Low Temp Limit Testing Thread

[OldRagFreeze]

I don't think we have an official place for this, so with the recent flood of low temp testing (thanks Shug!) I thought I'd start a place to organize the data. If this works it could be useful for anyone trying to gauge what is needed for a certain temp.

I'm thinking the format will go something like this:

Conditions - Explanation of temperatures, wind, precipitation and any other pertinent info for the hang's conditions.

Gear - Explanation of gear used, from clothing worn all the way out to the tarp used... And everything in between.

Results - Were you warm? Were there problem spots? Did you change strategy with anything? Overall, how was the test?

Conclusions - Was your set up sufficient and if not what changes do you think could have made it sufficient (Other than higher temps of course. )

Does that seem useful to everybody? I hope to make an entry tomorrow AM, as I'm sure many of us will.

[4shot]

Does that seem useful to everybody? I hope to make an entry tomorrow AM, as I'm sure many of us will.

I think it would be extremely interesting. couple of thoughts though - 1), when it comes to discussing 'comfort" that is a very subjective thing. My wife and I have the same type sleeping bag and pad. I can be comfortable down to about 0, she's uncomfortable when it's in the 20's. And 2) it's been my experience that people who do winter camp tend to be more experienced so their input is usually solid.

[ojdash]

Conditions - started off the hike with light rain at 37 degrees.... we stopped for lunch and continued on the trail. In the matter of about an hour trail conditions went from bad to worse... i fell into a creek at a crossing right as temps dipped below freezing and we started getting sleet.... I set up camp in a hurry and huddled into my hammock overnight. It snowed all night with many changes in wind direction. The next day I found out we had a low of -5 F overnight and it got up to a balmy 13 degrees the next day.

Gear - i wore tights wool socks, 1 pair down booties (for about half the night), wool long sleeve shirt... down jacket, fleece lined wool hat.... hammock was open roaming gnome with 15 degree WL TQ (sewn footbox), jarbidge UQ, 2qzq UQP (breathable), Zlite pad on top of hammock. Big Daddy tarp with 1 door (had to switch the side around 8 pm)

Results - I was warm except for my toes (as usual)

Conclusions - I now want a superfly or old man winter.... I would also like a thunderbird or some kind of top cover for the toes!

[OldRagFreeze]

I think it would be extremely interesting. couple of thoughts though - 1), when it comes to discussing 'comfort" that is a very subjective thing. My wife and I have the same type sleeping bag and pad. I can be comfortable down to about 0, she's uncomfortable when it's in the 20's. And 2) it's been my experience that people who do winter camp tend to be more experienced so their input is usually solid.

1. I had considered that, but I think it will have to just be assumed... Maybe we could add a 'cold/hot sleeper' category? (I always wonder; is a cold sleeper one who is often colder than others, or vice versa?)

2. Absolutely. As with everything, opinion's values can vary. Maybe we also add an experience category?

Conditions - started off the hike with light rain at 37 degrees.... we stopped for lunch and continued on the trail. In the matter of about an hour trail conditions went from bad to worse... i fell into a creek at a crossing right as temps dipped below freezing and we started getting sleet.... I set up camp in a hurry and huddled into my hammock overnight. It snowed all night with many changes in wind direction. The next day I found out we had a low of -5 F overnight and it got up to a balmy 13 degrees the next day.

Gear - i wore tights wool socks, 1 pair down booties (for about half the night), wool long sleeve shirt... down jacket, fleece lined wool hat.... hammock was open roaming gnome with 15 degree WL TQ (sewn footbox), jarbidge UQ, 2qzq UQP (breathable), Zlite pad on top of hammock. Big Daddy tarp with 1 door (had to switch the side around 8 pm)

Results - I was warm except for my toes (as usual)

Conclusions - I now want a superfly or old man winter.... I would also like a thunderbird or some kind of top cover for the toes!

See this is awesome! I think I could make some guesses as to my needs at those temps based on your post, assuming I had similar gear. I think a resource full of posts like this could be great!

One question though... You don't list anything below the waist other than socks.

[HamMike]

I will post tomorrow. Getting out on the deck tonight. I have my Superfly pitched and will be hanging in my ENO dbl. It's forcast to be -12 tonight. I won't have an exact temp unless I can find my old school temp guage. I hung my cooglahns guage up and it died in the cold. I'll be layering a 20deg incubator and a 20deg phoenix. I'll have my 20deg burrow with my 50deg burrow inside of it. I'll also layer my 30deg marmot minimalist over it. I'm going to make a plug for the 20deg burrow footbox out of CCF pad and see how that works. My 50deg burrow is a sewn footbox. I'll report my clothing and results tomorrow.

[Dead Man]

I'll play too.

Conditions: January 3, 2014 Central, MS No rain, projected low of 25° with little wind. Actual conditions was final low as per outdoor thermometer of 21° and winds averaging 8 - 10 mph most of the night.

Gear: HH Explorer Classic w/ 2QZQ mod 4, bug net was stored in peak bag to reduce condensation, HG Incubator 20° UQ, Enlightened Equipment 20° oversized TQ with a 1' x 2' piece of reflectix in the footbox, HG Standard Cuben Fiber tarp w/ doors. Standard pillow. Personal wear consisted of Under Armour 3.0 Coldgear bottoms,flannel pajama pants, Merino wool socks, Under Armour long sleeve Coldgear top, Sierra Designs Kenosha windshirt, polar fleece zip top, Thinsulate balaclava, Blackrock Gear down cap.

Results: Toasty warm all night. Woke up around 4ish for the nightly call which was resisted because once I'm up, I'm up. Slept on my back up to that point as is my custom in the hammock, but switched to my side and slept solid until 7:30 a.m. Spent most of the night with the TQ pulled up to or over my head, being sure to keep an exit for warm breath. I experienced some sagging in the shock cord lines on the UQ due to the cold. The quilt hangers ordered from Dutch had not arrived at this date.

Conclusions: I was confident, as well I should have been, that my kit would get me to the low twenties. I have every confidence that this set up would take me easily to the mid to low teens if not high single digits without further adjustment. I really want to get a better pillow set up. Working on a DIY design here and there but nothing solid yet. I now have my quilt hooks and will try later this weekend to see if this helps with the minimal sagging I had. Purpose of the hook order to begin with was to reduce the fiddly factor I know experience with my UQ. An excellent night in the hammock and enjoying the shaking heads from friends and family alike.

[creativeKayt]

I think the addition of pictures would be lovely.

[OldRagFreeze]

Just got set for tonight's test... It's too windy to skip the Superfly, as much as I'd love to stargaze a bit before falling asleep. Not much of a backyard, but a borrowed stand makes it doable. (Fenceposts aren't strong enough.)

[Bonepile]

I'll post tomorrow also. Trying to make do with my 20* Yeti and 50* 1/2 length summer series underquilt inside a 2QZq underquilt protector. Going to be windy here tonight and 5*

[TonyYarusso]

All right, I'll take a stab at this.

Conditions: Backyard hang in Shoreview, MN. Overnight low measured as -24°F, with northwest winds of 15mph gusting to 25mph. Partly cloudy skies with little actual precipitation, but wind was blowing snow off the roof onto me.

Experience: I've camped at these temps before, but on the ground in a tent, not in a hammock.

Gear:

• Clothing: Midweight Smartwool socks, lightweight nylon REI hiking pants, Mont-Bell UL Tec down pants, lightweight nylon REI short-sleeve shirt, Cabela's down vest, Marmot Wrangell fleece jacket, Seirus Hoodz fleece balaclava, Duluth Trading Company wool/fleece hat
• Insulation: Hammock Gear 0+4ozOS Incubator UQ, Exped DownMat 9 LW, Big Agnes Hogan Park 0 sleeping bag, Marmot Plasma 15 sleeping bag
• Hammock: ENO DoubleNest
• Tarp: Cooke Custom Sewing 1.1oz silnylon 8x10 Tundra Tarp, but folded over the ridgeline so I just had it off to one side blocking some wind, not actually over me (see photo/video)
• Other: 3ft high snow berm on the windward side

Results: Very warm. Actually a bit too much - by morning I had unzipped the inner sleeping bag to vent a bit. Plenty of frost around my face, but nothing that bothered me until I woke up, and easily brushed off.

Conclusions: Setup was overkill. I actually kind of expected that - I'd put extra stuff in when a friend came over the afternoon so she could try hanging outside, and then just left it there even though I didn't think I'd quite need it. I could have ditched the Exped pad, Big Agnes bag, and down clothes and used the Marmot bag with my Hammock Gear Burrow 0+3ozOS TQ instead for sure. I'll make another post for a night with that setup.

Picture of setup from earlier in the season:


More recent video showing snow berm blocking the wind: