How Low Will You Go? Low temps with a tarp, that is

For winter use I prefer a shaped tarp that pitches tight to the snow (or ground) all the way around, so that it can keep out blowing snow. Also keeps the wind out and that is critical for some modicum of comfort.

I tried doing the whole flying-diamond 9×9 tarp hitched to a tree in winter. (Elevation of 8100 ft and temps in the teens. I didn’t have the proper clothing. My girlfriend and I ended up hunkering down in my friends Double-wall dome tent.

A couple of weekends ago I went backpacking with my girlfriend. We climbed 3’500 feet over 4.5 miles. We were exhausted and instead of fiddling in the snow to set up my pyramid shelter we actually found a granite hootch out of the wind and bivied. (We did okay but woke up cold a couple times) Temps were probably in the teens and we were camped at about 9000 feet elevation. I was more comfortable than the first experience.

I think it’s going to depend on your metabolism and wind conditions. I don’t have as much experience as a lot of others but I will go with a pyramid or trailstar shaped tarp for maximum warmth from now on.

Have you tested the Klymt pad + quilt yet? Let me flag that for you.

I know, I know the V ones have insulation. But those big welded spans still sorta count on the quilt filling in despite the claimed R rating. My experience was a car camping test in early spring with the insulated Static V and an EE quilt. Cold underneath. And as soon as I slipped a spare ridge rest under, things were much warmer.

I really wanted it to work. I’d love to somehow be wrong about that. I sent the pad back. Klymt was good about it.

I don’t think any inflatable R4.4 mat would be enough at temperatures down to 0F, but I agree with Katherine about the channels in the Klymit. A layer of CCF over the top, though, will give you a lot of warmth. We’ve had it down to minus10C with 3mm of CCF on top without being cold.

Sill searching for THE ONE insulated pad solution. I have used the insulated Klymit in these temp ranges but with a 1/4″ CCF on top and it worked OK. There was snow melt below so some heat was going through. Good to know it’s questionable by itself. Previous pad was an Exped Winterlite downmat that worked great until the internal baffles began unexplainably popping. Oh well.

The trip in  the Smokies is still under design and will likely have some overlap with some shelter sites. I’ll encounter relatively few, if any, other fools out there if the weather is rough so I can likely get away with tarping with a backup lean-to plan at least for 1 or 2 nights.

I hear your shaped tarp recommendations and the only one I have outside of my tarptent flys is a 20 ounce Appytrails something I’ve never used, so that might be fun to play with.  Still leaning towards the sil 8×10 but have a few weeks to pray on it.

Thanks for the insights.

In my area, snow often come out of the east and shortly afterwards, the wind shifts to come out of the north.  A tarp pitch that protects you from all sides and it strong in the wind is basically a pyramid or Megamid configuration.  So why not just use that?

Well David…..why not just use a pyramid? The primary reason is that if Mrs. W. sees one more box coming in the house I’ll need something much more substantial than that because that’s what I’ll be living in full time. There must be a better way….to sneak the boxes in the house!

Actually, if I did more snow camping a pyramid would be the answer. I guess that must be the main reason they seem to be more prevalent in western locales?