Valandre Shocking Blue

It packs down as small as a summer bag and weighs just two pounds, so testers greeted this mummy with skepticism: Few dared to take it to its 15°F limit. But the Alpini wowed the ones who did. “I stayed warm at its rating, and would trust it down to 5°F,” reports one tester who used it during a snow-cave campout at 10,000 feet in Colorado’s Park Range.

The Alpini achieves its impressive warmth-to-weight ratio with 850-fill down sandwiched between ultralight, 15-denier Pertex Quantum fabric. Plus, offset baffles stagger the stitching on the outer and inner shell to prevent cold lines on the seams. The draft tube running along the full-length zipper uses two seams instead of one to create a fat U shape that effectively traps heat.

The hood is “snug but not confining, so I warmed up fast without feeling stifled,” reports one tester, and the opening is trimmed with a down-filled tube (instead of an elastic band), which feels softer than elastic and helps further trap warmth.

Durability is excellent; we dragged it over rocks and sharp tundra grass in Iceland’s Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, and the Alpini never snagged or lost a feather.

Bonus: A tiny interior pocket holds lip balm. Caveat: Side-sleepers and big guys found the hyper-efficient cut a bit tight.

$369; 2 lbs.

15°F; reg. and long;

brooks-range.com
The Shocking Blue is a completely new approach to sleeping bag design incorporating an anatomical cut in every baffle including the hood. At the foot end of the bag the base compartments have been raised and angled to follow the natural flex of the foot keeping your feet surrouded by our fully lofted high quality French down. The Marie Antoinette inner collar prevents body heat escaping from the core section of the bag. Outer and inner fabric is our Asahi Kasei Anti Static Impact 66 Polyamid rip stop imported from Japan. Meticulous attention to the anatomy of the human form while designing each chamber of this bag creates an unprecedented fit.
Best use: Backpaking and outdoor adventures late into the year when the temperatures are starting to fall.