Eventually all of this mental exercise comes down to getting out in the cold and trying it out.
I have been down to -10F and experienced nothing but comfort with a full foam system (ever changed your clothes outside in 5F weather? It's freaking
cold!). This was only for one night. This winter I will be going down lower for longer periods of time.
One of the reasons that I'm doing this is because I can not hang onto the coat tails of the one guy who has done so much more than I have in the 30+ years he's been doing it. He's spent months outside in the Arctic with this system and testing all types of sleeping bags. He has found that fiber and down fail in less than a week. These are extreme conditions that he was fortunate enough to test in. -40F and lower for weeks at a time.
I do not have the funds at this time to duplicate those conditions, but I will be doing all that I can locally to gain more personal experience with it, so that those experiences will be mine to share.
So, go play with these ideas; put them to the test in an environment that will give you a fall back should they fail.
Usually I don't even take my hammock when I winter camp. I'll toss my bag onto a ground cloth and sleep on the snow with no tent, no hammock.
One of the most rewarding sounds when I'm on a scout camp is waking up around 2am and listening to the cars running in the parking lot! I smile, look at the crisp clear cold sky and brilliant stars, tuck my head in and go back to sleep.
And then smile again when asked in the morning, "
So, John. How did you sleep in that foam bag with no tent?"
You've just GOT to LOVE it!
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