Blackbird in Winter

[beep]

Well now, before you know it, frost will be on the pumpkin and winter cold will be creeping 'round the woods!

I became a BB owner this summer, so I'm looking for information from the "experienced" WBBB users about how best to cope with serious cold...I'm thinking 20 degrees F. and below. What combinations of UQ, sleeping bag, TQ, weather shield, sleeping pad, etc. do you use to deal with hardcore winter temperatures...and in what temperature ranges?

FWIW, I have a Yeti UQ and have ordered a JRB MW 4 UQ. I have a WM Antelope (5 degree) sleeping bag, and I've got a closet full of CCF and Thermarests (up through NeoAir), but haven't had to deal with the hard core cold yet.

[warbonnetguy]

if you've got all that you're plenty good on insulation. a winter tarp would be nice to keep out the wind.

[Cannibal]

Pretty personal thing, how to deal with the bitter cold.
For me, it means a winter Yeti, a GG pad or pack under my legs, a top quilt with at least 3.5" of down loft, and a tarp with doors. I'll be trying one of fin's topcovers this winter and I'm very excited to see the temp boost. Best way to figure it out is to go out to the woods and shiver a bit. Hand warmers are nice to carry on the experimental trips; really, really nice.

[beep]

if you've got all that you're plenty good on insulation. a winter tarp would be nice to keep out the wind.

A winter tarp is definitely on the horizon!

[fin]

I use a sock plus tarp for teens and below, JRB Mt. Rogers modified to use as an underquilt with a single layer polypro sheet between the hammock and the UQ, and a 20* down bag in the hammock. I've been to 4 degrees with this rig.

[BillyBob58]

.............

FWIW, I have a Yeti UQ and have ordered a JRB MW 4 UQ. I have a WM Antelope (5 degree) sleeping bag, and I've got a closet full of CCF and Thermarests (up through NeoAir), but haven't had to deal with the hard core cold yet.

Well, you should be good to about zero with those, so how are you going to augment for below zero? The easiest is to add one of your pads down in the pad pocket of the BB. And that might not be your preference. I don't see a way to use the Yeti and MWUQ together, though.

Obviously you are just going to have to buy a Pea Pod. That pod over one of your other UQs, with your WM bag added on top, ought to get you way below zero.

What about the snap on deal I have been hearing about for the Yeti?

[April Fool]

Shug has several good videos that deal with winter hammocking. Here's a good one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygY3IbFYfHg

[beep]

Well, you should be good to about zero with those, so how are you going to augment for below zero?

What about the snap on deal I have been hearing about for the Yeti?

1. I don't know quite what I'll do for below zero. That's sorta the point of this thread, to take on the ideas and look at possibilities. Of course, there is a finite limit to the budget for this (most of which has been spent for the MW 4 UQ!!). The real hard-core part of winter hammocking may have to wait a bit for the payments to catch up with the feeding demands of the credit card monster!

Certainly the first action plan for going colder will be to add a sleeping pad in between the double layer. I've got a large NeoAir, but for serious cold, a "camp size" (25" wide) traditional Thermarest may be the better solution. I also have an older Holubar down sleeping bag (now there's a name from the past!!) that could be utilized as additional top layer insulation, perhaps as a de facto top quilt. For that to work well, I'd have to somehow mod the foot box to enable it to open up more so as not to compress the foot portion of my primary sleeping bag.

Hmmm...all this "extra" gear could add up to quite a load to haul. I'm starting to see why the extra weight and bulk for cold weather makes something like the ski/sled pulk an attractive load carrier. Wow! Another whole arena for spending money and experimenting...pulk vs toboggan, rope vs rigid poles, fins and brakes, skis vs snowshoes!!! Even more stuff to buy!! LOL!
2. The snap-on item from Brandon (as I understand it) is a reflective barrier sort of thing that will mate with the Yeti UQ. I envision something like a mylar reflective space blanket "sandwich" of some sort. I don't know what the overall impact of it for temperature range enhancement. AND, I'm not sure that the Yeti will be a happy companion with the MW UQ. I'm thinking that the MW UQ on the outside would compress the Yeti's loft, not to zero, but certainly far less than the normal loft. There's still the possibility of using a full length space blanket as an additional layer (above the MW UQ but below the Thermarest).


In any event, I'm really open to ideas and suggestions. I have watched Shug's video several times (in amazement, frankly) and since he's also in the Twin Cities, I hope to be able to pick his brain at some point.

Keep the good comments coming!

[gRaFFiX]

I actually use that space blanket as an underquilt for summer and I've never been cold, there's a picture of my ENO Single with it attached to it here(the first picture). For some reason I wrote that I used my Heat Sheet which is obviously wrong. I've also slept right on snow with the 25" wide thermarest you're talking about (back when I did such foolish things as sleep on the ground.) I was only cold because my sleeping bag rating was overly generous, but my butt stayed warm. I'm not sure exactly how cold it was outside, but the moisture in my shoes froze solid, and my nalgene (in an OR insulator) froze solid overnight. So it should work very nice for your needs.

[Just Jeff]

How thick is the Yeti? If you use it w/ the MWUQ, I'd put the Yeti on the outside. If you hang it loosely enough it shouldn't compress the MWUQ much. Putting the Yeti inside the MWUQ means you'll either compress the Yeti or have a big gap between your legs and MWUQ.

So I see two quick options:
1 - Use the MWUQ as a top quilt w/ JRB hood, and use a pad and the Yeti underneath. A normal CCF pad would work as well as a heavier one, and probably won't make much difference in condensation. I like this plan b/c if it's below zero outside I want a failproof backup plan...and CCF is much closer to failproof than an inflatable pad.
2 - Use the MWUQ+Yeti on bottom, then buy another top quilt...another MWUQ, a Nunatak Arc Expedition (5F), etc. A little bit of augmentation like a down jacket would take this setup to below zero. This will be less bulky than #1, and probably more comfortable, but you lose the CCF backup/sitpad/packframe/etc. Also much more expensive.