Quilts Are Better Than Sleeping Bags

I used to say that all my best days started with waking up in a sleeping bag. Waking up in a sleeping bag usually means you’re out there somewhere, doing something interesting. In the past couple of years, though, I’ve found myself waking up out there to wonderful days spent doing interesting things, but without a sleeping bag in sight. Instead, I’m sleeping in what thru-hikers and ultralight redditors call a quilt.

This is not a quilt like the one your grandmother gave you. Backpacking quilts are made of nylon and filled with down like a traditional sleeping bag. The difference is that they lay over you like, well, a quilt, rather than wrapping all the way around you like a sleeping bag. The benefit is twofold: A quilt is lighter, meaning less weight to carry in your pack, and, as an added bonus, I sleep better than I ever have in the backcountry.

Mummified

Let’s face it, there’s a reason backpackers have nicknamed sleeping bags “mummy bags.” They’re constricting at the best of times, suffocating at the worst. I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s nothing about a mummy that I want to emulate, not even when I’m sleeping. I was, therefore, as well primed as anyone to jump on the quilt bandwagon when it really began to take off a few years ago. And yet, I didn’t. Perhaps it was something like Stockholm Syndrome; I’d finally accepted the mummy thing and was, honestly, a little nervous to give up my sleeping bag for a quilt. But then I did, and I’m never coming back. Or mostly never coming back.

But first, what’s the difference between a sleeping bag and a quilt? As briefly noted above, the quilt goes on top of you, rather than all around you like a sleeping bag. Consider the burrito vs. the taco. In this case, the sleeping bag/quilt is the tortilla and you are the filling. Would you rather be wrapped up like a burrito? Sleeping bag. Prefer the obviously superior experience of the taco, with its warm, soft tortilla lying on top of you? You’re (potentially) a quilt person.

The science here is that when you lie down in your traditional sleeping bag, the weight of your body forces most of the down fill off to the sides. The down left under you is so compacted you’re not getting any real insulation from it anyway—so why carry that extra nylon and down around? Enter the quilt. Quilts get rid of the bottom layer of useless nylon and down, and lay over you like the quilt on your bed at home. Quilts typically weigh less than sleeping bags and pack down smaller, making them very popular with backpackers trying to reduce weight and save space.

While I think the weight savings make quilts a great choice for anyone looking to carry a lighter load, how much you love a quilt over a sleeping bag will depend somewhat on how you sleep. If you’re a taco person, and the thought of having a sleeping bag wrapped up like burrito gives you the sweats just thinking it, the quilt is your happy, happy future. Or, if you like to curl up in a ball, move around a lot at night, are a side sleeper, or want to share covers with your tent mate, then again, the quilt is for you.

If you rarely move around at night, sleeping somewhat like a mummy, then you might not mind a traditional sleeping bag and wouldn’t share my enthusiasm for the quilt.