>> Winter tip: Moisture is the enemy, so sleep nude, keep the bag and tent well ventilated, leave the bag in open air in the day to thoroughly evaporate, and use a vapour barrier if it does not drive you nuts (I can't handle one, but I recognize their value). Cheers, Richard Culpeper >> I agree. When winter camping below about 10 degrees F., I normally use a vapor barrier liner inside my sleeping bag. I don't sleep nude inside it because coated nylon tends to cling to moist skin, but I don't wear any clothing except for polypro underwear. Once when sleeping this way next to a woman who didn't have a vapor barrier liner, I woke in the morning to find the outside of my bag damp where it was in contact with hers. The dampness had worked its way from her body through both her sleeping bags. My bag was otherwise dry because of the vapor barrier liner. Re the value of sleeping nude: One night in a quinzhee where it was relatively warm, I decided to sleep in a damp pair of wool pants, thinking to dry them from my body heat. The pants so chilled me, even inside my winter bag, that I took them off. I slept comfortably the rest of the night. Tip: For more comfortable sleeping under the stars in sub-zero temperatures, sew or pin a large flap of Polartec 200 to the top edge of the mouth of your winter bag. If it starts to snow or your face gets cold, drape the flap over your face and around your head. It insulates well, and you can breath through it. If it is not very cold, you can tuck the flap inside the bag for extra warmth in the chest area. I got the idea after sleeping under birch trees from whose branches snow would from time to time sift onto my face, keeping me awake. The first time I tested the idea, I went to sleep under a starry sky with the flap tucked inside. Sometime in the night, I felt snow falling on my face, pulled out the flap and draped it over my face, and went back to sleep. When I woke in the morning, my face was comfortably warm. Thinking it had not snowed much after all, I pushed the flap aside -- and dumped half an inch of snow on my face! Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Chuck Holst wrote: > > >> > Winter tip: > (snip of the female "glowing") > Re the value of sleeping nude: One night in a quinzhee where it was > relatively warm, I decided to sleep in a damp pair of wool pants, > thinking to dry them from my body heat. The pants so chilled me, even > inside my winter bag, that I took them off. I slept comfortably the rest > of the night. > Chuck, and all, This is only partly true I feel. The bag is not doing the heating, only the body. If the body had been able to maintain good core temp AND extra for drying the clothes, it would have. The problem was the "wet" clothes, not the clothes. I'm one of those people that live by the rule, "if you aren't wearing it to bed, your packs too heavy". :-) > Tip: For more comfortable sleeping under the stars in sub-zero > temperatures, sew or pin a large flap of Polartec 200 to the top edge of > the mouth of your winter bag. If it starts to snow or your face gets > cold, drape the flap over your face and around your head. It insulates > well, and you can breath through it. If it is not very cold, you can > tuck the flap inside the bag for extra warmth in the chest area. > > I got the idea after sleeping under birch trees from whose branches snow > would from time to time sift onto my face, keeping me awake. The first > time I tested the idea, I went to sleep under a starry sky with the flap > tucked inside. Sometime in the night, I felt snow falling on my face, > pulled out the flap and draped it over my face, and went back to sleep. > When I woke in the morning, my face was comfortably warm. Thinking it > had not snowed much after all, I pushed the flap aside -- and dumped > half an inch of snow on my face! > I had a simple tarp calaspe sp? slowly on me one night, high up in the Pecos Willderness of NM. I awoke to silence and erry darkness. A 6" snow during the night had gently pushed the tarp down on my face. Warm, but a strange feeling. James > Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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