In negative C conditions, how do you all cope with the 'getting changed' bit? Even at home with the heating on, it's really horrible taking your clothes off in the dead of winter. Is it a grin and bear, and be quick affair, or what? 
What to wear in your sleeping bag
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I always wear clothes inside a sleeping bag, as much to keep the bag clean as anything else.
A couple of weeks ago I washed my Bambusa -18C bag. What a nightmare! It took days to dry it out, rolling around on it on the floor with it sandwiched in towels.
A couple of weeks ago I washed my Bambusa -18C bag. What a nightmare! It took days to dry it out, rolling around on it on the floor with it sandwiched in towels.
In negative C conditions, how do you all cope with the 'getting changed' bit? Even at home with the heating on, it's really horrible taking your clothes off in the dead of winter. Is it a grin and bear, and be quick affair, or what?
Sleep with your other clothes in the bag with you if you can, or at the very least, under your head/shoulders. That way your new clothes should at least be at body temp and not stone cold. Then change quickly - I change my top half while sitting up in my bag, and then bottom half with the bag opened a little. But the others here will have more exreme temps experience than me
In negative C conditions, how do you all cope with the 'getting changed' bit? Even at home with the heating on, it's really horrible taking your clothes off in the dead of winter. Is it a grin and bear, and be quick affair, or what?
Much of life is a "grin and bear and be quick affair", eh? Just one of those things that once you begin it, you wonder what all the fuss was about. I always have tried to move about a fair bit and do something strenuous for ten minutes or so before sleeping; the warmer you are getting in the warmer you'll stay while you're there!
What Macaroon says is very true. If you sit around and decide to get into your bag because you are cold you'll stay cold for quite a while as when you're cold the body shunts heat/blood away from the skin into the core. As a sleeping bag only traps radiated heat rather than creating it, get in cold and you take an age to warm up. So things like preheating the bag, 10 mins of star jumps or a game of hackysack, and or having something hot and sugary like a hot chocolate to boost blood sugar available to create heat and you'll be toasty. From personal experience I can also recomend Jack Russells, dont take up a lot of room and are toasty in a sleeping bag with you. 
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
That's what wool (or silk) thermals are for; sleep in them, they don't get smelly, throw clothes on fast.In negative C conditions, how do you all cope with the 'getting changed' bit? Even at home with the heating on, it's really horrible taking your clothes off in the dead of winter. Is it a grin and bear, and be quick affair, or what?
It's also another argument for the buffalo system - it takes less time to get dressed when you only have 2 layers to put on.
I prefer to use a separate set of merino base layer as my jarmies, rather than wearing my day layer in the bag. But it's no problem to have your day base layer in the bag with you to keep warm/warm up. A bit of wiggling will have you swapped over without too much exposure of the flesh to -Cs.
Also a fan of Buffalo gear: colder weather starting to arrive now as had to don my Special 6 for an exposed hour or so during a hike in the Beacons on Saturday. And my Buffalo mitts. (Windchill rather than absolute temperature.) First time since last Spring.
Also a fan of Buffalo gear: colder weather starting to arrive now as had to don my Special 6 for an exposed hour or so during a hike in the Beacons on Saturday. And my Buffalo mitts. (Windchill rather than absolute temperature.) First time since last Spring.
Tend to wear Ronhills and a thermal t-shirt trainers (any kit that is small to pack and if necessary can be worn during the day as a back up) just incase i have to get up at night and leave or toliet etc
otherwise its using a sleeka for any extra warmth or instead of ronhills a pair of thin trouser
otherwise its using a sleeka for any extra warmth or instead of ronhills a pair of thin trouser
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When I was still camping I'd sleep in just pants and tee shirt but in winter I'd fill up a one or two litre bottle with hot but not boiling water and put in my bag; that bottle would still be warm in my sleeping bag in the morning.
Are we sure about those quantities? That's 2 litires over 8ish hours and how much during the day?.
Those look like fever quantities to me.
Then theres a litre or two just from from breathing.
That's heading for 4 litres of water before you digest or repair anything.
Most people I know don't drink anywhere near that amount (or get it from watery foods either).
I only know one person that drinks 3 litres a water a day and she has to force feed herself and is visting the "bathroom" constantly.
I like to sleep 'tackle out' but in really cold conditions I wear my day clothes but I change my saloppettes for insulated trousers. This means I can avoid the misery of getting changed in the cold plus as I'm essentially dressed at all times I'm always ready for some emergency wolverine wrestling should the need arise.
Thermal layer and boxers only. You only get into your bag with your trews on once when they are covered in harvest mites.
If you need extra insulation chose a better bag or a liner. Woods clobber for the woods and sleeping clobber for..
If you need extra insulation chose a better bag or a liner. Woods clobber for the woods and sleeping clobber for..
In my sleeping bag (a Survival Aids fleece 2 bagger circa 1985), I either wear nothing or thin thermals; the zips won't do up with any more - O.K., I could lose some weight. But seriously folks, if you need to wear clothes (day or otherwise) in your 'bag, you need a better bag - or at least get a second one to put inside/outside your existing one to beef up the insulation. Or perhaps a bivvy bag.
Further to my previous entry. After I got home last week, the thought surfaced from somewhere that the Marines in the Artic are taught that if they fall through ice into a lake or whatever, they have 2mins to get out of the water and 90 seconds to get out of their wet clothes and into their sleeping bag,(or is it the other way around?) before hypothermia sets in; if your 'bag is not rated low enough you've got problems. How you dry out your wet clothes in sub-zero conditions is another problem, hopefully your mate has got a brew on to help warm you up, (see seperate thread!).
I prefer to sleep in wool underwear. I am a wool junkie, and as an underwear it keeps me from losing to much of that snug heat when I get out of the sleeping bag.
I am going to buy myself this one as a christmas present this year: http://www.aclima.no/products/warmwool/women/warmwool-overall
I am going to buy myself this one as a christmas present this year: http://www.aclima.no/products/warmwool/women/warmwool-overall
In negative C conditions, how do you all cope with the 'getting changed' bit? Even at home with the heating on, it's really horrible taking your clothes off in the dead of winter. Is it a grin and bear, and be quick affair, or what?
Another bit of kit you need Rachel
http://mountainmunchkins.com/produc...Kj3NtCYbjXHyl3oq9hm2QYeBjLjgk87ZrAaAjz28P8HAQ No need to leave your tent now.
In Sweden, we all got naked in the sauna, [and they have unisex saunas. I was assured this was normal] We ran outside, naked, when the heat became unbearable to cover ourselves in the deep snow.
I told them you'd be arrested for that over here...
I told them you'd be arrested for that over here...
Hi Swallow - you're right. I got my litre and pints mixed up - this new-fangled currency and us oldies! So for litres in my post, replace with pints.
As to liquid intake, remember that its liquid - coffee, tea, squash, beer, liquid in apparently solid foodstuffs etc, not just water that gets imbibed, and subsequently leaves the body as either urine or water vapour/sweat. And in a sub-zero climate, the air is very dry and you sweat/exhale more water vapour, making rehydration critically important.
The general point however is still valid, at night you will sweat into your sleeping bag, and this will transfer body oils and dirt from your skin into the insulating lining in your sleeping bag. Even if the water vapour escapes to the outside of your bag, the dirt/oil remains behind. This in turn will degrade the efficiency of the loft - be it down/feather or artificial fibre. Liners may reduce this transfer, but not eliminate it. The only solution is to wash your bag. If you have a genuine down bag, your best bet is to get it professionally cleaned by a specialist, but its expensive - £30-40 a go. Most artificial fibre bag makers do not recommend regular washes as it damages the fibres and loft. Only Wiggy guarantees its loft for life (and honours it on bags even over 20 years old), and recommends regular washing. However, if any of you know of a similar guarantee from Snugpak, MH or any other manufacturer, I stand to be corrected!
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