The North Face - Snow Shoe - Review

While preparing for a spring camping trip and watching the forecast get worse and worse by the day I came to the conclusion that my regular summer sleeping bag was just not going to be good enough. I set out to find a warmer sleeping bag. After giving myself a crash course on what’s available in the world of sleeping bags I decided that my sleeping bag would:

·Be usable to at least -15c, but not be too hot to use if temperatures increased
·Dry quickly if it got damp
·Have enough room to keep the next day’s clothes and some equipment warm at the bottom of the bag
·Light enough to be packed easily

I did not have a lot of time to look around for the best bag or the best deals so most of my information came from sales reps, store staff and a few “how to choose a sleeping bag” guides on the internet. I decided I wanted a synthetic bag, although it weighs slightly more than its down competitors it will dry out faster if it gets damp. I also decided on a mummy style bag, this was somewhat of a troublesome decision for me as usually I toss around a lot when sleeping, but I decided on the mummy bag because when it is cold you tend to stay in one place rather then moving to cold areas of a bed. As a result I decided having less space to heat up would be better than trying to stay in the warm spot all night long.

After snooping through nearly every local store for sleeping bags I decided the one that seemed best was the Snow Shoe by The North Face. I purchased the left hand zipper with the extra-long bag for 189.99. This bag is advertised as comfortable to 0f or -17.8c but I did not particularly trust these ratings, with any bag, not just this one, the way I see it this comfort rating will be quite different from one person to the next. So time will tell.

Once I got the bag home and unpacked I started checking it out, the bag includes 2 stuff sacks, one for storage and one, very small one, for transport and regular use. The zipper is good and seals very well but I found that no matter what I do it seems to bind up right as it makes the corner near the shoulder. I don’t think this is so much an issue with the zipper as it is the angle I am pulling it at and may be resolved with some practice. There is a heavily padded flap that seals the zipper on the inside and prevents the cold zipper from touching you at night. There is also a Velcro flap at the top of the zipper to keep it from coming undone. The neck collar, which essentially seals your shoulder in was one of the hardest parts of the mummy bag to get used to. It is closed using what I can only describe as a Velcro sandwich and a pull string to cinch it up, both work very well, they just take some getting used to. The hood also features a pull string to tighten it up. The collar and hood can both be comfortably left undone when not needed. My biggest problem with this bag is the lining, and I am still not convinced if I like it or not. The North Face describes it as a “silken lining” and it does feel silk-like although it has a very plastic feel to it. I have found it to be very strange feeling to sleep in, it almost makes bare skin feel sweaty although you will be perfectly dry. The other issue some users may have with this bag is simply the size, I am fairly short with a medium build and the width of this bag at the shoulders is just enough to fit me comfortably, someone with a larger frame would probably have some serious issues getting in and out of this bag.

With that said it was time to give it a go. We were headed for Swan Hills, AB. in the beginning of May with estimated lows around 0c. I set up my Snow Shoe sleeping bag by itself on top on a Therm-a-rest Basecamp 2” mat. Temperature was in the 3-5c range and I was quite warm although strangely enough my feet were somewhat chilly. I decided this was due to the way I had packed tomorrows clothes into the bottom of the bag, I had left a rather large air pocket, folding up the clothes so they packed in nicely fixed this problem instantly. The second and third nights were a little below the 0 degree mark and the humidity was considerably higher making for cool nights, I did up the collar and hood and was perfectly comfortable if not a little on the warm side, either way I slept through the night with no problems. I feel that this bag could comfortably be used exactly as rated and with the addition of a bag liner and some additional clothes probably well beyond its rated limits.

I have not had a lot of time to abuse this bag and as such I will keep you updated if my opinion changes, for better or worse. This is a good bag but I would recommend spending more time trying out the bag in store, especially in consideration of the liner. It will feel different when fully clothed as opposed to barefoot in your pjs, and I am unconvinced I would buy a bag with this type of liner again, and will likely end up buying an aftermarket liner to correct this mistake.

My Rating: