By 
Guest Contributor: Leslie Parker
I am a 36-year-old transplant to the mountains, having moved to Jasper from the Saskatchewan flatlands after college. Even though I have since moved into the city, I still spend my weekends skiing (XC, AT, and downhill), hiking, camping, and climbing in the Rocky Mountains.
My favorite place to be is in a tent in the backcountry. Although, a nicely-heated hut isn’t bad in winter, either…
For the past few years, I’ve had one loyal companion on all my camping trips – a bright blue, down sleeping bag I’ve nicknamed “Big Blue.”
Throughout his lifetime, Big Blue has been strapped to insolent yaks, slogged through mud, rain, and snow, and even provided for some pretty sweet blanket forts.
However, all good things must come to an end, and one day, I noticed that ol’ Blue was starting to look his age…
The down feathers had formed into a lumpy blob that made for very warm feet, but not a very warm anything else. However, Blue received an 11th hour reprieve from the sleeping bag glue factory when I discovered Nikwax Down Wash Direct.
I was worried that washing my bag, myself, might prove too difficult – the “dry clean only” warnings had me slightly worried that my bag would come out of the washer looking more like a drowned cat than a fluffy eider duck. After only a few minutes in the dryer (with the aid of a few borrowed tennis balls), the bag was happily rising like leavened dough.
After only a half-hour in my dryer, I had a fully functional sleeping bag yet again. Not only has my bag been re-fluffed, but it is now resistant to rain and snow (which my trips tend to have in spades).
I must say Nikwax has rescued the bag from just about everything…
…including animal waste.
On a recent trip, a pack rat decided to crash our hut party, and left me a lovely “parting gift” on top of Big Blue.
I can now say that Nikwax is 100% effective against packrat poop.
Now, if Nikwax could just create a product to fix my backcountry hat head…
Testimonial submitted by Leslie Parker, a mountain-loving and local-retail-store-supporting adventurer, from Alberta.
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