How did you manage when you tent camped to -40? What was your gear and clothing setup?
How did you manage when you tent camped to -40? What was your gear and clothing setup?
Eat.
Gear and clothing will keep you warm, but they don’t make you warm to begin with. For that, you need metabolism.
My main trick for staying warm is to eat a big high calorie meal right before bed time. Bonus points if it contains high fat dessert like chocolate fudge. Your body will run hot for many hours afterward.
If your extremities are cold and you are comfortable with alcohol, a drink can dilate blood vessels and make your fingers and toes warm within 15-30 minutes.
I have also noticed that taking off socks helps circulation for a while too. When it gets colder in the early morning I put them back on.
Basically same clothes, plus a down hoodie instead of the flannel and two pairs of bison socks instead of one and sheep wool. And an enormously heavy sleeping bag that was rated for -40° and a thermal sleeping bag liner.
Ah yeah, metabolism. I run rather cold naturally I think but at home I can compensate with heating pads in the bed or leeching off hubby.
I will remember to eat before bed (I thibk I hadn't eaten for many hours before trying to sleep) and to do some jumping jacks and such before I hop in next time.
Leiavoia nailed it- your body lacked fuel for the furnace. In our damp western Washington climate I always sleep wearing a down hood when temps go down to the 40's and lower. A hot water bottle helps too. It's certainly counter intuitive to wear fewer clothes to bed- but I found it does work.
It sounds like a few things.
I think you were over dressed. Usually a base layer and super loose socks. Too much and you can constrict blood flow (if it's tight enough). Balaclava or some head covering is nice. (as you said you had). Too much and you can sweat a bit and then it will cool. It's amazing how it can get cold.
Have something fatty to eat before bed, peanuts, meat sticks etc. Gives your body fuel for the night. If you get up in the middle of the night eat something like a granola bar/ chocolate bar and that should take care of that for the rest of the night.
Make sure your TQ is snugged up at the neck to keep the warm air from escaping up your neck and out.
It's always nice to start out with a hot water bottle. Heat up some water in a Nalgene bottle. My procedure is hot water, snug up the lid, shake the bottle, crack the lid, tighten and put in my hammock 5 minutes or more before I get there. Some will put a sock over the bottle so it isn't quite as hot against your skin. Through the night you can push it around, core, feet etc. Works all night pretty much.
*added - personal experience of eating a bag of chips (larger bag). 0°F out and the chips were fueling my body like crazy. At 3 am I got out to water the snow and i was in my briefs barefoot in the snow with a ton of heat. Just shook my feet off and back in I went. The body can produce a lot of heat with fuel. (good quilts are nice too )
J
I'm still a newbie, but have been working on my insulation lately ... at least until I get my new hammock and insulation come in the mail. My last trip I used a sit pad under my butt with a reflective coating on it and that really helped a lot!
In addition to lelavoia's suggestion to eat, remember - the quilts don’t create the heat, they only help you keep the heat you create. I think it’s important to embrace that concept because it sounded like you were looking for a solution with warmer rated quilts when the rating on what you have seems more than enough. So if you aren’t making any heat, they will have nothing to retain.
Drinking something warm before bed may help, but in my case, liquid before bed means a wakeup call in early morning. My body makes me more and more uncomfortable - shutting down heat production - until I get up and take care of the extra “water”.
For extra warmth some put a water bottle (that radiates heat, NOT a thermos) with really hot water in their TQ. If you go that route, 1) usually the bottle goes in a light sleeve, like a sock, so contact doesn’t burn your skin. 2) be really, really sure to test it outside your quilt first. Sometimes the heat/cooling action can change the cap fitting on the threads so that it loosen up as the temperature changes. You don’t want that bottle to leak.
For me, a balaclava - whether I wear it or not - is part of my outside gear. It keeps my head warm and many are designed so you can pull them over your nose.
So eat, maybe drink, wear some kind of sleeping cap, remember, you make the heat. Growl, make a scream like a cougar. Find that “Gaaaaaarh” place inside you. Then tame it and use as needed.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
Worth knowing: I took a wilderness first aid class a few years back, and we discussed this for persons with hypothermia.
It turns out that, while a hot drink doesn't hurt anything, it doesn't move the dial much either. Its effect is mostly psychological.
Wrapping people up and giving them a Snickers bar is far more effective.
When I first started hammock camping, I wouldn't even try colder weather. Anything below 30* F was not for me. Eventually, I started experimenting with temps in the teens, and really struggled staying warm. Then I read somewhere on this forum that I should try sleeping as close to naked as possible so that the goose down could do its job.
The lowest temps I've ever experienced was -3* F, and I slept in my hammock naked as a jaybird. Whenever I get cold in my hammock, I start taking clothes off, not putting them on, because I believe goose down is way more efficient at retaining warmth when unencumbered by polyester, fleece and yes, even wool.
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Let's not forget the hot nalgene water bottle trick either. Heat water to near boiling. Pour into bottle. Wrap in a Tee shirt or slip it in a sock then drop it in your footbox a few minutes before climbing in. Then move it where ever you think you need it. Nalgene's are great for not leaking, for extra peace of mind, you can easily slip it into a Zip-Lock.
Probably the only reason to carry the weight over a Smartwater type bottle.
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