susannewilliams
18-12-2012, 12:58 AM
I was reading epic tales of daring-do, and reflecting on the various ways in which I have come to be cold and miserable outdoors over the years... and Wow, have I ever spent a lot of cold, wet, miserable nights. Glad of each one of them.
From lean-to shelters in the High Alps in winter, to the ultralight hypothermia dance that is the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon, I have suffered it, and finally learned to be COZY in more or less all of it. (If I keep my wits about me, which I still am able to fail to do at times...then I pay the "stupid tax")
What are your learnings / epics?
Key takeaways for me from all that misery:
Increase warmth
Reduce loss of warmth
These are two separate strategies...
Increase warmth
Hot water bottle in the bedroll/sleeping bag/jacket - Yup. Just plain old Nalgene bottle full of boiling hot water. Yeah. Oh YEAH. Man, if you have never tried this...
Easier to stay warm than get warm - moderate bodily exertion before sleep.
Eat/drink something hot - heat inside = good.
Candle Latern - in a tent? Just do it. At the very very least it wards off condensation.
Actually I do like to have the warming fire, but it needs to actually make a micro climate and not just be for light.
eg - Use a reflector, send the heat into an enclosed environment, make a long fire or nying fire.
(For added warmth value, you can bring the logs into camp but not process them. The act of sawing and chopping will help bring your body furnace back up.)
Reduce loss of warmth
Insulation from ground - 3 times as much as you think you need. Best sleep we EVER had on the KIMM was when we pitched on top of a huge clump of heather. AWESOME!
Drink - hydration is the key. When your blood is thick you simply can not get it into your extremities.
Build small. Yes, small. Micro-climate. Emphasis on "micro"
Insulate your core - A scarf, newspapers, sweater, or even pine or other insulation around your waist......keep your kidneys happy.
Of course you MUST break the killer triangle of cold, wet, windy....
Makes me think of the time.... (yikes...)
...I forgot the dry socks
...My nice dry cold snow day turned to windy near freezing driving rain (guess who had not checked the weather forecast)
...The jetpacker tent dripped condensation on us... all night. (GET a candle lantern if you are going to use a low tent)
...I realised how much wind and rain gets through pine bough shingle that is not deep enough (tarp? nah man, I don't need a tarp...)
...my 12 inches of pine bough bedding did NOT keep me nearly far enough off the snow
...I forgot to drink
...I took the fire for granted, and did not scope out more than enough standing dead wood BEFORE dark. (I don't mind going out to get the wood at night, kind of stokes the furnace, but FINDING IT? No. Dumb.)
...Fingers? What fingers? Oh you mean they should be working at all times?
...Whiteout on Ben Nevis. No, you can not guess. Thank GOODNESS that we brought a Porta-Bothy. (I always have that and brew kit in my sac in the winter now...)
...Hey WOW how did my sleeping bag get wet inside my tent? I have 2 more nights to go and just a spirit stove for cooking... Ewwwww....
...What duuuya min AMMA culd? Fuggin muhhthurrr hhenn...gett offferrrme. (Ten mins later inside the Porta-Bothy with a hot sugary brew in me, I thanked him profusely)
You get the idea...haha the more of these I write up, the more terribly embarrassing moments come into my mind...
All good.
Susanne
From lean-to shelters in the High Alps in winter, to the ultralight hypothermia dance that is the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon, I have suffered it, and finally learned to be COZY in more or less all of it. (If I keep my wits about me, which I still am able to fail to do at times...then I pay the "stupid tax")
What are your learnings / epics?
Key takeaways for me from all that misery:
Increase warmth
Reduce loss of warmth
These are two separate strategies...
Increase warmth
Hot water bottle in the bedroll/sleeping bag/jacket - Yup. Just plain old Nalgene bottle full of boiling hot water. Yeah. Oh YEAH. Man, if you have never tried this...
Easier to stay warm than get warm - moderate bodily exertion before sleep.
Eat/drink something hot - heat inside = good.
Candle Latern - in a tent? Just do it. At the very very least it wards off condensation.
Actually I do like to have the warming fire, but it needs to actually make a micro climate and not just be for light.
eg - Use a reflector, send the heat into an enclosed environment, make a long fire or nying fire.
(For added warmth value, you can bring the logs into camp but not process them. The act of sawing and chopping will help bring your body furnace back up.)
Reduce loss of warmth
Insulation from ground - 3 times as much as you think you need. Best sleep we EVER had on the KIMM was when we pitched on top of a huge clump of heather. AWESOME!
Drink - hydration is the key. When your blood is thick you simply can not get it into your extremities.
Build small. Yes, small. Micro-climate. Emphasis on "micro"
Insulate your core - A scarf, newspapers, sweater, or even pine or other insulation around your waist......keep your kidneys happy.
Of course you MUST break the killer triangle of cold, wet, windy....
Makes me think of the time.... (yikes...)
...I forgot the dry socks
...My nice dry cold snow day turned to windy near freezing driving rain (guess who had not checked the weather forecast)
...The jetpacker tent dripped condensation on us... all night. (GET a candle lantern if you are going to use a low tent)
...I realised how much wind and rain gets through pine bough shingle that is not deep enough (tarp? nah man, I don't need a tarp...)
...my 12 inches of pine bough bedding did NOT keep me nearly far enough off the snow
...I forgot to drink
...I took the fire for granted, and did not scope out more than enough standing dead wood BEFORE dark. (I don't mind going out to get the wood at night, kind of stokes the furnace, but FINDING IT? No. Dumb.)
...Fingers? What fingers? Oh you mean they should be working at all times?
...Whiteout on Ben Nevis. No, you can not guess. Thank GOODNESS that we brought a Porta-Bothy. (I always have that and brew kit in my sac in the winter now...)
...Hey WOW how did my sleeping bag get wet inside my tent? I have 2 more nights to go and just a spirit stove for cooking... Ewwwww....
...What duuuya min AMMA culd? Fuggin muhhthurrr hhenn...gett offferrrme. (Ten mins later inside the Porta-Bothy with a hot sugary brew in me, I thanked him profusely)
You get the idea...haha the more of these I write up, the more terribly embarrassing moments come into my mind...
All good.
Susanne