The recent heavy snows and arctic weather was the perfect opportunity to try out this light weight piece of survival gear.  Manufactured by Adventure Medical Kits, this is one of the lightest survival bags on the market at only 108 g and measuring 8.9 x 6.4 cm in its ripstop nylon stuff sack.  It is manufactured from waterproof and windproof vacuum metalized polyethylene which reflects back up to 90% of radiated body heat.  When opened out it measures a generous 213 x 91 cm.  The exterior is bright orange to optimise visibility.

For the test we worked up a good sweat snowshoeing and skiing up from our house to the north east ridge of Scarr Mountain.  I stripped down to thermal base layers and lay on a shelf dug out of a steep snow slope.  It certainly kept body heat from escaping and was very quiet in the wind compared to standard plastic survival bags.  However as with all bivvy systems, unless there is effective insulation to protect from heat loss through conduction to the cold and wet ground, you will lose body heat.  I could certainly feel the cold from the snow passing into my body very soon after I lay down.  The only other issue I noted was that the bag tore slightly while I was putting it back into its bag.  It is however easily repaired with duct tape.

Why bother carrying a survival bag? - Hypothermia is a significant health hazard if you have to spend an unplanned night on the hills or if you suffer an injury which prevents you from walking off.  At least 25% of casualties rescued on UK Mountains are thought to have varying degrees of hypothermia.  Winter and summer I would always carry a survival bag while mountaineering; they are a simple piece of kit that can save yours or somebody else’s life.  In mountain rescue we would strongly recommend carrying survival bags and KISUs/bothy or storm type group shelters.  The KISU type shelters can also be extremely useful if a member of you group develops exhaustion hypothermia and you need to get them re-fuelled, re-hydrated and warmed up in a comfortable environment, while also ensuring the safety of other members in the group.

The Heatsheets Emergency Bivvy has replaced my outdated plastic survival bag in my rucksack.  I am a firm believer in saving weight on the hill and stripping down to a light weight minimum.  Given the weight, I have also started bringing this bivvy bag on long winter hill runs.  This would be another great selling point where weight is paramount especially for light weight outdoor enthusiasts like mountain bikers, adventure racers etc.  The verdict – well worth the RRP of €15.99, the only problem, due to its size and weight, you will forget you ever had it in your rucksack!

This piece of gear was supplied by the Great Outdoors

This item was reviewed by Deputy Team Leader David Butler