Sleeping Warm in a Tent
I sleep cold when I’m backpacking and I always thought it was just because it’s cold out in the wilderness and my body has trouble regulating its temperature. But, after a couple really scary experiences thinking I was going to die because I couldn’t get warm, I realized that that is not normal and I needed to figure out what I was doing wrong and what I could change.
Below are four lists of things you can do to stay warm while backpacking. The first is a list of important things you ought to bring on your trip. The second list is things you should be doing during the day. The third is what you should do as the day starts winding down and the sun starts to set. The fourth list is what you should do after you’ve gotten into your tent for the night and before you fall asleep. The last list is last ditch efforts that if all of your other preparations didn’t work and you’re still freezing, you ought to try.
The first four lists are things that I recommend doing on all backpacking trips, just as a matter of principle. If you are using the last list on every trip, you’re doing something wrong and need to change something for the future, because if you are regularly getting into a position where you are concerned you might die of cold, that’s really bad.
Edit: I don’t know when I started writing this post, it might have been almost a year ago! But I started it up again so that I could help my employer, UCSB Adventure Programs, get some more online content during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
Things to pack
This first is a list of important things you ought to bring on your trip that will help you keep warm. These really aren’t optional.
- Layers: make sure, at the least, you have several layers on your core and something to cover your head; the best materials are fleece, down and thermals, but some synthetic materials can also be warm (if a little heavier)
- Smaller tent: the smaller your tent, the less air space your body has to heat up.
- Well rated sleeping bag: you want your sleeping bag to be rated to a temperature much lower than the coldest it could possibly get on your trip because the rating only implies the temperature you could survive at, not the temperature you could comfortably sleep at
- High R value sleeping pad: the R value signifies how warm it will keep you relative to other pads; foam pads tend to have lower R ratings, but they are lighter weight and tend to last longer than blow up pads; if you stack a pad on another, you can add the R-values together
- Smaller sleeping bag or mummy shape: again, the less air space to heat up, the warmer you will be, faster
- Bivy sack: this is like a waterproof and windproof sleeping bag for your sleeping bag
- NO COTTON: cotton doesn’t dry easily and doesn’t hold much heat in
- Fleece/thermal long underwear tops and bottoms: unless you sleep hot (which, clearly, if you’re reading this post, you don’t), you want your base layer to be as warm as possible
- 3 or 4 season gear: look for gear that is made for at least 3 seasons; four is better if you’re going anywhere cold or rainy
- Emergency blanket: you can wrap it around you or hang it above you in the tent to reflect back body heat
- A pair of sleep socks: these are sacred and can only be worn to bed–this will keep them dry and clean so that they will keep you warmer at night; I’ve recently learned around my house that if I put socks on I’m much, much warmer (even though I hate socks)
- A dry bag for your sleeping bag/sleep layers: this is a must, because if your sleep system gets wet, you’re pretty much screwed
- No clothes that cut off circulation: you want your clothing to be well fitting, not huge because that will let a lot of cold air in and be hard to heat up, but also not tight, because it will prevent blood circulation which is how your body stays warm
During the day
This second list is things you should be doing during the day while hiking and adventuring to prepare yourself to stay warm at night.
- Stay hydrated during the day: women will want to drink at least 3 liters a day and men 4, maybe more depending on how hot it is out; you can make markings on your water bottle to see how much water you’re drinking throughout the day; it’s actually pretty surviving all of the ways that staying hydrated can save your life and keep you happy and healthy 🙂
- Snack all day: keep your metabolism fed as you burn energy all day; my hiking partner Blake told me that I needed to eat more all day, doesn’t matter if I don’t feel hungry, if I am hiking upwards of 20 miles in a day with a pack at high altitude, my body is burning energy like crazy–this works!
- Choose a good campsite: don’t camp in super exposed areas on hill tops/etc or near bodies of water, which always lower surrounding air temperature, or at the base of a valley where cold air sinks and often becomes a wind tunnel
- Eat lots of carbs and foods high in fat: hiking hard and in winter, you need a lot of calories to keep warm
- Make sure your tent is guyed out properly to avoid wind: trust me, you don’t want to feel cold air brushing over you all night, nor do you want to hear your tent flapping violently in a gale
- Don’t get sun burnt: you might feel warmer afterwards, but actually your body is sending a lot of energy to your skin to heal it, so you’re actually losing all of that heat because it encounters the outside world
- Bomb shelter: create dead air space in your tent by removing all possibility of air getting in
As the sun starts to set
This third list is what you should do as the day starts winding down and the sun starts to set.
- Don’t let yourself get cold: layer up the moment the sun starts going down, wash yourself only when its hot out and you’ll have plenty of time to dry off before the sun is past its peak
- Go to the bathroom: holding in your pee or poo uses more energy than running out quickly to use the toiletrees
- Have a hot tea/chocolate before bed
- Eat a LOT of food before bed
- Change clothes: the clothes you are wearing to be should be completely dry and preferably not sweaty, otherwise you’ll be fighting the night air for warmth as it cools your wet clothes
- Get in your tent early: If it’s too cold, get in your tent, in all your layers in your sleeping bag. Even cook inside the tent if you can do so safely without burning anything important
- Rainfly: Make sure all the vents and mesh parts of the tent are closed/covered with a rainfly
- Hang your wet gear: Hang your hiking clothes somewhere that the sweat can dry but dew, condensation or rain won’t get them wet, so you can start the day dry
- Do not sleep in sweaty clothes: moisture pulls heat from your body
- Fluff your sleeping bag: make full use of as much air dead space as you can and make sure the insulator is as evenly distributed as possible
After you've entered the tent
The fourth list is what you should do after you’ve gotten into your tent for the night and before you fall asleep.
- If you can cinch your sleeping bag around the neck or feet, do it!
- Wear your down jacket backwards, so that you aren’t losing buffet by sleeping on prime warmth
- Put hiking clothes under your hips or shoulders so you have another layer between you and the ground
- Gloves and hat and socks will keep your important bits warm
- Get your face and head inside of your sleeping bag: your breath will help warm you up, and also your head loses heat really quickly
Last ditch efforts for warmth
This last list is last ditch efforts if all of your other preparations didn’t work and you’re still freezing.
- Light a fire and warm up over it: keep in mind some types of gas canisters you will have to warm up before it will actually have a hot fire
- Alpine cuddle: don’t be afraid of your hiking buddy–it’s ok, you both smell so that means no one smells 😛
- Do 30+ sit ups inside of your sleeping bag before you try to sleep: this guarantees you to be warmer
- Hot water bottle: Boil some water and fill your water bottle with it, then cuddle up with the bottle; my friend’s bottle stayed warm all night–only works with thin bladders or bottles, not heavy thermuses
- Start hiking: this is last resort obviously, but you gotta do what you gotta do
- Emergency blanket: you brought it for a reason!
- Go to the bathroom: I know its cold outside the tent, but if you have to go to the bathroom (number one or two), make a quick run out and do your business! You use a lot of energy holding it in that could be better used to keep you warm
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Kirsten is an enthusiastic, bilingual naturalist with 11+ years of experience as a non-formal environmental educator, 6+ years as an outdoor recreation guide, 6+ years as a content writer, and 13+ years as an eco-friendly horticulturist and landscaper. She has designed and maintained 2 websites dedicated to public-facing environmental and outdoor education information for community consumption. Successfully taught 5 online, multi-week zoom workshop series to 5-10 regular participants on an international scale.
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