The North Face Dark Star Sleeping Bag: -40 Degree Climashield Neo - 2008 BCS

I used the TNF Dark Star on Aconcagua. At the 19,000 foot camp, the freezing weather was not an issue. I stayed nice and warm zipped up inside this great bag.

I just wrote the review for the previous model, which is the polarguard model that is currently on sale, but it looks like nothing had particularly changed with the Dark Star other than the brand of filler. It is a very large, slightly heavy, but particularly bulky bag. Even with the compression stuff sac it still comes in at about 2.5" long by about 12-14" wide... So it takes up a lot of space... Stuffing doesn't quite take 15 minutes, but it is a little tough to get it in the sac and sinched up. It is a great basecamp or living quarters bag for expeditioning, but there are better bags to get. But with anything, you get what you pay for and the Dark Star is a particularly good deal IMO. I use it for all sorts of camping, anytime my 20 bag won't cut it including fall/spring and southern Utah in the winter, times where it rarely gets below 10F or 0 so the bag is complete overkill. It manages this very well of course, I manage the excess heat by simply venting the bag (aka having the zipper open in places) which works great. The bag (even though made in China or whatever) is still North Face quality, excellent design, good neck collars, etc...

Highly recommended to other small women who are always cold on camping trips! I sleep cold and am used to suffering on camping trips, even in summer in my 20 degree rated bag. I bought the Dark Star to take on a Mt. Kilimanjaro climbing trip, where the temperatures never get close to -40, but still drop down below 0 near the summit. For the first time in my life, I was able to sleep without every item of clothes on that I own, and I loved it! It is extremely warm, but can be made comfortable on warmer nights by keeping it unzipped or not cinching up around the neck and shoulders. The thing is huge though, so make sure you have a backpack that can handle it's massive bulk.