#LETSTALKABOUT Cold Weather Sleeping Tips

Now that we have covered sleeping bags and sleeping pads, it’s time to talk about some general tips for staying warm when the temps drop!

Here’s the scenario: you’re in the backcountry, tucked into your sleeping bag, and you just can’t warm up. What do you do?

1. Eat something fatty, sweet, and delicious: introducing a pop of sugar into your system will heat you up. It’s not a sustained burn, but the extra warmth can be enough to make a significant difference.

2. Layer spare clothes, emergency blankets, socks, gloves, and other items under your sleeping pad. Try to keep it as even as possible for obvious reasons--you don’t want to get warm only to sleep on lumps and bumps! Any additional insulation between you and the cold or frozen ground will give you a boost in warmth. If you can, add a little additional layer where your hips, butt, and feet touch the ground.

3. Stuff extra clothes and soft goods into your sleeping bag to take up empty space. The less air pockets there are, the less heat you have to generate to warm them up.

4. Take any extra puffy jackets or vests you might have and zip them around your feet for toasty toes.

5. Fill a nalgene or water bottle with boiling water and put inside your sleeping bag. Make sure it’s FULLY closed first--the only thing worse than being cold in the alpine is being wet and cold in the alpine!

6. Wiggle! Don’t go too hard or you’ll end up sweating, but wiggle just enough to generate a little extra heat!

Things to consider:

One of the best ways to avoid the above scenario is by preparing for bedtime carefully. This means going to bed warm, but not sweaty. It means changing your wet, sweaty clothes out for a designated dry pair before bed, when space in your pack allows. It means keeping a clean, dry pair of socks in your sleeping bag and never letting them leave the tent. More on all of this later!

What are your favorite tips and tricks for staying warm? Let’s hear them!

#LETSTALKABOUT Sleeping Pad Ratings

Now that we have chatted about sleeping bag ratings, it’s time to hit on the next piece in the comfort quiver: your sleeping pad!

Whereas sleeping bags are given an EN/ISO rating, sleeping pads get an r value that indicates their thermal resistance. The higher the number, the warmer the pad will keep you! It’s important to note that unlike the EN/ISO rating, there isn’t (yet!) a standardized testing procedure for assigning r-values. Some brands conduct rigorous internal testing, others simply guesstimate based on the available data. Do your own research on the brand before taking the rating they give their product at face value.

Let’s begin talking about the practical application of r-values by thinking of them as stand alone pieces. The following table lays out recommend r-values for different climates:

This is a helpful starting point for thinking about climate, warmth, and what sleeping pad you want to bring with you.

Now, let’s think of your sleeping pad as part of a sleeping system that’s comprised of your pad, your sleeping bag, and the clothes you are wearing. Each part of the system has a different temperature rating, with pros and cons depending things like size, weight, packability, durability, and so on. You can play around with these variables for each adventure to balance things out. For example: let’s say you’re on a fall alpine adventure and the temps are expected to drop into the frigid. You don’t want to carry your massive 0 degree sleeping bag and you have an ultralight sleeping pad with an r value of 5.7. In this situation, you can likely forego the heavier bag for something lighter and rely on the warmer pad and some solid base layers to keep you toasty. If weight isn’t an issue, as with car camping, you have even more room to play.

Things to consider:

1. As with sleeping bags, these recommendations are based on the mythical “Average Person” and what works for someone else may be a poor fit for you. If you can, rent or borrow sleeping pads from friends or local gear outfitters before investing and see what works for you. The higher the r-value or the lighter the pads get, the pricier they tend to be so a little field research is a wonderful thing.

2. You can stack pads for cumulative warmth! A popular combination is using a lightweight closed-cell foam pad, like the Therm-A-Rest SOLite under your usual pad. It’s relatively light, relatively inexpensive, and textured enough to prevent slippage when stacked beneath your other pad. With an r-value of 2.8, it’s an easy boost to your sleeping system if you can spare the space for an additional pad.

There you have it, a basic run down! Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know!