Before you leave on a trip make sure that someone responsible knows where you are going (ideally your detailed route) and when you should be back. Make sure they know you are counting on them to call for a search and rescue if you don’t contact them within a specified time period.
If something goes wrong don’t react without thinking. Except in the case of the 3 minute threats, you are most likely going to get a better outcome by pausing, and reflecting on all your options. In most cases, staying put makes it easier for rescuers to find you.
First Aid
You should be well versed in basic first aid. Carrying a first aid kit isn’t as important as knowing what to do. With knowledge you can typically improvise. The with advent of modern signaling technology, the emphasis has shifted from treatment of serious issues in the field to stabilizing, with the treatment provided once the victim has been evacuated.
From a pure safety perspective, it is always best to travel with two other people. That way, if one person is hurt, someone can say with them, and another can go for help. No mater how many people you are traveling with, bring a whistle like the Fox 40. The sound carries a lot further than your voice and it is a lot easier on your vocal cords. Three short blasts is the US standard for distress, 6 long blasts is the international signal for distress.
You should know how to sustain a signal fire and carry (and know how to use) a signal mirror. It also wouldn’t hurt to know the standard ground signals which can be made from tarps or items on the ground.
You should not expect cell coverage in the backcountry. If you are traveling alone, especially in an area which doesn’t get a lot of traffic, you might want to consider bring some sort of hi-tech signaling device. Andrew Skurka’s Satellite Communication is a good summary. There are even more details in the BPL 2-way satellite_communications State of the Market. I would note
PLBs are the most reliable signaling method though they are limited to saying “I am in trouble at my current location”. From what I have read PLBs will always work. They were designed for downed aircraft and lost ships.
Signaling devices that rely on the Iridium network like Garmin inReach (what I carry) are fairly reliable, but there are conditions which will prevent delivery of your message(s). There have been times when after 30 minutes my message did not successfully deliver, most likely because either canyon walls or extreme tree cover blocked the signal. I moved to a more exposed location and the InReach device successfully delivered the message within 10-20 minutes.
Signaling devices that use GlobalStar designed for back-country signaling work provided you have a wide & clear view of the sky. Desert, alpine, or trips on plains GlobalStar is nearly flawless. Canyons, places with heavy tree cover, etc your messages might not be delivered. Devices using Iridium are more reliable.
Modern Phones with Satellite support: Apple iPhone 14 and later can send SOS messages via GlobalStar. T-mobile was enabled using StarLink. Most phones are not as rugged as the dedicated devices and require the user to angle the device to be pointing in the correct direction and wait for the satellite to be “visible” which people who are “in trouble” might not be up to doing.
Many years ago I used to carry an CW (morse code) Amateur QRP rig because of it’s low power requirements. Typically 20 meters was good during the daytime, 30+ meters is good at night. I would research what frequencies/times had particularly active nets in the area I was traveling.
Knowing how to build and maintain a fire is one of the most important skills you can learn. Fire can provide warmth, provide a means to make water safe to drink, makes food more palatable, and can be an effective signal device.
I recommend bringing at least two devices which lets you start a fire. At least one of them should work even when wet such as fire-steel, Spark-Lite, or UST Blast Match and at least one should be usable with a single hand incase you are injured. I also typically bring a number of “windproof / waterproof” matches which are neither, but light in most conditions and can also function as a first stage fire starter. I commonly start my fires with a cheap BIC lighter. Old fashion Zippo lighters while not the lightest option tend to be very reliable provided you refill them. My experience is that the “high end” lighters are not the most reliable. The electric spark can will fail to ignite the gas… especially when over 8k feet.
I recommend bring a few firestarters. A number of items you carry for other purposes can be turned into fire starters. Cotton balls + vaseline, alcohol based hand gels, fuel for your stove, etc. Most firestarters use a combination of cotton or wood base which has been embedded with with a petroleum, natural oil, or wax fuel.
You should also learn techniques for starting a fire without pre-make firestarters and when the easy to pick up tinder is wet. Note: having a knife that is larger than the Swiss Army “Classic” makes this a lot easier. A more complete write up is an equipped.com firestarters page.
Avoiding Fires
In the West fires are increasingly posing a danger to people on extended treks. Satellite devices that can receive text messages such as the Garmin In-Reach be used to interact with trailinfo.org as discussed in a thread about receive info about possible fire dangers and the awareoutdoors.com service which provides fire, weather, snow depth, and other localized information.
Warmth & Dry
If you have a shelter (tent, tarp, etc) set it up to provide a dry location where you can warm up. When you aren’t carrying a shelter and a sleeping bag in a waterproof bag carry an emergency blanket and fire starters for warmth and know how to use them. Just keep in mind that space blankets are not a substitute for appropriate insulation and read space blanket buyer’s beware. The SOL brand significantly better than many of the “generic” emergency blankets. The pricy Lifesystems Blizzard Survival Blanket or Bivy are a double layered emergency system not only reflect but have a small air pocket for enhanced insulation… making them significantly warmer (but also more bulky) than traditional emergency blankets.
Exposure is the number one killer in the backcountry. Read material by Murray Hamlet about staying warm. You should understand wind chill and know that you lose heat 25 times faster when you are in the water as when you are in still air (e.g. don’t get soaked, if you are soaked, get dry). It is possible to get hypothermia in 50F weather if you are wet and the wind is blowing strongly. There was a good article about avoiding and treating hypothermia.
Water is life. Don’t get dehydrated and make sure you are drinking clean water. Always carry an adequate water supply with tools to get more water. I list possible water treatments elsewhere. My typical water use while backpacking or hiking is 1L for every 7-8 miles when it’s 30-60F, around 1L for every 5 miles when it’s 60-80F, and 1L for every <=3 miles when it’s more than 80F. The best place to take water is from the top 1/2 inch of a lake. Constant exposure to UV light from the sun tends to purify the top layer of a of a lake provided it’s not stagnate
Food
Except in rare cases, you won’t need to forage for food unless you are seriously off the beaten path, nor do you need to take a lot of extra food. A “normal” healthy person with average levels of body fat can go for over four weeks without food with no long-term negative consequences (assume low activity). So for most people there is not threat to starving to death if you are without food for a few days. The primary risk issue is that it’s slower for the body to convert you fat tissue to fuel… so you are more likely to get fatigued. This means that your physical performance will be down, you might not be as mentally sharp which can lead to mistakes, and it will be harder to stay warm. Focus on other skills unless you are highly motivated to learn to forage.
Weather
Being able to anticipate and understand likely weather and environmental conditions can help to be prepared. To be added… what to observe to anticipate weather. NOAA Weather Radio. There is a free / reasonable effort service called wx2inreach which sents reports to an inReach device.
Navigation
You should be able to find your way. If you are using maps and GPS on your phone, be sure you have some sort of backup. Either physical map + compass (that you know how to use) or a second device since as a GPS watch with maps or Garmin InReach. Sgt Rock has a good intro to using map and compass.
Around 2000 I read Mark Twight’s Extreme Alpinism and came across materials by Ray Jardine and realized that I didn’t have to pack like a Boy Scout. I joined the backpackinglight Yahoo! mailing list that was moderated by Don Ladigin who later wrote the marvelous book Lightening Up… and started on a journey to drop my pack weight. I benefitted greatly from correspondence with Glen Van Peski, Ryan Jordan and the BPL community. While I don’t always go as light as some of these folks, I have found that my approach (3 season gear list) keeps me as safe and comfortable as my heavy-weight friends in camp, and is significantly more comfortable when I am moving.
Historically “ultralight backpacking” was defined as <10lbs base weight. I don’t think this is a particularly useful definition these days. First, if you have enough money, it’s possible to purchase gear that gets you to an ultralight base weight (<10lb), even though you are approaching an activity like a classic “heavy-weight” practitioner carrying many items which aren’t actually needed. Second, conditions and trip duration might require more weight given the conditions that will be faced / the duration between resupply. The main reason I am not fond of using merely the a weight to define an ultralight approach is that it misses the spirit of ultralight:
The key to ultralight is to use your head… having enough experience to know how to deal with various situations, and to carefully think about what is needed (or more likely not needed).
An effective ultralight approach uses experience and skills to develop a system of gear and practices which allow you to face a wide variety of circumstances with less gear than most people. In its optimal form you are carrying and simpler, smaller, lighter load and camp life has a number of simple rhythms allowing you to focus on your experience.
I am not following outdoor gear as closely as I used to. As a result, some of my recommendations might become dated. There are several sites that I use when I want to see a list of current products that are likely to have category leading performance:
Ryan Jordan’s personal selection deep experience, thoughtful analysis, engineers / scientists approach. I rarely disagree with Ryan’s recommendations. If I need to purchase something my first stop is to see what Ryan is using these days
Adventure Alan does a good job covering ultralight equipment. I appreciated Alan’s articles in the early days of backpackinglight.com.
Frank Revelo has a pragmatic, moderate cost, often DIY approach to gear which is refreshing
Cleverhiker Most aware of current market than me, and seems to come pretty close to my personal taste in equipment. While I don’t stack rank items exactly the same as they do, I never find myself saying “Why did they include XYZ in their listing?”
Greenbelly Backpacking Guide has a recommended gear section (need to scroll down) which I find is very readable. I tend to agree with Cleverhiker in actual picks, but Greenbelly’s pages are often more complete.
Outdoor Gearlab covers a wide variety of gear types, but I never agree with their stack ranking. Sometimes items are in their list which I find myself saying “Really? You liked it?”. Most of the time items I think are the best appear in their lists, just not top rated by them. Fail to include the smaller, class leading cottage companies. I often wonder are they a shill for big name outdoor gear companies, but people who know them say they are not in the pockets of the big gear manufacturers.
Gear Junkie for outdoor industry news and reviews.
dcrainmaker site for any gear which is related to triathlons, especially technology / instruments. I no longer will purchase any technology for these sports if Ray hasn’t given it a positive review. If he hasn’t reviewed it, it’s like junk.
Clothing: Patagonia / Montbell / Arcteryx. All have excellent designs, and produce high quality items. Patagonia and Montbell are extremely socially responsible! I like giving them business.
Edible Gear by EAT (Eastern Active Technologies) was a funny parody site. Try ordering something.. the error message is great
Stores
The following stores have a good online presence and typically a lot of physical stores as well
REI: A goto retailer in the US. I remember when they had a store in Seattle, and were mostly mail order. They have stores may place. Cover a wide range of products and a good return policy (used to be amazing but people abused it). Mostly main stream manufacturers, so don’t typically have the very best in class products. There in-house brand used to be “ok” and now seems pretty good.
Decathlon: Different website in every country, and physical stores across the world (but a poor presence in US). I think of them as the Ikea of outdoor gear. Decent gear that is inexpensive. There best items are never class leading in materials, design, or manufacture quality. The lower end tends to be made with lower quality materials and manufacturing than typical main stream products. On the other hand their products tend to be very good values because they tend to be significantly cheaper.
MEI: Canadian, similar to REI
The following are amazing stores which have a great selection of gear.
no/W: Taipei, TW. Really great curation… I could re-buy most of my current kit at the store. Has nearly all Gossamer Gear products (several not sold in the US), Durston Gear, Cumulus, Rab, Montbell products, minimalist sandals, XoSkin toe socks, Trail Designs stove, and NiteCore headlamps / USB battery packs.
Garage Grown Gear: Saint Paul, MN: Mostly online, but you can schedule a visit. Stock a lot of cottage gear products.
Hiker’s Depot, Tokyo, JP. Great selection of mainstream in cottage gear. Knowledgeable proprietor.
Pod 7 kilo, Prague, CZ. Well curated collect of ultralight gear including some cottage manufacturers.
samplus: Taipei, TW. A number of cottage gear: SMD, HMG, Enlightened Gear, Yamatomichi, and several other companies from US, Japan, and TW.
BackpackingLight: UK. Great selection of a wide range of gear. Have to schedule a visit
Mountain Shop: Portland, OR. Gossamer Gear, Six Moon Designs, Rab, Montbell, and a number of others. Have gear for backpacking, skiing, and climbing.
Many people under estimate the value of a good night of sleep. If you don’t cherish your sleep, you might want to read The Problem of Sleep which does a good job of documenting the value of sleep, what interferes with good sleep, and what the negative consequences of not getting enough sleep.
There is some gear which will help you get a good night of sleep:
People have a variety of reactions to sleeping outdoors. On one extreme are the people find watching the night sky and hearing the sounds of nature around them extremely relaxing. For them, nothing is better that sleeping under the stars “cowboy style”: a ground cloth, a pad, and a sleeping bag, quilt, or blanket. At the other extreme are people people that have trouble falling asleep unless the are in some sort of shelter which keeps the “wild” at bay and provides a sense of “civilization”. There is no “right” answer. It’s important for people to figure they are comfortable with and use that as a starting place. Most people find that it is possible to expand their “comfort zone” with a bit of planning and practice. I encourage people to select their Outdoor Shelter based on what will given them adequate psychological comfort. Otherwise they will spend the night worrying rather than sleeping. In particular they need to figure out how much “protection” they need for a “peace of mind”
Exposure to the Elements
For someone who has spent the majority of their life in cities, the thought of being exposed to the elements can be a bit scary. Common concerns seem to revolved around whether the shelter will keep the environment conditions at bay, and if the shelter will remain standing through out the night. My experience is that people worry too much about this. Expect in the most extreme conditions, or when using micro size poncho tarps, it’s not that hard to stay dry and protected, even when sleeping under a moderate size tarp. Many people feel compelled to get a “bathtub” floor because they are concerned that just a ground cloth might not keep them dry. This is rarely a problem if a bit of care is taken when selecting a site.
If you have read my other outdoor web pages, you most likely know that I generally favor light weight, if not ultralight gear. But I have to make a confession. It took me a couple of years before I was really confident enough in my abilities and the performance of my gear to sleep through the night when facing a storm. Part of this most likely is because some of the first storms I weathered ended up pulling up my stakes and exposing me to the weather. If I had slept through these events I might have gotten soaks rather than slightly damp. It was a good thing during those early misadventures that I couldn’t sleep well. These days though, I have enough confidence, that I can go right to sleep, actually enjoying the sounds of a raging storm, feeling snug, comfortable, and confident that I will stay that way under my tarp, even while the weather is raging “outside”.
I recommend double walled tents, with the inner tent being largely made from fabric rather than mesh for people who really worry about environment conditions.
Flying Insects
Nearly everywhere in the world has flying, biting, bugs. Some places the bugs are merely an annoyance, but in many locations these buggers are a real health threat. People who worry a lot about flying insects, or are in locations where the is a significant risk of disease should use a shelter which is fully sealed, and provides enough distance from vulnerable sections of the shelter (such as the mesh) and where the user will be. In locations where the insects are merely annoying, I have found that my sleeping quilt keeps the bugs off my lower body, and either a headnet, or a A16 bug bivy can provide adequate protection for me to get a good night sleep. When there are a lot of flying insects, especially in warm conditions, I like more space that is bug free so I can feel a breeze and be free to move around.
Crawling Critters
Many people worry about what might crawl over them while they are asleep. They are bothered by the thought that harmless insects like the common black ant might crawl over there face. For people who are hyper-worried about such things, I would recommend that they sleep in a fully enclosed space of some kind.
In most of the North America there is little danger of getting hurt by crawling critters in the middle of the night. I would encourage people to get over their fears. I am sure many people have heard stories of snakes crawling into someone sleeping bag to stay warm, but you are MUCH more likely to have lighting strike you than have this happen, even if you place your sleeping bag right next to a snake’s home. There is a small risk of getting stung or bitten by crawling insects such as spiders or scorpions, but they tend not to bother sleeping people. There is more of a risk getting stung when you clean out your garage. There are some locations in Australia, Asia, and Africa where concerns are justified and it would be be foolish to sleep within some protective system, but this is the exception, not the rule.
Large Animals
In the continental USA there is little risk of being disturbed by large animals unless you are sleeping with good smelling food in bear country. In grizzly country it may be safer to sleep within an enclosed shelter: a tent or shaped tarp. Not because the shelter will keep the bear out, but there is some data that bears seem less likely to bother people inside shelters that the bears can’t see into.
Other Humans
Man is the most dangerous creature. Some people are very concerned that “someone might get them”. If you really want a steel door with a couple of deadbolts to keep people out, the outdoors might not be the best place to sleep. I don’t have statistics, but my personal experience is that the percent of “nice” people I have run into backpacking, climbing, back country skiing, etc is higher than in the city. I think people are most likely safer in the back country than in the typical city.
There are a wide variety of mattresses sold because people’s tastes and needs varied widely when it comes to what is a comfortable foundation to sleep on. There is no “right” answer. There are a wide variety sleeping pads or sleeping systems which can be considered. My best suggest is to head to a good outdoors store, and lay down on the various choices for 15-20 minutes and figure out what works for you.
When the conditions are either hot or cold, it is often a challenge to get comfortable enough to get a good night sleep. In warm conditions using a hammock or a cot can be helpful. A more common struggle people face is getting warm enough to sleep when it’s cold outside. I encourage people to systematically figure out what is comfortable for them. The two best tools for this is a thermometer (ideally one that logs changes) and a small note pad. Each time you sleep out, record what gear you were using, what the weather conditions were, and how comfortable you were. Over time this will be key to you being able to plan effectively. I have a discussion of sleeping bags and quilts which will be integrated into this document later.
Before you go to bed:
Keep active until you are ready to go to bed. For example, continue hiking until you are read to go to bed… but not so much that you are sweating. You body’s metabolism will be running high from your work making it easy to stay warm for the early part of the night.
Fluff up your bag to maximum loft. If you have a down bag with continuous baffles, remember to shift the majority of the down to the top of your bag where it will do the most good. As soon as my shelter is up, I take out my down quilt so it has maximum time to recover it’s loft.
Make sure you had plenty of food and water before you go to bed. The primary source of warmth when you are sleeping is your metabolism. This system needs water to function well, and you need enough fuel. In cold weather make sure you eat enough slow burning fats to carry you through the night. That means things like nuts rather than cab heavy food just before bed.
Relieve yourself. A bit less mass for your body to keep warm, and lessens the likelihood that you will have to get up in the middle of the night.
Make sure you are warm before you get into your sleeping bag. If you are chilled, engaging in activities that are enough to get you warm, but not so much that you start to sweat.
Make sure important things don’t freeze. If you are sleeping in below freezing temperatures, you should make sure that things you will need will not be frozen in the morning. This includes some water, fuel for your stove, and your shoes. In milder conditions, putting these items under your legs is often sufficient, but in colder condition it is best to bring them inside your sleeping bag. I will bring a drysack for my shoes so they don’t get me and my bag dirty when I sleep with them. You might think this is silly, but trying to get your feet into shoes that have frozen solid is no fun.
Have the gear to keep you warm:
Make sure you bring enough insulation. Yeah, this sounds obvious, but I have seen people bring the same sleeping bags that didn’t keep them adequately warm on previous trips.
Make sure your sleeping pad is warm enough, or bring a second pad. Many commonly used pads will only keep the user warm down to 30-50F. Below those temperatures, the pad will let enough cold through that it will be hard for most people to feel truly comfortable. If you can tell the ground is cold by lying down on your pad, then the pad isn’t sufficiently insulated for the conditions you are in.
Make Good Use of Your Clothing:
Use your clothing. Insulation does not have to be the sleeping bag or quilt. You can use your clothing to boast the comfort range of your sleeping bag. Just make sure they aren’t damp by the time you go to sleep or they will chill rather than warm you.
Wear warm headwear: a hat and maybe a neck gaiter. Even with a good sleeping bag hood, people will often lose heat through their head. Remember that you can layer headwear, the same way you layer over the rest of your body. In colder weather I will wear both a “base” / fleece hat, and a down balaclava.
For many people, keeping hands and feet warm will make a significant difference is how warm they feel. There are a variety of ways to help this. You can use gloves, mittens, or dry socks to help keep hands warm. I recommend minimally dry sock for sleep. Down or Primaloft slippers or socks can be a big help. In very cold weather I recommend vapor barrier socks which then has booties or heavy wool socks over them.
As it gets cold, you end up using a lot of energy heating and humidifying the air you breath in. [At 0F most people burn 50% of the base metabolism on this.] Cover your mouth with a scarf, one of the 3M warming masks, or one of the high tech face masks to help pre-heat the air you breath in.
If your warm enough when going to bed, but might need a warmth boast in the early morning when the temperature often bottoms out and your fuel is running low, use your warm clothing as a pillow. This way it’s easy to find and use them in the morning, and they are already somewhat heated up.
Use Items to Supplement Your Bag and Clothing:
Use an over-bag. If you sleeping bag isn’t warm enough, consider being a second bag which you layer over your normal bag.
Use a sleeping bag liner. While many liner over-rate there added warmth, they can help warm you by providing a bit of additional insulation, and filling dead space which is prone to a bit of convention cooling. In general, I think using clothing is a more versatile solution.
If using a quilt, add a bivy. I generally recommend those with waterproof bottoms, and breathable tops. This will cut down drafts, and trap some air which will boast the warmth of your quilt.
In colder weather (<10F), use a vapor barrier (clothing or liner) to minimize perspiration and protect your bags insulation.
Use an appropriate shelter. Having a shelter that blocks wind will help keep your warm. Some double walled shelters trap air sufficiently that it can provide some insulation. Consider sleeping in a snow cave or igloo… the snow can actually work like an insulator, making the inside significantly warmer than the outside. In hot weather use a shelter that lets cool air flow.
Other Useful Techniques:
Select your campsite so it’s not in a wet area, hard-packed ground, rock, or ice. These environments conduct heat more quickly that softer bed of sand, grasses, pine needles, or snow.
If you do get cold, do something about it. Isometric exercises can be performed with minimal movement (so you don’t create drafts) and can generate quite a bit of heat.
Fill your water bottle with boiling water. Cover the water bottle with one of your socks, and place the water bottle by the inside of your thigh which will warm the blood in major arteries. This will help warm up your entire body.
Take a pee bottle to bed, so if you wake up and need to go to relieve yourself, you can do it with minimal movement. Just make sure your pee bottle is a different shape from your water bottle.
Make sure your sleeping bag fits. If there is excessive room in the bag fill the space with clothing so you aren’t heating extra space.
If it’s safe (no concerns about large mammals) have a bit of food which you can munch on in the middle of the night.
Whenever possible, put you bag and clothing in the sun during the day whenever it’s possible to minimize moisture accumulation.
Reduce your “surface area” but keeping your legs together, your arms by your sides. That way your limbs will be warming each other rather than whatever is surrounding them.
Sleep with someone warm: you spouse, a friendly dog, etc. People joke about sharing body heat, but it really does help.
Bring a candle lantern… they give off a pleasant light and add a bit of heat to a small tent.
Don’t overheat. If you feel hot then ventilate. Otherwise you will sweat which puts moisture into your insulation which will later chill you.
While I don’t recommend this for extended trips, getting completely inside your sleeping bag or under your quilt helps pre-warm the air your breath as well as minimizes the amount of warmth you are blowing into the night. The downsize is that moisture will be accumulated which will eventually effect your insulation. I have found this isn’t a problem on trips that are a few days long.
Radical Idea…. sleeping sitting up! There is a long tradition of outdoorsman, monks, and other wanders to sleep sitting up. This has the advantage of requiring less specialized equipment to be able to sleep comfortably. It’s not for everyone, but it seems like it would be quite a useful skill. I have not mastered this.
Sleeping pads provide comfort which can enable a good night of sleep. Waking up in the morning feeling worse than when you went to bed is no fun. Some people can sleep on the bare ground or maybe 1/8″ foam pads for some insulation. Glen suggests that a minimalist pad works great when you make a small LNT divot. I wish I could do that for the weight and volumes savings, but I can’t. When I have tried more minimalist padding, not only have I not slept well, but in some cases I woke up with new aches which continues for several days (my hips in particular). I have heard people assert that after a few days on the trail you will be able to sleep without a lot of padding because you have worn yourself out. This has not been my experience.
There is an even more important reason to consider taking some sort of pad… and that’s to stay warm. Sleeping bags insulation is compressed by your body weight which means that it provides almost no insulation. If you don’t have a pad, your body will try to warm what’s below you. If the air temperature is high but the ground is cool, this might be nice.. but in most conditions you want insulation below you. The amount of insulation you need will vary depending on the air temperature, ground temperature, and what sort of “ground” you are sleeping on. For example, if you are in the mountains, sleeping on a large chunk of granite, you will find that the rock is a very effective heat sink, while if you are in a pine forest with lots of needles and soft earth below you, you need little or no insulation because the needles are taking care of you. Also note that sleeping on your side means that there is less surface area to insulate from below, side sleepers need less under insulation. Since different people require different amounts of insulation, I think it is most useful to talk about the “R” values of pads rather than what temperature a pad is good down to. Below are a list of full size pads sorted by warmth / weight: My antidotal experience is that R2.5 is good down to around 30F, R4 is good down to around 20F, and R6.5 has been good down to around 0F as a slide sleeper. This page used to have a table of mats and their R values, but it is out of date. It seem that the sectionhiker website has a much more up-to-date sleeping pad r-value table.
No matter what type of pad you select you need to decide the shape and length of the pad. Personally I like pads which are mummy shaped, but full length. Except in the cold weather, when you need maximum insulation, many people like 3/4 length pad. Most people don’t put a lot of weight on their lower legs when they sleep so there is no need for the extra weight of a long pad. Some people use torso sized pads to save even more weight.
NOTE: If you use a pad which has air in it (air mattress or self-inflating) remember to lets some air out if the pad will be spending the day in a hot tent. Air expands as it gets warmer. I know several people who have damaged their pads by leaving them sealed and fully inflated at the beginning of a hot day.
My Choice
I have been using a UberLite for three season trips but it’s had two leaks so will likely get replaced by a Nemo Tensor Pad which is a bit heavier but more comfortable and less noisy. Both pads are rated for 30F and have been good down to 10F for me when combined with the torso length pad from my backpack. I was able to sleep on my side down to 15F with just the NeoAir, but if I laid on my back or stomach it was clear the pad was not quite warm enough for most people because I could feel chill through the pad (which I like). At home I sleep with a chillipad set to “lowest” (<55F). I like a little heat leak from below. In colder conditions I combine my UberLite or my daughters “XTherm” NeoAir with a full length foam pad. If I did a lot more snow camping I would pick up a down insulated air mattress.
Good quality backpacking air mattresses are lighter and more compact than self inflating pads for equivalent comfort / thickness. Of course if your air mattress is punctured, you have no padding, where a self inflating pad has at least a bit of padding. On the other hand, you can use them as rafts when crossing rivers.
In warmer conditions un-insulated air mattresses can work well. On top of dirt or natural materials plan air mattresses can be used down to 35-40F with reasonable comfort… some people might be able to push them down to 30F. I have found that un-insulated air mattresses aren’t sufficiently insulated on top of rock or snow when the air temperature is below around 50F.
The Therm-a-Rest NeoAir have have been one of the benchmark pads. They are light, compact, true to the “R” rating. Downside is they can be a bit noisy when you move. I find my wife’s Big Agnes Q-Core SLX and Nemo Tensor Sleeping Pads more comfortable than any of our NeoAirs.
In colder weather a down or synthetic filled air mattresses are ideal, providing comfort and nearly unbeatable warmth/weight ratio insulation. For most people I recommend synthetic filled air mattresses. They weight slightly more than self inflating pads, but they are warmer, pack smaller, and I think are more comfortable. The lightest way get get an air mattress is to use balloons such as the the commercial balloonbed (my review) or make your own cheer-stick pad or a ultra-light poly-tube air mattress.
These days, most foam pads are closed-cell foam because they don’t soak up water, low cost, durability, and provide decent insulation. Ultralight backpackers often like to use foam pads because they can become part of the suspension system for frameless backpacks and they can be trimmed down to save weight. In the winter, foam pads are often used during the day: as standing pads to help keep feet warm, or sitting pads which help keep the user warm and dry. They are also great in the winter because there is no risk of them failing. The cheapest form are the “blue pads” which you can find almost anywhere (from WalMart to REI) which cost less than $10. Ultra-light packers often trim this pads down to so that it is only as large as their torso or purchase torso size pads. Slightly more comfortable is Cascade Designs’ RidgeRest. Cascade Design also makes the convenient folding Z-rest which has the unfortunate tendency to wear out with just moderate use. I think the best foam pad are made from Evazote such as those sold by Gossamer Gear.
When I first starting backpacking in the 1970s self inflating pads from therm-a-rest were the most comfortable pad other than the Warmlite DAM which were extremely uncommon. These days I generally recommend spending the extra money to get one of the better air mattresses, or go with the significantly cheaper and more durable close cell foam pad.
Many people find hammocks, especially asymmetrical designs that provide an almost flat sleeping surface to be very comfortable. [I am not one of these people… I don’t like sleeping in hammocks.] When you are worried about ground water, what could be better than being suspended several feet above what concerns you. See my hammocks post for more information.
Typically large and heavy. The original LuxuryLite cot was 30oz and packed up smaller than many pads. The now discontinued Cascade Designs version of the LuxuryLite Low Rise Cot was almost 3lbs.
One of the most common approaches is to place extra clothing (which is pretty soft) into your sleeping bag stuff sack. The downside of this is that the stuff sacks might not be the most comfortable thing against your face. Therm-a-rest, REI, and Sea to Summit makes stuff sacks which have a light fleece sewn into them which can be more comfortable than a nylon only stuff sack. Some people bring inflatable pillows.
Low Cost
A cheap closed cell foam pad. The “blue” pads can be found many places for less than $10.
Sleeping bags and quilts can provide light-weight and compact insulation for a good nights sleep. I have found that you get what you pay for when it comes to sleeping bags and quilts. It’s also important to have insulation and comfortable surface to sleep on top of (pads for most, hammock – with an under-quilt in colder weather).
My Choice
I use a Ghost Blanket made in 2001 by Nunatak, one of the first companies to make a backpacking oriented down quilt. This quilt weights a mere 16 oz and is rated for use to 32F. In warm weather I lay the quilt loosely over my body. As the temperature drops I tighten the straps on the quilt to block drafts, and add clothing as needed. I am comfortable using this quilt down to 30F when wearing a fleece hat, a light weight base layer, and wool socks. In colder weather I have been comfortable by adding a down balaclava, insulated clothing, insulated socks, and enclosing the quilt in a MLD SuperLite bivy which has me comfortable to 10F. When I have all my clothing on and am still chilled I make myself as small as I can and pull my head under the quilt with only my mouth sticking out. In the past I would switch to a Western Mountaineering Versalite when I expected expected cold temperatures below 15F. My wife and I share an Enlightened Equipment Accomplice Quilt when backpacking together. If you are sleeping in conditions that are warmer than when you are active outside (like hiking between hostels) a modern version of a poncho liner might be a good option.
There are a variety of factors which should be considered when selecting a how much insulation you want. First you need to figure out what the lowest temperature you expect to face is. Next you should consider if you are a “warm” sleeper or a “cold” sleeper. For example, a WM VersaLite was very comfort at 0F when I was wearing Cap4 base layer while my wife though was perfect at 35F wearing fleece, a down vest, and warm hat! Beside clothing, there are a number of things which will effect the comfort range of a sleep systems. Shelters that limit air movement such as solid tents or a bivy can add between 5-10F degrees of comfort, liners can add 4-10F (most overstate how much they help). For other factors (and tricks) to stay warm, check out my getting a good night of sleep post.
Dry, insulating clothing will boast the warmth of your sleeping system. Damp clothing can sap your warmth, which is why some people say sleep naked. Just remember that you need a lot more insulation than when sleeping (2X when standing around, 8X compared to when you are actively hiking). See my notes on insulating clothing for more information including a few strategies for matching your clothing and sleeping bag / quilt to your backpacking style.
Around 2006 most companies started using the European rating system EN 13537 to describe the temperature comfort range of their sleeping bags. This includes a higher “comfort” number, and a “lowest” or “limit” rating which is how low to go where the average person won’t freeze to death but where your night will likely cycle between sleep, waking up cold, warming up a bit, and back to poor sleep. While this standard is an improvement over no standard at all, there have been a number of studies which have demonstrated there can be significant testing variance. I had hoped that this would get resolves by now, but it still seems to be an issue.
There are several high quality companies such as Western Mountaineering use their own standards for temperature rating based on real world testing by the manufacturer and by customer reports. In most cases, the company’s “rating” is more conservative than EN 13537 testing results. For example EN 13537 testing result might be 0F, Western Mountaineering might list the bag as appropriate for 20F.
According to testing done by the US army, the average person needs the listed loft to sleeping well. I have added an additional column which is the amount of loft on the top side of a Western Mountaineering bag for the specified temperature rating. Nearly everyone agrees that Western Mountaineering bags are accurate (for people who sleep cold) and conservatively (for people who sleep warm).
Effective Temp
Army
Western Mountaineering
+40F
1.5″
1.5″ (3″ total)
+20F
2.0″
2.5″(5″ total)
0F
2.5″
3.5″ (7″ total)
-20F
3.0″
4.25″ (8.5″ total)
-40F
3.5″
5″ (10″ total)
Bottom line, no standard can tell you exactly how much insulation you will need. Use ratings as a starting point, take a thermometer on trips to record your experience. As time goes on you can figure out the amount of offset you need compared to the warmth rating.
I believe goose down is in most cases the best insulation material for sleeping bags and quilts. When sleeping in temperatures below 50F, down will be lighter weight and more compactly packed than any other insulation. If properly cared for, down can last five times longer than synthetic insulation which tends to break down as it is compressed. So while synthetic is cheaper at the time of acquisition, down can be cheaper over the long term. I recommend looking for ethically sourced down which is at least 700 fill power.
If you need insulation over 50F and use a quilt, synthetic insulation will typically be lighter weight than down because the construction can be simpler. I found the combination of a piece of Alpha Direct inside a bag liner to be highly effective when it was more than 55F. My experience was written up on my poncho+liner page.
The biggest concern with down is how moisture effects performance. I was very concerned about this when I started backpacking, and selected sleeping bags which used synthetic insulation. In 2001 I decided that I was being driven by fear and switch to down insulation. I came to recognized moisture came from two sources. The first is my perspiration. In warm conditions this isn’t a big deal. When facing consistent, sub-freezing conditions this can result in your perspiration getting frozen in the insulation before it escapes. The simple solution for this is to use a vapor barrier. The second is the insulation getting wet from external sources. This can be addressed by carrying your sleep gear in some sort of waterproof bag, and only taking it out of the bag when in a space which is dry. Since I switch to using a down quilt I have very rarely gotten the quilt wet. When I have (using a tarp which was too small) the down didn’t get sufficiently wet to impact performance, and I was able to dry it a day later when the sun briefly came out.
When you can’t protect the bag / quilt from moisture it would be smart to use synthetic insulation. The big advantage of synthetic insulation isn’t so much “it’s warm while wet” but that it absorbed less water and is much easier to dry in the field. It is difficult to keep an insulating item dry when it is used as a garment while active and as insulation for sleeping such as the classic poncho liner, sometimes referred to as a woobie. The good news is that if you only need modest amounts of insulation, that synthetic ended up being about the same weight as an item made from down because more fabric is required in the down garment.
Insulation filled blankets and specially design quilts with foot pockets have become increasingly popular with backpackers. Many have noted that quilts are cheaper and warmer / weight than more traditional sleeping bags. A quilt doesn’t need a zipper. A quilt is variable girth so you can wear all your clothing for added insulation under the quilt without compressing your insulation. If you shift around at night, having your head insulation separated from the quilt removes any sense of being constrained or breathing into your hood. Downsides compared to a sleeping bag is that drafts, especially if you move a lot can be a problem, and that it will not be as constrained as a sleeping bag which means you will need a slightly larger groundcloth. In 2002 quilt had a significant warmth / weight advantage over most commercially made sleeping bags. Today quilts still have an advantage, but the gap is much smaller than it used to be due to improved designs and materials used by many manufacturers.
Sleeping bags are the most common way people stay warm in the back country. Sleeping bags come in a variety of shapes and styles. Most common among backpackers is the so call mummy bag. Mummy style bags are popular because the they minimize weight by having little wasted material and by providing a good seal around the head and shoulders to prevent heat from leaking out. Mummy bags typically list the shoulder girth which varies from 55″-70″. I have found that 62″ feels roomy as a 160lb 5’10” male, and 59” is adequate. Ideally there should be enough room to allow you to move as much as you need to be comfortable, but no more than necessary to minimize how much space you need to heat up and to minimize convection.
Top-bags are a cross between a quilt and a traditional sleeping bag. They have a sleep bag design combined with a fabric bottoms relying on the sleeping pad for insulation. The theory is that you are going to crush any insulation which is under you, so why carry it around with you. An advantage of the top bag over quilts is they cut out any chance of drafts coming in through the sides. Top bags without zippers might be superior to a quilt’s warmth / weight, but I find them too confining.
Rectangular bags are popular with some because they can be converted to a blanket or rectangular quilt and they provide a lot of room to move around.
Half bags, sometimes called elephant foot bags such as the Nunatak Akula were popularized by climbers. These looking like sleeping bags, but only cover the legs and are used in conjunction with an ultra warm jacket and hood to keep their upper body warm. Most backpacking find this system requires an insulating jacket which is too warm for normal use. Another “innovation” which hasn’t seemed to survive were sleeping bags with integrated arms which could be “worn”. Example of this were the now discontinued Lippiselk Bag, Exped Wallcreeper, and Nunatak Raku.
Recently the company Zenbivy has developed a sleep system which they claim provides to be superior to both quilts and and sleeping bags. It seems the is a slight weight penalty compared to a sleeping bag with the potential benefit of a more comfortable sleep.
As noted above there are a variety factors which can effect what sort of sleeping bag you might select. In most cases I would recommend against getting the warmest sleeping bag you can find since in most conditions you will be carrying unnecessary weight and you run the risk of overheating at night.
I believe most people will be best served by getting a light-weight mummy bag or quilt which will keep them warm enough down to 20-30 F. This will keep you comfortable in the conditions most people face on “3 season” outings and can be boasted with clothing or a liner. If you are regularly facing conditions below 10F, I would recommend having a winter bag or using an over-bag. Another approach for people are sleep outdoors in all four seasons is to use a summer weight bag which is appropriate for temperatures down to say 40F, and then use a warmer bag for the rest of the year.
Recommended Bags and Quilts
While I track general trends in the sleeping bag and quilt market, I haven’t been keeping close track of all the various models. , Cleverhiker’a best sleeping bags matches my sensibilities and is more up-to-date than a page I might maintain.
There are a few things I would either emphasis or add to their observations. First, Western Mountaineering makes amazingly high quality bags which are really “dialed in”. Feathered Friends continues to make excellent bags. Some of the best quilts made by Nunatakusa and Katabatic Gear. Cumulus makes good products at value prices. Enlightened Equipment are reasonable quality and easy to acquire. Hammock Gear is one of the best values. There is an extensive spreadsheet of quilts. BPL did a quilt survey in 2025. There top picks for performance were EE Enigma 20F Custom and HMG 20F. For value Gryphon Aries 20 and Hyberg Loner Lite 350 & 450. The also recommended the Katabatic Gear Palisade Quilt, Nemo Pulse, Outdoor Vitals Stormloft, REI Magma Trail Quilt 30, and Zenbivy Ultralight Quilt.
I m recommend selecting a quilt that can lay fully flat by the feet. Some quilts have a foot pocket which is sewn close. While this can save weight while insuring good performance in colder conditions, it makes the quilt much less comfortable in warmer conditions when you might want some cooling drafts.
Hints for Quilt Users
When using a quilt it’s important to have a warm hat since typically your head will be outside the quilt. In colder conditions, I would recommend a high loft balaclava. It may be possible to drape a quilt over your head. On several shorter trips when it was surprisingly cold I pulled my head under the quilt which gave a boast in how warm I felt. On a longer trip I would have worried about the moisture from my breath condensing in the insulation… but so far this hasn’t been a problem I have experienced.
Some people think quilts are inappropriate in colder conditions because movement can cause drafts and the colder it gets, the more the drafts will impact comfort. First, let me say that psychologically, there is something really nice about snuggling down into a warm, puffy sleeping bag which a quilt just doesn’t match… but I have found quilts work fine in colder conditions. First, a shelter system which blocks the wind (double walled tent, bivy, etc) can provide protection from winds. Additionally, quilt users are typically wearing high loft clothing as part of their sleep system which provides a second barrier against drafts. Furthermore, a quilt + clothing strategy typically results in an easier transition because you are already in warm clothing. Finally, quilts are simple, so they use less material, are less likely to fail.
There are some downsides of a quilt. First, they are more prone to drafts than a typical sleeping bag. So a sleeping bag will be warmer for weight when used by an extremely restless sleeper, especially if using a tarp in wind.
A possible downside with using a quilt is that you will be sleeping directly on a pad, which typically isn’t breathable. Some people find this unpleasant. Some people say you can’t be a side sleeper with a quilt. I haven’t had a significant problem. If you are doing this without a bivy you might sometimes run into insect problems. On one trip I was mobbed by ants. I could have mostly sealed a sleeping bag off, but there was not protection with the quilt. Confused yet? If not, you can look at a long thread arguing about quilts -vs- sleeping bags.
Couples
Couples often want to be able to sleep together. If a couple sleep close together, say spooned, they should be comfortable in temperatures which are 10-15F colder than they would be comfortable in under the same insulation without someone else. I think the best solution is a down or high loft synthetic quilt which is large enough to drape well over two people such as the original Nunatak backcountry blanket or the current Enlightened Equipment Accomplice double quilt. Thermarest Couple, Zpacks down and Sea2Summit Ember are other commercially made double quilts. Zenbivy Doublebed looks like an interesting system. You can also use a rectangular sleeping bag zipped open like Western Mountaineering’s MityLite. WM Coupler is a 1lb bottom sheet and pad holder than turns a single into a double sleeping bag. [There are lighter versions of this if you look around or willing to DIY. The most common approach is to have two sleeping bags which use the same zipper, with one bag having a left zip, and the other bag having a right zip. Personally, I have been less than happy with the sleeping bags zipped together. Zipping sleeping bags together often does not give this warmth advantage because the combination of the two bags has a tendency to billow a bit pushing warm air out. Additionally, they didn’t seal very well around the face and neck. If you place a high loft jacket around the opening that it can help the sealing problem but this has never been satisfactory for me.
In extreme cold, it is almost a given that the dew point for your night-time perspiration will be somewhere inside your sleeping bag since there is a large temperature gradient being warm on the inside and below freeze at the shell. As a result your insulation will accumulate moisture. Down bags are fine for many days but then you will find their performance dropping as they lose loft. Synthetics bags are better a maintaining loft as the accumulate moisture from condensation, but they to will also lose loft over time. Typically the most effective solution to this problem is to use a vapor barrier. A vapor barrier is a waterproof layer which is placed between your body and your insulation which prevents you perspiration from entering your insulation and helps keep your skin moist. Your skin wants to be in approx 78% humidity and will perspiration to try and retain this. You can use specially designed liner bags, wear vapor barrier clothing, or use a sleeping bag such as those from WarmLite which has an integrated vapor barrier. Since you are protecting your bag from internal moisture, I would recommend using a highly protective external shell made from eVENT or DryLoft because you want maximum protection for your insulation and the vapor barrier will protect the insulation from condensation. You could also consider using an overbag, or an insulated liner combined with whatever you use in milder conditions. There have been several threads at BPL about combining sleeping bags and/or quilts for colder conditions. I would also note there are a number of winter techniques which will help you be safe and comfortable.
Kids
I don’t have young kids anymore so I am not on top of the best options. Most kids bags weren’t particularly great. Several companies will make custom length quilts, but these will be expensive and the kids will outgrow them. We tried several kids bags and eventually settled on a Montbell Super Stretch bags which had a drawstring that let you shorten the bag in the field. When my son was young he used the shortened bag, and now it’s used in it’s full length configuration. Alas, this feature no longer seem to be present.
Low Cost
I have completely lost track of the best budget sleeping bags. Years ago the Kelty Cosmic line of Down Mummy bags have been the recent price champs. These bags were optimistic in their ratings, but were well work the money. There was a thread about quilts/bags for >=40F which included some low-cost options. I have read several reports about bags and quilts from Aegismax such as the wearable, 30oz, 32F Windheard Wearable Quilt are a good value.
Historically the three best choices are Down, Polarguard (especially 3D and Delta), and Primaloft, though Climashield sounds pretty good and will likely replace Polarguard as the most commonly use synthetic in the next few years. Each of these materials has different performance characteristics. You will need to decide the relative weighting of these characteristics to determine what insulation material will be the best for you. My preference is high fill power down in most situations. When >50F synthetic insulation can reach (if not beat) down for both weight and compression due to simpler constriction.
Down is “rated” in terms of “fill power”, that is the number of cubic inches one pound will fill. High fill power down has more down and less quills. There is a master’s thesis about a model of how down compresses. I would recommend staying away from any synthetics materials which are not Polarguard, Climashield or Primaloft since they will tend to be heavier for the same warmth and will will be less compressible. You might be interested in a message explaining why the Cocoon jacket switched from Primaloft to Polarguard Delta though there I tend to prefer primaloft because my experience matches Richard’s report on BPL (link broken) that primaloft retains more insulation that polarguard after use. The following table gives you a sense of what 30F bags would be like using different insulation:
Factor
Polarguard
Primaloft PL1
500-600 Fill Down
>800 Fill Down
Purchase Cost
<$80 (low cost) $120-180 (high quality)
$140-200
$140-200
>$250
Long Term Durability
4-7 years
3-6 years
10-15+ years
10-15+ years
~Comparative Stuff Size
2.2x
1.8x
1.4x
1x
Typical “30F” weight
2.7-3.5lb
3lb
2.2lb
1-1.5lb
Warm When Wet
Fair+ (dries faster)
Fair (absorbs less)
Poor
Poor
The are many factors that should be considered besides warmth / weight including durability, drape, and what techniques need to be used to stability the insulation. There is an interesting thread on BPL about the interplay of warmth, weight, and loft and R values and loft, and EN 13537 and “clo” measurements.. The following is the best number I have found about the clo/oz numbers for a number of synthetics fills.
Polarguard 3D, .63 clo/oz
Polarguard Delta, .68 clo/oz.
Climashield HL, .68 clo/oz.
Primaloft Sport, .74 clo/oz.
Climashield Combat, .79 clo/oz.
Climashield XP .82 clo/oz.
Primaloft One as .84 clo/oz
There is a fair amount of controversy about how important of “warm when wet” is for a sleeping bag. In truth… nothing is warm when wet. The advantage of the synthetics are they don’t absorb a lot of water so you can squeeze most of the water out of the air gaps and be back on the way to a dry sleeping experience. If down gets wet, it’s going to take time to dry (hints drying down), and you are going to be cold. The key is not to let you down bag get wet. There are new treatments which nano-coats down so that it doesn’t absorb water. This “waterproof” down isn’t waterproof, but it should behave a lot like a synthetic insulation which would be a huge improvement in wet conditions.
I recommend carrying sleeping bags / quilts in a drybag. Don’t take the bag out of the dry bag until you are somewhere where the bag won’t get wet. I used to think the getting down wet from splashing, rain, etc was an issue, but then I realized that in 30 years of camping, my sleeping bag or quilt hasn’t gotten wet enough to significantly impact the performance once. There have been several times when the shell has gotten damp, but I was able to dry it out enough in the field that it wasn’t a significant issue. I have had issues on extended trips in extreme cold… but this would effect all options. The solution is using a vapor barrier.
My dad had been using the same down sleeping bag for almost 25 years. It’s not quite as lofty as it was originally, but it’s still usable. I switched to using a down bag in 2000, and am very happy for the change.
There are some situations when I would consider a synthetic insulation: an extended trip in a location that has continuous, very damp conditions and the temperature was around freezing. If I was spending most of my time in locations in week+ long trips which were cool-cold and damp (say western Washington state) I would consider switching back to synthetic insulation.
Shaped tarps can be exceptionally light weight while providing excellent storm protection. The downside of many shaped tarps is that they way you pitch them is limited compared to a classic flat tarp. Shaped tarps come in a variety of sizes and shapes. I have a separate post about “flat” tarps. There are also a number of ultralight tarp-tents which are very similar to shaped tarps. The cost of shaped tarps will vary significantly depending on what fabric is used. While expensive, I really love dyneema, especially if I am expecting extreme conditions because it doesn’t sag / stretch when wet and is extremely strong for it’s weight.
Impact of Shape
The most classic shaped tarp is a pyramid, sometimes called a miner’s tarp, which have a square footprint. Pyramids are quick and easy to set up, and shed snow and wind well. The taller the pyramid the better it sheds snow, but a higher profile makes it more susceptible to wind. A nice variance is a pyramid which rectangular footprint which works well for solo shelters. Some pyramids use two peaks which provide significantly more usable space because the walls are more vertical. These pyramids have a profile that looks a bit like a traditional A-frame tent. Ryan wrote a short piece on the versatility of the pyramid shelter. There was an interesting thread discussing the relative merits of shaped tarps in harsh conditions.
Hex-shaped or conical structures / tipi / teepee however you spell it are superior to pyramids in terms of shedding wind and snow, but more complex to set up. One downside of a conical structure is that while they have more floor space, it’s not as useful.
Solo Shaped Shelter
The case could be made that the Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape is the more weight efficient, full protection shelter in the market. It provides triple duty of rain gear, pack cover and shelter. It’s design provides full coverage with an easy to use zipper entrance while weighting a mere 10 ounces. The only complains I have heard are that the Gatewood Cape is a bit short for taller folks and is slightly tricky to pitch taut. You can combine the Gatewood cape with the SMD Serenity NetTent for a 21oz double walled shelter.
The Zpacks Hexamid Pocket Tarp at 3.3oz might be the lightest shaped tarp on the market. This tarp can work well in moderate three season conditions, I would want something with more protection in locations that are known for their strong winds, and especially side-blown rain. Oware used to make a half pyramid called the Alphamini and a variant the BPL Alphamid Nano which were the lightest full protection shelters at just over 7oz. I found this The Alphamid Nano sets up very quickly, did well in wind, and can handle some snow. Unfortunately, when staked to the ground for maximum protection the space would be tight for anyone over 5’8″.
The MLD SoloMid XL in Dyneema (Cuben) is a 12oz, $465 solo shelter which is amazingly versatile when combined with 8oz, $245 optional bug insert. Note: there are less expensive but heavier versions of this tarp. The MLD DuoMid XL provides luxury solo accommodations during harsh weather and can be shared with another person. The only downside I found was when using the original Inner Net bug shelter I regularly bumped into the netting was couldn’t use my normal reading position which is laying out, up on my elbows. I didn’t have this problem with the tarp itself because the footprint was larger.
Multi-person Shaped Shelters
There are a number of companies that make pyramid style multi-person tarps. My favorite are Mountain Laurel Designs, due to their high quality materials and attention to detail. MLD quality comes at a cost, especially for the lightest weight options due to the cost of Dyneema. I think the MLD DuoMid XL, a two person, slightly smushed pyramid is as closest thing to a do-everything 1&2 person shelter. I have heard that Locus Gear, might now exceed MLD excellent quality and is adding some interesting twists such as using waterproof breathable eVENT in one model. Hyperlite Mountain Gear also makes very well regarded, hyper-expensive shelters. At a more reasonable cost are some of the earliest ultralight pyramids from Oware and the double peak pyramid Black Diamond Beta Light. MyTrailCo is bring back a couple of the more popular GoLite Shangri-La tarps. There are also a number of Scandinavian made tipi style shelters that I have no experience with.
Six Moon Designs and Tarptent makes a number of shaped tarps with matching nests which are not pyramids. While these shelters won’t stand up to extreme weather as well as a classic pyramid, their space is much more usable.
There are a number of companies which are making less expensive shaped tarps. I don’t have personal experience with these companies. One of the price leaders is Appy Trails. While I would preference slightly different geometries, I can’t argue with the ~$100 price point which is significantly cheaper than many of the other options. Bearpawtents also makes some reasonably priced tarps. Liteway in the UK seems to make some reasonably price polySil tarps.
There are the two pole “pyramids” which have remind me of the traditional A-frame tents with a small integrated vestibule. The MSR Twin Sisters and BD Beta Light are two examples of this. My favorite was the MLD SuperFly which is no longer made. The SuperFly provides ~40sq ft of space, and weighs 10.8oz made from spinntex, w/ netting around the perimeter weights 17oz, costs $240. The Superfly has the same footprint as the DuoMid, but the second pole makes it feel much larger on the inside. A DuoMid feels small when I am sharing it with someone else while the SuperFly feels roomy. The cost of this extra internal space is a larger surface area which will be more effected by wind and snow that a center pole pyramid. Ron Bell recommends not using the Superfly when expecting heavy snowfall. The worse conditions I have personally faced was 45 mph winds, heavy rainfall, and light snow… it did great. There is a forum thread about using the superfly in high wind.
An innovative design is the five sided MLD Trailstar which has gotten a lot of good reviews but I have no personal experience with it.
The companies Titanium Goat, Kifaru, and Seek Outside, offer pyramid or tipi shaped tarps that are specifically designed to be used with wood burning stoves. They have a heat resistant port that accepts the stove pipe. These shelters are wonderful in extremely cold locations, especially for base camps.
Poles for Tarps
Many of the multi-person shaped tarps need a pole which is longer than a typical trekking pole. It is possible to supplement a hiking poles height by using a boot jack (or a nearby rock). Black Diamond and several other companies used to make pole couplers, but are no longer sold. There was a nice thread at BPL about connecting trekking poles together. Ruta Locura makes very nice carbon fiber tent/tarp poles if you don’t using hiking poles.
Tarps are often the lightest shelter to provide protection from the environment, provides more space / weight than other options, and let you stay connected to your environment when pitched open. Tarps can often be set up in a number of ways so they can provide protection for a group of people cooking and eating and then can be pitched for maximum protection for sleeping. Tarps are particularly nice in extreme raining locations with low winds because you can create a larger space to dry out. Using a tarp can provide a sense of joy not just from having shelter, but perfecting the art of the perfect pitch.
In extremely windy conditions tarps (except shaped tarps pitched to the ground) aren’t as protective as high quality tents. Tarps also have no protection from bugs. Tarps can require more skill and time to set-up than traditional tents. In some environments such alpine destination with nothing but rocks below you, it can be difficult to find tie downs or staking points… a free standing tent or bivy might be preferable.
Some people considering using a tarp for the first time are often concerned about protection from animals: bugs, snakes, bear, etc. In the USA, most of these fear are driven by fear rather than any real danger. One way to compensate for the lack of bug & snakes protect is to use a bivy sack or bug shelter. The nice thing about a bivy is when there is little likelihood of rain it’s possible to sleep under the stars while still being protected from from the bugs.
I recommend tarps which uses sewn tie loops rather than grommets because ties are more durable. It’s best to have multiple tie loops so you can use the tarp in multiple configurations. It’s possible to add additional points to attach guy lines using gripclips or you can improvise something similar using a smooth stone which you cover with the tarp and tie off using guylines.
My Choice
Over the years I have used a variety of flat tarps including a poncho/tarp, 6x8ft, 8x10ft, 10x10ft, 10x12ft. I love using tarps… except when there is bug pressure. Then I really want a well ventilated, bug free space. As a result, I don’t use a tarp. I used original Zpacks Hexamid tarptent which is a small sharped tarp with bug netting attached for many years and now use a Gossamer Gear Whisper or a Durston X-Mid Pro2.
Flat Tarps
Flat tarps are typically rectangular in shape. They can be pitched in a variety of ways. For ideas about pitching tarps check out SGT Rock’s Tarps page and BPL’s Tarps in Inclement Conditions. If this isn’t a large enough options check out David Macpherson’s tarp structures that has a large number of designs, many of which are more complex than what would be used in the field.
Flat tarps come in a variety of sizes: 5×7 or 5×8 “solo” tarps, 8×10 or 10×10 “couples”, and even larger. I like 8×10 for solo, and 10×10 for two people. With a larger tarp you have more room to move and manage camp life, more pitching options, and the weight can often be as light, or lighter than the total weight of a small tarp + bivy that is often required.
Poncho/Tarps
Ponchos can provide triple duty: rain protection, pack cover, and shelter. In the right conditions, a poncho/tarp can save quite a bit of weight. The down side of the classic poncho / tarp is that in a serious storm there is little protection from blowing rain which leads many poncho/tarp users to bring an ultra light bivy which raises the weight of the system. The MLD Pro Poncho is one of the nicest poncho/tarps on the market with a correspondingly high price tag. Sgt Rock described a hammock friendly poncho/tarp. There are numerous other companies that make good quality poncho/tarps listed in the section “Manufacturers” found below.
An issue when using a poncho as both rain gear and shelter is how to leave your shelter for chores or “the call of nature” when it’s raining. Options are go naked and dry off when you get back, use a DWR windshirt which can provide adequate protection for a short time, or bring a second rain item like those $1 plastic emergency poncho.
For several years I used the first generation of Brawny’s Poncho Villa as rain gear and shelter. I found it works pretty well with practice. I could even set it up and take it down from the inside, keeping me dry in a on rain storm. The downside was that there were a number of nights in heavy storms where the combination of wind and rain requiring me to be super careful, re-stake my poncho, adjust my position, etc. I stayed dry, but had to stay awake. There is a good article by AYCE about the realities of Poncho Tarping and a good article about techniques when using ponchos in incidental conditions.
The Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape and the Liteway Pyraomm offer significantly more protection than typical flat poncho/tarps. I have a number of friends who have been using the Gatewood Cape since 2007 and still love it. I found the Gatewood Cape to be a bit too big as a poncho, and a bit too small as a shelter.
I think poncho tarps make sense if you don’t need insect protection and are in locations with moderate rain. In locations where there is extended rain / heavy storms I want more space to manage camp life than a poncho will provide. In locations where I need protection from bugs, there are tarptents + separate rain gear which offer more space that are the same (or lighter weight) than a poncho + bug protection.
Catenary Cuts and Beaks
Catenary cuts make it easier to get a taut pitch. If the ridgeline is catenary, you will be limited to a single optimal pitch. If the catenary curves are on the edges of the tarp, you will have more pitching options, but the tarp will have less coverage than a similar flat tarp.
Ray Jardine popularized adding an overhang, or beak, to increase the storm worthiness while being easy to pitch. An extreme variant of this is adding “doors” to the ends of the tarp.
My primary solo shelter between 2004-2008 was a Gossamer Gear Spinnshelter (my review). The Spinnshelter was a 9oz tarp using a catenary cut for a taut pitch with doors which can be shut when facing severe conditions. Unfortunately this shelter is no longer made and several companies that made similar shelters have discontinued them. Yama Mountain Gear makes makes a tarp which is somewhat similar.
Bug Protection
Often bug protection is needed when using a tarp. One common method is to use some sort of bivy which I discuss in my Bivy post. The other approach is to use a bug shelter, sometimes call a nest, net-tent, or bug bivy which is pitched under the tarp. Many of these shelters can be used stand-alone in good weather. Many of the tarp manufacturers listed below make matching bug shelters.
Manufacturers
High quality tarps are made by Gossamer Gear, MacCat (no longer made?), Oware, Rab (acquired Integral Designs), Sea to Summit, Yama Mountain Gear, and Zpacks. All of these manufacturers make excellent products. Slightly less expensive are the Campmor / Equinox tarps and Bearpaw Gear. You will find prices will vary greatly depending on the materials used.
Ground Sheets
If you don’t use a bivy or bug tent, you will need a ground cloth to protect your gear and sleeping system. I am very fond the the Gossamer Gear Polycro ground cloths because they are light, surprisingly durable, water proof, and very compact. I believe the material used in these is very similar (the same?) to what used in the 3M door or window insulation kits.
Many people like Tyvek because it is light, durable, highly water resistant, slightly breathable, and cheap. You can often find it for free at construction sites. Since Tyvek is vapor permeable, you are less lightly to end up with condensation under your ground cloth, so it will tend to pick up less particulate matter then something that is damp in the morning, The downside of Tyvek is that it’s a little bit bulky and not completely waterproof, so if you kneel down on very wet ground you might get damp.
I tried the “emergency space blankets” but found that they would last one trip before they were ripped up beyond use. I found the 2 mil plastic drop cloths sold at hardware stores worn out pretty quickly.
Finally there are light weight nylon or polyester ground clothings. They are the most expensive, heavier, but often the most durable.
One of my joys has been introducing people to backpacking and wilderness experiences. Some people love it, others just couldn’t adjust. They were too used to climate controlled environments, were scared of wild life, and wanted a modern bathroom. Other “city people” jump right in and get into the spirit of things.
TL;DR
Find a local person who can help and be an informal “guide”.
Don’t go to an outdoor store and buy “everything you need”. Check around to see what you can borrow and think about what you use in daily life that would work.
A great example of a city girl who took to backpacking was Cyndy. On her first backpacking trip (also her first real camping trip) she adapted to the backpacking life quickly. One small example. The first night she used her plate, bowl, cup and multiple utensils, and cleaned the cup between different beverages. She watched a few of us the first night. The second night she just used her bowl and a spoon, licking it clean between courses, used it for her hot chocolate, and finish up with hot tea which pretty much cleaned the bowl up. She recognized that while she might not do this at home, there were a lot less dishes to wash. Most people, enjoy the experience of backpacking, but have a few issues they need to work through. This articles attempts to identify several of the common issues that people new to backpacking might struggle with.
Find Someone Experienced
I generally recommend taking your first few backpacking trips with someone who is experienced. A live person on site is vastly superior to static advice from a web page or book. So the very first step I generally recommend is to find someone local who can help you get started. There are a number of way to go looking for experience backpackers. Personally, I favor a light or ultralight approach to backpacking. This is not yet the norm, so it take a bit more work to find someone with this sort of orientation. I would suggest checking out some of the online forums I list on my light-weight backpacking resources page. Find an online community that is comfortable and then ask who on the list is near you and interested in helping a beginner.
If you are planning to take a more traditional (heavy-weight) approach, then there are a number of ways to find experienced people.
Find the nearest outdoor / outfitting store and see what groups have posting information on their bulletin board or classes offered by the store.
Nature oriented organizations like the Sierra Club often have a backpacking section
Local adult education or park & rec departments
Women empowerment groups often run backpacking class
Regionally organized electronic communities like meetup.com will often have local backpacking groups
Are You Ready to Go?
There are two broad classes of people who are interested in learning about backpacking. The first are people who are already used to spending time outdoors and in natural settings. This would include people who are avid day hikers, serious birders, camper, outdoor climbers, or hunters. An interest in backpacking typical comes from a desire to extend time in the outdoors or reach destinations that aren’t possible without backpacking. If you are experienced with the outdoors, you will want to skim the next section or even skip it and pick up again at the Preparing for Your First Trip.
There are numerous people I have talked with in the past who have spent their entire lives in a climate control environment. They had almost no experience in the outdoors, but became interested in backpacking because it sounded interesting, exciting, challenging, or maybe romantic. If this describes you, then I would generally suggest that you work your way up to backpacking rather than jumping directly into backpacking.
Take a Day Hike
I think the first step toward exploring backpacking is getting some experience with day hiking. Start by selecting an area close by where you can take extended day hikes (~10 miles) and which might also offer the possibilities of 1 or 2 night hike-in overnighters. People in your area should be able to suggest good destinations. Take a day hike. If you have never taken a day hike before, go with someone who has some experience. Anytime you are more than a few miles into the wilderness it is recommend to carry the fourteen essentials (map, compass, sunglasses, sunscreen, extra food, water, extra clothing, flashlight, first aid kit, fire starter, matches, knife, whistle, bug protection). If you don’t know how to use a map and compass make sure you go with someone who does. Ask them to teach you, and agree never to separate.
Try Camping
If you have never been camping before, take a camping trip where you can drive up to the campsite. Get the experience of sleeping out in the open or in a tent, laying on a backpacking sleeping mat (foam, thermarest, etc) rather than on a thick mattress that you likely have at home. The nice thing about car camping is that you don’t need to worry about how heavy or big items are. So it’s easy to use items from your day to day life. You can use your kitchen pots and a portable grill to cook over. If you don’t already own a warm sleeping bag you could use a number of warm blankets or quilts to sleep under. Many people love camping… if you do, then exploring backpacking makes good sense. If you hate camping, then stick with day hikes.
Experience “Weather”
Take a long day hike when the weather is not perfect. Why? Some people have no experienced spending time outdoors when the weather isn’t pleasant. If it’s raining, activities are often postponed. When backpacking, the weather can change during the trip and you are stuck with bad weather. You don’t need to enjoy bad weather, but you need to be able to tolerate it. Otherwise stick with day hikes.
Ok… You enjoy walking in the outdoors, and you don’t mind sleeping out and getting a bit dirty. Rain doesn’t scare you. Great! It’s very likely you will enjoy backpacking.
Now is the time to get ready for your first trip. I recommend taking your first few trips with someone who is an experienced backpacker. That way you will have someone who can help you get over any problems you encounter early on when you are learning a lot. That said, it’s good to learn a bit before you go. I suggest read a book that presents a common-sense approach to backpacking. This will help you avoid many mistakes. At some point this guide will be finished and have everything that necessary to give the reader a good start. For people who hate reading, I would recommend Allen & Mike’s Really Cool Backpackin’ Book which is short, fun read with humorous illustrations. For additional options see my backpacking resources.
Planning Your Trip
Used to have a nice page about this but it somehow got misplaced. You will need to:
find a location
possibly aquire permits
arrange transportation (and make sure cars work when you return – protect hoses from marmots 🙂
The biggest joy killer I have seen has when someone didn’t have comfortable footwear. Especially bad is when someone who lives in running shoes and sandals goes out and gets a brand new pair of heavy weight hiking boots just before leaving on a trip because that’s what they are suppose to wear. They end up with monster blisters, hot and tired feet, and maybe a bruised shin if the boots are really wrong. And then they have to walk with those same feet the next day. Ugh! People should use shoes or boots that have have worn for a while before they head off into on a backpacking trip. If a pair of shoes isn’t comfortable enough to wear non stop around town for several days, they aren’t going to be good on a broken trail while carrying a backpack. As I have noted on my recommended footwear page, unless a heavy pack is being carried, trail runners (or even running shoes) are often very appropriate for backpacking.
Carry a Comfortable Backpack
One of the most common complaints from new backpackers is that the destination was great, but the hike was no fun at all. Often times, the same people who not have had any problems if it had been a day hike. What’s the different? They were carrying a backpack. This is something I understand very well from personal experience. When I was growing up, I was able to do 30 mile day hikes, but I was unhappy after 5 miles backpacking, and was dead after 10 miles. I thought that pain on the trail was the cost of getting into the back country. I was wrong… but it took more that 20 years for me to discover than I didn’t have to be in pain.
The most common issue is that a first time backpackers carry too much weight. There have been a number of studies that find carrying more than approximately 10% of a person’s lean body weight will be fatiguing. While most people can carry 30-40% of their body weight, this should not be the goal. The solutions is to carry less and to carry lighter weight items. In the next section I will address taking the right things.
The second most common issue is that the backpack doesn’t fit well. Sometimes this is because the backpacking isn’t well adjusted. Sometimes it’s because the backpacking being used is the wrong size or shape. This should be easy to catch before going on a trip. Have someone experience adjust the pack and load it up with say 10% of the persons body weight. If they notice the pack or find it annoying, try something different.
The final issue reason I have seem backpacks be really uncomfortable is because a pack is being used way beyond it’s design criteria. I have often seem people who are enamored with ultra light thru-hikers, adventure racers, etc so they pick up some ultralight backpack such as the frameless packs made by GoLite. Then these same people try to stuff 35-40lbs into said packs. What happens? Pain. Don’t carry more weight in a pack than it was design to comfortably carry.
Bring the Right Stuff
I have numerous other pages about selection light weight and performant gear. I start by helping a new backpacker make a gear list and do a “pack” check before we leave town. During the pack check we remove everything from the pack, discuss if the item is useful (removing those that aren’t) and identify anything that might be missing. I think it’s best for a pack check to be done by someone who is an experienced light weight backpacker who will be able to encourage a newbie to leave behind things that aren’t needed, without pushing the newbie too far out of their comfort zone. Hardcore ultra light backpackers are sometimes not so sensitive.
I generally suggest that people start out by borrowing or renting as much specialized gear as possible until they have enough experience to know that they enjoy backpacking and have a good sense of what they want. When purchasing I gear I strongly recommend purchasing items while are well suited for your area and weather conditions you expect to face. If you decide to wander far from home later you can buy gear designed for specific conditions at that time. Especially as you are starting backpacking, examine items you have for other activities, camping, running, kayaking and consider if they will be useful for backpacking. Many clothing or safety items work well in many contexts. Some general camping equipment works well for backpacking, but often times, camping items will be too heavy or bulky for backpacking. If you have to purchase things, do what you can to keep costs down.
I encourage experiences backpacker to hold onto some extra gear that they would be willing to loan out. I realize this is not within everyone’s means, but it is an excellent tool when trying to help people get started.
Stay Comfortable: Don’t Overheat or Freeze
A big part of staying comfortable is bring the right clothing, but understanding how activity level impacts thermo-regulation is just as important. Most people focus on staying warm enough, but when you are exercising a bigger issue is often being too warm and sweating. When doing a hard push up a hill, you need 1/4 the amount of insulation as when you are sitting around in the identical conditions. Make sure you understand how engaging in aerobic exercise radically alters how much insulation you need and that the moisture you generate while sweating can sap your energy and really chill you when your activity level drops.
Get a Good Night Sleep
Getting a good night sleep is extremely important. Even if a day was difficult, a good night sleep can make it easy to set aside the previous problems and start afresh. Many experienced folks, especially those with the mental toughness to thru-hike will say you just lay down and go to sleep. If you can’t sleep, then you haven’t worked enough during they day. But this doesn’t work for everyone, especially someone who is backpacking for the first time. It’s only natural for a first time backpacker to be a bit anxious which makes it harder to sleep.
Rather than write a lot of text here I would suggest reading my stand alone article Getting a Good Night Sleep in the Outdoors. The first section covers a number of the psychological factors I should have cover in the above section but didn’t. The second section explore what sort of foundation (e.g. pad, hammock, etc) might be needed. The final suggestion is about how to stay warm enough at night, a common problem for first time backpackers.
The following are rather incomplete notes I have made at one time or another about being in the outdoors in the face of cold, snowy conditions, with a focus on backpacking. It is not as complete as most of my posts about backpacking, though it will likely slowly improve when I stumble across something I don’t want to forget. In my youth I regularly went backpacking in extreme cold weather (e.g. daytime high 0F at best, howling winds, even colder nights). I spent several decades in more temperate winter conditions, e.g. lows between -10F and 20F, days 0-35F. Since 2015 I am doing almost no winter backpacking. My wife doesn’t enjoy it, and while I love solo backpacking through shoulder season, I find solo winter trips no fun.
I would recommend the following books as a good source of information related to winter activities.
Winter conditions can be harsh and can be dangerous. The first building blocks for a safe winter outing are basic survival skills, first aid (especially treatment of cold related injuries) and pay close attention to the weather and environmental conditions. There are a few issues which are primarily applicable in the winter.
Snow Blindness & Sun Burns: It is very easy to get a bad sun burn in the winter, especially when engaged in alpine activities. High altitudes means there is less atmosphere to filter out the suns rays. The cold weather keeps your skin cool which means you don’t feel the burn as quickly as you would in hot weather. Finally the snow will reflect a fair amount of sunlight which means overall glare is worse than it would in snow free environments, and that you can burn skin which overhead shade would normally protect (like the underside of your nose and chin).. Make sure you protect any exposed skin with sun screen. Wear sun glasses or shaded goggles with >99% UV filtering. Nothing is worse than buring your eyes and experiencing temp snow blindness. Pretty much kills the trip. Don’t take a chance, wear sunglasses.
Exposure: Often times winter conditions are cold, dry, and windy. The mildest risk is chapped skin. Worse is frostbite and hypothermia. Prevention is the best solution for these issues. In colder conditions you need to keep your skin covered and pre-heat your air. More about them below.
Avalanche Safety: You need to read the terrain and manage your risk of being caught in an avalanche. The most danger locations are on north faces on slopes which are between 30-45 degrees. Clean signs of danger of broken or bent trees, concave bowls, gullies, etc. If you need to cross high risk areas, you should send people across one at a time. Once the first person gets across, they should watch the following folks until everyone gets across. You should know properly self arrest. There is a helmet cam video of a guy going down in an avalanche which is pretty sobering.
Snow Rescue: Equipment (shovel, probe, beacon, avalung) and methodology.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Running stoves in confined spaces can be dangerous, but is sometime necessary. Butane / Propane mixed with side jets produce less carbon monoxide than other stoves. Read the five part series Stoves, Tents, Carbon Monoxide.
You body core needs to maintain a temperature of 98.6 F (plus or minus around 8 degrees). Beyond this narrow range you are in serious danger. [Reference to core temp chart]. A naked human sitting in 32F conditions would be reduced to a state that they couldn’t take care of themselves in less than 20 minutes. In 32F water this takes less than 1 minute.
Most of the following sections text is just an outline. For more content, check out BPL’s article about Thermoregulation. Additional insights can be gained by exploring the theory of heat loss and cooling and the behavior animals use to stay warm in the books Life in the Cold by Peter Marchand and Libby Walker and Winter Ecology by James Halfpenny. The book The Hot Brain by Carl Gisolfi discussion development in view of the the need of thermoregulation for the brain to function effectively. If you want to see a clear mathematical models for much of this see the open textbook Body Physics. There is an interesting paper about Thermal Efficiency of a Human Being.
Heat Generation
The two large sources of heat are “excess” heat generated as your metabolize food and heat generated as your muscles perform work. An “average” person’s base metabolism generates around 70 Kcal an hour. Heavy aerobic activity can increase this by nearly an order of magnitude. If you are getting cold, getting active can really warm you up. The activity doesn’t even need to involve large movements, simple isomorphic exercises can do the trick and minimize cooling convection that activities like jumping jacks would cause.
Both your basic metabolism and the energy for exercise is coming from the food you eat. To keep your body warm, you need to make sure you are eating enough food and are well hydrated to keep your body’s system working well. While not required, I typically recommend eating hot meals and drinking hot drinks. I think the amount of energy you get from the food’s heat is small compared to the energy packed into the food, but most people find hot food is more appetizing and gives them a psychological boast. It goes without saying that while alcohol might make you feel warmer, your will actually lose heat faster because your capillaries are more relaxed, causing more blood flow near the surface of your skin. Skip alcohol and enjoy your hot chocolate with extra cream or butter.
You can also use external sources of heat. The sun transfers around 1000watts / square meter via radiation. So standing in the sun (when it’s available) can do a lot to help you stay warm. Sitting near a fire or stove can be somewhat helpful but care must be taken not to overheat and then start to sweat. I have found chemical heating pads (typically sawdust & iron filings) provide a moderate amount of heat and can be useful. I have been disappointed with the performance of the reusable, salt based hand warmers because while providing a pleasant warmth, which could be held in my hand, the amount of heat wasn’t enough to really help when I was cold and they lasted less than two hours. There are also solid fuel hand-warmers, and hand-warmers that make use of liquid fuel like the jon-e line. The liquid fuel seemed to put out more heat. In extreme color this was my favorite type of hand-warmer but with both you need to be careful about carbon monoxide accumulation that they other handwarmers don’t have. The most common external heat source I use on a regular basis are hot water bottles. Boil water in a pot and then pour the water into a water container. I normally don’t use Nalgene water containers. Winter camping is the one exception because most light weight water containers will melt. The lightest container I have found that doesn’t melt are gatoraid bottles… but I don’t normally use them because I don’t know if the plastic is likely to leech chemicals when heated by the boiling water. The best places I have found to use the water bottle is between my legs where it can heat the blood in my femoral arteries which then warms the rest of my body.
The Bodies as a HVAC System
Blood works like a radiator system. Can be used to cool the core and warm extremities. Note: this means that if you can heat one section of the body (especially where you have a large artery, you can help warm your whole body. In colder weather the body constricts the blood vessels in extremities to reduce the speed that you lose heat. The one extremity were no constriction happens is your head. This is why wearing a hat and something to protect your neck is extremely important when trying to stay warm. There is a old saying “You feet are cold? Put on a hat”. As you can see, there is a lot of truth in that saying.
Radiation
In warm, still conditions, you you lose 50-60% of your heat through radiation. Radiation is much less of a factor in windy conditions, or in colder weather when you are wearing thick clothing layers. When wearing thick layers of clothing the radiation energy is captured by, and retained in your outer layers. 1-2 inches of material will capture most of your radiated energy. It is possible to retain a significant portion of your radiated energy through the use of reflective materials such as what is used in emergency blankets.
Conduction
Conduction cooling is when you loose your warmth by touching something. In most cases this is only an issue for your feet and sometimes your hands. You feet will be conducting heat through the soles of your shoes, and you sometimes touch items with your hands. See the clothing sections about how to protect your hands and feet. In cold winter having a foam pad to stand on can be a great help in staying warm.
Convection
You can think of convection as conductive cooling through the movement of fluids (liquid or air). You heat up the fluid, and then it moves away, pulling in colder fluids. Water is 24 times more effective at moving heat than air. This is why getting wet can be so dangerous in cold weather. This means you want to stay dry. If you get wet, your first priority should be to dry off. Convection is also why you want a good seal on the edges of your insulation layer, especially the neck. Otherwise hot air will escape through your neck which pulls color air in at the bottom, creating a chimney effect.
Evaporation/Breathing
In colder weather, <0F, the combination of evaporation from your breath and convection cooling from warming up air on the way to your lungs and they exhaling the air you just warmed can use up almost 1/2 of the energy produced by a basic metabolism. According to one scientific paper, you can lose 1/4 of your heat if engaged in heavy work with rapid breathing. Having a scarf or a 3M air warming mask can be very helpful by pre-warming incoming air and keeping the humidity up. If I was regularly facing extreme cold I would give a Polarwrap a try, but for now alternate between a PolarBuff, scarf, and 3M warming mask.
Retaining Your Heat
Two of the most important ingredients for staying warm are covered in the next two sections on having the right clothing and making sure that you have adequate shelter.
Stay Dry: Water moves heat 24x more effectively than dry air.
Use sit/standing pads: The ground is cold. If you are standing around, stand on a foam pad to minimize heat lose from the soles of your feet. If you are sitting down, sit on a foam pad.
Make good use of insulators you have: If are are careful not to get it wet, you can use your sleeping bag for more than sleeping. Get into your sleeping bag to warm up. If you are careful you can do many things such as cook from the comfort of your sleeping bag. You can wear your sleeping bag as a shawl or cape. You can wrap yourself in your foam pad.
Stay away from alcohol. Yes, your hands a feet “feel warmer”, but you are interfering with a number of body system which will keep you warm. Alcohol does significantly more harm than good. Also keep in mind that alcohol doesn’t free a 0F… so if you have alcohol which has been chilling and is below freezing, you could do yourself some real damage by trying to drink it.
At some point I might move specific information about clothing into this page. For the time being, check out my Outdoor Clothing and consider using vapor barriers. As those pages discuss, avoid sweating / don’t over insulate. Use layers. Not just your torso but also your head and hands. It’s much easier to dry out a glove system which includes a liner, a WP/B shell, and a some sort of insulated mitten with a highly breathable shell.
Western man has come to take shelter for granted. We live in houses, we often travel in cars. We are often unaware of how much protection we derive from these shelters. Even the best clothing system can’t fully protect us from extreme conditions. There are typically three types of shelters that are used in the back country:
Tents: Do not use double walled tents which have a mesh inner tent. Either use double walled tents which have a solid fabric inner tent or single walled tents to cut down airflow and keep spindrift out of your living area. You want a high vent to let moisture rich air to escape before it condenses on your tent and turns to frost. In many locations winds are much higher in the winter and you need to worry about snow load. This means you want tents that pitch very taut and have steep walls, and have sturdy pole systems. In most cases I would recommend not letting a lot of snow accumulate on your shelter. This means getting out and shoveling snow. Not the most fun, but you just need to do it.
Tarps: Pyramid, Hex, or Tipi shaped tarps can work well. Some are made to function with small stoves. You can dig out the “floor” for extra room. You should bury the edges to seal out the wind if it doesn’t have a snow skirt. Note that during heavy snows, the snow tends to slide down the slides of pyramids and accumulate which will slowly collapse the edges of your shelter unless you shovel it off.
Snow Structures: It can be significantly warmer in a snow cave or igloo than in a tent. You should know how to dig a snow cave. There is a book (which I haven’t read) about How to Build an Igloo.
Know how to use snow anchors and other ways to Ditch Your Stakes (Mike Clelland)
I have a few reviews and more information on my Winter Shelters page.
Managing water supply. Pre-form snowballs you can drop into the pot. Hot water bottles at night are morning seed water. Black dromedary bag in sun to conserve fuel. Add snow to bladder inside your jacket if snow is clean for daytime water without boiling.
how to dry clothing in winter (link broken content not in archive.org) included lots of good tips. some I recall socks over your shoulders when walking, or by your stomach when in your sleeping bag. wrap damp clothing around a sealed hot water bottle
stoves: in many cases you will be melting snow for water. this will take a lot more fuel and you really want a larger pot. butane in canister stoves liquifies at 31F. You can use upright stoves colder than that if you keep the canister warm (like inside your jacket). Now that PowerMax fuel canisters are gone, I generally recommend liquid fuel for extreme cold.
Various Hints
Some of these should be incorporated into the sections above
In extreme cold always wear liner gloves. When it gets really cold your skin can “stick” to metal which is very unpleasant. If you are always wearing liner gloves this won’t happen
Traveling in deep snow (except when skiing where the ratio between up and down isn’t skewed toward up) will be much slower than “hiking” and takes more energy. Plan accordingly.
Big rocks and trees can hold warmth compared to freezing air. In deep snow you will often find yourself postholing more than normal near them.
There is a lot less daylight in the winter than summer. You will likely be in your shelter, awake longer than during the summer. You will likely be using artificial light more than summer trips and cold weather affects batteries.
Use external battery packs for your lights so the batteries can stay warm under your coat.
If you need to go to the bathroom, do it, don’t wait around. Bring a pee bottle so you don’t have to go far. Mentioned in Going to bed… but it’s worth repeating. Some people recommend pouring out the pee bottle immediately so it won’t get too full and you don’t run the risk of it freezing. When you do dump out your pee bottle be consistent were you dump it some you don’t use that area for snow to be melted into water.
Before you go to bed fill a pot with snow and then make a number of snowballs and leave them by the door so getting water in the morning is as easy as possible.
Take only freeze dried food. Anything that has any moisture will freeze really solid in extreme cold.
Don’t forget that food won’t spoil, so feel free to bring butter, etc which you can melt into your foods.
Tent poles can freeze together. You might need to warm them up to separate them. I have normally used the backwash from a stove. Jerry Goller claims that if he gets a mouth full of warm spit putting the pole in his mouth warms it enough to come apart. I am not going to try this until I hear a number of people say this works without freezing their face.
Expect snow storms so make sure you know where things are in case a snow storm covers them up. Items like skis, poles, snowshoes should be placed into the snow standing up rather than lying down so they are easier to find.
Never wear so much insulation that you feel hot or start to sweat. If you are starting to feel warm ventilate, remove a layer, or drop your activity level. Realize that then engaged in heavy work you need 8x less insulation as when you are asleep, and less than 4x the insulation when you are gently walking around.
Know the early signs of hypothermia and be on the lookout. Once you are fully hypothermia you will typically no longer be thinking clearly enough to recognize the signs.
If in sub freezing temperatures for extended times, either use a vapor barrier liner or an over-quilt which is sufficiently warm to shift dew point into the quilt, beyond your down sleeping bag.
Even when it is below freezing, putting you sleeping bag in the sunlight (protected from the snow underneath) can warm it up enough to release accumulated moisture. It’s good to have the inside black color.
Don’t trust that other people’s footprints are a safe trail. I have found people are not great at navigating and just because someone has taken a route doesn’t mean it is a good one. Use your map and compass (or GPS).
Put your boots under your pillow or in a sealed in a waterproof bag in your bag to keep them from freezing. This isn’t so much to avoid the discomfort of putting your feet into something cold as much as if your boots freeze solid, it may be nearly impossible to get your feet into them.
If you are using vapor barrier socks during the day, make sure your feet get to dry out overnight in your sleeping bag.
Float: How many square inches of surface space your snowshoes have. Powered needs the most float. Ice or hardpack need little or no float.
Traction: The harder the snow (or ice), the more you need traction features. Most snowshoes have crampon like teeth under the ball of your foot. Some have teeth under your heel, some turn the whole frame into traction (MSR Lightning).
Weight -vs- Float: all things being equal, get the lightest snowshoes you can find.
Binding: My experience is that the binding don’t make that much of a difference unless you are spending the majority of your time traversing an extended hillside. On long traverses in the same direction having a more ridged binding that keeps you foot positioned seems to take a bit less energy.
Interesting Snowshoes
http://www.northernlites.com/ – lightest but not the best in situations which need high traction (of course, in those situations you could switch to crampons
When I started to ski a lot the Olin Mark IV the hot ski! In 2005 I discovered modern shaped skis. They rock! This dates me and indicates that I wasn’t following ski trends 🙂
Goggles… I typically either use DIY glacier glasses or very traditional downhill ski goggles. There are a variety of high performance sun glasses (many with interchangable lens) that provide basic protection. There are several light weight options for people wanting more protection than wrap around sunglasses: