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Peanut
11-09-2007, 20:31
I'm pretty pumping about hiking this March, but one thing I'm a bit nervous about is the cold...I get cold easily. Since it's colder now, I'm trying to slowing raise my tolerance/comfort in the cold, and it seems to be helping a bit. I know it's inevitable that I'll be cold on the trail, but I was wondering if anyone has any tricks/advice about keeping warmer. I've search forums and have recorded ideas...anyone have anything to add? Thanks for your help! :

Cold Weather tricks:

when I got the shelter I climbed into my bag and cooked up something hot and liquid (even mild dehydration is a big factor in hypothermia
boiled a liter of water and brought it into my bag in a Nalgene bottle (make sure it doesn't leak and put the lid on tight!). The bottle really helped keep me warm that night
and in the morning I started the day by drinking a liter of warm water and eating some crackers, cheese, and nuts (again, the dehydration thing and food with high calorie content
As long as you 1)stay dry, 2) can find shelter out of the wind, 3) have something hot you can eat before bed, and 4) recognize early hypothermia before you get too mentally confused to do 1-3, you'll be fine.
In addition to my down bag most nights early in my hike I slept in merino wool long underwear, wool socks, down booties, a down vest, wool mittens and a balaclava
it's smart to get comfortable with any tent before taking it out on a long hike. Set it up in the back yard, make a point of sleeping in it on a rainy, windy night -- some time before you head for Springer or Katahdin.
Start your hike with a 0* down as light as you can afford. Switch to a 32*down or synthetic, again as light as you can afford, in Damascus. Switch to a 50* in Maryland.
When you get to Mass. start to reverse the process with switches to 32* and then to 0* at Glen Cliff.
Kept my sleeping bag dry always and had something dry to change into on cold rany days.

I used a 30deg polyfill bag with liner. I carried it in 2 garbage bags to make sure it NEVER got wet.
get some sort of lightweight down or synthetic insulated jacket you will probably be happier with it than a cheap fleece.

Lone Wolf
11-09-2007, 20:33
sleep in a tent. it's much, much warmer than a hard floor, open faced shelter

shelterbuilder
11-09-2007, 20:48
Never underestimate the usefulness of a good, waterproof, breatheable rain suit in the colder months. It's great for a windproof outer layer.

Dakota Dan
11-09-2007, 20:50
sleep in a tent. it's much, much warmer than a hard floor, open faced shelter

.....with huge drafts of cold air that's occasionally blended with the foul flatulence of fellow shelter dwellers.

map man
11-09-2007, 20:56
Hold on to that winter bag a little PAST Damascus. Mt. Rogers, right after Damascus, has been an unpleasant chilly surprise to many who've just switched to their summer bag. But the advice to get a bag rated lower than you think the temps could get is very good advice for someone who gets cold more easilly, like you. The zero degree bag is a very good idea. I've read tons of accounts of people starting in March with 15 or 20 degree bags who have some VERY uncomfortable cold nights.

Also, when you settle into your bag for the evening wear more in the way of foot warmers, hat, gloves, long underwear etc. than you think you will need. You can always peel off layers in the night. Once you get good and chilled, though, if you start with too little, it seems impossible to ever catch up again during the night. In addition, I know Jan LiteShoe swears by neck warmers as her secret weapon at night to stay warm.

Tipi Walter
11-09-2007, 22:01
It is true, tolerance to cold can be acquired over time but most people do not have the time it takes to get it. In that case, extra warmer-than-usual gear might have to be taken to assauge the attacking Snow Serpents.

It all seems relative. I was camping in -10 to -14 degrees for several days and wondering about it all when suddenly the temperatures climbed to 18-20 degrees and it felt balmy, the worst was over as compared to the previous temps, etc. Also, in the winter there seems to be a body-oil-layer that, if not removed by washing, allows a person to endure more cold than normal. Most people would call it being "ripe", but in the winter being ripe can help keep you warm.

The relativity part of it comes with the story of explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his last, coldest walk in Antarctica(I think it was the South Pole). His group spent weeks at about -50 degrees and though difficult found it livable, but as soon as a storm came thru and dropped the temps down to -70 degrees, the entire trek came to a halt and they all took instant notice before they each perished in their makeshift canvas tipi-styled tent.

So, many people can get used to freezing conditions, but drop that down to zero degrees and things change. Drop that down again to 15 below and new problems arise, both mental and physical.

For winter backpackers intent on staying out in the cold, I have only a few words: Get the best goose down bag you can afford(rated -10 to -20 if you want)and put that atop the warmest sleeping pad you're willing to carry.

LIhikers
11-15-2007, 12:20
sleep in a tent. it's much, much warmer than a hard floor, open faced shelter

I have to agree whole heartedly with this. A number of years back, on a night when the wind was howling, there was about a foot of frozen snow on the ground, and the temperature was exactly zero, my son and I slept out in our yard in a backpacking type tent. It was zero when we went in that night, but when we woke in the morning it was 15 degrees inside the tent and still zero outside of it.

Flush2wice
11-15-2007, 12:27
You could also wait until late April. Warmer and fewer people.

The Solemates
11-15-2007, 12:30
the winter previous to our hike we went around in shorts and only a light jacket to help adjust our sensitivity to cold. It seemed to work rather well.

take-a-knee
11-15-2007, 12:42
After a week or two in the cold your metabolism will crank up, but you have to fuel it with the right foods, it sounds like you are well aware of that. I've found that your peripheral circulation will improve, IE, your hands don't get as cold 'cause they have increased blood flow. My second winter in the arctic infantry taught me this. We'd be packing up the squad tent bare handed while the new arrivals were standing around with mittens on complaining their hands were cold.

Jim Adams
11-15-2007, 15:51
There is no such thing as bad weather...only bad clothing!

geek

ScottP
11-24-2007, 15:31
Pay attention to your campsite--try to camp on soft, leafy, unfrozen ground near/underneath trees that will block the wind and retain the day's heat. Avoid sleeping in shelters or meadows.

Don't cook breakfast--get up and get hiking right away. If you're cold in the pre-dawn start hiking, that will warm you up.

If you don't hike all day than take your relax time in the afternoon when it's warmer rather than in the cool evenings.

gsingjane
11-24-2007, 15:58
I sleep with a hat on, swear by it. I also sleep in a tent, with the warmest other person I can find (my son!!!). Sometimes when it's really cold, or I'm just feeling chilled for some reason, I breathe into my bag, figuring that the hot(ter) air from my mouth will warm the inside of the bag faster.

I think your idea to acclimatize is excellent. From what I've read of the Arctic and Antarctic explorers of years past, they all did this... would take cold baths in freezing temps, run around shirtless in the snow, the whole deal - they would get their bodies accustomed to the coldest temps they could before they left, and think about their gear... they reallly needed to.

If you're really nervous, I've read about a battery powered warming shirt that maybe you could bring along for a super-emergency, or at least pack a space blanket. Sometimes just knowing you have something as a backup can be a huge help psychologically.

Jane in CT

MOWGLI
11-24-2007, 16:02
Hold on to that winter bag a little PAST Damascus.....

Pearisburg is a much better place to send home winter gear.

sparky2000
11-24-2007, 16:10
You didn't mention your boots - breathable boots or whatever you like. One person mentioned that vasoline on the bottom of one's foot will help keep them warm.

Kirby
11-24-2007, 18:31
There is no such thing as bad weather...only bad clothing!

geek

I consider a hurricane to be bad weather, even with top-line clothing.

I agree with L. Wolf, shelters such, especially with wind and rain, miserable night ahead of you there.

Kirby

wrongway_08
11-24-2007, 18:52
You didn't mention your boots - breathable boots or whatever you like. One person mentioned that vasoline on the bottom of one's foot will help keep them warm.

Sparky, let me know how that works out.... :)

clured
11-25-2007, 01:10
Hold on to that winter bag a little PAST Damascus. Mt. Rogers, right after Damascus, has been an unpleasant chilly surprise to many who've just switched to their summer bag.

Absolutely. I sent home my 20 degree WM Ultralight after three of four scorching nights coming into Damascus, and the next day walked into really, really cold rain on Mt. Rogers with NO cold weather gear and a liner sleeping bag. I stumbled into that shelter on the top of the mountain extremely confused/hypothermic; I remember sitting down, shaking violently, and thinking to myself that what I really needed was to eat a pop tart (not get out of my soaked clothes), so I sat there clumsily trying to eat for like ten minutes with hands that barely worked until someone came along and talked me into going into the loft and getting into my bag. This was the one experience that I had on the trail that went past painful/annoying into the realm of scary. Take the cold seriously.

Tipi Walter
11-25-2007, 11:21
Absolutely. I sent home my 20 degree WM Ultralight after three of four scorching nights coming into Damascus, and the next day walked into really, really cold rain on Mt. Rogers with NO cold weather gear and a liner sleeping bag. I stumbled into that shelter on the top of the mountain extremely confused/hypothermic; I remember sitting down, shaking violently, and thinking to myself that what I really needed was to eat a pop tart (not get out of my soaked clothes), so I sat there clumsily trying to eat for like ten minutes with hands that barely worked until someone came along and talked me into going into the loft and getting into my bag. This was the one experience that I had on the trail that went past painful/annoying into the realm of scary. Take the cold seriously.

I've had two similar incidents. It's pretty wild how fast a person can go from backpacking mode to shivering idiot mode. Just take some exhaustion, take a stiff wind, add a 34 degree rain, put in a bit of sweat-drenched clothing, and then sit me down on an open windswept bald trying to set up a tent. The hands WILL NOT WORK, they fumble on buckles and zippers, can't unhook the hipbelt . . . shaking like a leaf . . . gotta get the tent up . . . hurry . . . hands are useless clubs . . . tent's layed out, now what? Oh yeah, put the poles in and set it up. What's that big bird that keeps flying over?