Camping at -40C – How I made the perfect sleeping bag
Winter camping is serious business. Unlike summer camping, an unsuitable sleeping bag for winter camping can be disastrous. Well prepared and you will sleep like a baby.
The most important piece of equipment to have is a very good sleeping bag. If you’ve been checking prices lately, you’ll soon realize that you can pay more for a good bag. A high-quality down-filled sleeping bag will easily cost $395.
There are all kinds of opinions about what type of bag is better. For the sake of argument, I’ll tell you about an experience I had with a winter camp on Cape Breton Island a few years ago.
I had an old war surplus bag filled with down that was lightweight. I couldn’t get warm at any temperature. When it got wet, it took days to dry. I decided if I was going to try camping in any weather I would get something that would actually work well.
While shopping at a vendor that sold make-your-own-gear kits, I saw a sleeping bag kit that looked like it could do the job. The insulation was Hollofil, an artificial fiber that was easy to dry out. While I was at it, I ordered enough Thinsulate to allow me to add a layer to the top and bottom of the bag.
With all the material at hand and the pattern before me, I set out to build the best possible sleeping bag. My wife was not very happy as I managed to break all the sewing machine needles in the house. A trip into town for more, and many hours later the best sleeping bag lay on the kitchen table for all to see. The amazing part of this exercise was that I had never used a sewing machine in my life.
I could tell you many stories about my perfect bag but this one will tell you how it was.
It was midwinter in Cape Breton. Many feet of snow covered the Cape Breton Highlands in a deep blanket and we were caught in a very deep cold snap. Up in the Highlands, the temperature reached minus 40°C. My friend and I went skiing for two days. We would ski to a snowmobile cabin about eight miles away. The cabin was equipped with a wood stove and a gas stove and some bunk beds.
We soon took up the task of skiing down the mountain path and found the temperature cold but bearable. We got to the cabin around 4 pm. Just before dark I suggested that we should sleep outside in the snow. Kenny looked at me like I’d gone completely crazy. I was serious and I went out and not far away I hit a deep depression in the snow. Then I covered the depression with a layer of fir bows and lined the bottom with the same.
After a hearty meal, we headed out to our dens. Kenny had a nice bag full of down. We settled in for the night with the temperature remaining at just -40C. After about an hour, Kenny was freezing and headed for the warmth of the cabin. I slept like a baby, warm and comfortable in my homemade bag. It worked perfectly. I could hear trees creaking through the night as the temperature continued to drop.
Morning came and I tried a trick I learned in the service years before. I got up, put on my boots and, dressed only in my underpants, went out for a short walk. Five minutes later I put my clothes back on and found it very nice and comfortably warm. The outer surface of your body will cool down and this will make your clothes feel warm.
I used my homemade sleeping bag for years and it gave me 110% satisfaction forever. Check out the idea of making your own sleeping bag. You will be surprised at what you could produce.