The pandemic has, unfortunately, put a dent in our Polar ambitions for this year, but the COVID situation in Austria has luckily improved enough to allow hiking and trekking trips again. As I’m gearing up for a busy hiking summer at home, I tested a new ultralight sleeping setup made for those warm summer nights to come. It is exceptionally light, weighing only 655g, but is it comfortable, too?
When camping out for a night, there’s nothing like a hot cup of coffee in the morning or a warm meal in the evening. Even on a single day trip, you may want to have a warm lunch or an afternoon tea. Unfortunately, a cooking kit takes up quite a lot of weight and space speaking in ultralight terms. Carrying an extra 700g or more for just a cup of tea or a single meal seems unreasonable. Luckily there is a solution for those of us who can’t live without anything warm in their bellies. Here’s what I use.
A Bivvi (or Bivy, Bivvy, Bivi etc.) bag, is a waterproof bag that fits around your sleeping bag so that you can sleep outside without the need for a tent. It acts as both a groundsheet and cover for your bed. In the past they were mostly used by the army for fast and light travel, but they’ve become a lot more popular among civillian campers in recent years, particularly ultralight hikers and wild campers.