Does wearing more clothes make your sleeping bag warmer for cold weather and winter camping?

Some of the gear I use:

Eddie Bauer Sandstone Backbone Grid Hoodie Softshell - 16.9 oz / 480 g
Mammut Alugator Light Shovel - 16.6 oz / 475 g
MSR Front Range Pyramid Tent - 28.7 oz / 814 g
Thermarest NeoAir XTherm MAX ground pad - 25.8 oz / 731 g
Marmot Lithium -18C Sleeping bag - 47 oz / 1333 g
MSR Whisperlite International Stove - 13.7 oz / 388 g
MSR Titan 2L Kettle - 6.8 oz / 193 g
Fenix HM50R Headlamp - 2.7 oz / 77 g
Garmin inReach Mini Satellite Communicator - 3.4 oz / 96g

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Can you increase the temperature range of your sleeping bag? Using clothes in your bag is an old ultralight backpacking trick to save weight - but does it really work? This winter camping and cold weather backpacking question for how to stay warm at night never gets old.

6 pieces of winter camping gear that you need in the backcountry

How to pitch a tent in the winter:

What it's like to camp in the spring with winter conditions up in the alpine environment of the Canadian rocky mountains:

Check out my sub 20 pound late season/early winter ultralight gear list:

Check out my cold wet weather backpacking footwear and boot system:

One of my recent "failed" trips in winter conditions with wet snow and below freezing temperatures - these are when you really learn what you and your gear can handle!

#backpacking #hiking #wildcamping #ultralightbackpacking #gear

[SarahisaBird]

Hade a thermo sleeping bag 3:11 . 1 did it in the summer and the winter. If you go to bed without clothes in the winter, it's truly better.

[robbrown]

My belief is that the extra layers are holding the moisture that your body is releasing & not wicking it outward. Selecting a specific type of insulation is key. Tightly woven nylon is nice to prevent conductive heat loss, but at the same time it prevents moist air from passing through at greater release rates.

[jpriddle]

An additional strategy is to focus on additional insulation/warmth at the extremities. Keeping feet, hands and head warm helps the core regulate body temp more efficiently, thus for a longer period of time.

Another concept I’ve experimented with and had success is allowing some heat to pass into the space inside my quilt/bag. Particularly when I am wearing a lot of insulating layers trapping warmth next to skin. Then the air between my layers and the quilt is cooler and gives the feeling of being cold. Unzip a jacket a little to dump some heat and spread more uniformly within the bag.

[cooperativeconsumption]

There may be a limit to this. I once wore my one-piece down mountaineering suit inside my -30C down sleeping bag. I swear it was colder than without the suit. And I have close to 100 winter nights in that bag to compare with. Perhaps the two layers of down were compressing each other? The suit wouldn't have had too much moiture in it either because we weren't actually on a climb.
The suit was a vintage, but freshly washed, Mountain Equipment (the UK brand) and the bag was an MEC Thor Windstopper -30 which i would describe as neither narrow nor roomy as far as mummy bags go. The suit's previous owner wore it to the North Col of Everest so perhaps there was some cold stuck in it :)
Love your content. Keep it up.

[retiredpd]

That makes a lot of sense, I think you're on to something 👍👍

[praktika]

I like how you don't pull your punches.

[SarahisaBird]

It's not old live's tale. It's true I've been through it and you take off all your clothes and get in my suit and bag and I guarantee it'll be warm for the night

[joshjspice]

I disagree about not being warm during sleep while winter camping. I've slept at 30 below F ambient temp and was toasty cozy for 10 hrs. Anyway, YES, regarding the clothing inside the bag. Exactly - any amount as long as it's even(ish) across your entire body. Cheers!

[LETSGETUTILIZED]

What are you talking about? You can sleep warm and comfortable in freezing weather, even negative temperatures if you have the right equipment.

[billpetersen]

I learned that fast, testing my new, Klymit sleeping pad.

[douglascutler]

A couple of hot rocks from the fire wrapped in a towel tucked inside your sleeping back. One at your feet, one at your chest. Warm? Done. OK, now you mention the warm water bottle. Much the same thing.

[wildchild]

Using your home thermostat anaplogy:

Sleeping in a lesser rated bag with layers on in like you not turning the heat on and just letting the insulation in the walls keep the cold air in. Meanwhile, the heat your body produces gets trapped in your layers and can warm the air in your bag. This results in you being sweaty and your bag does it’s job of insulating but instead of getting warmer, you’re getting colder.

TLDR: don’t add too many layers, base layers with a fleece and sweatpants in a good bag will get you anywhere

[opelfrost]

'sleep naked, that's just stupid' lol, love how it's said

[crabman]

I woke up at 3 am and my sleeping bag was ice cold and I was naked because I believed this myth about the sleeping bag being warmer when you have no clothes on, so I had to put my ice cold clothing on one piece at a time and get a fire going with some gasoline because frost was settling on everything. Then I waited for the sun to come up and i had a lot of time to think about this dumb idea of stripping down to stay warm.

[tomnoyb]

Sleep only with the thinnest layer; pull insulating clothing on top. Restricted movement is the problem, along with regulating temperature. Ask, what is the comfort band for sleep? Most are comfortable at 83° ±5° near body. At home, some like to set thermostat to 72° with a blanket to raise near-body temperature to 83° ±5°? Others like 76°-thermostat with a sheet to achieve the same 83° ±5°? Outdoors, achieving that narrow-band of comfort is made much more difficult by wearing insulation layers. Remember, too hot is much more dangerous than too cold and unlike home, ambient temperatures fluctuate outdoors.  (more...)

So if one is ever comfortable wearing all that clothing at the coldest ambient temperature, they are sure to overheat at some point during the night? Sloughing-off or pulling-up a puffy to/from the side is easy and without disrupting sleep; taking a puffy off is not.

[EdwardHurst]

One way is too buy - 20 sleeping bag or colder & 4 season sleeping mat

[jeffreypascontent]

The more layer/cloth you wear the warmer you are, period. Some people pretend the opposite, it is against plain simple logic. You carried your puffy in your backpack, it would be stupid not to wear it if you feel cold.

[backtoeden]

never put all of your ecw clothing on when in the bag, this will cause issues with convection and conduction, youll either eventually end up too hot and sweat in the bag and compromise your kit, or you wont be able to get warm quick enough and wonder why you're still freezing in the bag with all your warm kit on, best to go in with base layers, and fresh pare of socks, wiggle and move untill you feel your extremities are at a comfortable temp, never breathe inside the bag, zip and pullm it tight leaving your moth and nose exposed to combat condesation in the bag,

[cooperativeconsumption]

There may be a limit to this. I once wore my one-piece down mountaineering suit inside my -30C down sleeping bag. I swear it was colder than without the suit. And I have close to 100 winter nights in that bag to compare with. Perhaps the two layers of down were compressing each other? The suit wouldn't have had too much moiture in it either because we weren't actually on a climb.
The suit was a vintage, but freshly washed, Mountain Equipment (the UK brand) and the bag was an MEC Thor Windstopper -30 which i would describe as neither narrow nor roomy as far as mummy bags go. The suit's previous owner wore it to the North Col of Everest so perhaps there was some cold stuck in it :)
Love your content. Keep it up.