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I'm looking for advice to help stay warm. I have a hard time sleeping on my back and end up sleeping on my stomach, which seems to make me feel colder. A little backround; i'm leaving early Feb. I have a womens themarest which is short and use my back pack under my legs. (i'm a 6 ft. 200 lb male) If needed i will pick up a thicker sleeping pad.
Precious little information. Early February start? All the women thermarest's are only 66 inches long and way too short for me. Plus, you do not mention which pad it is, the prolite plus? The prolite? The trail pro? The trail lite?? And on a discussion of sleeping cold, no mention is made of the sleeping bag you use? Strange.Quote:
Originally Posted by OnThePath
All of the women models have high Rvalue ratings except for the standard woman's prolite at 2.8R---too low for winter. The others range from 4.6R to 5.1R, all good for cold ground. If your bag is rated to 0F or below, and you sleep with it zipped, you should be a-okay on three of these pads. If you want tremendous comfort, check out the Exped Downmat Pump---it's the warmest most comfy winter pad I ever used.
There is at least one woman hiker on this forum who says her best way to stay warm is to sleep on her stomach with arms beneath her. It makes a little sense, if you think about it, getting some of the large core organs (liver, lungs, kidneys at least) off the ground.
One of my snow camping tricks is to use a short pad made of Reflectix duct insulation under my torso. It's basically a thin layer of bubble wrap sandwiched in space blanket mylar, and weighs a few ounces.
If you carry enough fuel and have a very dependable water bottle, you can do the hot water bottle trick. If your sleeping bag and pad are of sufficient rating, that's one of the better tricks to staying warm. Drinking the water during a cold night is a treat, too.
Other tricks are being well fed and hydrated, going to bed warm and dry (never getting cold to begin with), don't exhaust yourself during your hike, and I'm sure there are plenty of others that will come up.
Sleeping on my stomach always made me feel warmer. My sleep pad is a 3/4 Ridgerest with pack under legs and feet.