Gear Review: Western Mountaineering ExtremeLite Sleeping Bags

Western Mountaineering, based in San Jose, CA, has been making top-quality down products, and remained independently owned and operated for 35 years. They are very proud of this, as they should be. They are also very proud of their product line, and they should be, offering over 30 models of bags, more than 10 of which weigh in under 2 lbs. The UpaDowna Product Test Team recently acquired one of their bags and I’ve been rigorously testing it for several weeks now.

Western Mountaineering Alpinlite

Temp Rating: 20 degrees

Available Lengths: 5′6″, 6′, 6′6″

Shoulder/Hip/Foot Girth: 64″/55″/39″ (Medium size)

Total Weight: 1 lb 15 oz

MSRP: $425

As much as we would have loved to test their entire product line, since UpaDowna is Colorado-based we thought we’d pick a Colorado-appropriate bag to try out (something rated around 20 degrees). It came down to either their Alpinlite or Ultralite model, both being from WM’s EXTREMELITE series. The only differences between the two are the girth measurements; the Ultralite being the slim-cut model and the Alpinlite offering an extra 4″ of wiggle room. I tried both models on for size and for me and my awkward dimensions the Ultralite made my arms feel like they were bound to my body. I’m a bit of an arm-flopper at night so I opted for the Alpinlite (the sacrifice being that it weighs an extra 2oz). Aside from the girth, you can probably apply the rest of this review to either model.

Unlike most manufacturers, WM doesn’t offer a lot of flexibility in quality; you can’t get a cheap bag with 600 fill down. They only use top-quality 850 fill power goose down. This keeps their bags light, efficient, compressible, and lofty (the Alpinlite offering 5″ of loft). The Alpinlite is the smallest and lightest bag in the WM line to come with a size-Small stuff sack (the Ultralite comes with an XS). While in its small stuff sack I found that the Alpinlite still had plenty more compressibility available. You may not be able to get it into a daypack, but I’d say a person can definitely cram this bag into the bottom of a sub-50L lightweight backpack.

Considering that is weighs less than 2 lbs, I found this bag to be feature-rich. It has a full-length zipper (#5 YKK), something often sacrificed in other lightweight bags in order to keep weight down. This is great on warmer nights or if you’re a hot sleeper and you occasionally need to kick a leg out of the bag to cool off. The bag also features a continuous baffle system for temperature versatility. In short, this means that the baffle tubes that hold the down continuously run from one zipper, all the way around you, to the other zipper. This would allow a person to shake or push the insulation, for example, from the top of the bag to the bottom to raise the temp rating a bit, or the other direction to get more insulation on top of the sleeper. WM claims that unwanted insulation shifting is minimized by their 5.25″ baffle sizing, which I found to be true so far. Of course the bag has a draw-corded mummy hood, but it also features a down-filled, corded draft collar as well. That’s a lot of nice stuff for less than 2 lbs!

WM’s entire EXTREMELITE line is built with a 20 denier or finer, 380 thread count material that weighs less than 1oz per square yard. It isn’t waterproof, and WM doesn’t even claim it is water resistant, but I allowed a tent drip to hit it for a while and the water was beading and rolling off of the bag. This will probably change some as the bag breaks in more, and I wouldn’t leave the bag in any standing water, but with a down bag it was a nice piece-of-mind.

This photo of the hood on the sleeping bag shows a bulk of the features that make this a nice bag; microfiber shell, good loft, draft collar and hood, both with ripcords and velcro attachments, and a #5 YKK zipper with parallel stiffening tape to prevent zipper snags.

Overall, I’m liking this bag quite a bit and I think Yeti is as well. I gave him a quick chance to review it, well, sort of….I threw the compressed bag at his head while yelling, “See how light it is?!?” to which he replied, “cock sucker!” probably because he was jealous of the weight. Thanks for your opinion Yeti!