View Full Version : Cold camp !
Finding myself bored again and wanting to start a new conversation. What's y'all's record cold camp? mine is years ago we had a cold vortex coming, oh my. So,crazy me decided to go out, didn't have a final destination but new what was coming that night . My ex wife dropped me off about 3 hours before sunset at a trail head between bears den and Harper's ferry. I walked up to the trail and walked for awhile and looked down about 100 yards away off trail to a big rock walked down and proceeded to put a tarp around a tree right in front the said boulder. And maid fire set up my half dome. Oh that night got down to -38 wind chill
soumodeler
12-14-2019, 18:50
-5F. Hardly any wind, so that was good. No fire, just got in the bag when it got too cold. Warm and toasty all night.
This tree was in perfect position, it was total inpravition the whole way. The tarp went around just enough to let the smoke flow. I was able to keep it around 50' inside the tarp and like I said a foot of snow and-38 winds chill outside the tarp. Inside the tarp live, outside the tarp die!!
peakbagger
12-14-2019, 19:25
I did a trip to the Adirondacks in winter where it was at least -20 F probably closer to -25 F
4eyedbuzzard
12-14-2019, 20:07
Somewhere between -20° and -30°F for two nights in a row in the Pemi Wilderness.
Slo-go'en
12-14-2019, 21:41
I did -33 "QUAY" side on Mt Adams one Washington B.day. A number of -10 to -20 nights. Oh, those were the days...
illabelle
12-14-2019, 21:51
Yeah, well I think we've been out when it was down to about 13° F.
Don't have much interest in experiencing -20!
Don't have equipment for -20 either.
But y'all have fun.
Me too... alone in a tent in the Adirondacks in January. Probably -25 F. One night was enough.
Ah, but there were those crazy Winter snowshoe hikes in Montana that we did as students in Missoula. Trapper Peak, St Mary's Peak, Lolo Peak, Glacier Park, the Rattlesnake. Friggin freezin. Thanksgiving dinner, 1978, half a cup of half-cooked instant rice. It was too cold for the Svea stove to work. Add to that 15 hour nights, often with heavy snow falling all night.
No idea how cold it got, but water bottles froze solid unless you were careful. This was all done before the modern age, using gear and clothing made from Frostline Kits, or bought cheap at Army/Navy.
Yeah, we were nuts. Certifiable.
Certifiably nuts indeed! I've come along ways since that night. Gear wise and technical wise. I've since gathered , goose feathers down booties, z-paccks down hoodie, spyder mittens, outdoor research gaiters. But that's about as cold as it gets around here and that only happens that extreme cold about every 20 years or so. It's so cold you throw a picture of water in the air and it turns to snow, blowing bubbles freeze and burst.
And I'd much rather go out when it's cold then be out there sweating in my hammock or tent , talking extreme temps. That cold camp record for me represents the art of living to me , living on the edge!! And I'd do it again or even more extreme!!
Well it's addictive in a funny way. You know, high risk = high reward. You are very happy if you survive.
Well it's addictive in a funny way. You know, high risk = high reward. You are very happy if you survive.
I think this is a very smart statement and very true. What gets them old endorphins kicking more than knowing you might die if you don't do all the correct things. I think that's 1 thing we all like about hiking if we realize it or not. Putting your body through the pain of hiking all day and all buiety around again endorphins release. Whoohoo. Get u some!!
nsherry61
12-15-2019, 13:09
. . . Oh that night got down to -38 wind chill
Pet peeve found!
If you're going to ask the question and then respond to it, please give meaningful numbers. Getting down -38 wind chill is almost completely meaningless. If you are climbing along a ridge line fully exposed to the wind, it has some real meaning. As soon as you tuck behind a bolder and climb under a tarp or just drop into the lea of the ridge, it means almost nothing. And, without reference to the actual ambient temperature, windchill is completely meaningless! Was it -20 with 5 mph winds or 5 with 80 mph winds. Heck, I've camped in windchill temps well below -50, but what does that really mean when in reality it's really only slightly below zero when I drop off the lea side of the ridge.
Coldest ambient temperatures I've ever camped in were -15 F. Coldest I've been camping was probably at about 5 degrees in an actual hard-sided shelter. Good golly shelters (even sealed from the wind) are cold compared to tarps and tents!
Tipi Walter
12-15-2019, 13:36
Pet peeve found!
If you're going to ask the question and then respond to it, please give meaningful numbers. Getting down -38 wind chill is almost completely meaningless. If you are climbing along a ridge line fully exposed to the wind, it has some real meaning. As soon as you tuck behind a bolder and climb under a tarp or just drop into the lea of the ridge, it means almost nothing. And, without reference to the actual ambient temperature, windchill is completely meaningless! Was it -20 with 5 mph winds or 5 with 80 mph winds. Heck, I've camped in windchill temps well below -50, but what does that really mean when in reality it's really only slightly below zero when I drop off the lea side of the ridge.
Coldest ambient temperatures I've ever camped in were -15 F. Coldest I've been camping was probably at about 5 degrees in an actual hard-sided shelter. Good golly shelters (even sealed from the wind) are cold compared to tarps and tents!
Yes, totally agree with the wind chill "hysteria". You see it all the time on televised weather reports---WIND CHILL NUMBERS WILL BE LOW!!! But so what!! I think they use wind chill figures to instill fear in people---like they do with "Feels Like" numbers.
"It is currently 15F outside but it feels like -10F". Feels like to whom? Inuits? Siberians? Hikers on Denali?
Coldest temps I ever backpacked in were -30F during a freak Arctic Outbreak in January 1985---when Knoxville got -18F and Boone NC got -30F. I was living out of a backpack literally during those years and my set up could take me down to about -15F so I left the woods surrounding Boone in the worst of it and slept under a pew in the Baptist Church on King St for a couple nights to get thru the Hell Storm.
Nowadays the coldest temps I encounter on a backpacking trip are at elevations above 5,000 feet. It's very common to see -10F or -15F at such spots. Here's a pic of one -10F morning in North Carolina---while Mt LeConte got -22F.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2009/In-The-Citico-With-Hootyhoo/i-7WdvhJN/0/9904d701/L/trip%2090%20049-L.jpg
This is a typical -10F morning at 5,000 feet in January 2009. NC mountains.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2009/Trip-89-Backpacking/i-hstCbhm/0/3bbe0d9f/L/Trip%2089%20049-L.jpg
Here's another -10F morning in the TN mountains.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/15-Days-with-a-Red-Hilleberg/i-9wb2RSs/0/ec199f3e/L/TRIP%20105%20135-L.jpg
Another camp this time at around -5F. January 2010.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpack-2014-Trips-152/24-Days-in-the-Cold/i-HnqK6N9/0/c4b7f701/XL/TRIP%20152%20118-XL.jpg
And who can forget the wonderful Polar Vortex of 2014?? I'm on the BMT below Sled Runner Gap at -8F.
Pet peeve found!
If you're going to ask the question and then respond to it, please give meaningful numbers. Getting down -38 wind chill is almost completely meaningless. If you are climbing along a ridge line fully exposed to the wind, it has some real meaning. As soon as you tuck behind a bolder and climb under a tarp or just drop into the lea of the ridge, it means almost nothing. And, without reference to the actual ambient temperature, windchill is completely meaningless! Was it -20 with 5 mph winds or 5 with 80 mph winds. Heck, I've camped in windchill temps well below -50, but what does that really mean when in reality it's really only slightly below zero when I drop off the lea side of the ridge.
Coldest ambient temperatures I've ever camped in were -15 F. Coldest I've been camping was probably at about 5 degrees in an actual hard-sided shelter. Good golly shelters (even sealed from the wind) are cold compared to tarps and tents!
Um ok, I was just trying to start a general conversation. I wasn't trying to impress anyone or get to technical. I believe the ambient temp that night was -5 and the winds 30,40 mph. And I did walk along a ridge until I found this camp , does it have real meaning now? I'm sorry it means almost nothing to you .but to .me knowing what was coming that night and making a make shift shelter like that means alot to me. And you could have moved right on past this thread instead of being such a negative nanny.
Tipi Walter
12-15-2019, 15:10
As I always say---and despite my wind chill rant---Cold Hurts, Wind Kills.
It's amazing how 0F or 10F on a backpacking trip---whether moving on foot or in camp---is made so much worse by a high wind. It's cold enough at 0F in still air---then add 30 or 40mph winds and it becomes a battle to conserve heat and keep it either inside your hiking clothes or inside the tent. But I still don't put much value in wind chill numbers---except to say how a butt cold wind against the face and body is a BITING wind.
When I lived in my NC ridgetop tipi with a woodstove I used 3 or 4 times more wood heating the lodge at 5F in a high wind than 5F in calm conditions. Basic physics.
+13F on The Foothills Trail in February 2015. Which is nothing compared to what others are posting!
Tipi Walter
12-15-2019, 15:26
+13F on The Foothills Trail in February 2015. Which is nothing compared to what others are posting!
And just think of those REAL winter backpackers up north who do backpacking trips and it never gets above -20F. That's -20F during the day.
We're just playing around with cold here in the TN/NC/Georgia/Virginia mountains. I never carry snowshoes, period.
But hey, a 3 day rainstorm at 35F gets old really fast---because air humidity is at 100%. This kind of cold eats into your bones.
I've camped at 40 below twice in the White Mountains of New Hamshire. The worst part was the dead battery when we got back to the truck the next day.
Back in the 90's I guided a winter overnight in the Catskill Mountains of NY for the AMC. On the first night it got down to -28 F; the second night was colder yet at -32 F. Both evenings were crisp, cold and breathtakingly beautiful. The stars jumped out of the sky and all night long you could hear the trees creaking and cracking in the cold air. Everyone was well prepared for the conditions so we all had an enjoyable weekend. I've been out in colder temperatures (-50 F outside Old Forge in the Adirondacks on two occasions) but during those times I was staying in a cabin with a wood stove so we never had to worry about the cold once we were back inside at night.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
colorado_rob
12-16-2019, 12:04
Mine is modest compared to those NE winters I suppose! But maybe mine is kind of unique, in that it is in the Summer. -25F actual (not wind-chill) at 17K camp on Denali, about 7 nights total, but -25 was the coldest. I've had dozens of nights in the -10 to -20F range in CO in the winter. Big deal.
Ding, ding, ding, I think we have a winner so far. Wow what a trip that must have been. Crazy temps for summer for sure. You didn't state was there wind? A good wind with those temperatures oh my!!
colorado_rob
12-16-2019, 12:46
Ding, ding, ding, I think we have a winner so far. Wow what a trip that must have been. Crazy temps for summer for sure. You didn't state was there wind? A good wind with those temperatures oh my!! Two trips, actually, about the same both times, yeah there was always wind, but we were always in our tents at those temps. You actually have to build wind walls out of snow, not safe without them. One little thing, somehow -25F doesn't quite feel so bad when it's daylight outside.... Sunset was around midnight, sunrise about 2am, something like that.
worked a shift outside at -35 but breaks etc were inside, slept in my vehicle -30 but put my magnetic oil pan heater inside, tested sleep system in the back yard at -20 but forgot to bring the pee bottle and stayed in after 5 hours (was otherwise fine)
for all night on the trail, a few times around -5
critical gear for below -10 is a mask with a copper coil to breath through
Wow, I'm impressed by how nutty y'all are and disappointed by how soft I am. Lol
My record was 9°F with 10-15 mph gusts in an open field. We were car camping with the Scouts so we had plenty of gear. The most impressive thing about that trip was that my 6 year old tagged along and loved every minute of it.
Tipi Walter
12-17-2019, 11:19
Back in the 90's I guided a winter overnight in the Catskill Mountains of NY for the AMC. On the first night it got down to -28 F; the second night was colder yet at -32 F. Both evenings were crisp, cold and breathtakingly beautiful. The stars jumped out of the sky and all night long you could hear the trees creaking and cracking in the cold air. Everyone was well prepared for the conditions so we all had an enjoyable weekend. I've been out in colder temperatures (-50 F outside Old Forge in the Adirondacks on two occasions) but during those times I was staying in a cabin with a wood stove so we never had to worry about the cold once we were back inside at night.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
Your post reminds me of the time I was pulling a December trip in 2006 and it got so cold the trees started popping like gunshots---freezing water popping in the trees---and my dog went nuts so I brought him inside the tent for a few moments (which he hates) and he left the tent just as quick. The gunshots were driving him hysterical.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2006/Subzero-Blizzard-and-the-16th/i-zRd5mR6/0/ff33e4a8/L/adadadad-L.jpg
Here's the campsite the morning after the popping trees---at around -15F. In such cold I always keep my cook pot full of water so when I wake up all have to do is fire up the stove and melt the frozen chunk---as this pic shows the pot full of frozen water. It's a good way to store water without severe cold freezing up your water bottles/bladders.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/15-Days-with-a-Red-Hilleberg/i-w982tvP/0/f43416fd/L/TRIP%20105%20140-L.jpg
And here's my panicked dog the night before trying to get thru the Popping Madness.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2010/15-Days-with-a-Red-Hilleberg/i-8QQPWb3/0/4bcdb22a/L/TRIP%20105%20137-L.jpg
The Joy of Winter Camping.
Mr. Bumpy
12-17-2019, 12:21
Favorite cold camping activity: I get enjoyment from letting a water bottle get supercooled, then knocking and watching it crystalize from the inside.
Tipi Walter
12-17-2019, 12:33
Favorite cold camping activity: I get enjoyment from letting a water bottle get supercooled, then knocking and watching it crystalize from the inside.
One of my faves is to squat in the tent vestibule and dump a turd pile onto a paper towel and place the wad in a Hefty bag and throw it outside to let it freeze solid in 15 minutes. No way I'm going out at midnight at Minus Ten in a 40mph wind to dig a cathole and get half naked. You know it's cold when this happens.
Then the next day you can bundle up and hike to a Cathole Arena and bury the beast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-l6tHeseDY
In a similar situation and was using I vestibule to pee out of but couldn't figure out a way a to poop and waited to long ooooooops,,,, shart!! Don't let this happen to you!!
Tipi Walter
12-17-2019, 13:21
In a similar situation and was using I vestibule to pee out of but couldn't figure out a way a to poop and waited to long ooooooops,,,, shart!! Don't let this happen to you!!
People always debate whether to take underwear on a backpacking trip---or not---and my answer is---it's alot easier to wash out a pair of undies after a Shart Event than it is washing out merino or capilene leggings.
The secret to successful Vestibule Pooping is to be able to do the Deep Squat in a small space---and to have good aim onto a small area---and to NOT hopefully have diarrhea or the Splashing Turtlehead---which oft-times is caused by a big bean dinner the night before.
Oh shart, probably another advantage of the hillenburg as well eh? Not quit as easy in a half dome.
Thank goodness I was able to wash my sharted underwear out in the closes drinking hole by the shelter. Before the hate starts coming I'm joking.
But staying on topic here, I heard a story not long ago this fella was cold camping and he had to poop so he walked away from camp fell into a crevasse and ended up using his own frozen turds as ice picks to escape. This one might be fiction. But theoretically plausible I guess.
The frozen thurd ice picks might have worked if his hands were frozen, too.
Can't imagine the feeling of the thawing thurds softening in the hands in the middle of the climb...
Coldest camp I've had so far was during our ascent to Mont Blanc, when we camped near the Refuge de Grand Mulet at ~3000m.
The tiny thermometer I carried was stuck on the lower end of the scale at -20°C (-4°F) inside the tent, guess it had been like -25°C outside.
Two clever things saved our ass, first we kept the boots inside the slepping bag, and second we had a car gasoline stove to boil tea no matter how cold.
12/17/19 antero reservoir Colorado -44F ambient temperature.w Waverly-34 F. Cowdery-32F. All ambient temp yesterday morning.
That's a good point there leo L if you find yourself having to use your frozen turds as ice picks to save your own life, gloves first.
And if it be used as ice pick and can be used as a self defense weapon as well. The multi purpose frozen turds.
Tipi Walter
12-18-2019, 10:23
And if it be used as ice pick and can be used as a self defense weapon as well. The multi purpose frozen turds.
"Are you packing heat??"
"No, I'm packing cold . . . turds."
colorado_rob
12-18-2019, 11:14
I've been on numerous expeditions where we had to either poop into a can, kinda looks like a bear canister or into a bag and carry it out. thankfully, all of these trips have been very cold, the poop freezes nicely, zero smell.
Yep, -44F not too far away yesterday morning, I used to have a place pretty close to Antero Res. It's in South Park, a notoriously cold place, especially because it's not very high (relatively). Gunnison CO, Fraser CO, all those places are "low" spots where the cold air collects and sits.
This phenomenon is why one should avoid camping in valleys (or even flat areas surrounded by hills/mountains) in cold weather. One trip a few years ago, Denver was forecast to be a high of around 0F, and we had an overnight trip planned to climb Mt. Elbert scheduled, about 9000' higher than Denver, most of the trip participants were freeking out, most of us went anyway. Guess what? Every 1000 feet or so the air was 2-3 degrees warmer, bottom line it was 25F at 14,430 feet, Denver was at 0F. Since we were at the highest point in CO, we figured we were actually at the warmest as well.
Summit photo, plus evening photo at 12,000' camp:
Tipi Walter
12-18-2019, 13:22
Here in the Southeast mountains of TN/NC we have the opposite effect---for every 1,000 feet of elevation the temps drop by 3 degrees. This is why Mt LeConte at 6,600 feet is -20F while the valley below is 10F or 15F.
A perfect example is during the Polar Vortex of January 6-7-8, 2014. I was camping on the BMT on Brookshire Creek and got a couple days at -8F. Mt LeConte not too far away got 3F for the high and -17F for the low.
Records on LeConte are kept here---
http://www.highonleconte.com/daily-posts/i-think-youre-beautiful-but-its-impossible-to-make-you-understand-that-if-you-dont-take-my-hand-ill-lose-my-mind-completely-madness-could-finally-defeat-me
Here's a pic of my camp on Brookshire during that plunge---
45941
The problem here with winter camping next to a big creek or in a river valley is the high humidity cold air which settles in the valley pretty much all day and all night. I could be at 2,000 feet next to a river and freeze my butt off at 20F while 5,000 feet above me it'll be 10F and still be cold. The moist valley air just feels colder as it "gets into the bones".
There's not much I can do to alleviate this valley/river cold except to carry overkill geese (which of course loses loft in the humid air)---and bring hot hands heating packets---and let my white gas stove heat up the tent on occasion---but only if I have fuel to spare. The best scenario would be to have a hot tent with a woodstove---which none of us carry.
And if it be used as ice pick and can be used as a self defense weapon as well. The multi purpose frozen turds.
I wonder if a plant based/ grain fed only person, you know eats like a cow.and you know how cow dung and buffalo dung you can use as fire source. If they were cold camping and needed to save their own life could they use their dung as fire source. Cold enough freeze dried, if not maybe I could use Tipi's dehydrator?
In most desert regions and poorer countries its common practice to burn dung. Cow and donky dung, camel droppings.
When you try to do some calories calculation, there is not so much warmth to gain from the dung of a hungry cold camping person on the brink of death. Most likely there will be no dung at all, as the body easily understands the seriousness of the situation and thinks twice before shedding a sh1t with any calories left in it.
I have no idea how cold it was but in the early 90's 3 of us went to Mount Sterling in NC. A storm moved in and started blowing really hard as we reached the camping spot at the top. I volunteered to go back down the hill to fill the water jug while they put up the tent (3 man 4 season tent). I stuck the water filter receiver into the water source pool and proceeded to pump water through the filter into the jug. It froze solid mid pull. I kind of freaked out for a minute, thinking how the %$^&$ am I going to get water? Then I remembered I can just fill the jug and filter it in the tent. We did that but we had to use the stove to unfreeze the filter. An ice storm storm raged all night, we were in the tent for 14 hours. The next morning the tent was half buried but it wasn't nearly as cold as it was the night before, the forest looked like a crystal palace. It was one of the most amazing trips I ever took.
After that we all got married, starting kicking out offspring and jobs bla bla bla. Those experiences were burned in my memory though and I yearned to go back. It was only as my kids grew up and left that I finally got modern equipment and started back. I've done a number of trips since but none come close to some of the weather we faced back then. I'm not sure if I'm glad or disappointed.
Tipi Walter
12-20-2019, 15:45
I have no idea how cold it was but in the early 90's 3 of us went to Mount Sterling in NC. A storm moved in and started blowing really hard as we reached the camping spot at the top. I volunteered to go back down the hill to fill the water jug while they put up the tent (3 man 4 season tent). I stuck the water filter receiver into the water source pool and proceeded to pump water through the filter into the jug. It froze solid mid pull. I kind of freaked out for a minute, thinking how the %$^&$ am I going to get water? Then I remembered I can just fill the jug and filter it in the tent. We did that but we had to use the stove to unfreeze the filter. An ice storm storm raged all night, we were in the tent for 14 hours. The next morning the tent was half buried but it wasn't nearly as cold as it was the night before, the forest looked like a crystal palace. It was one of the most amazing trips I ever took.
After that we all got married, starting kicking out offspring and jobs bla bla bla. Those experiences were burned in my memory though and I yearned to go back. It was only as my kids grew up and left that I finally got modern equipment and started back. I've done a number of trips since but none come close to some of the weather we faced back then. I'm not sure if I'm glad or disappointed.
Your post reminds me of two things---frozen creeks and the Blizzard of '93. You know it's cold when your campsite creek does this---from a 15 day trip in February 2007.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpacking2007/15-Days-in-the-Cold-with-a/i-RTG47zg/0/578859de/L/DSC00801-L.jpg
I spent from 1980 to 2001 living out of a pack and in a variety of Tipis and in March '93 I was 10 miles outside of Boone NC on a 40 acre ridgetop inside my home built tipi when the big blizzard hit and it was a whopper. Temps were not low---about 6F---but winds were terrible and snow depths reached 36 inches---with blown drifts around my tipi over 6 feet high. Here's a pic of my lodge at the start of the storm with alot more snow to come.---(the worst temps I saw here overall were -14F). The most amazing thing is I actually had a camera to record the event.
(Outside dead leaf berm added for insulation---woodstove inside with stove pipe coming out double sized door etc).
https://photos.smugmug.com/BooneYears/Tipi-Life/i-nBkLnbC/0/a232c69b/XL/Blizzard%20of%20%2793%20and%20the%20Tipi-XL.jpg