One of Montane’s first sleeping bags, launched this year, the Featherlite is an excellent summer bag for backpacking. It packs quite small – and comes with a waterproof stuffsack – and is warm for the weight. I used it on the TGO Challenge and it kept me warm with minimal clothing at -2°C. I found it comfortable too, with room enough to move inside without there being big dead air spaces. The bag has a snug, shaped hood, a draft collar and a thick baffle behind the chunky zip. Montane has also come up with some new design features, though these didn’t have advantages for me. The foot is flipper-shaped so if you sleep on your back there’s room for your feet to point upwards. Lying like this does feel comfortable, but I never sleep on my back. The underside of the bag is dotted with silicone roundels to stop it slipping on a mat. These do grip on closed cell foam but had no effect on my NeoAir mat. (I usually turn over with a bag anyway and so probably wouldn’t like one that stuck to the mat). I did like the large rubberised glow-in-the-dark zip pulls, which make finding them in the dark easier than with many bags.
First published: July 2014
