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Posts: 86
Location: Detroit area | Have any of you ever done any cold-weather camping? I'm very close to planning a one-nighter for next month. No cabin, no camper, no nothing - just tents, sleeping bags, and a fire (and hopes that the temperature stays in double-digits). |
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Posts: 5575
Location: big island | yeah. pray that all the bears are hibernating. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | My cousin does that all the time, cross country skiing in the adirondaks, for a week! I insist on sleeping in a cabin or shelter. So what does he do ... just dress warm. Actually it's a great time of year to do this ... beautiful nights. |
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Posts: 4817
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Learn to build a snow-cave shelter. Stay warm and toasty all night...tent's not warm enough. Besides, you're own exhaust will condense and freeze on the tent.
Oh wait! You're in the Excited States!
Just don't sleep under a coconut tree. |
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Posts: 6992
Location: Jet City | www.hotels.com |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I know a thing or two about this topic. What's your question...?
a good insulated sleeping pad makes a world of difference. |
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October 2005
Posts: 5327
Location: Cicero, NY | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I know a thing or two about this topic. What's your question...?
a good insulated sleeping pad makes a world of difference. And we all thought Carnac the Magnificent retired! |
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Posts: 482
Location: enid, ok | Tents? |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I just moved to Boca... |
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Posts: 3145
Location: Marlton, NJ | I've done it a few times - get a REALLLLLLLLY good sleeping bag and don't drink anything before you go to sleep so you won't have to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. |
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Posts: 4817
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I just moved to Boca... Boca Rotan or Boca de Tomatlan? |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I just moved to Boca... from prison in cambodia to boca in record time (2 hours). you are an amazing croc-shod individual, jeff. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Is this where you sleep with the doors open when it's 60 degrees at night? |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by lanaki:
Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I just moved to Boca... from prison in cambodia to boca in record time (2 hours). you are an amazing croc-shod individual, jeff.
BTW... Like the Viper licks. Nice. |
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March 2004
Posts: 86
Location: Detroit area | Good call on the sleeping pad. I suppose an air mattress doesn't do much to insulate from the ground up.
I've read quite a bit about it, but it's always better to get input from those who have experienced it first-hand. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | air mattress will work fine. You just need to get off the ground... sleeping directly on the ground with suck the heat right outta ya.
Thermarest makes a good (self-inflating) pad... or for less money, you can look into something like an "ensolite" pad...
Also a plastic or metal (I prefer metal so I can place it on heat source) bowl with a secure tight fitting lid is a handy item for meal prep, eating and storage. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Did it all the time when I was younger, including leading a number of multi-day treks in the Rockies. Above 10,000 feet, it can snow anytime of the year, and occasionally does. I used a top quality winter bag and four season multi-ply tent for the cold stuff. You can also layer several sleeping bags, use a closed-foam pad as thick as your packing will allow, and sleep with somebody, preferably a friend. Even a medium sized dog will do. Wear something warm on your head as well, and don't go to bed hungry or wet. |
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Location: NJ | . . and make sure that the dog's not hungry or wet, either. |
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Posts: 4026
Location: Utah | I used to do crazy high altitude mountaineering. It wasn't unusual to see sustained temps below -30, and we were "camping" at altitudes above 17,000 for weeks at a time.
I used a thermarest pad under the sleeping bag. It's a self inflating pad, essentially a thin air mattress with a foam pad in the middle. Just make sure whatever you use is full length so none of your body is lying directly on the ground.
A small pillow helps with comfort and warmth.
Sleeping bag temp ratings are rather optimistic! If it says good to -10F, you'll want to be well bundled up if it gets that cold.
Put on dry socks and dry long underwear when you get into the sleeping bag. Do not put your head all the way into the bag, because the moisture from your breath will condense and make you wet and cold. Instead, wear a balaclava and then a good warm hat. Pull the drawstring on the sleeping bag so that it seals around your neck or head as it is designed to do.
Pack plenty of hot chocolate for the mornings, and take a Sherpa to heat it up for you. (Those Sherpas are simply not human, the way they put up with cold and altitude!)
A big DITTO on not drinking liquids before bedtime! You can keep a pee bottle next to your sleeping bag for emergencies so you don't have to wander out in the dark when it's 50 below zero. But peeing into a bottle while lying down inside a sleeping bag can be a bit tricky, so it's best to avoid needing to do it.
Those little hand warming packs work great. They have charcoal and iron in them, so they are totally safe as long as you don't eat them. Put them in your gloves, in your boots, and even in your socks at night. The chemical reaction runs for hours and they really do add significant warmth.
Wear thin gloves at night. The polypropylene work fine, or you can get fancy silk ones.
DO NOT use any kind of flame inside the tent, either for light or for heat. People die every year doing it.
Allow ventilation in the tent to prevent too much frost accumulating on the inside surface. Buttoning up tight won't really keep you any warmer than leaving the window flaps open a few inches. If you don't, the frost will fall off the walls onto your face and keep you awake and cold.
On New Years Eve 1990 we camped on top of Mt. Taylor in New Mexico. Elevation 11,301 ft, temperature off the scale below -30. Our tent was a $10 Sears 2 man thing with no zippered doorway. We woke up to several feet of new snow, with about a foot of it on top of the bottom part of our sleeping bags. We were quite warm due to being clothed properly and having decent sleeping bags. The stove warmed up hot chocolate in no time and we were good to go. You don't have to seal up your tent to stay warm!
If you're taking kids, bring plenty of extra clothing and some blankets to put on top of their sleeping bags. Kids don't stay warm as well as adults. Have familiar foods for them to eat, and try some fun snow activities, like building an igloo. |
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Posts: 4413
| You people are insane.
Did Conrad Hilton, Fred Holiday-Inn and Gertrude Waldorf all live in vain? |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . Donner?? . . . party of 39?? . . . . Donner???? . . . . . " |
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Posts: 2241
Location: Simpsonville, SC | :D :D :D |
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Posts: 482
Location: enid, ok | :eek: unbelieveable. |
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January 2003
Posts: 146
Location: Ct./ USA | Take a girlfriend, double thermal rest, really big double sleeping bag, body and foot warmers, a bottle of Jack D. one of those log fire starters, gloves, hat, backpack full of wool clothes and an I Pod with an external speaker a fly to sit under, a chair and last but not least a campfire guitar, one of those shrunken down versions, heck I do this all the time....
be carefull for what you wish for...... |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | i did enough camping in the army to last me two lifetimes. besides, why would anybody with a mortgage payment or high rent wanna sleep in the woods? makes no sense. |
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Way off topic, but worth a shot:
