BWCA -19 Practice Boundary Waters Winter Camping and Activities
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NotLight
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12/18/2016 06:59AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)

-19 in Minneapolis. Anyone else sleep outside?





 
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SevenofNine
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12/18/2016 04:38PM  
I hope you had a great experience last night. It's truly an experience often between being too warm and not warm enough, at least for me it always is.

Bet you had lots of frost in that nylon tent in the morning. I know I've had that many times before. Good times.

I've had plenty of real world experience to realize how tough it can be to sleep a night out in -20 weather. :-)

I'm curious what your bag, pads and clothing setup was?

Thanks for sharing.
Minnesotian
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12/18/2016 05:12PM  

Nothing like sleeping outside at those temperatures. Hope you had a good time.
NotLight
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12/18/2016 07:33PM  
quote SevenofNine: "

I'm curious what your bag, pads and clothing setup was?
Thanks for sharing."


Western mountaineering -25 degree bag, and Thermarest xtherm. I was actually too warm! Better to have a zero degree bag and wear warm clothes. I can see the value of a wider pad, or a bag with a pad sleeve.

Tent is North Face VE-25. Hard to slide the poles in the sleeves at -10F! I think Mountain Hardwear version of this tent would be better. Condensation was not bad! I had both doors and vestibules closed, and only the top vents open. Walls were only slightly frosted, but no "snow."".

I hung a fuzzy blanket on the clothes line in the tent over my head as I slept - a pup tent with open ends. The fuzzy blanket has so much surface area, it absorbs tons of condensation before it gets to tent walls.

The best thing was my floor. Four gossamer gear 1/8" evazote pads. Cut to fit the tent shape and duct taped together. Warm to the touch even at -19. Makes things so much more comfortable, uses up not much space. Weighs nothing.

Next time I will try a warmer bag, and more venting in the tent to reduce condensation a bit more. Also want to try the candle lantern trick.





12/18/2016 10:30PM  
Thanks for sharing. Good tip too about hanging the blanket above you to catch condensation.

Is that a wool blanket I see as a tent innie?

NotLight
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12/19/2016 06:01AM  
quote MNLindsey80: "Thanks for sharing. Good tip too about hanging the blanket above you to catch condensation.

Is that a wool blanket I see as a tent innie?
"


The hanging blanket and the one of the floor are these. The hanging one is the throw size. I always get the real deal polartec and not the knock off. Cabelas is the only place I know of that has that.

But having done it now, I would not use a blanket on the floor. I had put the blanket over an innie made out of four of these 1/8" foam pads. You don't want the blanket - it will be very cold to the touch. You just want the bare foam pads. They are warm to the touch even at -19 below. 1/8" is really all you need. I duct taped mine together leaving an 1/8" crack between pads so I could fan-fold and then roll up the innie. Rolls up to the size of a tent - maybe a bit bigger. Weighs nothing.


Silverback6
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12/19/2016 09:56AM  
That's real cool stuff. I'm making a new years resolution to camp outside at least one night every month in 2017. So your saying on the floor of the tent put a thin pad down and no blanket over top? I was thinking a pad, wool blanket, sleeping mat then sleeping bag but it sounds like that would be too much. I would also only be using a 3 season tent.
NotLight
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12/19/2016 10:10AM  
quote Silverback6: "That's real cool stuff. I'm making a new years resolution to camp outside at least one night every month in 2017. So your saying on the floor of the tent put a thin pad down and no blanket over top? I was thinking a pad, wool blanket, sleeping mat then sleeping bag but it sounds like that would be too much. I would also only be using a 3 season tent. "


Yup. No blanket seemed like it was better, just use the pad innie only. Seems counter-intuitive. But, the blanket is denser than the foam pad, and can trap condensation. That makes it cold to the touch. The bare foam pad is almost instantly warm when you touch it.

1/8" seems warm enough for the innie, and packs up reasonably small. Downside is the only place I've seen them is gossamer gear online. $18/ea and you need 3-5 to cover a tent floor. (I have some scraps of the 1/8" at home. Going to try to cut some shapes and put them at the bottom of my boots under the normal liner. Has to be helpful.)
12/19/2016 04:35PM  
The hanging blanket is a great idea!
ZaraSp00k
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12/19/2016 07:48PM  
I took the opportunity to test sleeping in a hammock.
That test lasted two hours.
Went to "bed"" at midnite, woke up at 2am.
My setup was a 0F bag inside another 0F bag, and a ENO hammock, nothing else.
The inside bag is one that when you cinch it up you are left with a little hole that you breathe thru, I've used it many times before and one time it was my outer bag sleeping in -25 to -30F weather in the BWCA along the Border Route trail.
The outer bag is a little different, when cinched up it is more of a wedge shape with good closure along the opening.
What went wrong is that I turned so that the hole in my inner bag was not in the wedge opening but rather inside the outer bag, ice had formed and there was water on the inside of the bag. It was too convenient to go inside for a comfortable nights sleep. I could have survived sleeping the night if I had needed to, but wimped out because I didn't need to.
It was a valuable experience for the real deal.
12/20/2016 12:50PM  
Bravo to both of you for getting out there and testing your sleep setups! Well done!

Notlight, I am wondering if the "blanket-tent" not only caught moisture, but may have kept the air around just a bit warmer too? I suspect even 5-8 degrees would be helpful. As for your 1/8 inch floor pad - did you lay that out on packed snow, or was your tent set up on a hard surface like a deck? I am intrigued by the idea, but was curious if the whole pad would move around or not if on a few feet of packed snow?
12/20/2016 02:36PM  
Looking at heading out for a couple nights next week. I will be in a Lean, the first time I have used it in the winter. Plan on leaving the flap/awning up, but if it gets really cold, I will try the hanging blanket trick!
12/21/2016 01:59AM  
Thanks for sharing Notlight. Interesting stuff...
 
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