Last night I slept down by the river in my Hennessy Explorer, WB Yeti, and some crappy Costco sleeping bag. I had previously used this setup in my back yard one night at about 20* and snowing and windy. I'm not sure the temps last night but I'm guessing around 30* and very little wind. I'm no weather expert, but I think it was more humid last night than the night it snowed.
Well, I was much colder last night than before. I went to bed with cold feet and the never warmed up. In fact, they stayed pretty much ice cold all night. My son was out with me in a Hennessy Scout, a Thermarest Ridge Runner CCF, and the same crappy sleeping bag. He says he slept warm, no problems. I did jerry rig one of the cheap 1 oz space blankets under him as a wind screen. I also draped a fleece blanket over the bug net and below the tarp. However, that fell off in the night. I know the SB had air gaps, so I'm not sure it did any good at all.
So after a couple hours I was cold and had to "water the leaves". While out I grabbed an extra SB and some hand warmers. I lined the inside of my sleeping bad with the SB and put the hand warmers down at my feet. I could instantly tell a difference with the SB. My body warmed up almost immediately. In fact I had to take off the down puffer coat I was wearing.
My feet never did warm up. I had on wool socks with some elastic support. I took those almost all the way off thinking they were restricting circulation. Maybe I should have taken them all the way off?
Anyway, sleeping with the SB next too me was odd. It definitely kept me warm. I wonder how much my sleeping bag helped at all. The down sides were the noise and the moisture. It was very krinkley. Even as I was breathing it sounded almost like rain on my tarp. I couldn't hear anything outside of my hammock.
Most of the night I wasn't "wet", just a little clammy. I had long pants with fleece long johns and a fleece top. I ended up wearing my wool glove liners. That way none of my skin ever touched the SB. As long as my skin didn't touch I never noticed the claminess nor the moisture. This morning when I took off my gloves I noticed the SB was slick with moisture but my clothes seemed dry.
Laying there listening to the krinkling I couldn't help but marvel at how well it kept me warm. I hate my bag and want to replace it. I was thinking of some kind of DIY IX/Climateshield combo. Would the IX be a better or worse vapor barrier? It must be quieter. Maybe a thin layer of fleece, a layer of IX, a layer of Climateshield, and a ripstop shell?
Long post, thanks for the read. For those of you more experienced with VB, what could I have done better? What did I get right? Why couldn't I get my feet warm?
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