People often ask me how cold it will be to sleep in winter in a tent in the mountains. My answer is:
1. very cold!
2. Super cold!
3. No! I need to go down the mountain!
Here are a few tips on how to keep warm in alpine camping, hope it helps.
Don’t drink too much water before going to bed.
In addition to the pain of having to climb out of the tent to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, it is also because the body stores urine in the bladder and maintains it at a temperature slightly above body temperature, which requires more body heat to be used up. So to avoid getting up in the middle of the night to pee or hold the urine, remember to drink only a little water before going to bed, or make sure it is all eliminated before getting into your tent and sleeping bag.
But from experience, it is hard to avoid emptying the urine, especially in the low-temperature alpine, because a few drops of urine and feeling the urgency of urination occasionally happen. Therefore, you can also bring a urine bottle to relieve the emergency without leaving the tent, and you can hold the warm urine bottle in your arms to keep warm. Remember to label the urinal with a special label, so you don’t get up and take it to make coffee.
A small wide-mouth water bottle may help you survive the winter, but this method does not apply to girls.
Try to take in as many calories as possible before going to bed
Calories are the fuel that generates the body’s heat. Without fuel, the body’s boiler cannot burn efficiently. If you don’t want to eat too much or have a bad appetite, you can prepare a little high-calorie snack or action food, and if you feel cold halfway through your sleep, you can replenish your calories to keep your body going.
Do a little warm-up exercise.
Think of your sleeping bag as a thermos. Fill hot water into it can be insulated. Fill cold water to keep ice. So before going into the sleeping bag, do a little open and close jump or squat, and it will not cause an extra burden. And in terms of experience, the inflatable sleeping pad is a great warm-up exercise before going to bed.
Fixing your sleeping bag
The fastest way is to invest in a warm-down sleeping bag. You get what you pay for, compare the comfortable temperature of the sleeping bag with the extreme temperature, and choose the right length for you are the conditions of your choice to get a good night’s sleep.
A small reminder! A sleeping bag labeled “extreme temperature” is usually for reference only because the body temperature and humidity must also be taken into account. But the warmer, the sleeping bag must be heavier, “lightweight,” and “warm.” Both can not be the best.
But if the existing sleeping bag is not warm enough, there are ways to overcome it.
1. Purchase an additional sleeping bag inner cover. You can increase the degree of warmth by the way to maintain the clean-down sleeping bag.
2. Or use a kettle with hot water in the sleeping bag to warm up is also a method. Just remember not to use the thermos bottle with hot water.
3. Do not go into the sleeping bag immediately; let it stand for a while, and so on, and the down compartment air full. After expansion, the sleeping bag has a better temperature insulation effect.
4. sleeping bag opening zipper is divided into left and right sides. If you buy the same style with partners in different directions of the zipper, you can combine the two single sleeping bags into a double sleeping bag! With the addition of body heat, ensure a good night’s sleep! But the premise is to find a partner.
Body temperature is a good thing, don’t resist it
Notes for sleeping
1. Remember to wear a woolen hat to keep warm, do not cover the mouth and nose with a sleeping bag, and use a breathable magic bandana instead. Because the warm air exhaled from the mouth and nose will make the sleeping bag moisture, thus reducing the warmth function.
2. Maintain the feet and socks dry. If necessary, put on a layer of thick spare socks, or even empty your backpack and stuff your feet into it. Another way to provide method is to put baby warmers on the soles of the feet and then put on a layer of wool socks. The effect is also very good! The old generation used to say: “If your feet are hot, you will not be cold,” this is the truth.
3. Use a sleeping pad to isolate the contact between your back and the ground because most of the cold air is running up from the ground, so the thicker the bottom of the tent, the better the effect of warmth, the clothes that are not used in the backpack, waterproof bags, backpack covers, garbage bags …. Spread them all on the bottom! (In camps with plants, you can also lay a lot of leaves and grass under the ground cloth first)
The use of a raised bed seems to be the most effective isolation from the ground, but even a lightweight bed weighs three times as much as a normal lightweight sleeping pad.
4. Make sure the tent is ventilated inside and outside, even if it’s cold as hell outside! Poorly designed tents, because of the inability to ventilate, the temperature difference between inside and outside will make the internal moisture condensation caused by back damp or frost.
Choose your campsite carefully.
This is a decision that must be made well before setting up camp. Judging the camp’s wind direction, the soil’s moisture, the range of sunlight after dawn… These can affect the temperature and comfort level after sleeping that night.
If you are camping where you can’t avoid the wind, use the canopy to build a barrier next to your tent!
READ MORE: 13 CAMPING GADGETS MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW
