Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed wins 2014 Editors’ Choice Award from Backpacker Magazine
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Set to dethrone the mummy bag as the standard for sleeping in the backcountry, this bag is honored with one of the industry’s most prestigious awards
BOULDER, COLO. (For Immediate Release) – Sierra Designs is proud to announce the Backcountry Bed sleep system is a 2014 winner of Backpacker Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the outdoor industry.
Designed to work more like your bed at home, the Backcountry Bed is a unique, zipper-less sleeping bag with access provided through a large opening in the top. An oversized, integrated comforter seals this opening, allowing you to sleep comfortably and intuitively on your back, side, or stomach… a feat that is impossible to accomplish with a traditional mummy bag. The comforter can either be tucked in on cold nights or un-tucked when the weather is warmer. An integrated sleeping pad sleeve keeps the Backcountry Bed flat and stable even for restless sleepers.
“It’s pretty simple, really. The traditional mummy bag is thermally efficient, but ironically it is monumentally deficient for sleeping. We wanted to make a bag that’s more comfortable and convenient than the mummy bag because if you sleep better, you’ll perform better and have a better time in the backcountry,” said Michael Glavin, VP of Sierra Designs. “The Backcountry Bed is not an alternative to the mummy bag. It is a replacement for the mummy bag. That’s how good it is, and we are truly honored that Backpacker liked it so much. As more and more people try it for themselves, we predict the demise of the traditional mummy and the uncomfortable backcountry sleeping that was previously a necessary part of the experience.”
Each and every product considered for an Editors’ Choice Award is put through a rigorous testing program to ensure any product that receives this award is among the best available.
“Backpacker Gear reviews set the benchmark by which all others are measured,” said Dennis Lewon, Editor in Chief of Backpacker Magazine. “That’s because no other magazine or website conducts field-testing as rigorously or impartially as the crew led by our Gear Editor Kristin Hostetter. Our core testers each have years of backcountry experience and expertise in multiple pursuits, from climbing, to paddling to skiing. The result? Best-in-class reviews that lead consumers to best-in-class gear.”
Since their inception, the Backpacker Editors’ Choice Awards have come to be regarded as the most sought-after award for outdoor equipment and apparel found in the industry. The impeccable outdoor credentials and rigorous field-testing standards of the Backpacker staff guarantee that these awards are an undisputed mark of quality for the companies and products selected.
Designed for use in different seasons and environments, the Backcountry Bed is offered in 2-season (30⁰) and 3-season (15⁰) models in a choice of 600 or 800 fill DriDown™ insulation. Men’s and women’s versions are available.
About Sierra Designs:
Sierra Designs was born in 1965, at the beginning of the golden age of backpacking and climbing. Today, our rebellious crew of industry vets and young innovators is on a mission to fundamentally redefine how we live in the backcountry. We create outdoor solutions from equal parts common sense and uncommon thinking. Our outdoor products are all specifically designed for backpacking, not for hype or excess. www.SierraDesigns.com
About Backpacker:
Backpacker (www.backpacker.com) brings the outdoors straight to the reader’s doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world’s first GPS-enabled magazine and website, and the only outdoor media whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker’s Editors’ Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation, has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured. And the magazine recently launched mobile media applications that allow users to text-message hiking maps and directions to their phones. In the last five years, Backpacker has won five National Magazine Awards, the publishing industry’s highest honor. In 2008, the magazine won the NMA for General Excellence, joining The New Yorker, Mother Jones, GQ, and National Geographic as top winners in their respective size categories. In 2009, it won three awards, including General Excellence Online. Backpacker has also won numerous other print, design, and digital awards, and its writers have been recognized in prestigious contests and best-of-the-year anthologies.
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