Winter Bivy Sack

When it comes to winter camping and backpacking, most people shy away from a bivy sack in favour of something more robust, like a four season tent. But there are in fact many excellent winter bivy sacks on the market, and a winter bivy sack can and will do an excellent job of protecting you from the worst weather that you will experience in winter conditions. It may get a little cramped inside that bivy sack for some of those longer storms, but what you save on weight and bulk in your backpack makes it worth it.

Winter Bivy Sack

What to look for when you're looking for a winter bivy sack.

• Pole – Poles tend to be one of the things that separate bivy sacks from tents, but when it comes to winter bivy sacks, it can be a lot more comfortable with a pole in your bivy sack. At the very least it will keep the bivy sack off your face and give you a little breathing when you’re curled up inside.
• Waterproof – Three season bivy sacks are often waterproof on just the top of the sack, or else use a fabric, like DWR coated nylon, that will perhaps keep you dry in a few showers, but certainly not in a winter deluge. So do yourself a favour and get a bivy sack that uses a higher quality waterproof material.

Best Winter Bivy Sack

Some of the very best winter bivy sacks to keep you warm at night.

• Rab Ascent Bivi - If you would prefer a lightweight winter bivy sack then the Ascent might be just right for you. It uses eVent for the top, which is a waterproof, breathable fabric similar to Gore Tex, but lighter, and a waterproof floor to keep the weather outside of your bivy sack, where it belongs. There are no poles or any support structure, and just a zipper and optional no-see-um netting to keep the weather at bay, but the trade-off for that is that this bivy sacks weighs an impressive 1 pound 5 ounces, or 600 grams.
• Outdoor Research Alpine Bivy - If you would prefer a winter bivy sack with some sort of support structure to give you a little breathing room at night, Outdoor Research has an excellent option in the Alpine. The top of the bivy sack is 3-ply Gore Tex, which will keep you dry and also breath. The bottom is a more durable coated nylon, to keep water off of the bottom of your sleeping bag. There's a single hooped pole over the face, and the opening has no-see-um netting, so that you can get a little ventilation if the weather is cooperating. All those features add up, however, and this bivy sack weighs 2 pounds, or 910 grams.
• Black Diamond Bipod Bivy - The Bipod has a design very similar to the Alpine above, with one hooped pole over the face area, and no-see-um netting over the face opening, for ventilation options. It doesn't use Gore Tex, however, but instead a fairly similar fabric, called ToddTex, which is a fabric developed by Black Diamond. It also weighs slightly less than the Alpine, at 1 pound 13 ounces, which is 822 grams.

Find even more bivy sacks at the compare bivy sacks page.