Winter + Lack of Knowledge = A Deadly Combination

If you've been watching the news lately you already know that winter is upon us in a very serious way. In the northern states, it's not one of those 50 degree, t-shirt wearing winters...it's an ice covered tree, snow past your past your ankle, wind chills below 0 degrees type winters.

Recently a few hikers attempting a 10 day hike through  Great Smokey Mountain National Park had to be rescued after day one of their 10 day trip. (Click here to watch a video of the hikers recount their rescue on the Appalachian Trail)  These three hikers did not make it to their first shelter and were forced to spend the night in the snow. I have never been in a situation like this and I hope I never will. If you watched the video, you know by now that these men had no backup shelter, were only a few miles away to their intended shelter, and burned their spare clothes for warmth. I know I would have done things differently if I were them and I bet you are saying the same thing too...

Through research and personal experience I've learned a few tricks to staying warm on a cold night.

1. Heat up 1 liter of water and pour it into a Nalgene. Bundle up in sleeping bag and place Nalgene in sleeping bag (typically by feet). On a really cold night, I went to bed with 2 warm Nalgenes bottles, one by my feet and one by my stomach as I curled up in the fetal position around it.

2. Do jumping jacks before getting into sleeping bag. Or do sit-ups while in sleeping bag. It doesn't really matter what you do, just as long as it gets the heart pumping and the blood flowing.

3. Eat something! The human body needs to burn calories in order to produce heat.

4. Get comfortable with wearing layers. The days of wearing heavy, bulky jackets and pants are nothing more than a distant memory. If the term base layer, insulation layer, or shell confuses you, watch this quick video on the basics of layering.

5. While I am on the subject of clothes...Put on more clothes. Extra clothes does no good if it is balled up in your stuff sack. While hiking in the Smokies this spring, the temp dropped and to stay warm one night I resorted to wearing everything in my backpack to bed.

6. If you own a down sleeping bag, do not cover your head with the sleeping bag. As you exhale you will create moisture, leading to a wet spot on your sleeping bag.

7. Check weather forecasts for the area where you will be hiking/spending the night...not the closest town 20 miles away and 3000 feet below. To check the weather forecast at shelters on the AT click here.  The link will provide you a week long forecast from NOAA.

8. This one should be obvious...cover your head. A lot of body heat is lost through your head.

9. Get to know your neighbor. On cold nights, I like sleeping in the shelter so I can curl up between two people and absorb their body heat.

10. Do not put one of those emergency bivy bags over a down sleeping bag and go to bed. I did this once...It was great for about six hours but without thinking about all the condensation that will be trapped inside of the bivy, I woke up at 4AM in a soaking wet sleeping bag, freezing my bum off.

There are many more ways to stay warm on a cold night. Use any of these 10 tips as a starting point.