Gear Suited for Wet, Cold Weather Hiking

[Lynn Tramper]

>one time I ended up with the bathtub groundsheet literally floating on about 1/2" of water. I had to improvise a table to cook dinner!

Oh that brings back fond memories of the time when the ONLY space flat enough to even consider pitching our tent (for 3 people) was a shallow tarn. Thanks to that good old MacPac bathtub floor and outer pitch design (which could also be pitched without the fly on balmy nights), we amazingly stayed dry, though we found a few flat rocks to make a path to dry ground, which we also cooked on. That was some 20 years ago, and even then the tent was a good 5 years old, so these are hardly 'modern' design concepts!

Anyway, it all comes down to personal choice. If I am only going on a short trip and reasonably expect OK weather, I will take a tarptent. I f I am going on a short trip and reasonably expect bad weather, I will just stay home. If I am going on anything longer than 3 days I will take a "proper" tent that I can pitch fly first, and has a bathtub floor. These days that would be the Nallo 2.

[Franco Darioli]

Ouch….
In the context ( gear for crappy weather) the comments about inner pitch first seem appropriate, in fact that was the reason I did not get the T0 Ultra when it first came out, although I had forgotten that detail.
But we do tend to polarise our views and comments, for example since on my last time out I was at "campsite" and arrived there first, I took the opportunity to observe the various tents going up. There was one Microlite, a Salewa Sierra Leone, one Hubba Hubba, two Vaude Hogan and a couple of other (likely Salewa Micra) , all inner pitch first. All of those tents belonged to well traveled (by the look of the rest of their gear) club members. ( they all managed to finish setting them up just before a heavy wind driven shower, darn…)
The previous night by the river there was a BD Mid , all of the other shelters (most from a University walking club) were also double skin inner pitch first.
In winter of course the mix is different.
Again, I can see why Chris chooses to use a "pitch together" double wall shelter and not a poncho tarp, tarp or inner pitch first in those conditions.
Franco

[Stuart Gregory]

Chris,
Do you use your carried warm clothing to sleep in in these conditions? It was something I was considering to boost the rating of my sleeping bag, but the thought of wearing a damp Photon Hoody in a down bag doesn't seem like a good idea.

[Chris Townsend]

Stuart, I don't carry any spare clothing to sleep in. I find that synthetic clothing dries fast if damp when worn in the tent. I've also dried out damp clothing in a down sleeping bag in wet weather. I wouldn't do this with really wet clothing of course.

In fact over the weekend I had a one night trip in very wet chilly weather in the Scottish Highlands. On Saturday it rained all day and we were hiking through ankle deep thawing snow much of the time. After eight hours walking we camped after dark on wet ground just below the snowline. I was wearing Paramo trousers and top over a merino wool base layer and boxer shorts. Hat and gloves went on and off according to how warm I felt. The temperature was around +2C/+36F and, oddly for Scotland, there was no wind. Once the tent was pitched and I'd filled my water containers I crouched in the porch to strip off the Paramo smock, which was very wet on the outside, then sat in the tent and put on my GoLite Coal jacket (still one of the best synthetic fill jackets in my opinion but not available for several years). The Paramo trousers were quite wet round the ankles from walking through the wet snow and there was dampness from rain in other places. My merino wool socks were also damp from several stream fords that were just deep enough for water to splash over the boot tops and come in through inadequately sealed tongue seams. Sitting in the tent my feet soon felt chilly so I got into my sleeping bag and pulled it up to my waist. I kept the socks and trousers on while I cooked and ate and read and made notes and wondered if the cloud would clear and talked to my companion who was pitched nearby. The temperature fell to -2C/+28F and the rain turned to sleet and wet snow. Even though I had the inner and flysheet doors open the inside of the fly was wet with condensation in less than an hour. Humidity was 89% and there wasn't a breath of wind so this wasn't surprising. Feeling hot (I was in a -7C/+20F bag) I took off the trousers and socks before going to sleep. The trousers were bone dry and the socks slightly damp.

The next morning the temperature had risen to just above freezing and the sleet had turned back to rain, though there was still a light scattering of snow on the ground. The flysheet was soaked inside and out and there was a little condensation on the inside of the inner (the outside was dry and it was in the form of tiny drops so it had formed on the inner rather than dripping off the fly). My sleeping bag was dry though and I was warm.

[Chris Townsend]

On the question of inner or outer first pitching I prefer inner/outer together pitching. That way the inner can't get wet and you don't have to crawl about on wet ground clipping the inner to the outer. However if it's a choice of inner or outer first then I prefer the latter as then pitching doesn't have to be a race when it's raining. Outer first pitching tents have been available in Britain since the 1970s so I've never had to use inner first pitching tents. However I have tested quite a few inner first pitching tents and some have been excellent. I'd rather have a well-designed inner first pitching tent than a poorly designed outer first pitching one. And one important feature of a good inner first pitching tent is fast pitching so the inner isn't exposed to rain for long. I first pitched the T0 Ultra on a wet, windy day and the inner stayed pretty dry because it was only exposed to the rain for a short time. To sum up I don't think there's an absolute right/wrong design here.

[Richard Young]

As ever, a number of good points Chris et al. This is why I like BPL – healthy debate.

A feature of the T0 Trek is that the outer can be fastened to the pole sleeves on the inner via velcro to bind the whole structure together in storms. The whole lot can be pitched together. It is not a true inner/outer together pitch but certainly keeps the inner quite dry even in rain of biblical proportions.

I would agree that function is very important. Personally I would include being able to get in the tent and sit up as important functions of the shelter, but everyone is different in their requirements. I should add that my regard for the T0 Trek is enhanced to a great degree by it costing half the price of shelters that I consider comparable.

Anyway, enough from me and one tent – back to the article!

[Daniel Fluri]

I had very good results from neo-prene socks with mesh trail runners (inov-8 terrocs) in cold and wet conditions. They are waterproof but much stronger than e.g. sealskinz. They are not "breathable" though but in cold conditions this is no real problem I found, as my feet seem to stop sweating after a while. For comfort you might wish to wear a thin liner sock, though. The down-side is, they take quite a while to dry and yes, it stinks!!!

[John S.]

VBL's don't stop perspiration.

(Stamping that myth out, one post at a time ; ))

[Hendrik Morkel]

Chris, thank you for the very insightful article. While not situated in Scotland, we have very similar conditions here in Finland. Also, planning a coast to coast trip to Scotland sometime soon, this gives a good idea for what to prepare, and your gearlist is gives a good idea for what would be useful in those conditions.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Good article on a subject ovten overlooked.

When I know I'm going into wet weather I take my GTX PacLite rain parka and pants and eVent gaiters. The GTX pants and eVent gaiters keep my GTX lined boots totally dry. So far so good with that setup but I may be tempted to carry my thin neoprene VBL sox in case I did get wet feet.

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