Why I don’t use my outer clothes as part of my intended sleep system

[USA Duane Hall]

I checked out the forecast last weekend and again before heading out for a Christmas Eve snow camping trip. I work out of town, so gear is packed well in advance before I can actually go. Makes Fall trips a crap shoot if not going home first. I went to the Blue Lakes area here in Kalifornia, which is south of Lake Tahoe and off of 88, just east of Carson Pass and Kirkwood Ski area. A concessionaire has a Special Use permit to operate snowmobiles there, I used to snowmobile up to last year, so no big deal. The forecast was for temps in the 20's in Kirkwood, so I would be a few miles away, the temps should be the same. This morning my Zip-o-gauge showed minus 6F, so I held it a few seconds between my fingers to get it to move, then rechecked a short time later. Showed minus 2F then. Still cold. I brought my usual down clothes, vest, jacket, liner pants, booties, recent acquisition cap. I had my 8? year old WM Apache regular bag, rated to 15F. I slept with the down cap, wool top and bottoms and socks on. This had to have been the coldest I have ever slept while out. I finally had to drag my coat over me sometime during the night, waking up quite often to roll over. Luckily, I was able to fall back to slept again which is hard for me. I think I would have been really cold if I had tried to get by with a 30F bag, sleeping in all my clothes as my system. My feeling is, use your clothes if it gets colder than anticipated for your sb.
Duane

[Kevin Burton]

There's really nothing worse than being cold while you sleep. I try to pack extra down so that I have a good margin of error. If you can't get a good night of sleep the next day is horrible. It's just not worth the weight savings.

My new strategy is going to be down pants + jacket and also have a top + uq … even in summer.

this way I can just jump out of bed in the morning and I'm warm and I can immediately start hiking.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Ahh I was gonna rag on you USA, but then I read your post and saw the word "intended" in your title. I agree.. for me its a backup. Counting on it… I'm too old for that. (read: Not willing to deal with being cold to shave ounces)

(too many nights freezing my ass off)

Is being comfortable a luxury?

edit: it shouldn't be

[Will Elliott]

Beautiful pictures. I still like to invest a lot of my insulation in clothing, even though it's less efficient than a sleeping bag, because I want to be able to move in an emergency. With puffy pants and a big parka, I have more flexibility than needing to hole up in a sleeping bag.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I have a WM Megalite (reg.) bag rated to 30 F. It has taken me comfortably to 15 F. in 2009 with quilted Thermolite jacket and pants.

I had it overstuffed in 2012 and recently used it to 10 F. at 8,000 ft. in Nevada's Ruby Mountains. I safety pinned a mummy shaped duck down top to it and wore just polar weight long johns and a watch cap and was fine.

Now with the duck down "topper", long johns, heavy sleep socks AND Thermolite suit I think it will handle at least 0 F. I'll try it at a 9,00 ft. campground and if it doesn't work I'll get my MH synthetic -20 F. bag out of the car.

The only problem is a lack of a draft tube neck collar. I may make one and Velco it on. (Soft, fuzzy side of Velcro sewn to the bag.)

BTW my mattress was a Thermarest Trail Pro regular. This was fine at 10 F.
EDIT: I have a thin piece (3/16") of closed cell flooring underlayment I cut to match the Trail Pro mattress. It will go along for sub zero nights as a base to the Trail Pro. FYI, I've laid on just the thin foam on my cold cement patio slab at 30 F. and found it insulated me quite well.

In winter I have always put my outer pants under my mattress in the torso area. And my zipped up GTX parka shell goes over the foot of my bag. Seems to work well that way, at least to -10 F.. Boot liners are removed and always go in the bag overnight, along with my inside-out neoprene VBL socks.

[Stephen M]

I pushed a wide 20f bag to minus 13F with high loft down Parka, trousers and booties, I was fine but much rather a bag suited to the temp and keep the clothing in reserve.

[Robert Kelly]

My advice is to get an oversized, high loft down bag that lets you wear additional layers including a down jacket inside of it without compressing the loft above you. In cold weather, you just get inside your sleeping bag with most of what you were wearing around camp. The main advantage of this approach is that you make use of all the insulation you are carrying, which reduces pack weight and volume for winter trips. This approach greatly extends the temperature range of a given bag. For example, Western Mountaineering makes the Megalite, rated to 30 degrees as I recall (a conservative rating). I have slept comfortably at 0 degF in a Megalite, wearing down booties, insulated pants, and a down jacket inside of it. If you want a warmer oversized bag, try the Western Mountaineering Badger, rated to 15 degrees. I figure my Badger is OK to at least 10 degrees below zero, which is about the limit of what I would ever want to be out in.

Keepin' it light at: QiWiz.net

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