We are proud to offer a variety of down sleeping bags in varying weights, widths, heights & with unique features. First, determine what is most important to you (keeping weight small, having more interior space, overall warmth, etc). For instance, our ExtremeLite series features our lightest fabric, while the Microfiber series focuses on versatility, slightly thicker fabric, and some unique features. Then, determine your ideal temperature rating and size. We make many of our sleeping bags in 5’6, 6’0, 6’6, and 7’0 options.

Our sleeping bag height measurement is meant to fit someone who measures at or underneath that size. For example, a 6’0 person should perfectly fit in any of our 6’0 sleeping bags. However, if you’re unsure, many people prefer to size up in their sleeping bag. a few inches of wiggle room so users might prefer one size larger. This way, you have a bit more space to spread out comfortably without fear of compressing the down.

The ExtremeLite series features our lightest fabric, and is a popular choice among backpackers, bikepackers and people who want the lightest, most compressible sleeping bag above all else. Microfiber fabric has an increased water resistance and better breathability than ExtremeLite, but is slightly heavier. We consider it a perfect middle ground between weight, durability, water resistance and breathability. While our GWS (Gore WindStopper) fabric is the heaviest of the three, it is also the most water resistant and technically reinforced for winter expeditions and alpine conditions. If you sleep without a tent or in a bivy, or need something to perform in extremely wet conditions, the GWS series is best poised to handle the elements.

Here’s a statistical breakdown on fabric performance:

ExtremeLite
Denier: 12
Weight: 0.74 oz/y^2
Hydrostatic head: 1200 mm

Microfiber
Denier: 20
Weight: 1.35 oz/y^2
Hydrostatic head: 2000 mm

Gore WindStopper/Gore Infinium
Denier: 30
Weight: 1.7 oz/y^2
Hydrostatic head: 12000 mm (yup 3 zero’s)

There’s no difference at all! A couple years ago, Gore rebranded their “WindStopper” laminate to “Gore Infinium”. Since 2020, we have used Gore Infinium in our GWS series, but we chose to keep the GWS name for our series as it is in effect the same fabric.

While Western Mountaineering has recently started selling direct to consumer, we encourage you to purchase from our dealer partners, as a way to foster local outdoor communities & support local specialty gear shops. You can find an authorized Western Mountaineering dealer near you here.

That’s totally okay! Most of our dealers can special order the item(s) you want. Just contact them & let them know you’d like to make a purchase, and we can ship your order like normal. Please contact support@westernmountaineering.com if you would like help placing an order for any of our products.

Please refer to this page for detailed care instructions.

Yes! There are many repair/product care companies that can professionally wash & reloft your bag. Check with your local retailer about washing experts near you.

Liners! Liners are a great way to extend the use of your bag before needing to wash it. This is crucial for extended trips & thru-hikes. We make lightweight silk and polyester liners specifically designed to fit inside our sleeping bags here.

Washing frequency depends greatly on the user and is usually necessary after approximately 30 nights of use. As you use your sleeping bag, dirt and moisture becomes trapped in the down, causing the loft to depreciate. Depreciated loft reduces the insulation of the sleeping bag, eventually causing cold spots & poorer sleeping bag performance. This is a sign that the bag is ready to be laundered.

If you have a particularly tough stain, try to use a down-friendly soap like Nikwax’s Down Wash Direct or Gear Aid’s ReviveX to spot scrub the area with a cloth. If the stain is odorous you may need to wash your product, as the odor might have penetrated the down. Refer to the above responses for how to best wash your sleeping bag.

Every Western Mountaineering bag comes with a large storage sack that allows the bag to stay lofted inside of it. Hanging is also acceptable as long as the bag can stay lofted. Keep it in a cool dry place out of the sun. Always make sure your bag is totally dry before storage. NEVER store a bag wet.

Contrary to popular belief, bags stored compressed can get their loft back as long as they were stored dry. NEVER store a bag wet. If you accidentally store a bag compressed, take it out and shake it vigorously. If the down is very compacted try putting it in the dryer on no heat with tennis balls. If this still does not fully get the loft back the down may be clumped due to moisture and dirt from use and is in need of washing.

All of our shell materials are treated with a fluorocarbon-free Durable Water Resistant finish (DWR). This treatment allows water to bead off the shell fabric. During use the DWR will wear off. If your DWR has worn out you can reapply it with a spray on DWR available at most outdoor gear shops. DO NOT use a wash in DWR as this can damage the natural oils on your down. Only use spray on DWR. DWR lifespan will vary depending on activity level.

We create our gear to last a lifetime, and we think you should love your gear! If for some reason you’re not happy with your purchase, you may return new, unused gear purchased through our website for a full refund or exchange.

Returns/exchanges directly back to Western Mountaineering are only eligible for products purchase on this website. If you purchased your item through one of our dealers, please contact that store for their return/exchange policy. If you purchased from our website and would like to return/exchange, please email support@westernmountaineering.com with your name, original order #, and reason for returning/exchanging. Any customized items including overfills are not eligible for returns or exchanges. Please make sure the item(s) are in new condition and unused, with all original components (stuff sack, storage bag, etc.)

Western Mountaineering offers a manufacturer lifetime warranty. This means that any defect caused by manufacturer error is completely covered. This does not cover wear and tear or misuse. For example a rip from use in the field is not covered, but a broken stitch is covered. Click here for more detail on our warranty.

We can fix most issues at our factory in San Jose. Common repairs include fabric tears, overfills and zipper issues. Please download this form and follow the instructions.

To avoid damaging your zipper, make sure to always align the bottom of the zipper before sliding up. Do so by checking to make sure the tapes at the bottom of the zipper are even. If the zipper coils do not stay attached together when sliding your zipper slider up, then your slider is probably worn out. Luckily, most zipper slider repairs can be done at home! If you think you need a replacement zipper slider, please email us and we would be happy to mail you a new slider set with instructions on how to repair it!

Yes! For smaller tears/holes in a down product, we recommend purchasing repair tape such as Gear Aid’s Tenacious Tape or Tear-Aid. These products are made to affix to your gear nearly permanently, lasting through multiple washes and years of use. Check with your repair tape’s manufacturer for how to best apply repair tape to your gear.

Repair costs vary depending on severity of repair. Contact us at support@westernmountaineering.com with a description and pictures of the damage and we can give you an estimate. Please note that our repair costs are largely determined by the cost of the labor that goes into the repair, so the final cost won’t be determined until we receive the bag.

We are proud to have a repair team at our factory that is able to service customers in the United States & most Canadian (check with us) customers. If you have an international repair, contact us at support@westernmountaineering.com and we can check your local area for an authorized repair service.

By doing an Overfill, we add additional down throughout your sleeping bag. This increases the warmth of the bag by around 5 degrees. Overfills also improve loft duration. During extended use down becomes clumped with moisture, dirt, and oils. An overfill prevents this by adding more fluff. Check out this list of overfillable items and the cost:

Bag	Overfill Fill Weight	Cost
Foot Box Overfill (any bag), Tamarack	1.5oz	$35.00
MityLite, SummerLite, MegaLite, UltraLite, Alder MF, Sycamore MF, Apache MF & GWS	2oz	$39.00
TerraLite, AlpinLite, VersaLite, Badger MF & GWS, Antelope MF & GWS, Ponderosa MF,	3oz	$59.00
Sequoia MF & GWS, Kodiak MF & GWS, Lynx MF & GWS	4oz	$70.00
Bristlecone MF, Puma MF & GWS, Cypress GWS, Bison GWS	5oz	$90.00

We do not do custom work, however we can overfill a bag  and we sell expanders for extra width!

Nope. When we cut fabric we do so in very large batches making it incredibly difficult to do individual color variations. Besides it’s dark while you’re using your bag, who cares what color it is!

We have found in our own testing that the performance enhancements of hydrophobic treatments on high quality down are widely overstated. High quality untreated down already has naturally water repellant oils on it left by the geese (makes sense since geese spend a lot of time in water). These oils help repel water and keep down lofted. More importantly is that these oils last indefinitely. Hydrophobic treatments wash out like a DWR and remove the natural oils during the application process. Because of this, and the water resistant capability of our shell fabrics, we feel that hydrophobic down does not provide a considerable impact on performance and could actually inhibit performance over the lifetime of our products.

Don’t worry! We believe in and have been using ethical down for decades. We personally audit our main supplier regularly and some of the inspections are made without advance scheduling. This farm is highly ethical; the geese are raised to old age for their eggs, get to roam the grounds during the day and nest in a specialized insulated barn. During nesting the mature mother geese molt their down in order to insulate their nest. This down is collected while the geese are out feeding during the day. Because our down comes from large mature mother geese it is unparalleled in fill power AND the most ethical it could be!

Western Mountaineering is specialized enough that we can ask for our suppliers to give us the best down they can get. This creates an average yield that is almost always above 900 fill power. We state 850+ on our products because even though the down tests out at 900 or over, the ‘real’ loft power is different.  Once the down is inside a bag or jacket baffle it is compressed slightly by the fabric. Loft is also affected by real world humidity conditions that are not present during loft testing.

All 6’0″ and 6’6″ bags are compatible as long as one is right zip and the other is left zip. 5’6″ bags can be zipped to 6’0″ and 6’6″ bags, but will not line up properly at the top of the zipper. To couple unzip both bags completely. Then attach each zipper side to the opposing side and zip up! Semi rectangular bags can also be zipped together. If you have an older bag with a #7 zipper you can use a 5 to 7 zipmate, available to special order at an Western Mountaineering dealer, to attach it to a bag with a #5 zipper.

We purposefully build our included stuff sacks bigger than they need to be for a hassle free experience. If you want to minimize compression size, we recommend a stuff sack 25% smaller than the included one or a compression sack that has a compressed volume of half the included stuff sack. Though there are no disadvantages to temporarily compressing your bag, make sure to never compress it for long periods of time while wet.

Most bags in the ExtremeLite line and most down sleeping bags rated zero F and above have continuous baffles. This means the chamber on the top and bottom of the bag are connected and down can be moved throughout. On a warm night slide down below you for less insulation, and on a cold night slide more to the top for warmer sleep!

We independently verify our temperature ratings through our own testing, customer feedback and design knowledge. Most of the items in our catalog we have been making for years, which means we have lots of prior knowledge from everyday consumers on what ratings are accurate. We have also EN tested our bags. Our claimed ratings that appear on this website and on our specifications chart do not represent the EN test results for a given product.   In most cases the ratings we claim generally fall in between the Comfort Ratings and the Lower Limit Rating for the bags which have been tested using the EN 13537 standard.   We have always tried to publish temperature claims that many customers have indicated are more conservative than the industry standard.  We do this to ensure that almost everyone will be happy in our bags at the temperature we publish.   The ratings we claim represent a temperature that we consider as the low end of  a sleeping bags intended warmth range when used correctly.  “Correct use” includes proper care and maintenance,  insuring that the bag is positioned correctly throughout the night (with the top of the bag above you and the bottom of the bag under you) and always using a suitable ground mat or insulated sleeping pad.  Lightweight air mats should not be filled with moist air from human lungs, especially if there is any chance of the lowest temperature might drop below freezing. Here is a list of all of the bags that we have had EN rated, note the differences between the WM Ratings, the Comfort Rating, and the Lower Limit.

Model Description	T Comfort	T Limit	T Extreme	WM Rating
AlpinLite	25°F (-4°C)	14°F (-10°C)	-21°F (-29°C)	20°F (-7°C)
Caribou MF	39°F (4°C)	30°F (-1°C)	2°F (-17°C)	35°F (2°C)
Antelope GWS	10°F (-12°C)	-2°F (-19°C)	-43°F (-42°C)	5°F (-15°C)
Apache GWS	23°F (-5°C)	11°F (-12°C)	-25°F (-32°C)	15°F (-10°C)
Badger GWS	23°F (-5°C)	11°F (-12°C)	-25°F (-32°C)	15°F (-10°C)
Antelope MF	13°F (-11°C)	-1°F (-18°C)	-41°F (-41°C)	5°F (-15°C)
Apache MF	23°F (-5°C)	11°F (-12°C)	-25°F (-32°C)	15°F (-10°C)
Badger MF	23°F (-5°C)	11°F (-12°C)	-25°F (-32°C)	15°F (-10°C)
HighLite	39°F (4°C)	30°F (-1°C)	2°F (-17°C)	35°F (2°C)
Kodiak MF	13°F (-11°C)	-1°F (-18°C)	-41°F (-41°C)	0°F (-18°C)
Kodiak GWS	10°F (-12°C)	-2°F (-19°C)	-43°F (-42°C)	0°F (-18°C)
MegaLite	32°F (0°C)	22°F (-6°C)	-8°F (-22°C)	30°F (-1°C)
TerraLite	28°F (-2°C)	18°F (-8°C)	-15°F (-26°C)	25°F (-4°C)
Sequoia GWS	14°F (-10°C)	0°F (-18°C)	-40°F (-40°C)	5°F (-15°C)
Sequoia MF	18°F (-8°C)	5°F (-15°C)	-33°F (-36°C)	5°F (-15°C)
SummerLite	41°F (5°C)	32°F (0°C)	5°F (-15°C)	32°F (0°C)
Sycamore MF	32°F (0°C)	22°F (-6°C)	-9°F (-23°C)	25°F (-4°C)
UltraLite	25°F (-4°C)	14°F (-10°C)	-21°F (-29°C)	20°F (-7°C)
VersaLite	21°F (-6°C)	9°F (-13°C)	-22°F (-30°C)	10°F (-12°C)

Western Mountaineering dealers must have a brick and mortar retail location and fill out a dealer application. Email sales@westernmountaineering.com for more info.