The "La Fayette", introduced in the Valandré sleeping bag line in year 2000, was the pioneer in the second generation of our Tubular bell construction. The design concept was very simple: to conceive the ultimate superlight high altitude expedition bag, to be used together with the Combi suit.

Speed is the key safety factor in low oxygen high altitude assaults as you enter what's known as the death zone. Once over 8000, you can start to count down the time left before you have to be back below 8000. Either you continue to head for the summit, or you hurry down.....If you stay, you are out on your own!

The ultimate assaults are speed assaults in alpine style, meaning climbers with no support from sherpas, no fixed ropes, and carrying all their gear. This is where the La Fayette comes fully into the picture.

Ralf Dujomovits is a German mountain guide who has climbed all 8000s (14 of them and quite more) Ralf has successfully run his expedition company Amical Alpin (www.amical.de), which has a solid record in commercial expeditions.  This spring Ralf was on the Everest North Face with Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. Due to a combination of bad weather with loads of snow, only Gerlinde summited Everest and so added a 13th 8000s to her list.

DAV Guide: Ralf Dujomovits left. Austrian high altitude climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner on the right.

The La Fayette is a tubular bell construction, using pre-cut circular baffles (not anatomical). All stitches are tuck-stitched from the inside. The tuck-stitch technique has the advantage of being stitched though a double layer of fabric, producing a very strong and solid seam.

The bag, being more a climbing tool, than a "normal" sleeping bag with side zip, has a "center half size zip system". The length of the zipper is calculated to be the minimum necessary to enter the bag, wearing a combi suit. The advantage of a center zip is, that whether you are laying on the right side or on the left side, you are not disturbed by the contact of a hard zipper. And you need to face the basic fact: once it's freaking cold, you need to get the heart and lungs off the cold ground, so you are "rolling over" on your side, in a fetus position, during the night.

When you are on your side, your knees press on the front of the bag, possibly shifting the down from the front to the back. So, the La Fayette has a knee protection system, made out of three smaller and laterally closed compartments with a higher down density, than the two bigger ones on the back.

To trap a maximum of air, warmed by you body heat (read burned calories), the insulation under the "center half size zip", is a velcro placed vertically, with the double purpose of:
a) creating a barrier to reduce heat loss once the two velcros are perfectly tight-end
b) "fixing" the inside cylinder.
This "fixing" of the inside cylinder, has the effect, that you can't compress the down membrane, so you avoid cold spots. And this places the "center half size zip" on the La Fayette, as the ultimate zip system in a tubular bell construction. So, what feature can you add to this?: Well, fix a half inch of synthetic wad behind the vertical velcro, guaranteeing insulation right up to the very edge of the vertical velcro.

A vital point where you can limit heat loss is the draft collar. Normal collars alter the shape of a sleeping bag once tightened up, and if you control perfectly the 3D shape in a tubular bell construction, you simply do not want to alter this shape. (Guitars are purposely made of wood, not out of elastic rubber!).

The draft collar is therefore built into the inside cylinder, like the separation wall between the cockpit and passenger cabin of an aircraft, with a cylindrical hole just big enough for your neck. To avoid the possibility of any heat leakage, a semi-elastic adjustment system is placed on the inside. So from the inside, your hands can close the smallest little gap in the collar and this without any deformation of the sleeping bag!

Now as you roll over from your left to your right side during the night, you induce air circulation. To limit this circulation to a minimum we added a semi-elastic adjustment system at the waist. But we are not only talking about reducing air circulation, we are also talking about keeping warm air as much as possible where it should be: protecting your heart and lungs.

The hood follows the same principle. It's a 3D half moon construction, offering a maximum down insulation to the limit of your fore head.

The power inside the La Fayette is the French Fat Grey goose down. This goose is capable of migrating at 33,000 feet (10.000m) in –60°F (-50°C) temperatures for days on end. The down is harvested right before the traditional migration time, when it is fresh, clean and at its plumpest. Then Valandre selects only the lightest down and fills each compartment with just the right amount.

The La Fayette is more than a technical mountaineering bag, it's simply beyond any comparison worldwide. No other company has the technical expertise and the willingness to push technical limits to this level of ultimate perfection without any single compromise.

Everest, Annapurna, K2 etc, are tops of the Himalayan ice berg......and Valandré is simply a part in the water.

Take the video tour to get the full picture of the La Fayette features by clicking the “watch video” button at the top of the page, and blast off!

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