I’m probably going to sell. Adding a new pad too.

 

[AkMtnRunner]

I’ll say this. For the first time this year I tried a lightweight wood stove and teepee tent system and I believe I’ll never not include it again, even backpack hunting, on any trips longer than 4 days in September in AK.

 

[VernAK]

It might be almost comical, right up until SH*T does hit the fan. Back in 2012 I took my girlfriend up to AK in September, so I missed my almost-annual fly-in hunt in the 40 Mile country for moose and caribou. It so happens they had some tough weather that fall, including sustained 60-70 mph winds; one camp experienced a microburst wind (top wind speeds were near 100 mph during the worst of the storm), that split their tepee wide open in the middle of the night, in a driving rainstorm. So they got out of their sleeping bags, and using headlamps in driving rain and sustained high winds, duct taped a tarp to a downed log and weathered out the rest of the night in their sleeping bags behind the tarp leanto. The winds were so strong that bush planes couldn't land for a few days; the best they could do was fly over and air drop another tent out of the plane.

During the same storm, 2 guys were camped on another ridge, and were in their tent. The wind took them and their tent and blew it partway down the side of the ridge! That would shrink my sphincter if it happened to me.

I take your point that sometimes it seems like the AK danger can sound overhyped; I think perhaps that is because when the bad does come in AK, it can REALLY come. Here's hoping neither you or I get to face a storm like the one above, while we're out in remote country.

I had the satisfaction of enjoying that particular storm and it did blow up on that ridge. The wind was from a PWS storm and was clocked at 114 mph at Tanacross Airport and blew a house or two off the footings. You can still see where the microbursts wiped out standing forest around Dry Creek on the Alcan. Fortunately it was not cold. My partner in my Sawtooth was new to AK so I told him to grab that pole and I'll grab this one and we'll collapse the tent and roll up in it until dawn. John Havard lost his big tipi but my 12 man survived with minimal damage. Friends that live on PWS confirmed my sighting of a black albatross that had been blown 200 miles north of PWS.

As for sleeping bags, I'm and old phardt and probably don't have the circulation of the younger but I use my Cabelas Trans Alaska bag rated at -30. The fill is down on top and synthetic under. I do take a light bivy as insurance.

I have experienced -20F twice in mid september interior Alaska at 3K elevation. Once with extreme snow and wind.

 

[dsotm223]

Its nice being able to get well thought out educational answers here. I've been googling for 3 days trying to get sleeping bag advice and didnt find anything half as helpful as here.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

[Corey Paulsen (teamkabob)]

Its nice being able to get well thought out educational answers here. I've been googling for 3 days trying to get sleeping bag advice and didnt find anything half as helpful as here.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

That’s why I bumped this post up. Those boys up in Alaska don’t have time for stuff to fail. Glad I bumped this post up. I just need to find a Western Mountaineering Kodiak 0deg bag on sale. But looks like covid-19 and Cali had them closed for a bit. A lot of places sold out.

 

[ao3004]

I would go with the 0 degree or colder to be on the safe side.