HHSS/Golight 20 TQ in the MS snow!

[BillyBob58]

Well, above the snow any way. We just had near record snow fall here in MS. Certainly the most- by far- in 23 years if not longer. Any where from 6 to 10" or more on the ground depending on where in MS, or for that matter where in Tupelo. Current temp 32F, forecast lows 29 to 14 next few days, with only one high(36) over freezing forecast rest of the week. So it may become a nightmare with the thaw/refreeze cycle on the roads. I am off until Wed, but then I have to drive 47-70 miles to work. That might be horrible, and I will either have to miss work or white knuckle it.

Any way, naturally I had to try sleeping out in it. Despite the exasperation of my wife who has perceived my insanity. My HHSS was what was already hanging from the Vario stand, so that is what I used.

No tarp, sheltered by a porch ceiling. 26F, very little wind, Golight Ultra 20 TQ. Cheated by wearing merino wool light weight LJ tops and bottom, Mountain Hardwear Monkey Fleece jacket and Moonstone Pile pants, 1 pair wool socks. Plus a 27 year old Patagonia thick balaclava folded into a thick hat, covering my ears and a little of my face.

On the bottom was a HHSS with 1 pad and space blanket. I had the HH kidney and torso pads handy but did not use them. The hammock was not tied out to the sides, I just let the pad and s.bl. curl up around me.

I was just fine. Definitely not toasty warm on the bottom, but def not cold or uncomfy in any way. My gut feeling was that I could not have gone much lower with out being at least a bit chilly and needing to add the torso pads or a jacket or garlington insulator or something. But as it was, I did not actually need any of that. I did consider adding the torso pad just for a more "toasty" experience, but blew it off.

On top, I was more than warm enough, especially once I cinched the quilt up around my neck and shoulders for a good "seal". At one point, just to play around, I went right side fetal and pulled the quilt over my head while forming a little breathing hole to the side. That got very warm very fast, more than what was needed. And very comfy.

I probably needed a tarp. There was not much wind, and I had the UQ pulled up extra high on the windward side, nicely blocking what wind there was. But either very small amounts of snow kept blowing over onto my face, or my breath was condensing and falling back on my face. No idea which, but it bugged me a little. Of course, even if I had only covered my face that would have solved that one problem. Despite all of this, I did not have enough cold nose or face to really cause problems.

Some pics later.

[wisenber]

Well, above the snow any way. We just had near record snow fall here in MS. Certainly the most- by far- in 23 years if not longer. Any where from 6 to 10" or more on the ground depending on where in MS, or for that matter where in Tupelo. Current temp 32F, forecast lows 29 to 14 next few days, with only one high(36) over freezing forecast rest of the week. So it may become a nightmare with the thaw/refreeze cycle on the roads. I am off until Wed, but then I have to drive 47-70 miles to work. That might be horrible, and I will either have to miss work or white knuckle it.

Any way, naturally I had to try sleeping out in it. Despite the exasperation of my wife who has perceived my insanity. My HHSS was what was already hanging from the Vario stand, so that is what I used.

No tarp, sheltered by a porch ceiling. 26F, very little wind, Golight Ultra 20 TQ. Cheated by wearing merino wool light weight LJ tops and bottom, Mountain Hardwear Monkey Fleece jacket and Moonstone Pile pants, 1 pair wool socks. Plus a 27 year old Patagonia thick balaclava folded into a thick hat, covering my ears and a little of my face.

On the bottom was a HHSS with 1 pad and space blanket. I had the HH kidney and torso pads handy but did not use them. The hammock was not tied out to the sides, I just let the pad and s.bl. curl up around me.

I was just fine. Definitely not toasty warm on the bottom, but def not cold or uncomfy in any way. My gut feeling was that I could not have gone much lower with out being at least a bit chilly and needing to add the torso pads or a jacket or garlington insulator or something. But as it was, I did not actually need any of that. I did consider adding the torso pad just for a more "toasty" experience, but blew it off.

On top, I was more than warm enough, especially once I cinched the quilt up around my neck and shoulders for a good "seal". At one point, just to play around, I went right side fetal and pulled the quilt over my head while forming a little breathing hole to the side. That got very warm very fast, more than what was needed. And very comfy.

I probably needed a tarp. There was not much wind, and I had the UQ pulled up extra high on the windward side, nicely blocking what wind there was. But either very small amounts of snow kept blowing over onto my face, or my breath was condensing and falling back on my face. No idea which, but it bugged me a little. Of course, even if I had only covered my face that would have solved that one problem. Despite all of this, I did not have enough cold nose or face to really cause problems.

Some pics later.

Glad you got out to enjoy the rare MS snow treat. What a perfect opportunity to do a little testing. Your family and neighbors will no doubt debate whether to have an intervention or just have the guys with butterfly nets sent your way.

Sounds like you might be able to do some vapor barrier testing!

[drewboy]

Great job BillyBob! That's certainly pushing the SS into new territory. So you had a supplemental CCF pad, or? And was it inserted under/over the SS foam pad?

[BillyBob58]

Glad you got out to enjoy the rare MS snow treat. What a perfect opportunity to do a little testing. Your family and neighbors will no doubt debate whether to have an intervention or just have the guys with butterfly nets sent your way.

Sounds like you might be able to do some vapor barrier testing!

I think an intervention has been planned!

And hey, you need to post (if you have not already) about your epic VB experiences lately. I think folks will A: be impressed and more importantly B: learn a lot.

BTW, I was not at all sure the above set up would be adequate for last night. On my first Sipsey hang Feb (09?) with AngrySparrow and the gang, we had very similar conditions temp wise, but not as much snow. I was using a JRB bridge hammock with a MW4 UQ, and the same TQ under a JRB tarp. When I got up about maybe 0200 to water the snow, I realized I was not quite warm enough. The impression was I was just a little cold ON TOP. I had on clothes that generally are even warmer than what I wore last night. My super light Polarguard top and bottom instead of fleece. Plus a fleece hat with the jacket hood over that. I had a Marmot sleeping bag hood with me. I put that on and went to toasty for the rest of the night, so I blamed it on inadequate head insulation.

Maybe the fleece I had did not compress as much as the PG? I'm sure that helped the SS for bottom warmth, but not sure how it could have helped the top. Any way, I was plenty warm on top and just warm enough on the bottom.

[BEAS]

You should have turned on the ceiling fan on your porch just for fun.

[BillyBob58]

Great job BillyBob! That's certainly pushing the SS into new territory. So you had a supplemental CCF pad, or? And was it inserted under/over the SS foam pad?

Hey Drewboy: I had the HH kidney and torso pads, which TRIPLES thickness right where you need it most. I have used them often in the past, they are great! I had them laying beside the hammock planning on using them once I got cold.

But I did NOT use anything last nght except the most basic HHSS system: the sil-nylon UC, ONE standard HHSS OCF pad under me with one EMS Heat Sheet space blanket on top of that. Really, not even the complete SS system, as I had no tarp or over cover and not even a net, as I have cut that off of my HH Explorer. I will call it just barely warm enough on bottom, plenty warm enough on top with the fleece clothing plus Golight TQ. I might have been better off taking some of the fleece off and putting it under the HH pad. I might have gotten closer to "toasty" doing that.

[BillyBob58]

You should have turned on the ceiling fan on your porch just for fun.

WhooHooo! Next time!

Some places in MS have now reported 14" of snow.

[OutandBack]

Excellent report BillyBob. That HHSS just keeps surprising me how cold one can go with it.

I'll bet if you had used the HHSS top cover the blowing snow in your face would have been eliminated.

Looking forward to your next test.

[Knotty]

You know I have to ask, any condensation or dry as usual?

[BillyBob58]

You know I have to ask, any condensation or dry as usual?

Dry as a bone as usual. I'm still waiting for my bad experience with condensation! I'm sure it will happen someday!