View Full Version : Down right chilly out!
Slo-go'en
12-13-2013, 23:18
0F right now here in the White Mountains and possibly bottoming out at -15 in the wee hours this morning. A tad chilly for this time of year. Usually don't get this cold around here until late January or into Febuary. At least we might get a decent snow storm this weekend.
With the way this winter is shapping up, those of you who plan on an early start next year might want to think about upgrading your sleeping bag! I have a feeling this is going to be another rough winter.
Windchill -50f on Washington
rocketsocks
12-14-2013, 01:22
Ouch, that's some deep muscle hurt there. So how does one Defecate in Temps like these. Seriously?
-4 oF this morning doing my morning papers up here in New Brunswick, and we are at sea level.
I was out sailing every day the first week of December. I am hoping to get out again before freeze up.
Good to get an early test in on my clothing system. :-)
Something I've been thinking about last few years is the effect of specific humidity on how cold it feels, and perhaps also whether the specific humidity is increasing through evaporation of moisture from wet ground etc, or decreasing due to condensation. Just to be clear Specific Humidity is the actual amount of water vapour contained in the air, as opposed to Relative Humidity which is the Specific Humidity relative to how much can be held at the Saturation Point. Colder air can't contain as much moisture are warmer air, but it can still contain a fair amount at freezing, but it tapers off to practically none once you get down to -40F. Around 0F it tends to feel dry even if the Relative Humidity is close to 100%, but I find in the +20F to +35F it seems to be most noticeable that moist air tends to feel a lot colder than dry air, especially when it feels damp. Dampness I think is that feeling you get when it is cold, with Relative Humidity at 100%, particularly when it is getting colder.
So is there any way to quantify this effect, and put it into practical terms, like how much clothing you need and what sort of clothing you need ? My gut feeling is that the sort of clothing you need for damp +20F and even wet +35F will often do you just as well down to 10F or perhaps even 0F where it tends to be dry, in absolute terms, even at high Relative Humidity. However, this can give you a false sense of preparedness, because at some point, perhaps 10F, the amount of clothing you need starts increasing again as it gets colder and colder. So what might work for 30F might do for 10F, but for every 10F drop from there you have to start adding progressively more and more. My rule of thumb has always been to add about 10 ounces of clothing for every 10F drop in temperature, not counting shoes and shells. So for 30F say 50 ounces, but perhaps 60 or 70 ounces because it can be damp, or even wet. That 70 ounces if in efficient clothing system might serve you very well down to 10F, perhaps even 0F. But for prolonged periods of exposure at 0F, -10F, -20F, you are going have to start packing more clothing again, so if there is a risk of -20F you have to rethink or modify your 4 pounds of clothing into 5,6,7, or even 8 pounds of clothing as it gets colder and colder. What works as 30F might work just as well at 0F, but what works at 0F will certainly not do at -30F. I guess that is what I am trying to say.
Then there is wind chill, but I think we have covered that. ;-)
Here is a graph showing Specific Humidity at Saturation, showing how the amount of moisture that can be contained is still significant around the freezing point, but drops off to be less significant at some point around 0F or so. Also, once it is snow, it tends to be less trouble, as long as it doesn't melt.
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Tipi Walter
12-14-2013, 09:50
Ouch, that's some deep muscle hurt there. So how does one Defecate in Temps like these. Seriously?
Do you really want to know? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, etc.
Birthing the feisty turtlehead is not a whole lot of fun when the temps dip to frigid.
** Option 1---Go out from camp in the snow at an opportune time and dig a pre-needed cathole. Return to hole when needed. Use hiking pole tip to dig thru the snow and into the ground if possible.
** Option 2---Go out from tent several feet and birth angry turtlehead right onto the snow. Run screaming back to the tent. Leave overnight. By morning it will be frozen and easily hand-carried to a cathole---or thrown like a discus off the ridgetop, or placed under a large stone on the ground.
** Option 3---Stay in tent and squat over some paper towels and have at it. Place effluvia inside tent vestibule and let it freeze. This works well in terrible high wind/low temp blizzards when you cannot leave the tent for any reason.
DO NOT smear your turd over a big rock and let the sun eat it up. This does not work in the Southeast.
DO NOT squat over a fast moving creek and wipe with creek water.
DO NOT squat onto the snow on a trail and leave your crap with tp right on top of the snow. I have seen this done countless times when the weather turns ugly. Have some pride.
rocketsocks
12-14-2013, 10:30
Well that sounds fine, just couldn't get my head around the pucker over push factor, but as the sayin goes I suppose...shat happens, and mother nature finds away.
Excellent points Tipi.
Nothing ruins a nice walk on a cold day like having to take a crap and having no place to go.
A balmy 15 degrees at my place in SW Connecticut, with snow falling and 5-10 inches expected. I'm running two woodstoves and have some kale dehydrating. Today's exercise will be shoveling, not hiking.
Slo-go'en
12-14-2013, 12:44
Up at the RMC Gray Knob cabin we used to keep the toilet seat for the privy on a rope and keept in inside the cabin. That way when it was minus 25 out, you didn't freeze your butt to the seat :) But eventually, someone decided that wasn't hygenic or something and now the seat stays in the privy. So, you wait until your about to explode, then run out there and do your buisness as quickly as possible...
8 days ago, what turned out to be my last sail of the season...
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and today...
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"Real feel" of -2 this morning when I went for a run on the MA MidState Trail. Definitely chilly out there! Here is a link to the day's report if anyone is interested.
http://www.backpackingengineer.com/blog.php/60
Ouch, that's some deep muscle hurt there. So how does one Defecate in Temps like these. Seriously?
Quickly. .
rocketsocks
12-14-2013, 20:16
Nothing ruins a nice walk on a cold day like having to take a crap and having no place to go.
25231so true.