Winter camping using two blankets?

[Big Stu 12]

We are talking about temp here a lot - nobody has mentioned humidity. .

not only the Air temp, also the moisture you put in the blanket...

 

[Man of Tanith]

Air moisture or humidity will definitely be something to consider and something id not overlooked but maybe not considered
Maybe I can pitch an evening outside to lisa as a romantic evening star gazing hmmmm I like it

 

[Dirty]

That was my thought! A fire should dry the air around you, but at 4am, would water vapor just be warmed to above 0 degrees, where it would feel damper, and suck in more heat?
I'm not a physicist, but I hope someone understands what I'm saying. It's always colder in fog banks.

 

[petrochemicals]

That was my thought! A fire should dry the air around you, but at 4am, would water vapor just be warmed to above 0 degrees, where it would feel damper, and suck in more heat?
I'm not a physicist, but I hope someone understands what I'm saying. It's always colder in fog banks.

yup humidity, always colder just above freesing at 100% humidity, damp gets into everything, down rots. Just below freezing at 0% humidity feels alot walmer, like when its not been above freezing for 24hours, nice and crisp !

 

[Big Stu 12]

Maybe I can pitch an evening outside to lisa as a romantic evening star gazing hmmmm I like it

I did wonder about say that sort of thing... but did not want to get blamed for the Idea, lol

 

[Balloonatic]

I know this is your personal trip and challenge, and as such it is up to you how you do it, but as an interested reader, I would love to see the challenge maintained as a Daniel Boone challenge, i.e. use just the things you have with you to set up a quick evening shelter and spend the night out, much like wilderness travelers from past centuries would have. They were usually trying to get somewhere, or were checking trap lines, hunting etc. They certainly weren't spending most of the day building shelters. I would love to see the challenge done in a way where you spend most of the day doing other bushy things as we ordinarily do, and then when the sun starts going down, put together a shelter with the things you have on you, much like Boone would have done, or we would do with modern gear.

I wonder about this, there are period sources by Rangers on patrol talking about building a quick lean-to shelter from wood, foliage etc in winter. You can build a good, sturdy shelter in a matter of half an hour if you need to with enough foliage on top to provide insulation and enough of a bed to keep warm. I doubt this counts as building a cabin but if you were part of a travelling party in winter I'm fairly sure building a decent place to sleep would rank fairly high on your priorities.

 

[Man of Tanith]

There is a long hunter inspired series by snow walker bushcraft on youtube where the presenter Brian Manning shows the long hunter camp he has built using the tarpaulin for a roof and then walled the sides using logs.
Ray Mears shows in a tv series (i dont recall which one) a technique where he joins two Australian basha's together then weaves walls for the front and back using saplings/ trimmed branches together-i tried this technique on the Campcraft course run by Woodlore and it is a very effective wind barrier which increases the temp inside the tarps.

Stands to reason that those woodsy folk before us would of made use of these skills/techniques to keep comfy.
its not a long job and hardly the building of a log cabin. the weaving could even be done once it was dark before they decided to retire to bed.

something else mentioned somewhere is the two sleeps folk had back then which i personally thinks tallies with how long a fire burns for before it needs refuelling/ readjusting. this would be a prime time for the sleeper to warm themselves again (Mors Kochanski recommends trying to push down a tree and other resitance excercise to raise metabolism but i always feel a bit daft when i do it) have a warm drinnk. (Nessmuk mentions waking around two bells-two am- and reducing some navy plug to its lowest denomination for a smoke in a couple of his tales within his book)

 

[andybysea]

I once(when i did ww2 re-enacting)slept out in a ww2 canvas bedroll with two blankets and i was wearing wool battledress, it was in a pine forrest in winter outside the forrest the wind was up, inside were we slept was calm but about minus 4 or 5,not other form of heating(eg fire etc) was used under the bedroll was dry pine needles, i have to admit it was'nt the best nights sleep ive ever had,woke up numerous times due to cold spots but i did survive the night.

 

[copper_head]

Yep thats the one.... inside this I carried a Czech Bed Roll with a spare balnket ... tied wtih some old DD hammock Tape.... used that as I had nowt else by the time of the CHallenge, but will def make some straps... with nice wide over sholder bits...

Thinkning about it it would not have been much larger with a roll mat inside... its was light but bulky.. I can do bulky

I have thought about getting two more to make a 4x4 ishhhhhh..... tarp

Now that would be a tarp to behold!
I'm thinking of using the Zelhtbahn to wrap my double blanket and DD tarp into a 'shelter' roll. Along with bits like extra layers and candle lantern that I won't need till I set camp. I've got a meshok pack to stow everything else and my extra single blanket on top.
Might nick Sam's idea and put a T cut into the single blanket.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Now that would be a tarp to behold!
I'm thinking of using the Zelhtbahn to wrap my double blanket and DD tarp into a 'shelter' roll. Along with bits like extra layers and candle lantern that I won't need till I set camp. I've got a meshok pack to stow everything else and my extra single blanket on top.
Might nick Sam's idea and put a T cut into the single blanket.

that works really well mate the T doesnt affect it as a blanket but opens up the potential a lot (is noce for sitting around fire at meets under as well.
just buying myself a merino wool gilet that bare thrills linked as an extra layer for it. and grabbed a merino wool blanket off ebay cause it was so dang cheap...
next time i go boone i'm gonna attempt to use a smaller pack (although for my birthday i've a bespoke 50ltr pack canvas pack coming) and wrap the blankets in tarp maybe even the pots and food stuff too

 

[Big Stu 12]

I ve got a Blanket that was my Old Scout blanket... bit thin now, and covered in badges.. I some times use that as a poncho

 

[Big Stu 12]

Northwest Woodsman does a vid about how to wrap your blanket around you when sleeping in it.

Blow that.... every time I need a wee.......

 

[copper_head]

that works really well mate the T doesnt affect it as a blanket but opens up the potential a lot (is noce for sitting around fire at meets under as well.
just buying myself a merino wool gilet that bare thrills linked as an extra layer for it. and grabbed a merino wool blanket off ebay cause it was so dang cheap...
next time i go boone i'm gonna attempt to use a smaller pack (although for my birthday i've a bespoke 50ltr pack canvas pack coming) and wrap the blankets in tarp maybe even the pots and food stuff too

That sounds just the job, could be used in conjunction with a Polish Lavvu half to make some interesting cold/wet weather gear (but maybe I'm having Dunedain fantasies now ).

Bespoke pack eh? Sounds very interesting, lucky man!

 

[Man of Tanith]

(but maybe I'm having Dunedain fantasies now ).

Bespoke pack eh? Sounds very interesting, lucky man!

if you go on suffolk boone thread there is a link to dundedain ranger reenactment forum (is a bit of fuin and the kit is shiny)

that would work very well though canvas on outside for wind protection and rain protection and wool for thermal perks

lucky/ reckless man thin line between the two

 

[Wayland]

Pleasure, gimme a shout when you shake the Pinny off.

For a highly fuel efficient way of providing warmth, the Sami split trunk style setup that we saw in Jokkmokk looks intriguing to try although foraging the log may be tricky.

I'm sure Wayland has a better photo of this somewhere.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Thank you Wayland.
From those pictures it looks more like two logs with a spacer between the two for the embers/fire to burn in?

 

[Emdiesse]

Fantastic, that last ones ace... but with a coat like that he must be keeping the fire warm!

 

[Albus Culter]

I'm late finding this thread

The wrapping idea for blankets has great potential as I move around far too much in my sleep and kick off cover if I'm not careful. As all have said its insulation from the ground for me as well as ironing out a few of the grounds bumps that helps me sleep better too.

With the canvas you can get the fire closer which is key and if you are buddying up, then you could try the tarps facing each other idea we talked about, so each man acts as the reflector for the other and both benefit from the same fire. Just pitch selection then to get the layout?

Being a chunky my core is ok when wrapped up well. But feet are my cold spot. I know for you it's head you need to ensure is kept warm.

Great thread and keep us posted

 

[Man of Tanith]

Yeah the buddy up method would work well. One on either side of fire
I'm not too concerned about wrapping myself up I tend to bundle up anyway.
Head cover is definitely my worry.

Should be interesting.
Wanna try?

 

[copper_head]

Had a chance to try out sleeping with two blankets last night.

I used a NVA Zehltbahn filled with (not enough) leaves as my sleeping pad, on top of this I had a single wool blanket to add a little warmth and then wrapped myself up in the double wool blanket. I certainly didn't get cold and my only issue was a bit of back pain from having too little cushioning underneath me. Used my spare jumper wrapped in a shemargh as a pillow.
Woke around 4.30am and the long fire had burned low so fed all the firedogs in, had a smoke and then slept for another few hours.

Temp wise it was about 10c with intermittent rain. I wore 2 layers on my legs and 3 on my torso then a wool hat and a buff.