what was your coldest day?

[Driver8]

My coldest hike ever was on the Sleeping Giant SP Tower Road and a couple of side trails on January 15, 2011, tree days after the deepest snow ever recorded in CT. It was single digits, maybe 8* F when my friend and I started. Was fun post-holing the upper 0.6 miles or so, past the chin, where most before us had turned around. The snow was a couple feet deep and mostly untouched up by the tower. Winter wonderland - got some nice pics that day. We were well clothed and didn't get cold so long as we kept moving.

[kayak karl]

brownfork shelter. jan '09. zero.
in a hammock

[SouthMark]

January 2011, Roan High Knob, 4 ft snow, 30-40 mph winds, 1.8º.

I should have added that this was in a hammock.

[Lando11]

Coldest I've ever felt non-hiking, first year I lived in upstate ny in 1996 -50 wind chill
Hiking its a tie,
Sleeping in the emergency shelter on top of mt greylock in January a few years back. -10 at nightbefore wind, which was freakin howlin!
Peru peak shelter (Vt south of bromley)this past january hit -8 before the wind but overall was a colder night inside.

And did both nights in a 35* bag. But I spoiled myself with a liner

[russb]

Adirondacks -22*F actual temp. Was toasty warm in a hammock.

[Tipi Walter]

Many many subzero nights. Several recent winter trips in the mountains of NC at -10F. My overall worst trip was in the Conehead Mts of North Carolina during the arctic outbreak of January 1985. -28F. The storm swept the Southeast and gave Knoxville -18F and Nashville -17F.

[Different Socks]

Zero temp, in the Smokies on my 1992 thru hike, May 9.

[Another Kevin]

Hmm, I've been out in -44F (and breezy) in Hanover, but wisely didn't get on the trail that day. I've probably dayhiked as low as -20F, and slept out in subzero (in a 20F bag, but wearing my puffy layer and sleeping in a debris hut or a tent banked with snow for insulation).

[Red Hat]

my coldest night on the AT was in a blizzard mid march 2010 near Standing Indian. Hung up my hammock early in the afternoon to get out of the wind and snow. Stayed in the hammock with a pad and my WM 20 degree bag for nearly 20 hours shivering in single digit temps (don't know with Wind Chill). Walked down to the road the next morning to dry out and warm up.

I have had many cold days, but usually managed to get to town before nightfall. In 2005 I was turned around by a ridgerunner when I left Fontana headed into snow that got progressively worse up the mountain. Spent 4 days waiting out.

[Tipi Walter]

I spent the Blizzard of '93 in a tipi on a 3,500 foot ridgetop in the mountains of NC---see pic. While it wasn't that cold, 6F, and I had a woodstove inside my lodge, hiking in and out on my one mile trail was tough in 3 feet of snow. Camping with a woodstove changes everything---as the Kifaru and Titanium Goat types will attest.

[The Cleaner]

-28*@ Jerry's Cabin Shelter,January 85', with tarp on front+inside fireplace it was a toasty 0* inside.I thought the frost beard was cool,when I smiled it kinda hurt a bit....

[kyhipo]

december of 2000. heading south in jersey. walked on sunfish pond instead of the trail

I was in mass heading to conn in feb.went thru sages ravine ,solid ice ended up in dalton in a blizzard on a snow moble trail.nice hike to a job,ky,2000 as well,ky

[neonshaw]

-28*@ Jerry's Cabin Shelter,January 85', with tarp on front+inside fireplace it was a toasty 0* inside.I thought the frost beard was cool,when I smiled it kinda hurt a bit....

I remember that cold snap. It was -8 in Atlanta. Killed a lot of landscaping plants in the metro area.

I cant imagine camping out that week. Holy crap.

[Another Kevin]

I thought the frost beard was cool,when I smiled it kinda hurt a bit....

I remember my daughter laughing out loud at the snotsicles in my moustache on our first winter trip.

[Lyle]

I remember my daughter laughing out loud at the snotsicles in my moustache on our first winter trip.

Yeah, I first experienced these in college at Michigan State. Walk across campus to class, wouldn't notice a thing. Get into class and the snotsicle would start melting, but not all at once. Had to keep a bandanna handy for the first 15 minutes of class. :-)

[Kerosene]

January 2011, Roan High Knob, 4 ft snow, 30-40 mph winds, 1.8º.

Similar to my Roan experience, although I was hiking north: October 29, 2008, 6" of new snow, 10*F to start with 40 mph sustained winds and 70 mph gusts over the Balds. Fortunately the sky was perfectly clear and I had enough clothes on to keep warm as long as I kept walking.

Off the AT, my coldest was a Boy Scout winter camping trip near Port Jervis, NY circa January 1970. It dropped to 27 below that night, although the winds were light.

[coach lou]

Similar to my Roan experience, although I was hiking north: October 29, 2008, 6" of new snow, 10*F to start with 40 mph sustained winds and 70 mph gusts over the Balds. Fortunately the sky was perfectly clear and I had enough clothes on to keep warm as long as I kept walking.

Off the AT, my coldest was a Boy Scout winter camping trip near Port Jervis, NY circa January 1970. It dropped to 27 below that night, although the winds were light.

The details are lost to history, but in the same year we had our district 'Klondike Derby' and I remember we put all our baker tents flaps connecting, with a few central fires in the middle, with bails of hay on the outside of our tents due to the extreme cold. We were kids....we didn't care!

[Whack-a-mole]

The wife and I were on Grassy Ridge beside Roan Mtn with 40mph winds. I don't know the exact temp, but a ranger in the parking lot said it was 9 degrees at his house down in the valley. Last Feb it was 13 with a breeze at Long Creek Falls. I know this isn't nearly as cold as some of these folks, but it's still cold enough to get your attention.

[Tipi Walter]

The wife and I were on Grassy Ridge beside Roan Mtn with 40mph winds. I don't know the exact temp, but a ranger in the parking lot said it was 9 degrees at his house down in the valley. Last Feb it was 13 with a breeze at Long Creek Falls. I know this isn't nearly as cold as some of these folks, but it's still cold enough to get your attention.

Your post reminds me of a few fotos from recent trips.


This is what camp looks like at -10F on Hangover Mt, 5,000 feet.


Here's another trip and a morning shot at Naked Ground Gap at -10F. Dang cold.



Before the middle pic was taken the temps started to fall the day before and by morning it was COLD as I take this shot of fellow backpackers bailing off the mountain due to the cold and the biting wind. This pic symbolizes cold weather camping to me. It's not the cold that kills you, it's the wind.

[Tipi Walter]

Here are a few more pics which cold weather backpackers will relate to---



When a mountain side spring turns solid you know it's cold.




And when you go to get water out of a spring and see this you know it's in the subzero range.