View Full Version : What was your coldest night on the AT?
What was the temp, approximate location and date?
Hikes in Rain
09-09-2006, 20:26
Russel Field Shelter, shortly after Christmas 1985, right after obtaining my Masters, with my brother to celebrate, near zero degrees. Water bottle froze in the shelter with a fire in the fireplace. Eight inches of snow that night. Morning was the most beautiful thing I'd seen, with the sun coming up over all the fresh snow.
mweinstone
09-09-2006, 20:35
the railroad grade above port clinton 6 degrees.froze boots,cooked boots, cut boots ,put feet in and walk home.up each and every second of the night waiting for the life giving sun.boots were wet and left to cube. that means they turned into ice cubes.lost the feeling in tip of right big toe. still numb. 30 years ago it was 1976!
mweinstone
09-09-2006, 20:37
it was jan or feb. i used to spend new years there so it well could have been jan 1st.
Daddy Longlegs
09-09-2006, 20:38
Not on the AT but about 30 miles east of the AT in the TN mountains. I was with about 15 boy scouts doing winter camping. I woke up at about 2:00 in the morning and my watch said 11 degrees. In the morning my tent looked like an ice cave from the condensation freezing on the roof of the tent and on my sleeping bag. The hot coco and morning fire was very nice that morning.
-15 deg F, Horns Pond, Bigelow Mtn (Maine) Feb.2001. Wind 20mph+. Some hard to get out of the bag come morning. Winter camping at it's best, if you are prepared.
bigcranky
09-09-2006, 20:51
Five degrees at the Wise Shelter in southwest Virginia. I got up at 4am to go water the bushes and thought I would never get warm when I got back in my bag. Brrr. But it was just drop-dead-beautiful the next morning with the sun hitting the front of the shelter and warming everything up, including me. It was sunny and in the low twenties both days, which is terrific hiking weather if it's not too windy.
Rendezvous01
09-09-2006, 21:31
Tri-Corner Knob in the Smokies during my half-hike in 2001. It dropped down below freezing--I'm guessing 29 or 30, as I didn't have a thermometer. The previous day had been miserably wet, with a temp around 50--perfect weather if you're into hypothermia--as a cold front was pushing its way through. It cleared off just after sunset, and got pleasantly nippy. Just below freezing as a lowest temp during a thru-hike isn't so bad, but this was after Trail Days, on May 23rd. Not exactly what you'd expect down south in late May.
Footslogger
09-09-2006, 22:14
I'm thinking it was at the shelter just before Crocker Mtn in the Bigelows - September 2003. It started to snow when we got to the shelter that night and the temps dropped well below freezing. I remember climbing up Crocker on ice covered rocks and then next day hiking over trails covered in deep snow. The trees were all snow covered and as the sun rose the snow would melt and drop off. I got nailed with some pretty good snow fall that day.
'Slogger
Last winter sometime, (I'm awful with dates) Just north of Neel's gap. Was 20 when we made camp. Believe it got down to the 5-10 deg range. Wind was blowing pretty hard til about 6am. Everything that was not in my sleeping bag froze. Definitely one of those times I was glad I'm a warm sleeper. Worst part, I was in a silshelter ripoff I had just made out of spinnaker. I didn't know how to do catenary cuts at the time and it was like being in a giant krinkly candy wrapper all night long. After about 2 I kept waking up trying to figure out how it was snowing inside the tarp and hitting my face. Thought it was coming in from around the pole, so half asleep I stuffed something up in there. Half hour later it's doing it again. So on goes my headlamp and I realize condensation has covered the entire surface of the tarp and frozen. Everytime a gust of wind comes along it knocks it off and it "snows" on my nose. As much as I liked having a light baseweight, I sure wouldn't have minded sleeping in a TNF Himalayan 47 (http://www.thenorthface.com/opencms/opencms/tnf/gear.jsp?site=NA&model=A649) that night. Woke up to an inch or so of rime on everything though. Hiked up an icy Blood Mountain. The view made it all worth it. :D speedy
Kinsman Ridge Shelter, New Hampshire, February, back in the 1980s.
+9 F
Overmountain Shelter, December 2005.
My 10 degree bag with liner kept me warm, but not cozy.
But tinkers makes that look balmy.
stranger
09-10-2006, 07:13
March 8th 1995, Tray Mountain Shelter in Georgia, 7 degrees
bigcranky
09-10-2006, 13:46
It wasn't the coldest night on the AT, but the worst weather I ever experienced was on the last weekend in March, 2003. My hiking partner and I were leading a group of college students on a 3-day hike around the Mt Rogers area. The first night it rained steadily, but I felt pretty good that I was able to set up and stay dry in my 5x8-foot silnylon tarp. The next night we camped on the top of the ridgeline on Pine Mountain. There was a light drizzle when we went to bed, then the wind shifted -- which should have been my first warning. I woke up around 2am when I felt water dripping on my face -- there was a raging blizzard, and my breath was melting the snow under my tarp. I was still plenty warm inside my down bag, so I just snuggled down inside it for the rest of the night. The only serious problem was that I really had to pee, and couldn't get out of my bag without getting all the snow inside. The last couple of hours until daylight were a tad uncomfortable, to say the least.
When I got up, all my clothes and my trail runners were frozen solid. I did have some dry layers in my bag with me, so I just put those on, put on my frozen rain shell and pants, and pulled on my frozen shoes. What I learned from this experience was that I could survive and be reasonably happy in severe conditions with very light and minimal gear.
Oh, and we were able to pack up the students and hike them out in the blizzard safely, then drive down to the restaurant on US 16 for a very well-received hot breakfast.
trlhiker
09-10-2006, 14:03
My coldest night on AT was at the Paul C. Wolfe shelter in VA in early December, can't remember the year. But there was about an inch of snow on ground with clear skies. Went to bed at 30 degrees, woke up at 7 degrees F:eek: . My sleeping bag was rated at 15 F so it was a very uncomfortable morning. All of my water froze as did my filter. The creek nearby was flowing so I did have water to cook with thankfully.
Never got really cold on my thru hike. Tri-Corner shelter in the Smokies some time around March 20 or so was probably the coldest though. I didn't have a thermometer, but it was pretty darn chilly with a couple inches of snow. One section hiker with a meter said it was 16 degrees which felt about right. I got by fine in my 32 degree bag.
I've slept out down to -29 in northern MN in January which wasn't terribly pleasant.
Probably 1984 Hot Springs on a new years trip -6 But last year at mount rogers in jan with the snow on the ground about 2 feet felt like the coldest one even thou it wasnt. I quess the age difference and the snow made it feel colder
saimyoji
09-10-2006, 22:08
Coldest night? The night I said something stupid and my gf refused me entry into the tent. :eek: That was a while ago now though....
Lowest temp?: 36. World's End SP, PA. Coldest night on record for that day. It was about 60 when we turned in, cold front or something had spun down from up north. There was some major snugglin' going on that night. ;)
Coldest night? The night I said something stupid and my gf refused me entry into the tent. :eek: That was a while ago now though....
Made me think of Mitch Hedberg. "I got into and argument with a girlfriend inside of a tent. That's a bad place for an argument, because I tried to walk out and slam the flap. How are you supposed to express your anger in this situation? Zipper it up real quick?" He's definitely missed. :D speedy
The Solemates
09-11-2006, 08:49
there is already a thread on this. but to answer the question, my coldest night was not on the AT, but rather atop the summit of Cold Mountain, Pisgah, NC, between Christmas and New Year's. -12F and 30+mph winds. On our thru, we hit several nights below 0F as well.
LIhikers
09-11-2006, 09:06
13 degrees in New Yok's Harriman State Park during the winter of 2004.
Not on the AT, but at Mt LeConte, 5 mile from AT... 8 degrees last December...everything is different at that temp, wataer botle freezes, wipes freeze, but if you live its great to know you can.
trippclark
09-11-2006, 09:55
Morning of March 10, 2002 at Slaughter Gap, GA; it was 10 degrees
What was the temp, approximate location and date?
Minus 32 F. Katahdin Stream Campground, New year's Eve, 1970. We had snowshoed in the nine miles from Abol Bridge, expecting to find the bunk house open. It was padlocked. So we spent the night in an open shelter. It was my first winter backpack in 20 years. I wore a heavy LL Bean Parka atop a cotton hooded sweat shirt. My sleeping bag was rated below zero, but how much below, I've long since forgotten. I remember it was down filled, with a cotton cover.
Luckily the wind was pretty still. There were around a dozen of us in the party, including two girls, ages 11 and 12.
Weary
FHThiker
09-11-2006, 11:21
I lived in Colorado for 8 years and did a lot of camping/backpacking. Coldest trip was in early January 2003 up in the Poudre Canyon (North Central Colorado) camping up around 9000 feet. Boy was it ever COLD and windy that night. When I got back down to Ft. Collins where I lived, I learned it was between 0-1 degree that night at 5000 feet...so I'm guessing it was around 10 below at 9000 feet without the wind! :eek:
Agree with another post...with the right equipment (-20 degree bag, layered clothing, balaclava, etc.), it's no big deal.
I thought this was a question about coldest on the AT (grin)...
Will add I'd rather sleep at -30F in the dry West than -15F in the humid North East.
zuluhartzbackpack
09-12-2006, 11:22
Feb. 2000 near the halfway point in PA...
Greywolf
09-13-2006, 13:28
10 degrees SOBO through Smokies, January 1997, Clingmans Dome. Really quiet, ice everywhere, and cruchy. I just kept moving. Got much warmer at the base toward Fontana Dam. I had my ancient overstuffed -20 bag that I carried all winter from Front Royal to Georgia. Generally I slept with it open over me, and sometimes with my boot under it to keep them from freezing solid. If you can't keep them in a warmer place, at least shape them so that you can get your foot in them in the morning.