By: Blonde One
As you know the Two Blondes were camping last night and enjoying the ‘great outdoors’ again. We always have a good time (I suppose that’s why we do it so often) but there is one thing that makes me wish that knitting was my hobby: I get so very cold! Even on the warmest of evenings, when everyone around me is cosy and warm I get cold when it’s time to retire to ‘big blue’. Over the many years that I have been camping (wild and tame) with groups of students I have accumulated a vast array of clothing and equipment in an attempt to keep me warm – but to no avail. I would hate to add up the cost of all of this stuff that gets increasingly expensive as I make the assumption (wrongly, it seems) that the higher the cost, the higher the warmth rating. Apparently the best way to keep warm is to wear very little inside of a down sleeping bag but this just doesn’t work for me – believe me I try it every time I camp out but just can’t get warm. I now am lucky enough to have a great quantity of very good kit to choose from but unfortunately none of it works and I shiver my way through most nights under canvas. On one occasion in the past I was so cold that I thought I was becoming seriously hypothermic. My irrational thoughts just served to convince me further that I would not be waking up in the morning. I couldn’t decide if the shivering had stopped because I was in the final stages of hypothermia or I had just warmed up! My confusion was a further sign (I thought) that I was dangerously cold!!!!! I have taken advice from anyone and everyone and tried all of their brilliant ideas: the best one being using a hot water filled Sigg bottle in a sock as a hot water bottle.
This is how I began as a camping leader: I slept(!) on a foam roll mat with a 3 season polyester sleeping bag with cheap and cheerful thermal underwear.
This is how I slept(!) last night: a foam roll mat and 2 expensive Thermarest inflatable mattresses, a four season top of the range goose down sleeping bag, Merino thermals, 2 pairs of thermal socks, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a thick fleece jumper, a thicker fleece jacket, gloves, hat, hand warmers, all topped off with a blanket! And still I shivered!!!! There wasn’t even any frost!
My last resort is to purchase a teepee with a wood burner but I’m not sure that this would fit in my rucksack!
Buffalo is what you need…
Very sound advice…
Hubby recently purchased a buffalo top and hood and hasn’t been cold since!!! Well worth the money – cheaper in “Camouflage” shop in Preston, Paignton than anywhere else! Great shop – don’t judge a book by its cover!!
It must be a “hubby” thing. Mr Blonde Two has two Buffalos – one is in sleeping bag format and the other is a mountain shirt. We bought Six Foot Blonde one as a congratulations when he led a Ten Tors team.
I guess a Buffalo would be useful in other ways too – lovely cheese and it could easily carry all of your equipment …
I suspect the advice to wear little in a down bag has more to do with with someone’s fantasy than sound advice on keeping warm…
There loads of possible reasons:
Most people live in warm centrally heated environments. We tend not to be acclimatised to the cold or fluctuating temperatures.
Your sleeping bag isn’t as warm as the manufacturers claim. The temp ratings are devised in fairly artificial conditions.
The bag might be too big – if there is a lot of spare space you’re having to warm that up.
You’re nor creating a layer of dry warm air about two millimeters thick against the skin. If your clothing is retaining moisture or air can circulate because there’s dead space in the bag you will feel cold.
If your tent is too large you’re having warm all that space too.
You haven’t eaten well before sleeping.
You’re breathing into the bag, filling it with moist air.
You’re putting stuff on top of the bag compressing it so it doesn’t insulate as well.
You’re not using a (thin fleece) sleeping bag liner – it makes a tremendous difference for some of the reasons above (creating still warm air against the body/ wicking moisture away.
http://andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/maximising_your_bags_warmth
Good comment on sleeping in a Buffalo – particularly if you’ve got the hood.
I was camping in -7degC last weekend – and it was cold! I used a 1.3kg down-filled sleeping bag with silk liner, Mountain Equipment Helium 3.8 mat, slept in tracksters, fluffy socks, merino wool T shirt, Helly long-sleeved top, buff and balaclava. At 2am (quite cold!) I pulled on my down gillet – that made a huge difference, particularly when I pulled the down hood over my head.
I find it very beneficial to keep my head and neck well covered, hence the balaclava and the buff….not very romantic though! Keeping the neck baffles of the sleeping bag pulled tight helps, as does making use of the sleeping bag hood.
I’ve previously used a hot water bottle too, a hot water filled Platy, very nice too! I do worry about it leaking though.
JJ
My coldest night out was about -7/8 at 4500m, and a 4 season down Macpac (it’s orange!) fleece liner, and NZ polypro thermals were all it needed!
I think we have solved Blonde One’s problem. She needs to make sure that all of her kit is orange – right down to her … then she will be as cosy as anything.
I don’t usually go for the hot water bottle idea either, for the same reason. I can’t imagine anything worse than a wet down sleeping bag!
Hubby also said you need “something” to share your sleeping bag with. Don’t know if he was offering?????
“Something” can be in short supply up on Dartmoor – the sheep look a bit manky and the ponies keep running away.
What you need, of course, is a nice warm dog to snuggle up to – and if it gets below freezing, your k9 chum will simply climb on top of you for his own comfort and keep you non-hypothermic in the meantime. Luvverly.
A common thread here seems to be … Buffalo. Perhaps I will switch my savings from a Haribo jacket to a Buffalo (jacket, not animal!). Thanks for all your advice and ideas. I’ll keep you posted – that’s unless I die of hypothermia over the next few weekends camping!!!!!