I can still remember the first night I slept with the Alpine 35 Blanket, on a cold rainy night in the Ethan Pond shelter on the New Hampshire Appalachian Trail. Talk about a huge market opportunity: 61 percent of American are side sleepers. While the introduction of lightweight insulated inflatable mattresses like the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir vastly improved the comfort of side-sleeping backpackers and campers, there hasn’t really been a major corresponding design change in sleeping bags. I had no idea how profoundly it would alter my sleeping insulation preferences then.Īs a side sleeper, I’ve had my share of troubles over the years getting comfortable in mummy style sleeping bags which let’s face it, are designed for back sleepers. But, I decided I’d ask Therm-a-Rest to send me an Alpine 35 Blanket to try, just the same. Last year I was on the fence about switching from a sleeping bag to a quilt (see the Tentative Quilter.) I was worried that I’d miss the added security of bottom and top insulation and warmth provided by a mummy style hood.

This year’s winner is the Therm-a-Rest Alpine 35 Blanket (click for my review), a down quilt which I started using this May and have used on almost every overnight trip since.

Every year, I like to recognize the piece of new gear that has had the greatest influence on my enjoyment of backpacking.

Alpine design tent review vs