Winter Hang Tips

[Hobopelican]

Keep a couple of those chemical heaters handy in your organizer. Then if you wind up getting out of your comfort zone, just slap a couple on you butt! CBS banished! Of course, they work on feet or kidneys also and are still warm enough to stick in your mittens the next morning!

[bobbycobbler]

a fleece with a balaclava style hood. I'll never go without one now. Its just so convenient to be able to zip up and cover your neck, or throw the hood on, without having to go back to your pack and dig out your beanie and neck warming apparatus.

[OneClick]

A few here I've learned the hard way:

1. Don't bring food that freezes harder than a rock. Snickers and Clif Bars to name a couple.
2. Frozen water overnight - either bury your water bottle upside down in the snow, keep it with you inside the hammock, or well insulated in a jacket/clothing/pack etc.
3. Bring a hard shell. Wet snow or melting snow off the trees when the sun comes out and temps climb higher than expected can be miserable. As much as I like wool, I never got into that wool shirt outer layer thing. You can get drenched by snow. A good hardshell blocks the wet snow when warmer and the wind when it's cold.
4. Cold feet? Wear down booties. You're nearly 100% guaranteed warm feet while sleeping.

[gargoyle]

Keep your stove, pot and coffee handy, under your tarp and near your hammock, so that you can make your coffee before leaving that cocoon of comfort.

My bladder disagrees...
Knowing where your guylines are, before you faceplant.
Frozen boots. The pain of wearing them is amazing.

[Hobopelican]

A few here I've learned the hard way:

1. Don't bring food that freezes harder than a rock. Snickers and Clif Bars to name a couple.
2. Frozen water overnight - either bury your water bottle upside down in the snow, keep it with you inside the hammock, or well insulated in a jacket/clothing/pack etc.
3. Bring a hard shell. Wet snow or melting snow off the trees when the sun comes out and temps climb higher than expected can be miserable. As much as I like wool, I never got into that wool shirt outer layer thing. You can get drenched by snow. A good hardshell blocks the wet snow when warmer and the wind when it's cold....

I wish this post had shown up a month and a half ago! Exceeding my existing minimum at a 19F° hang in southern Ohio left me with:

1. Frozen cliff bars
2. Frozen water
3. Fleece jacket frozen hard enough to pound stakes!

Even frozen, the jacket insulated fairly well, but it was a real toughie to put on!

[OneClick]

Keep your stove, pot and coffee handy, under your tarp and near your hammock, so that you can make your coffee before leaving that cocoon of comfort.

I love this!! I do make a quick pee stop (sometimes right from the hammock), but after I'm back in I put my contacts in and get the coffee going.

[kwpapke]

Be prepared for the agony of willpower that will be required to extract yourself from the cocoon of comfort in the morning. Know that you WILL lay there for about 1/2 hour steeling yourself to pull back that overquilt.

Corollary: plan your layers so that you do not have to strip down to bare skin to change into your hiking clothes, especially if it is <0F. The thought that you have to strip down to bare skin will easily double the willpower required to pupate out of the cocoon.

[OneClick]

Corollary: plan your layers so that you do not have to strip down to bare skin to change into your hiking clothes, especially if it is <0F. The thought that you have to strip down to bare skin will easily double the willpower required to pupate out of the cocoon.

I change, but I put my hiking clothes in the hammock either overnight or when I first wake up so they're warm. I change my shirt in the warmth of the hammock, but have to suck it up and change pants outside.

[DuctTape]

Have a routine and stick to it. In the extreme cold (and hot) cognitive functioning diminishes so "problem solving" and decision making will not be optimum. In some cases a bad decision could be deadly. So, practicing ones routine and not deviating minimizes the chances of making poor decisions when one is not in the optimal conditions.

[DWTLAX]

Have a mental picture and procedure for approaching the tarp and hammock and how you will and can efficiantly, through a rehearsed and step by step modus operandi prepare to remove warming garments and enter the cacoon of comfort. Ecomomy of motion. Breathe deeply and maintain a zen like quaility. Time is of the essence as Winter's rawness overtakes the fleshy form. Entry into hammock preceded by assorting goods and staging gear for the morning egress.

Shug

I need to let my sector 7 heal a little first.. But it sure is clear!!!