What gear do you put in your sleeping bag at night?

[Chris W]

I’m a chicken in terms of putting on cold clothes, boots, and dealing with frozen water, so I tend to put everything in my bag at night.

What do you keep warm and why?

[Larry Swearingen]

My Sawyer Filter if it’s going to get below freezing at night.
You don’t want that thing to freeze. Supposedly it stops working
by bursting the tubes letting unfiltered water get through.

Larry S

[Edward John M]

My phone and my hearing aids, once I get my warm gear on there is simply no room inside my winter bag for any gear at all. If it’s really cold the gear goes between the down sleeping bag and the synthetic overbag/overquilt; which is another reason for getting overbags extra large.

[John Vance]

If below freezing I put the water filter under my pillow but not anything in my bag.  Sometimes I put my gas canister in an hour or two before I get up.

Deep winter/alpine climbing trips I used a FF Peregrine large sized bag and put water bottles, boot liners, gloves, batteries, spare clothing, camera, and anything else I didn’t want cold or frozen.   Most went in the bottom of the bag or along the sides.

I don’t do sub zero trips anymore and just own quilts/lightweight bags.  In the occasional single digit temps I find myself I only sleep with the filter and some times a small water bottle so I can get a drink during the night.

Many a cold morning I have beaten a damp frozen shirt that was rinsed out the night before against a rock or tree, put it on and started moving quickly.

[Brad P]

If it’s cold and I’m in separate sleep clothes, I put my hiking clothes in the bag.  One of the suckiest parts of a cold morning is putting on cold clothes.

[Chris W]

I can’t imagine putting on cold, frozen clothes in the morning, even my boots go in the bottom of the bag. I can’t imagine trying to thaw out boots by wearing them.

[Tipi Walter]

There’s me, there’s Miss Nature’s cold breath at 0F and there’s my sleeping bag.  Nothing inside but me and some baselayers/midlayer tops.  No phone, no filter, no batteries, no water bottles, no boots.

The last place you’ll ever find a water bottle with me is inside my sleeping bag—as a lid can leak when you’re playing footsies with it all night long.

Plus, I see no point whatsoever in placing anything that needs to stay warm inside a sleeping bag overnight like a phone or a water filter.  EX:  It’s -10F at night and 10F during the day—you’re out for a 15 day trip—where the heck are you gonna store your phone and filter during the day when you’re hiking??  Against your stomach all day?

And if it’s vital I keep some items at 50F or higher during a trip, well, I might as well stay home and drool over the wall thermostat.  Everything I own can freeze solid on a trip and when needed like the water filter or the cellphone—can be placed in my down parka pocket for an hour before use.  Afterwards let it freeze up again.

Luckily I carry an old PUR Hiker water filter which can take freezing solid and thawing repeatedly without harm.

[R]

Boots, as others have mentioned.  I put them in an inverted waterproof stuff sack first.  This kept my bag from getting wet from the boots, and kept the inner surface of the stuff sack clean.

 

[David Thomas]

The wife.

[Roger Caffin]

+1 on DT

[Franco Darioli]

Frozen boots…

Some put a Nalgene full of hot water inside the boot. Only takes a few minutesw to work.

 

[Kattt]

^^^^ thanks for the laugh :)

[Tom K]

My BeFree filter and a small bottle with enough water for coffee in the morning.  Keeping the water at a temp somewhere in the high 50s-low sixties makes a difference in fuel needed to heat it to ~170, and enables me to stretch a 5 oz bottle of alcohol out to 9 days with a little left over, about enough for another day.  If it’s going to be really cold, I just sleep in my hiking clothes and whatever extra layers I think necessary.  I hate changing into cold clothes on a cold morning.

[Adam G]

Socks, pants, shirt, gloves, hoodie, puffy, sometimes gas canister if it’s dry. I want to put on warm clothes in the morning; it’s amazing. I’ve never put boots in the bag. I just suffer in the morning.

[Roger Caffin]

I’ve never put boots in the bag. I just suffer in the morning.
Sounds horrible.
Been there, done that. WAS horrible.
A couple of large plastic bags with rubber bands works very well even with wet boots. Warm boots in the morning in the snow – lovely.

Cheers

[Eric Blumensaadt]

IN THE FOOT OF MY SLEEPING BAG: -> insulating boot liners, VBL divers socks, water container, battery operated items

OVER the foot of my sleeping bag-> my zipped up WPB or down parka, to protect it from melting frost off the tent walls

 

[Garrett]

Anyone considered making a mini sleeping bag for their overnight gear? This would be in conjunction with a boiled Nalgene bottle and sit pad. Basically just some 6oz+ Climashield that works like an igloo with shock cord on the bottom. Sure it adds weight, but so does extending the length of ones own sleeping bag.

[Roger Caffin]

Need a heat source as well.

Cheers

[Axel J]

My alcohol fuel and burner. A warm stove and fuel is much easier to light on a cold morning.

 

[Chris W]

Looks like you need a shirt, Roger! ;-)

[Roger Caffin]

Shirt? Huh?
It was a fine, even hot, day, and we were climbing.

Actually, I had just taken my shirt off because I was too hot.

Cheers

[HkNewman]

Anyone considered making a mini sleeping bag for their overnight gear?

One of these global gear companies (S2S?) sold an insulated semi-rigid rectangular stuff sack of sorts specifically as a place to store electronics in a sleeping bag, yet feel soft against the skin.  Probably a little overboard as the body will provide the heat, not the padded insulation, but soft it is.

[Jens W]

Last year I did a one night winter trip with my kids, the youngest said she was too hot in her back where she had a 1L Nalgene with hot water, so I took it out of the bag and put it in a roll top dry back together with the rest of our water supply. Ir closed it with a lot of air still inside. It was -9 Celsius and in the morning the full 4L supply was still Luke warm.

This last weekend I was out for two nights, the second night we had massive condensation issues and constant “rain” when one of the vents got choked with snow. So my down bag got pretty wet, would it be possible to “regenerate” it? Drying a wet down bag by putting it inside a dry bag made from a breathable membrane fabric and adding a Nalgene bottle with boiling water?

[Roger Caffin]

>>> the second night we had massive condensation issues and constant “rain” when one of the vents got choked with snow.
Yeah, that DOES happen. You need to maintain that air flow through the tent.

>> So my down bag got pretty wet, would it be possible to “regenerate” it?
Dunno about ‘regenerating’ it – all you need to do is dry it. However, putting it inside a dry bag is just about as wrong as you could get. It would need sunshine and wind. If it is fine the next day, stopping early, pitching your tent in the sun, and draping the bag over your tent is an excellent way to do this. A nearby rock warmed by the sun is also good.

Failing that, try sleeping in the bag the next night with lots of ventilation through the tent: you body heat should drive off the water quite well.

Going a little deeper into this: a good sleeping bag shell should be fairly water-repellent. If yours shows sign of getting wet too easily, treat it with Nikwax Down Proof – it is for down bags. Giving it a wash first in Atsko Sport Wash or Nikwax Down Wash would be a good idea. Do NOT (NOT!) use any laundry detergent ever for this: they will just make things worse.

Cheers

[Jens W]

This was the best weather we had all weekend :-)

We cleaned out the vents before we went to sleep and in the morning the of the second night it looked like this.. You cannot even see the vent on the Hillberg Nallo 2 GT which is the tent we slept in. The Ultamid 4 just came along as a cooking tent and to test it in 26 m/s (58mph)winds. It looked like this on the inside in the morning.

/Jens

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