How cold can you go?
This is the time of year that we usually embark on our last camping trip. We were planning on making the trip last weekend our last of the year, but my 3 (soon to be 4) year old asked if we could go ...
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profdant139 wrote:
And one more thought -- we are not hijacking the thread here. This is all relevant to "how cold can you go," the OP's topic. How does one cope with winter weather?
It's not really relevant to what I was asking, but I certainly don't mind :-).
As long as it's cold enough to not be DAMP, down is the way to go for sleeping bags and jackets.
The old adage of layers, layers, layers. No cotton anything. Wool baselayers. Insulated boots. Good gloves and hats. When we're "still" I'll wear my knee length down coat. When doing physical activity I wear very little - base layers with a thin pair of insulated pants (biking, cross-country skiing gear). Usually a wool shortsleeve over a technical long sleeve with a thin windproof vest and a thin jacket over. Depending on how much exertion I'll be putting out in the beginning might also have on my Patagonia Nanopuff, but I usually get hot pretty quickly in that. Basically I try to stay slightly on the cool side the whole time so I don't sweat a lot so stops aren't brutal.
In the tent sleeping days (hopefully in a few years we'll be back with the kids doing some of that) we'd dig down into the snow some to create a wind barrier. Fill thermos bottles with hot water before bed and throw them in the bottom of the sleeping bag. Always wear a thin hat to bed and layer from there depending on how good your sleeping bag is. I find 800-fill down is good for me into the teens at night in a tent. Marmot is my go-to brand for down sleeping bags.
