Nunatak Gear

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Moab, UT
Nunatak Gear

For 15 years Nunatak has hand tailored the lightest and highest quality down equipment for ultralight hiking and climbing enthusiasts.

Nunatak Gear is dedicated to design and manufacture of quality ultralight sleeping bags and lightweight down jackets utilizing 800 or better goose down and sophisticated shell fabrics. Nunatak is also a real business run by seasoned backcountry folks who've logged countless days in the wilderness. Our experiences range from high altitude mountaineering and backcountry skiing to climbing desert tow

ers or alpine walls and doing multi week ultralight backpacks. All this rambling about has translated into a desire to improve certain aspects of the gear, particularly sleeping bags. Hence Nunatak, founded in the winter 1999. From a basement operation in West Seattle with a bunch of good ideas and little else, we are now a full time business with a real shop located near Twisp in the heart of the wild North Cascades. Nunatak has pioneered several groundbreaking designs on the ultralight backpacking scene, most notably the immensely successful Arc line of adjustable girth down sleeping quilts. Practically all of our days off are spent in the mountains and every trip brings up new ways to improve the gear we're building. Nunatak is designed and manufactured by backcountry specialists entirely here in the U.S.A.. We do it the good old fashioned way, one at a time.

04/25/2022

Some things we’ve been working on.

04/11/2020

A customer already owns an Alpinist center zip mummy. He is going to the Arctic and decided to boost his existing setup with this 20F Apex over-bag. Combined they will provide him with -30F capability in a weatherproof, draft free, easy drying package. The hood is down filled and the zipper is offset to stagger it with the Alpinist. Not light at 2.5 lbs and quite bulky, but minus thirty is damn cold.

01/27/2020

Tall stomach sleeper who wants to cover the neck and splay feet; here you go! 84” long with oversized footbox and wider mid section. 30F and 750g.

01/21/2020

Peter Sinks. The weather station in this sinkhole in Northern Utah recorded negative 69.3 F in February 1985. Last night when Nunatak tester skied in to spend the night it read a modest minus 18.1 F. He was quite comfy in a down filled 20F Alpinist mummy bag under a 3D Apex 35F synthetic quilt and wearing a Kobuk down parka, plus long underwear. Layering two individually very useful bags/quilts with modest temperature ratings to create a true winter setup is versatile and flexible, compared to investing in a dedicated winter bag that may or may not see much use.

01/12/2020

DCF, Dyneema, Cuben... luckily the products we build do not really benefit from the Dyneema family of composites. With high cost/alleged low durability pitted against ultralight, waterproof/non absorbent and genre defining look, the pro-con debate of DCF’s utility is pervasive in the UL community.

On request we have made quilts using Dyneema eVent, pretty much the only DCF composite suitable for backcountry insulation. Was it cool? Yeah! But would we push it as a viable alternative to fabrics? Likely not. Simply stated the user case for a full waterproof breathable shell on a quilt/sleeping bag is very limited, and in that field there’s already solid competitive laminates available.

07/06/2019

Launching soon: Apex Synthetic insulated center zip mummy.
Specs: 25°F
Weight: 900g - 32oz in medium
Stuffed size: 17” L x 10” diameter
Face opening cord and inside shoulder draft collar
Dual draft tunes behind zipper
$400

Test feedback: A wet and then snowy night and it got down to 25 degrees F. My Neoair pad sprung a leak and I woke up on the ground. The bag had gotten plenty of condensation on it from rubbing against the Duomid. Even with the condensation and leaking pad, I stayed warm. All in all it was a perfect test scenario right out of the gate.

My other bag is a (*well known 20° mummy*) that is great but I guarantee I would have been cold without a good pad under it and it wouldn't have handled the condensation nearly as well. I think there is a 3 ounce difference between the two bags. I didn't expect this but I might end up selling the (**) because of how well this Apex bag seems to perform.

Custom options:
Lots of sizes
Ultralight 7d to durable 40d shells
Single layer uninsulated under body panel
Weighted insulation distribution

This is a somewhat bulky, and decidedly not UL, alternative to down. If you need it you’ll know it.

05/28/2019

The materials here on our work table are certified 100% recycled. Combined they can put a very resource friendly stamp on an Arc UL quilt. 20d ripstop polyester, 750 fill power post consumer down. The quilt would be slightly heavier, more bulky and probably a little less expensive. And also a good amount more durable than the standard UL fare we normally cook up. Might build a couple and get some testing done. Stay tuned.

05/21/2019

Busy spring. Even then we will try to reopen for online ordering on Tuesday May 21 midday or so. Still long lead times. Pls include any potential deadlines with your order.

04/17/2019

We offer two down jacket models, both box baffled and 3 season plus capable. On the left is the Skaha pullover type hoodie with about 5-6 ounces of down fill. While lean and light the Skaha is considerably warmer than the typical closely quilted resort jackets currently popular on the trail. On the right the Kobuk Mountain Parka with 10-12 ounces of down. This a fully featured high mountain jacket also suitable for winter use, yet with a finished weight of 500 grams.

03/21/2019

Quilt and bag season

02/24/2019

Winter gear test in the backyard

01/14/2019

Crazy custom hunting outfit! Super warm Kobuk Parka with helmet hood (for night vision gear) and zip-on knee long skirt for sitting around in freezing blinds - yet allow hiking even without using the many multi directional zippers. Pockets where it matters, doubled up backside for groveling in the dirt, 70d silent polyester hard wearing Multicam shell, and smooth coyote liner for easily slipping it all on while wearing other bulky stuff.

Address

621 Peacock Lane
Moab, UT
84532

Telephone

+14352607384

Website

http://nunatakusa.com/

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