List of things to keep warm in your sleeping bag

[Mike Henrick]

It seems the more I research it, the larger my sleeping bag has to be!

So far the list includes:
-Boot liners to dry out or trail runners in a bag to keep from freezing
-Wet clothes in a plastic bag to keep from freezing
-Canisters to keep warm or alchohol
-Glove liners to dry out
-Hot water bottle to warm the bag up
-Cold water bottles to keep from freezing

Anything else? How do you all sleep with all that stuff in your bag?!?

[James Cahill]

And batteries! (Not that those take up much space)

You can always organize some of the softer items like wet clothes underneath you for support. When I sleep on my back I like to put something under my knees, it helps keep my back flat.

[Roger Caffin]

Headlight & batteries
Watch (LCD and batteries)
Contact lenses (ever tried putting frozen contact lenses in your eyes?)

Cheers

[Tipi Walter]

When it's really cold, like 0F to -10F, I put nothin' in my bag but me myself and Irene (and she's not there so it's just me myself and I).

I require the entire zipped up process of mummification to get me thru cold nights and I can't tolerate crap filling up the warm spaces. No boots, no water bottles, no batts, no camera, no cellphone.

I DO have a Feathered Friends down parka though which is taken off before sleep and wrapped around my 2.5 liter water bladder and in its pockets are my cellphone and my camera battery.

Batteries generally do alright down to 0F if you take enough extras. My cellphone lasts me around 15 days on a butt cold trip if I keep it off most of the time, and I carry a spare batt to take me to Day 21 etc. My headlamp is usable for a couple weeks even at 0F and no batteries need to be swapped out but somewhere late in the trip I'll put in 3 more AAA's.

Frozen wet boots do not belong anywhere near my sleeping bag and anyway usually my feet are butt cold by bedtime so the last thing I need is to put them up against a pair of frozen boots in a stuff sac in the foot of my bag.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

1. light Neoprene VBL diver's sox (seam sealed)
2. boot liners!! (Unless you like freezing feet at breakfast time and while breaking camp)
3. water (in a Drybag – just in case)
4. ALL electronics
5. energy bars (so they are not frozen so solid you can't bite into them)

That's about it.

BTW, telescope your boot tops into each other to keep out snow and save space. If you've used VBL sox, as you should, they will be dry inside. Store them in your vestibule.

[Roger Caffin]

Ah … could one add female companion? I am sure she would like to be kept warm.

Cheers

[Bob Gross]

A woman friend used to go snow camping with us, and she was asked for her own solution on how to stay warm:

1. Eat food that is thermally hot and also spicy hot.
2. Sleep in a good sleeping bag between two men.

–B.G.–

[Justin Baker]

Those of you drying out things in your sleeping bags, any issues with getting moisture in your bag that's unable to evaporate? I hear about people using vapor barriers in their bags and then I hear about people drying their boot liners in their bags.

[Greg Mihalik]

^^^^

It all depends if you are in Georgia, or Minnesota, or Washington, or in between.

When you hear an answer you like, you need to qualify the location and the temperatures.

[Bob Gross]

"Those of you drying out things in your sleeping bags, any issues with getting moisture in your bag that's unable to evaporate?"

We used to do lots of multi-day ski trips. The sleeping bags would get a little humid by morning. Assuming that the sun was up and the wind wasn't blowing, we would be up getting breakfast outside, so our sleeping bags would be stretched out on some nearby rock in the sun. They would be turned inside-out for sunning, and most of them had a darker inner liner. So, after they had been in the sun for a while, you could see clouds of steam blowing off. After breakfast, the bags would be dry and ready to stuff.

–B.G.–

[Tipi Walter]

"We used to do lots of multi-day ski trips. The sleeping bags would get a little humid by morning. Assuming that the sun was up and the wind wasn't blowing, we would be up getting breakfast outside, so our sleeping bags would be stretched out on some nearby rock in the sun. They would be turned inside-out for sunning, and most of them had a darker inner liner. So, after they had been in the sun for a while, you could see clouds of steam blowing off. After breakfast, the bags would be dry and ready to stuff."

This is right on and part of every winter morning for me when out on a trip, if possible. I always hang out my down bag in the morning while brewing tea and packing up. Give a down bag an hour in the air and sun and it's usually lofted and dry.

If this chore is not done then you end up stuffing a slightly moist bag which kills the loft. Repeat this mistake for the next 20 days and you've lost any advantage in having a down bag.

[dirtbag]

Aquamira drops..i believe that could freeze..

[Author]

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