Original Synthetic Quilt

Here’s the project report I wrote a couple years ago after finishing my first apex quilt:

Apex 7.5 Synthetic Quilt

March 28th, 2021

I’ve used a Sierra Designs Cloud 20F for a number of years as my one and only sleeping bag. It has served me well out on spring/summer/fall trips, and I used it every month straight for 2 months when I lived out of my car for a summer.

While living in California in the winter of 2019, I started to get into weekend long backcountry touring trips out in the Sierras. After the first one of these, it was readily apparent to me that the Cloud wasn’t going to cut it. I wasn’t really feeling up to shelling out $400 for a new 0F down sleeping bag, so I started looking into other options.

I stumbled on Apex backpacking quilts through the backpackinglight.com forums. On the forums, users had posted plans for making lightweight, simple quilts using synthetic Climashield Apex insulation. While not quite as insulating as down, Climashield Apex retains its insulation properties even when wet, making it perfect for ski touring. It’s also cheaper to buy for the same insulation value compared to down.

The quilt design is a bit of a departure from a standard sleeping bag. Instead of having insulation in a cylinder all around you, the quilt design omits the insulation between you and your sleeping pad. This makes perfect sense, as compressed down or Apex has much less insulation then the same material allowed to loft, and is essentially wasted if you’re laying on top of it.

I bought 3 yards of 7.5 Apex, along with some grey 1.1 ripstop nylon, and followed along with the plans on the forums. I modified the dimensions a bit to fit my 6’5” frame, but otherwise it was a simple job of cutting and sewing the layers together. I also added a cinch collar and a bungee on the bottom to attach the quilt to my sleeping pad.

I’ve since taken the quilt out on every backcountry trip I’ve been on since making it, and it has performed amazingly. It actually turned out lighter than the Cloud, but I’m comfortable taking it down to 0F if I wear my down jacket to bed. I was on one trip up Mt. Washington recently where it rained on the way up, but dropped to -10 with wind chill over the course of the night, and having the synthetic Apex insulation was invaluable.