Staying warm while backpacking in cold weather, and bivy's

[TheObserver]

I just did my first backpack hunt, actually snowed up high one night. It was pretty cold and damp where I camped good for the 5 w's but no sun hit it and it was right by water so it was damp and cold will be picking better spots in future, had my stanfields wool on, a downfilled jacket, toque and wool gloves/socks while sleeping and a supposed rated "-10 degrees celcius" sleeping bag (hah, yeah, right, fkn BS!).

What do you guys do to stay warm while sleeping? do sleeping bag liners work good? This is for sleeping in nylon etc.. tents, no open flame or wood stove. I am going to be doing some overnighters (1-4 nights) for Deer this November in very wet and cold stuff and want to be more prepared than I was this trip.

Also wondering about bivy's, going to grab one next year for Elk hunting want to be able to move every night easily if I want too, anybody got experience with them and what are some good ones and anything else I should get with them like footprint, liner etc...?

[mooze]

stanfields are cotton, get merino or fleece 1st layer

[Stone Sheep Steve]

What kind of ground pad are you using?

SSS

[SR80]

Yes, what Steve asked..a high R value sleeping pad will be a good start.

[Arctic Lake]

Not the kind I buy but they do make cotton ones .Merino wool is great though .
Arctic Lake

stanfields are cotton, get merino or fleece 1st layer

[Arctic Lake]

Observer I think the manufacturers over rate their sleeping bags . I think one needs to add in a B.S. factor ! Makes for a long night when your cold , been there done that ! When I got back I went and bought a better bag .
Arctic Lake

I just did my first backpack hunt, actually snowed up high one night. It was pretty cold and damp where I camped good for the 5 w's but no sun hit it and it was right by water so it was damp and cold will be picking better spots in future, had my stanfields wool on, a downfilled jacket, toque and wool gloves/socks while sleeping and a supposed rated "-10 degrees celcius" sleeping bag (hah, yeah, right, fkn BS!).

What do you guys do to stay warm while sleeping? do sleeping bag liners work good? This is for sleeping in nylon etc.. tents, no open flame or wood stove. I am going to be doing some overnighters (1-4 nights) for Deer this November in very wet and cold stuff and want to be more prepared than I was this trip.

Also wondering about bivy's, going to grab one next year for Elk hunting want to be able to move every night easily if I want too, anybody got experience with them and what are some good ones and anything else I should get with them like footprint, liner etc...?

[Ron.C]

Im a cold sleeper, so this to has been an issue for me. I now use an thermarest X therm pad. Makes my bacpacking bag feel much warmer then before. (Was using a prolite plus pad). Im also not a big guy but finding a bag with just enough room seemed to make a big difference. I sleep with a toque on while backpacking and have a warm drink and snack just before turning in.

I also use a stansfield (80 wool 20 nylon).but it never goes in my bag as usuall a bit damp at days end.

[Bustercluck]

I always double up on socks and use neck warmers. One neck warmer around my chin and another on my forehead.

I think the sleeping pad and bag are your first line of defence. I just got back from the mountains last week and it was well into the negatives every night, even the water in my insulated jetboil froze overnight. I didn’t find it too bad, but my wife froze. We were battling condensation every night. I ended up cuddling up to her and wrapping a siltarp around the two of us, but then the condensation was trapped between us and the siltarp.

A trick a friend of mine uses is to keep one dry pair of clothes for sleeping every night. Some heavy long johns or something that’s dry. He doesn’t have a problem during the day if he’s moving around wet, but dry clothes for sleeping.

Another trick is to hang a emergency blanket between your fly and tent.

Ive found my three season tent is far warmer than my Cimarron and the Cimarron manages the condensation way better.

[Bustercluck]

I’m also interested on hearing some comments on the bivy setups. I mostly want to know how the condensation is in them.

[kevingm1987]

I just did my first backpack hunt, actually snowed up high one night. It was pretty cold and damp where I camped good for the 5 w's but no sun hit it and it was right by water so it was damp and cold will be picking better spots in future, had my stanfields wool on, a downfilled jacket, toque and wool gloves/socks while sleeping and a supposed rated "-10 degrees celcius" sleeping bag (hah, yeah, right, fkn BS!).

What do you guys do to stay warm while sleeping? do sleeping bag liners work good? This is for sleeping in nylon etc.. tents, no open flame or wood stove. I am going to be doing some overnighters (1-4 nights) for Deer this November in very wet and cold stuff and want to be more prepared than I was this trip.

Also wondering about bivy's, going to grab one next year for Elk hunting want to be able to move every night easily if I want too, anybody got experience with them and what are some good ones and anything else I should get with them like footprint, liner etc...?

What brand sleeping bag?

Unless its truly rated by ISO and from a real company, you can't trust anything. For every companies, and they still do, will tell you what ever they want on their product. There is nothing preventing a company from calling a +10C bag a -10C bag. Or nothing preventing a company from saying their air mattress is R-value 4+. Lots of air matress companies off amazon were doing this like Kylmit. There said theirs had an R-value of 4 but after testing it was 1.7

Your sleep set up with be expensive if you want a good one. I Would say between $1000-1500. $300-400 or so on the air mattress and the rest on the bag. For the air matress, I would stick with the big guys, therm-a-rest, Nemoi, Big anges, etc. I run a SG 15 sleeping bag, its fantastic. Roomy, lightweight for warmth rating, packs down small. Other good brands Kuiu, western mountaineering, Taiga(local store in Vancouver).

Can't cheap out on the sleep system if you want to be comfortable. A good nights rest makes a big difference in the back country.