Hammock camping in freezing weather

[rhett270]

I am planning on going backpacking in December and I was wanting to know if using a hammock in weather 10 degrees and below would be ok. Or should I go with my tent?

[KG4FAM]

If you have enough bottom insulation then you will be fine.

[Egads]

I am planning on going backpacking in December and I was wanting to know if using a hammock in weather 10 degrees and below would be ok. Or should I go with my tent?

There is no way to answer your question without knowing your setup & experience level.

Perhaps you should try it in your backyard first.

[B.Woods]

The collective does not have enough information to help you.:-? What type of hammock do you have? Most hammock manfacturers have a 3 season set-up.

I have a Hennessy backpack Asym with a super shelter and I have been down to 15 degrees in a 20 MPH wind. I was warm with no cold spots. :sun

A hammcock is different from a tent in that you need experience with the type of hammock that you have to understand what you will need to stay warm. A tent is basically a weatherproof cover over your sleeping set-up but a hammock is part of your sleeping set-up.

Give us more information and we can help.:banana

Bobby

[kayak karl]

There is no way to answer your question without knowing your setup
what is your setup?

[Fiddleback]

It's generally accepted that there's a 'learning curve' when it comes to hammocks and cold weather and, all in all, staying warm depends on the individual and his/her sleep system. It's possible to sleep warmly while hanging in 10-degree weather but it's not just a matter of having the correct sleeping bag. Sleeping comfort (warmth) is greatly dependent upon underinsulation and most sleeping bags by themselves will not provide the needed insulation because of; 1) compression of the sleeping bag and, 2) the greater loss of heat to the flowing, colder air as contrasted to what happens when you're on the ground.

I think the best advice is to test your system before you hit the trail. Do the backyard-experiment thing and try out your system at the temps you expect on the trail. Better yet, try it out in temps sigificantly lower than what you expect on the trail.

FB

[JAK]

One of these days I would like to become a hammocker.

I would especially like to try hammocking in very wet winter conditions down to 20F, but still have the ability to go to ground in the extreme dry and cold conditions down to -20F. You can't always count on there being snow either. I think this means that I would still have a blue foam pad for inside the hammock, but also an underquilt, which could become an overquilt if I go to ground. It would be nice to get up off the wet snow in March, especially when its raining, but still survive the next night if the mercury goes into bulb territory. :)

[Egads]

what is your setup?

I am generally a ground dweller, but my cold hammock setup is any combination of a HH UL BP with a JRB RMS, either a JRB Nest or MB#0 or WM Alpinlite 20, possibly w/ a Ridgerest or POE Hyper High Mountain pad. I can add a MB UL Inner Down parka & pants, Sierra Designs down booties.

I like hiking in the cold, but I don't like being cold.

[sasquatch2014]

Go and enjoy yourself I love mine in the cold.

[kayak karl]

here's a good thread http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5464

[Bulldawg]

Well, like everyone else has said, we need to know your setup. I'll throw mine out there just for the heck of it. I have a homemade hammock. I have a homemade 5oz weight climashield underquilt, also homemade. I currently use an older 20F NF down bag as a top quilt. I use a silk liner. I also have a gossamer gear wide foam pad as well. I also have a 10x10 sil cat tarp, also homemade. If it is going to be cold, I general go with all of the above set up. I pull the tarp down very close to the ground and close to the sides of the hammock. I have slept as low as 22F with 15 to 20 mph winds on the top of Wildcat on the CBT so far and was toasty enough inside to melt a snickers bar I had dropped inside the hammock in the middle of the night and couldn't find. I woke up the next morning right at daylight and was sweating. So I think I could handle at least maybe another 10F cooler with my set up.

I'd like to upgrade eventually to a down underquilt and a newer down overquilt or bag simply for weight and bulk issues. But I am happy with what I have.

[JAK]

What is the total surface area of a peapod type system compared to a regular sleeping bag? I know it gets a bit messy when you include tarps and stuff, but just the insulated stuff. Do hammock systems expose twice the area, or is it more like three times? Do they need to be just as thick as sleeping bag and bivy systems, or do they need to be a little thicker because there is more surface area?

[Bulldawg]

I really dont know what you are asking, but my underquilt is 7'x6'. If covers almost my entire hammock or my entire king sized bed, if I use it at home at as overquilt. Which I do sometimes.

[earlylight]

I'd go with a tent or a snow cave.

[Doctari]

If you can: Join us from hammock forums at Mt Rogers for a "Hangout" & see all of the latest & greatist in cold weather hanging. The weather should be cold, there is a shelter there & the hangout is only 1/2 mile from the road & the safety of your car.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5722

The first year we had temps down to about 12 both nights, on sat night we had: freezing rain & wind gusts to 50 MPH or more. GREAT FUN!
I couldn't make it, but it ONLY got down to 28 the second year!

Personally, I'm hoping for 0 or colder this year. :eek:

[bredler]

I have a JRB Hudson River UQ, hennessy ULB, and a speer winter tarp. For insulation in the hammock I use a 20* down bag and I'm very warm. Sleep with socks on, pitch the tarp to the ground, close the endflaps and you're good to go. I was sweating in 12-15*F weather with a breeze. It's plenty warm, you just gotta do it right.

[mkmangold]

A cold ground sucks the living heat out of you. Air much less so. That's why the chick in "Titanic" survived and Leonardo didn't (water acts similar to ground as a heat-sink). Still air is a great insulator, too.

[Just Jeff]

If you can: Join us from hammock forums at Mt Rogers for a "Hangout"

And ground-dwellers are welcome...even the naysayers!

Gotta respectfully correct one thing, though. Staying warm on the ground requires only a pad...but hammocks have to deal with the air temp below them being much colder than the ground temp, and also with the wind blowing the heat away (convection). So it usually requires more insulation to stay warm in a hammock than it does for the same conditions on the ground. HOWEVER - that doesn't necessarily make it heavier. In theory it does, but for the kits that people ACTUALLY carry the weights are very similar. See here for details. (http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockGroundWeights.html) Except that hammocks are more comfortable, off the wet/muddy ground, have a built-in chair to sit on to cook and put on your shoes, you can actually stand up under your tarp to get dressed, etc...

Probably every type of cold-weather system will be displayed at Mt Rogers...commercial and homemade...so it's great for people considering the switch but not ready to make the jump. Everybody's welcome!

[Fiddleback]

And ground-dwellers are welcome...even the naysayers!

Gotta respectfully correct one thing, though. Staying warm on the ground requires only a pad...but hammocks have to deal with the air temp below them being much colder than the ground temp, and also with the wind blowing the heat away (convection). So it usually requires more insulation to stay warm in a hammock than it does for the same conditions on the ground. HOWEVER - that doesn't necessarily make it heavier. In theory it does, but for the kits that people ACTUALLY carry the weights are very similar. See here for details. (http://www.tothewoods.net/HammockGroundWeights.html) Except that hammocks are more comfortable, off the wet/muddy ground, have a built-in chair to sit on to cook and put on your shoes, you can actually stand up under your tarp to get dressed, etc...

Probably every type of cold-weather system will be displayed at Mt Rogers...commercial and homemade...so it's great for people considering the switch but not ready to make the jump. Everybody's welcome!

'Tis true...particularly as one gets into the fall and winter. During those seasons the air blowing under a hammock is most often cooler than the soil surface. The heat sink effect of the ground works opposite of the seasons; it provides heat in the winter, cool in the summer.

But I suspect the heat sink benefits pale when compared to the heat loss suffered from that breeze under a hammock. Hammocks are cool (in both senses of the word:)) during all seasons and the air flowing underneath them steals away a lot of heat. Sleep systems are very much an individual thing but, IMO, they all require underinsulation once the temp drops below 70° or so.

FB

[sasquatch2014]

Witht he Clark NA due to the pockets I don't need to stuff them for insulation until its closer to the 50's. I think that it is due to even with out them stuffed the create a small dead air space that helps slow convection heat loss. The fact that the system is built in works very well as i don't have to haul extra gear with me yes it does have a bit more weight so in some cases i guess it could be called a wash.

[Ramble~On]

I really like my Clark N.A. but the pockets aren't entire across the bottom and an underquilt or other bottom insulation is still needed when the mercury drops. My Clark is the heaviest and bulkiest of my hammocks and although I got the larger tarp, it's still a pathetic design.

I have a HH, ENO and others and yes, you can use a hammock in winter and sleep like a happy bug wrapped in a cocoon.

Having used hammocks and tents for winter I'm much happier in a tent.

[paradoxb3]

If you have enough bottom insulation then you will be fine.

of course too much "bottom insulation" and you'll need to check your hammock's maximum load capacity. :p

i think it has alot more to do with how warm you sleep than with what gear you carry. I'm a very warm sleeper and am fine in my hammock into the low 20s with only my kelty lightyear 25+ and a generic wallyworld blue foam pad. No underquilts, topquilts, nests, tubes, tacos, or whatever else. Many of you would read that and go :eek: but I do fine without all that.

Only you can answer "will i be warm enough in 'brand x' gear?" because we dont know how you sleep. As others said, just pretend your neighbors arent laughing at you out their bedroom window, and do a backyard shakedown. :cool:

[BirchBark]

10 degrees and below, if hiking alone? F that, man.

Little room for error at those temps. Hammocks in cold weather are all about trial and error, IMHO. Having said that, just get yourself a proper underquilt and learn how to use it PRIOR to venturing out.

But even WITH party favors, there's not much fun to be had when it's 10 degrees- so why go?

[Just Jeff]

So you don't have to share the woods with anyone...

[FanaticFringer]

So you don't have to share the woods with anyone...
Exactly.......I remember camping at Lake Winfield Scott on Slaughter Creek trail in Georgia last year when it was around 10 degrees. That place was like a ghost town. Not a sole around. Loved it. Snow and ice were everywhere. Had an awesome hang.

[russb]

Exactly.......I remember camping at Lake Winfield Scott on Slaughter Creek trail in Georgia last year when it was around 10 degrees. That place was like a ghost town. Not a sole around. Loved it. Snow and ice were everywhere. Had an awesome hang.

I love the sounds of the woods in winter. eerily quiet compared to the sounds of the other 3 seasons.

[Doctari]

Little room for error at those temps. Hammocks in cold weather are all about trial and error, IMHO. Having said that, just get yourself a proper underquilt and learn how to use it PRIOR to venturing out.


Yes, I so second that: my first time out in cold weather (it only got down to about 25) I had only put the underquilt on, I hadn't bothered to actually adjust it properly or even pay much attention to how it even worked, I survived, by putting my sit pad inside the hammock, putting on all of my clothing & alot of shivvvvvvvering.
Now, I can easily get to those temps with just the UQ (Properly adjusted), lesson learned.
And, add the sit pad, I get to at least 15 no problems, AFTER alot of practice at home!!!

[Just Jeff]

I like carrying a sit pad when it's that cold anyway...just for sitting on. Might as well incorporate it into the sleeping setup. My sit pad just happens to be torso-sized when unfolded, so it insulates my lower body in the hammock.

[Bulldawg]

So tell me guys, just to see if I am doing it right, how do you attach your underquilt to your hammocks? I don't have any attachment points along the sides and am pondering using velcro.

[Just Jeff]

Shockcord. Check the installation instructions on www.jacksrbetter.com (http://www.jacksrbetter.com) for pics. Most options are very similar to this system. If you want more specifics you can search the gallery at www.hammockforums.net (http://www.hammockforums.net).

Velcro can work but it's heavier. You'll still need to adjust for the fabric stretching, and how to adjust the underquilt for different temps, etc.

[Bulldawg]

Yeah, I have shockcord in my UQ that was made for me, but I just can't seem to get a repeatable result each and every time out. I was just over on HF looking as this got me thinking again about it. What I think I am going to change is putting a prussik loop on my suspension ropes for the hammock and using a micro biner to hook both shockcords to that loop and move that loop up and down the suspension rope to adjust the tightness under the hammock. Am I on the correct path? My UQ has shockcord running from side to side on the short (head and foot) ends.

[Just Jeff]

That will work, but you don't really need a prussik to do it. Just put your shockcord in a larkshead around the hammock's support rope. If you pull it tight enough it'll stay in place as you slide it up and down the rope to adjust tension.

The problem with this setup is that as you tighten the tension, you also increase the angle between the shockcord and the hammock...which will cause a gap between the end of the underquilt and the hammock. If you add one step - half-hitch the shockcord around the hammock's end - you can adjust the tension independently of the support angle. The underquilt's angles stay constant but you can adjust sag and tension as needed. This is illustrated in the JRB instructions.

There are other ways to support underquilts, but they're nearly all similar to this as far as the issues are concerned...all must find a way to adjust tension while keeping the underquilt's angles as close as possible to the hammock's angles. Some do this by looping shockcord over the top of the hammock in place of the half-hitch...same result, though.

A few other methods - check out the Speer SnugFit's stretchy end pieces that work to snug the quilt consistently across the entire width. Or sew loops directly onto the hammock, so you can attach the underquilt to the loops rather than using long pieces of shockcord. Or for the velcro like you're talking about, check out the JRB Hudson River quilt on a JRB hammock. Or make an insulated hammock (http://www.tothewoods.net/HomemadeGearDownHammock2.html) by sewing your insulation directly to your hammock.

[Bulldawg]

Cool, good thing I have a short hike overnighter planned this coming weekend to practice. I should be in camp by 2 or so and that gives me LOTS of time to perfect my method without having to set it all up at home.