Twas two nights before Christmas and all through the house not a bed was empty not even for this louse. But out in the back where the squirrels run the show were two lonely trees, buried in snow.

Pops snuck out and got shots of me sleeping in the morning. I know where I get my sneaky genes from now!





This was my first opportunity to really test this new UQ. A word of waring here: I am a warm sleeper; always have been. Please remember that if you are trying to draw a comparison. Overnight temps were forecast to be 8F with a light breeze. I have not yet got a top quilt so I had to make due with an old Coleman bag. My initial plan was to use the Gossamer Gear 1/8” ‘hammock pad’ that was waiting for me. But, being the pad-hater that I am I thought I’d try without it on the first (and coldest forecast) night of the week.

Here’s what I had:

Warbonnet ElDorado
Warbonnet Torso Length UQ w/sil liner
ULA Catalyst
Coleman Bag (probably rated to about 40 back in the day)
Thermal undies
Hoodie Sweatshirt
Fleece Pullover
Wool skully cap
SOCKS! Yes, that is plural. One set of liners and two pairs of mid-weight wool hiking socks. (I've got sissy feet)
1/8” pad for back-up if needed.

I went to bed about midnight(ish) with temps right around 20F. I had decided to use the sil liner that WBG sent because there was a breeze forecast and the only place I could set-up didn’t offer me the option of being able to easily deploy a tarp and I wanted some wind protection. I had a fence on one side so it really wasn’t much of a concern, just a good excuse. Colorado is so arid that condensation really didn’t concern me too much.

Since the WB UQ is a torso length, you must have something under your legs/feet. The UQ goes from just above my shoulder to just below my bum. This is the main reason for a pad; it gets folded and goes under my legs. However, Cannibal hates pads so I figured I’d just throw my empty pack in under my legs. I sometimes use it as a leg rest anyway, so this was no big deal. I did keep the pad somewhat close by….just in case. I opened up the bag to use ‘quilt style’, grabbed my digital thermometer and off to la-la land I went.

I didn’t wake-up until Mama Nature came a knockin. I got out of the hammock and took care of business, but when I got back into the hammock I couldn’t get warm. I have no idea what the temp was because it was cold enough that the LCD on my thermometer was not working; just a blank screen. I have no idea if it was still reading or not; hopefully Grizz will chime in with that fancy weather site he uses and I’ll see what the temps actually dropped to last night. I decided to close up the bag and hope that I’d be able to build up enough heat that way instead of going for the pad. It worked! Next thing I know I was being attacked by my Pop’s ferocious dog in the morning. Who by the way, loved hanging-out in the hammock; smart dog.



The thermometer was working again and reading a ‘low’ of 13.3F. I suspect it got a couple of degrees cooler, but don’t know for sure. I was warm all night except for about 10 or 15 minutes after the bathroom break. There was zero condensation on, or in, the UQ/liner.

WBG has a cordlock that bridges the two sides of the shockcord loop near the head of the hammock. The pic below shows the head-end; the large double-barreled lock at the whipping is what you use to adjust the overall tension. The cordlock to the left is what snugs it up. It really helps pull the head-end of the UQ up snug against the hammock, BUT I need to find a stronger mechanism, the cord had slipped out overnight. Not enough to have too much of a consequence, but I don’t want it to happen when it’s really cold and make me get up and fix it.



This UQ is da bomb for ease of deployment. There is just a big loop of shockcord that runs through channels that go down the sides of the UQ. Each end of the loop gets looped around a whipping bundle at each end; that’s it, you’re done. Well, there is the matter of attaching that cordlock I mentioned earlier which puts the shockcord on top of the hammock at the head, so add another 3 seconds to the set-up. Since the UQ is just on a loop it slides very easily up or down the hammock. I can vent heat without leaving the comforts of my hang; just reach out and slide the UQ up. Since my shoulders are what provides the ‘spread’, if I slide the UQ up past my head the shockcord wants to squeeze the UQ shut. This creates a nice wide open ‘mouth’ that will just make the heat pour out. I tried it and I’m telling you it is like instant A/C!

Here is the bottom end:



Reaching out to 'scoot' the UQ up a bit. You can see the vent gap starting to open up:



I was out of the hammock here, but this is what it looks like when you vent for heat. It really opens up wide if you want it to.



More to come later, but here’s some pics for all you visual folks out there.