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Comment by Legogris | Hacker News Reader

Having slept outdoors a lot in the past, I think many people underestimate the importance of the ground/floor/bed in keeping from freezing.

If you have excess blankets, it could make more difference to put them under you as opposed to above you. Even spruce branches or cardboard will lift you from the ground enough to make a difference in a pinch.

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This is why homeless people are stereotyped as sleeping on cardboard with a newspaper as a blanket. Because they actually do, because even paper is a great insulator that you can scavenge easily.

I discovered this on my annual backpacking trip during a particularly cold winter. I sleep in a zero degree bag in a hammock, but my bag has most of the insulation on top so my back was freezing. Next year I brought a nice thick blanket to line the hammock and I’ve always been comfortable since.

Your weight compresses most of the insulation beneath you, and the hammock itself provides less than no insulation. If you aren't, you should put the blanket on the outside of the bottom of the hammock (suspended beneath it), so it has more volume and thus insulation.

Yes, this is called an underquilt.

Interesting, I wouldn't have thought of that. The blanket is pretty dense and relatively incompressible, but I'll have to try that and see if the difference is noticeable (if I can figure out how to attach it like that).

I agree - I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below.

There are so many things around us that are such incredible achievements in comfort over not having them. It is a good experience living without some of them for a while to get appreciation for it:

- electricity - heating - beds - running water - showers - drains (sewer? I mean being able to pour out water in the kitchen, not having to carry it out) - washing machine - (etc)

yup, I go camping in the Canadian winter and have been overnight many nights at below -35C, might have hit a balmy -40C before.. not sure..

Below, is super important.. I use closed-cell mats designed for winter camping and carrying in the backpack.

Somehow I don't think the cats would work so well under the sleeping bags..

Interesting bit of trivia: at -40 it's not necessary to specify C or F, that's the point where they're both the same.

When I was a kid in the boy scouts, they had an award they gave out when the total low (with wind chill) on the days you camped added up to -100F. I got the award one weekend - one day was -60, the other was -40.

It is necessary to specify it because what happens if someone tells you it was -40 and then it got 1 degree warmer. How cold is it now?

Obviously it's -39, and since -39C and -39F are different you'd now be required to specify. If you knew which scale the 1 degree was from it wouldn't be difficult.

It's -40 and it got -1 degree F colder. How cold is it now?

It's now -41F. It's not really rocket science, unless you're trying to trick me with a double negative.

I regularly go on multi night wilderness backpacking trips–they are a big part of my life and make me happy for many reasons, but the appreciation they bring for the comforts of modern life is big every time.

After several days in the backcountry the comforts come back bit by bit on the way home: a soft and supportive seat in the car, warm or cool air at the touch of a button, hot coffee and eggs brought to your table, fresh water from the tap, a hot shower with soap, clean soft sheets and a supportive bed. It’s really a visceral experience of all of the comforts we take for granted every day.

I’ve been going on trips like this my whole life, and I always love being out there, but the experience of coming back to comfort and convenience never gets old.

> I packed an air mattress to sleep on during camping when it was cold on the ground. The air didn't insulate as well as I expected so I was freezing from below.

No sleeping bag?

No, for some reason I decided to use a regular duvet. With a sleeping bag it would probably have been less of an issue.

I was going to say, I never really understood why sleeping bags seem to be the default for camping but I get it now.

They're warmer, more comfortable, easier to carry...

The problem with air mattresses in cold weather is that they conduct heat. The gas inside the mattress absorbs heat from your body and transmits it to the edge of the mattress and into the outside air. To be prevent this heat loss, cover the whole air mattress with a blanket or put an insulator between your body and the mattress.

I spent many years in the tropics without air conditioning. But I had a water bed. The waterbed works similarly to the air mattress, absorbing your body heat and emitting it over a large surface area. This is great when the weather is hot. The bed also has a large thermal capacity. Cover it with a blanket during the day and leave it uncovered at night. Then when you lie down at the beginning of the night, it will still be cool from the early morning.

How well would a waterbed work in a camping situation?

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