Getting Ready for a Cold Night

[DannyBoy2k]

<snip>
Wearing all your clothes to bed will go a long way too.
<snip>

Please note I don't have a ton of cold weather camping experience, but I did camp out with the scouts at Valley Forge when it was C-O-L-D. After one cold night where I tried wearing all my clothes to bed and still freezing my butt off, my scout master suggested sleeping only in my long johns to allow my body heat to circulate in my bag and warm it up. Lo and behold it worked fantastic! I've never been toastier on a cold camping trip. I did put a light blanket as a liner in my bag, but that's it.

Curious if others have had a similar experience?

~Dan

[Muskrat]

Please note I don't have a ton of cold weather camping experience, but I did camp out with the scouts at Valley Forge when it was C-O-L-D. After one cold night where I tried wearing all my clothes to bed and still freezing my butt off, my scout master suggested sleeping only in my long johns to allow my body heat to circulate in my bag and warm it up. Lo and behold it worked fantastic! I've never been toastier on a cold camping trip. I did put a light blanket as a liner in my bag, but that's it.

Curious if others have had a similar experience?

~Dan

I think theres alot of truth here. Only downside is that short amount of time from undressing to the skivvies to the point where you can stop the uncontrolable shaking while being inside the hammock under the top insulation. But thats typically when I realize I forgot to pee. . .

[Bradley]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some expert advice here.. . . I'll be facing a couple 20* nights.. . . I also have several fleece jackets and a car sun-shade thing.

I do believe its official name is "Car Shade Thingy" . . .

Having never used one . . . I would layer up . . .
Long johns, turtle neck, synthetic vest, socks, Block Heater . . .

I would also sleep inside the bag and . . .

Hang close to the ground . . . fill the space with spruce bows . . . shovel snow around to break the wind . . .


Oh yea you never said where you will be or what the ground cover will be . . .

Oh well you get the drift . . . . . . snow drift that is

[JCINMA]

I do believe its official name is "Car Shade Thingy" . . .



Oh yea you never said where you will be or what the ground cover will be . . .

Oh well you get the drift . . . . . . snow drift that is

That's what it says on that package

And I will be camped at the top of a mountain. It gets pretty windy. There will be little to no snow. The land is flat, and the trees are very sparse.

[nacra533]

buy the marmot 15 degree sawtooth bag just listed in the FS group. I love it. I don't use it often, but I wouldn't sell mine.

[Buffalo Skipper]

And I will be camped at the top of a mountain. It gets pretty windy. There will be little to no snow. The land is flat, and the trees are very sparse.

Remember, location, Location, LOCATION! How and where you hang your hammock and tarp will make a tremendous difference. Take as large a tarp as you can muster, and pitch it low to the ground as a wind break. Be mindful of the wind direction and how well protected you are. If you can find a place where there is a natural wind break, take it!

Good luck!

[tjm]

Please note I don't have a ton of cold weather camping experience, but I did camp out with the scouts at Valley Forge when it was C-O-L-D. After one cold night where I tried wearing all my clothes to bed and still freezing my butt off, my scout master suggested sleeping only in my long johns to allow my body heat to circulate in my bag and warm it up. Lo and behold it worked fantastic! I've never been toastier on a cold camping trip. I did put a light blanket as a liner in my bag, but that's it.

Curious if others have had a similar experience?

~Dan

I go back and forth on this one becuase, taken to the extreme, this recommendation impies that you would have been even warmer in your sleeping bag without the long johns. And that doesn't make sense to me.

But I have heard this theory enough times to think there is a something going on.

First two assumptions:
1. your clothing layers are dry
2. you can wear all your clothing layers in your bag without compressing the loft of the bag

If either of these assumptions are NOT true, then you would be warmer withoout the addtional layers.

Further Assumptions:
Adding clothing layers in your sleeping bag adds insulation between you and the enviroment.
Adding insulation between you and the enviroment means more resistance to heat loss and a warmer sleep system.

Actually I think those two statements are facts but your expereince contradicts them.

What I think happens:

When you only wear a light insulating layer on (long johns), you warm up the trapped air inside the sleeping bag faster, so the bag feels warmer sooner.

Remember the heat source is your body's metabolism so the more clothes you wear, the longer it takes for your body heat to warm the air inside of the bag.

Also, when everything stabilizes, the light insulating layer means a slightly higher air temperature inside the sleeping bag. I am guessing that the air inside the bag might circulate a bit around your body so that more heat from your core is distributed down to your legs and feet than if you had a lot of clothing layers on.

So I think the long john only approach works when the sleeping bag is adequate insualtion but if the ambient temperature overwhelms the sleeping bag, those additonal clothing layers do help.