How Cold is Too Cold?

[Dogwood]

Winter is perfect for night hiking, though. Snow-covered ground on a clear moonlit night... you can see your way without a headlamp just fine. It's quiet unlike any other kind of quiet.

There you go. Dont camp for such long hrs sitting around you all get antsy. Once camp is set up go on a short hike to an overlook, waterfall, etc. Don't arise so early in the morn,sometimes. Sleep in. Start late. Hike late, well after sunset. Once it gets very cold in winter it becomes more obvious whom gravitates towards camping(sitting around) compared to those inclined to be hikers(movers). Winter hiking is a great time to be out especially with some snow and ice, iced up escarpments and waterfalls, crystal clear skies, the only sounds being snow crunching underfoot, our own breathing, the occasional snow laden branch plopping like icy cotton candy out of trees, and wildlife, winter nocturnal wildlife. Awesome. It's made better when it's night time.

[Five Tango]

For me,nightime temps not lower than freezing and daytime temps at least 50 degrees or more but not over 94F or so.Once the heat index starts pushing 100 I have to tap out.

[Slo-go'en]

There you go. Dont camp for such long hrs sitting around you all get antsy. Once camp is set up go on a short hike to an overlook, waterfall, etc.

I skied into the Pemigewasset wilderness on a full moon night. Set up camp, got into my bag, eat dinner. As the moon got higher and lit up the woods, had to go out and ski around. It was beautiful. And cold. Got back to the tent an hour or two later, all sweaty and had burned up dinner. Froze my butt off the rest of the night since I didn't have another change of clothes or more food and the bag which I didn't re-stuff was now ice cold. It was a -15 or -20 that night. At first light, I packed up and got the heck out of there and it took a long time warm myself up again.
So, if you get the urge to go wandering around at night, be sure you have extra food and clothes!

[TwoSpirits]

I can be comfortable sleeping down to a few degrees below 0. However, the absolute worst part of being out in that kind of temp is the duration of the night. In my part of the world, it is dark before 5 PM in the woods. the little fire you can scratch up is not going to put out any more heat than a sparkler.

Yes -- this is a big one. Even if I have a nice fire in fair temps, staying out of my bag & tent for too long can chill me for the rest of the night.

[TwoSpirits]

The expansion cracks booming and vibrations were the eeriest.

This brought back great memories! Grew up in Minnesota, and can remember hearing the lake "boom" at night. At least once I was out skiing with my brother when the lake cracked right beside us. Eerie indeed, and a memory I'm glad to have.

[TwoSpirits]

I skied into the Pemigewasset wilderness on a full moon night. Set up camp, got into my bag, eat dinner. As the moon got higher and lit up the woods, had to go out and ski around. It was beautiful. And cold. Got back to the tent an hour or two later, all sweaty and had burned up dinner. Froze my butt off the rest of the night since I didn't have another change of clothes or more food and the bag which I didn't re-stuff was now ice cold. It was a -15 or -20 that night. At first light, I packed up and got the heck out of there and it took a long time warm myself up again.
So, if you get the urge to go wandering around at night, be sure you have extra food and clothes!

This. Sounds. Miserable.

[Leo L.]

...
Better bring a bottle to wiz in when it’s that cold.

Best advice!

And empty the bottle as long as the contents are liquid.

[Puddlefish]

The warmer it is inside, the harder it is to head outside.

[Dogwood]

I skied into the Pemigewasset wilderness on a full moon night. Set up camp, got into my bag, eat dinner. As the moon got higher and lit up the woods, had to go out and ski around. It was beautiful. And cold. Got back to the tent an hour or two later, all sweaty and had burned up dinner. Froze my butt off the rest of the night since I didn't have another change of clothes or more food and the bag which I didn't re-stuff was now ice cold. It was a -15 or -20 that night. At first light, I packed up and got the heck out of there and it took a long time warm myself up again.
So, if you get the urge to go wandering around at night, be sure you have extra food and clothes!

And, here you are relating that beautiful memorable experience, recalling what you might have done differently making the next time better, and not merely bitching about that bored time you had in camp because of the long in camp hours.

[gpburdelljr]

The conditions described in Jack London’s short story “To Build a Fire”, is definitely “too cold”.

https://americanenglish.state.gov/fi...ild-a-fire.pdf

[Hikes in Rain]

Great story! Thanks for linking the download.

[TwoSpirits]

Wow -- a great blast from the past! Thanks!

[Slo-go'en]

I wonder how those dudes from Alabama are doing here in the Whites? It's headed towards 10 below tonight, last couple of nights have been near or below zero. But the days have been clear and sunny and in the teens to low 20's in early afternoon. We might not get the weekend slush storm after all. That would be good.

[BradMT]

My ancestors have a saying: "There is no bad weather, just bad clothing," and “Adventure is just bad planning.”

So the question is, even with solid experience, conditioning, and the best equipment, do you really want to subject yourself to given conditions on a given day?

When I was younger I loved being out overnight in deep snow, below zero. Now, I find it a chore. So I guess "how cold is too cold" is something on a slippery, sliding scale... so the answer for me is "it depends!"

[Leo L.]

Just having recovered from a really bad desease, I'm more eager to go outdoors since ever.
This thread about "how cold is to cold" gave me the idea to go out for an overnighter in what seems to be perfect weather that could be called cold:
Lots of snow up the mountains, daytime temps -10°C (10F), night forecast -15°C (5F) in the valley, maybe 5°C less up the mountains.

We had an invitiation for brunch at our friend's place (10 miles away in the nex valley) for Sunday, so I packed up and started Saturday 7PM hiking up the mountain using a ski pist. Ended up in a saddle at 10:PM at the designated camp spot.
Set up camp by compressing snow to a large even area, spreading the groundcloth, spanning the poncho tarp by means of an old log and the ski poles. Used two pads (a thick expedition-grade CCF and my Thermarest) and finally was in the sleeping bag at about 10:30PM.
Had a few hours of restful sleep, but around midnight a heavy southerly wind picked up (luckily from the backside of the tarp) that pressed and slapped the tarp hard and threw chunks of snow from the surrounding trees onto me so it was like in the middle of a bad snowball fight.
Not much sleep for several hours. Just managed another hour in dreamland right before dawn.
While I had never been really cold, there were some cold spots here and there, where I had slipped off the pad or the tarp was pressing to hard on the bag, that needed to be managed.
Hardest part was to get up in the morning and out into the stiff cold wind and snowdrift.
Luckily the bag is wide enough that I could put on all my hiking clothes inside the bag, just for the boots I had to finally get out.
It was a painful 30 minutes work to untangle all the cords on the tarp and pack everything up. The pad (both, the Thermarest and the thick CCF) are very stiff in the cold and unwilling.
When I was done my fingers were beyond feeling, but the pain when they came to later was excrutiating.
I continued down the steep slopes on the other side of the mountain, the wind subsided and the pale morning sun gave some warmth.
It took me longer than expected to our friend's place, all the way breaking trail, but managed to be there just in time with the other guests.

When my stomach slowly filled with delicious food and much-desired coffe, I finally fell silent and was on the brink of falling asleep.

Did everything work? Absolutely!
Was it a great adventure? Yes!
Would I do this for a multiday-hike? No!
Being out and up in the mountains in such conditions is adventure and survival training, but not hiking as its commonly understood.

[Portie]

I used to be a winter camping ranger for the Boy Scouts. I've slept overnight at -20 under a tarp with no problems. It's cold, but it's a dry cold. Worst winter camping was 30 degrees and raining.

About the long nights: I tried to stay up until 8:30pm, and then got up well before dawn (1 hour) to cook breakfast and start packing up the sled. Even with that many hours in the bag, it's hard to feel fully rested in the morning.

[KnightErrant]

As a southerner... y'all're crazy. xD

On my thru the coldest night was around 20*F and I was not pleased. I waited to start the trail until the middle of April specifically to avoid that nonsense! I had appropriate gear, but I did not find it enjoyable. On a thru-hike simply due to the time involved, I knew I was likely to encounter cold weather at one end or the other, and it was worth it to me because of the larger goal of the hike. But for just a weekend trip where I want to enjoy the experience itself, I'll go when the weather forecast is for above-freezing temps, and for any future LASH, that will be June or September for me, thank you! This Floridian is not about squeezing into frozen boots!

Funny how we humans adapt. I am not interested in suffering through the cold if there isn't another really appealing aspect of the trip. I don't think twice about heat. Meanwhile, my close friend lives in Wisconsin and constantly mocks me for being a pansy in the cold, and then one summer day she told me "I'm not going to ride my horse today because the temperature is in the EIGHTIES, I can't do that to him." I had to laugh, because I worked for three years on a horse farm outside Orlando, Florida, and if we didn't ride when it was in the 80s, we would ride about three months a year.

[TwoSpirits]

Yep -- once temps get into the mid-80's, I'm getting uncomfortable. I avoid hiking during most of the summer for just that reason.

Friends in the southwest have invited me there, with the old saying that "it's a *dry* heat!"...well so is my oven, but I don't enjoy standing in front of it!

[Traveler]

Yep -- once temps get into the mid-80's, I'm getting uncomfortable. I avoid hiking during most of the summer for just that reason.

Friends in the southwest have invited me there, with the old saying that "it's a *dry* heat!"...well so is my oven, but I don't enjoy standing in front of it!

It's a dry cold, so it evens out.

[Tipi Walter]

How Cold is Too Cold? For me personally and with the gear I carry I reach my limit at -30F---a number rarely encountered in the mountains of NC and TN---although more common on Mt LeConte and Mt Mitchell and the highest elevations.

Anyone remember the Arctic Outbreak of January 1985? I was living out of a backpack in the woods around Boone NC and the cold snap pushed the area down to -30F (Knoxville reached -24F)---my sleeping bag and clothing gear at the time could get me down to about -20F. So I did what any cold loving idiot would do---I packed up my kit and went to the opened First Baptist Church on King St in Boone and slept under a church pew for a couple nights.

accuweather.brightspotcdn.com.jpg

It's common to see -10F temps in January/February here in the Southeast mountains---but with a good 4 season tent and an overkill down bag and good all leather boots there's not much to it.

When things get really bad I'll set up a Squat Station and hunker in for the duration. Severe Cold is such a storm---as are Blizzards bringing in deep snow.

These two beasts determine how tough a winter trip will be---Severe Cold and/or Deep Snow. Remember, the Blizzard of '93 paralyzed the Eastern US and those of us out backpacking at the time---and it hit during Spring Break on March 12/13. My buddy Hoppin John was on a trip in the Smokies and stayed at a trail shelter for 4 or 5 days until he was forced to leave on a helicopter---and went back later for his pack and gear.

Every couple years here we have a Polar Vortex or an Arctic Rectum or whatever else they call it---and temps plunge to -10F or -15F for several days---with or without snow. I remember in Jan 2014 we had a polar vortex and I made my stand on Brookshire Creek trail(BMT) where I sat put for 3 nights/4 days to wait for the temps to rise from about -12F to 0F so I could pack up and cross the next couple creeks in bare feet and crocs. Ouch. Here's my camp during that cold snap---

TRIP 152 118-XL.jpg

Point is, you've got to know where to Make Your Stand and where to hunker in. And pull a "Frazier" if need be---stay in one spot and make 2 days of food last 12---What Steven Frazier did in Yosemite when pinned in his tent by a surprise 2 foot snowstorm.