Every year before embarking on a sheep hunt, review my gear list searching for ounces to cut. Several years ago I decided that switching from a sleeping bag to a quilt would save some weight. I wanted to try Stone Glacier’s down products so I ordered a Stone Glacier Chilkoot Quilt to try out. It quickly became my go to sleeping system and I have spent dozens of nights in it.
Warmth and Comfort
Immediately, the warmth of the quilt stood out. While only rated for 32 degrees, I have slept in temperatures much lower than that many times. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t recommend running a sleeping bag or quilt at it’s temperature limit but experience proves that the Chilkoot Quilt can handle it.
Also, the sleeping experience of the quilt system is very different from a traditional bag. First of all, there is no hood to put your head into, so it’s worth wearing a toque to bed on sub-freezing nights. Because of the strapping system, the quilt allows much more space for movement. This fundamentally changed my sleeping experience in the backcountry. I am a stomach sleeper and have struggled to get good rest in a sleeping bag. The Chilkoot Quilt lets me sleep naturally and I have been much better rested on hunts where I’ve used it.
Ease of Setting Up
However, the Stone Glacier Chilkoot Quilt and quilts in general do have drawbacks. While not onerous, getting the straps set properly around your sleeping pad is slightly slower than throwing a sleeping bag down and getting to bed. Also, if your sleeping pad deflates while using a quilt, you are in for a long night. That said, I will happily trade an extra 30 seconds of set up for a better night of sleep.
Durability
Durability on the bag has been fairly typical of a down sleeping bag. There have been no rips to the fabric or down escaping at the seams. I did have one of the straps pull out of its while setting up camp one night. This was partially my fault as I was setting it up incorrectly by accident in the dark. The strap was easily sewn back to the bag and has caused no further issues. Unlike most sleeping bags, quilts don’t have any zippers that can potentially fail and are pretty simple systems.
One characteristic I’ve noticed from both the Chilkoot 32 degree Quilt and the Chilkoot 15 degree Bag is the weather resistance of the down. I often sleep in wet clothes in order to dry them out. This can cause reduced performance in certain down bags. The Chilkoot line of bags seem very resistant to clumping from water. The coatings Stone Glacier uses on their down provides some of the best performance in moisture that I’ve seen from a down bag.
Concluding Thoughts
In closing, the Stone Glacier Chilkoot Quilt is an excellent three season sleeping system. The down quality is fantastic, both in warmth for weight as well as water resistance. The quilt design allows extra space for sleepers who sleep on their stomachs or move around while they sleep while remaining lighter than a traditional sleeping bag. I’d like to see some beefier attachment points for the retention straps. Even so, the Chilkoot Quilt is absolutely a recommended sleep system for anyone venturing into the backcountry.