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Simon Caldwell said:Mark Anderson said:-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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Hi,
I'm looking to purchase a group shelter and have looked around and see 4
main options...
Terranova Bothy Bags
I've got a 2 man one of these. For lunching out of the weather type
use, a 4 man wou8ld be better for 2, but for emergency use a 2-man is
preferable, as there's less air to have to warm up so it's hotter (at
least that's the theory).
If it is for emergencies, I'd recommend each person carrying a
lightweight bivvy bag anyway (one of those silver things, so light and
small you hardly notice you're carrying it). A group shelter for
emergencies is all very well if the group stays together, but if the
emergency is caused by a fall for instance this may not be the case.
S.
I think the really lightweight silver bivvy bags offer a false sense of
security. I remember snow-holing in an emergency with a group of
friends. Two of them pulled out silver bags and climbed in, one had a
pertex sleeping bag cover, and three of us used a four man bivvy
shelter.
Even inside in the still air of a snow-hole the two with the silver bags
found them shredding to pieces within an hour or so of use. The three of
us in the shared space of the bivvy shelter were definitely the warmest
in the group.
The larger and more robust vacuum packed silver bivvy bags with
multi-layered air pockets probably are OK but I've never used one. The
nylon bivvy shelters or a nylon or pertex bivvy bag are more likely to
be useful in a real emergency bivvy, particularly in an exposed and
windy location and they can also double up as handy shelters for food
stops on more routine occasions in inclement weather.
Mike
--
o/ \\ // || ,_ o Mike Clark, "An antibody engineer who also
<\__,\\ // __o || / /\, likes the mountains"
"> || _`\<,_ // \\ \> | Cambridge Climbing and Caving Club
` || (_)/ (_) // \\ \_ <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/cccc/>
