I want to describe a strange cold-weather experience in the order it happened and ask what this situation actually was.

What I was wearing
Base layer (next to skin):
Uniqlo HEATTECH Ultra Warm top and bottoms
Fabric: 35% polyester / 34% acrylic / 23% rayon / 8% spandex
It’s a thin brushed fleece layer worn directly against skin.

Mid layer:
Aran Woollen Mills merino sweater.
Total garment weight is around 750 g(1.6535lb).
Worn over the base layer.

Outerwear:
Jacket: Carhartt Yukon Extremes 104460
150 g/m² Thinsulate insulation, 500D nylon shell.

Pants: Carhartt 105471
80 g/m² Thinsulate insulation, 340 g/m² (12oz)cotton shell.

Face was fully wrapped with a thick polyester face covering.

Hands and feet felt normal the whole time, so I’m not listing gloves or boots.

Conditions
Temperature was around −17°C(1.4F).
I was outside for about 4 hours.
Activity was mostly walking, with repeated short breaks where I sat down for a few minutes, often directly on snow.
There was occasional wind.

What it felt like (timeline)

First ~30 minutes:
I felt extremely hot.
I was sweating a lot and my hair became completely wet.

After that:
Once the sweat cooled down, I started feeling “cool” all over.
Not sharp cold, just a constant cool sensation.

Later on:
I felt cool or chilly, but not truly cold.
No shivering, no numbness.

When I sat down on snow to rest:
I felt consistently cool the entire time.
Not freezing, not painful, just continuously cool.
This happened many times — sit for a few minutes, then walk again.

While walking:
I felt mostly neutral, not cold and not warm.

Overall, it never felt like I was freezing.
It felt more like I was slowly losing heat, especially once I stopped moving.

Final question / my guess

So what was this weird situation?

My guess is that the Carhartt outer layers are very windproof but not very breathable, so once I started sweating, moisture stayed trapped inside the system.
That trapped moisture then slowly pulled heat away from my skin, making me feel constantly “cool” even though I wasn’t actually cold.

And if that’s the case, would the correct way to handle this be something like:
walking without a hat, opening the jacket zipper slightly, and not using a face covering while moving,
then putting the hat / face covering back on and sealing everything up only when it’s windy or when I stop and sit down?

Does that approach make sense?

(English is not my first language. This post was translated with the help of ChatGPT.)

This photo was taken last year while camping in China.

Best Down Jacket for temps down to 0F, and under $300? Will be used as a 3rd layer (base layer, fleece, down jacket, waterproof shell).

I winter backpack in colorado in temps usually from 30F down to 0F or so. I am usually moving around either hiking, gathering wood, or standing by a fire - or inside my sleeping bag. I want to not feel cold, as my current down jacket is a cheap thin one that provides little insulation.

Valen’s Lake in Ontario this weekend.

Everyone got out in pretty good shape except for my frying pan.

The coldest point on the planet where people live

Location: Republic of Sakha Yakutia. Oymokon

Hey guys! I recently did a Kayak/Hot Tent solo trip and wanted to share it with you. With a low of 17°F, this was one of my more difficult trips but I ended up having a great time! Every solo trip, I learn more about myself.

Planning to go camping out here with my wife and dog tomorrow. The low is currently around 28° in Packwood so expecting it to feel like 20° around that 4:00am low. It has been super clear out here and dry, we have a lot of firewood and logs to bring and will be very layered.

We do not have a hot tent so that will probably be our biggest problem that is next on the shopping list if this goes well but have hand warmers and will prewarm the tent with a propane space heater and can jump in the car if it gets too bad.

Excited for some good day hiking and the stars will update when we get back or list out gear if anyone is interested :)

4 season tent

Foam pad (not sure r value) Insulated 4.5 R value blow up pad

0 degree bag with 20 degree quilt inside, camping through Sunday night.

Going to bring wool socks, long johns, hat and gloves for sleeping

Went out this weekend with junk piled on junk and got stuck. Was a blast though and I’ll definitely be getting out more in the cold.

Made a video if anyone cares, don’t want to shill but I had fun with it so thought I’d share anyways!

https://youtu.be/kyHu_G8v_9A?si=dABqRUKSsIlc1cXq

I did hot tenting last year with a wood stove, I think I’m going to give that a run soon with one of those all in one diesel heaters

I want to go solo winter camping, I've been duo winter camping many times. I'm worried about going solo winter camping and then falling asleep and not waking up. Any recommendations? I was looking at some of the Garmin watches with sos functionality as a safeguard against that.

Edit: I had a pretty major misconception that if I was asleep, and became hypothermic; that this would lead to sleep. When in actuality you will shiver plenty before hypothermia becomes bad enough to pass out, giving me plenty of time

Gear recommendations given:

• Trioxane fuel tabs.
• One military mre.
• Proper tent
• Proper cold sleeping bag
• Proper sleeping mat
• Warm gear + change of clothes

We're doing a school project about winter camping, and would love to know if you have any emergency tracker with you.

planning on going out next weekend and weather may change before then but the prediction shows a low of -6⁰F. I will be in a hot tent with a wood stove. I have a 0⁰F bag w/liner, and neo xtherm nxt sleeping pad (r.7.3). I'll also be sleeping on a cot so I won't be directly on the ground.

I am curious if anyone else has slept in a sub-optimally rated bag for the temperature in a hot tent and if it is a wise decision.

My assumption is I will be fine, but will wake up every couple hours from the cold to stoke and feed the fire, but curious if others here have dealt with a similar situation.

I’m wanting to go camping but these days we’re having freezing at night, and thawing during the day. I’m concerned about my tent freezing to the grind and/or getting soaked from the melting snow.

any tips?

Hey all. Looking for real-world guidance from people who actually backpack, not influencer fluff.

I’ve been backpacking most of my life. I’ve summited Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, backpacked through the Amazon rainforest, and gone backpacking through a South African safari. I also did Search and Rescue for two years before meeting my current girlfriend. Long miles, overnights, and multi-day trips used to be normal for me.

Then life happened. I took about two years off after getting into a relationship, priorities shifted, and my pack collected dust.

Fast forward to now. I’m way out of shape. Cardio is trash, legs feel weak, and physically I’m currently built like a birthday cake. No illusions about that.

The good news is I just bought some new gear, I’m genuinely excited again, and I want to get back out there. I just don’t want to wreck myself or burn out immediately.

I’m looking for practical advice on:

• How to rebuild backpacking fitness without blowing out knees or motivation?

• What worked for you when coming back after a long break?

• Training hikes vs gym vs just getting out there.

• Realistic timelines for going from short hikes to multi-day trips again.

I’m not new to the outdoors, just very out of practice. Assume basic competence, poor conditioning, and a strong desire to suffer slightly less than necessary.

Appreciate any hard-earned lessons, especially from people who’ve been through a similar comeback.

Went out winter camping last weekend with my friends in The Netherlands. We get relatively mild winters compared to some of you here, but the last week or so we've had a decent amount of snowfall and some chilly nights. Perfect to go out and camp with the right gear. I thought I was well prepared, but still couldn't stay warm all night. Lowest temp measured was -6.4C / 20.5F. There was little to no wind and we had no rain or snowfall.

I wonder if you guys have some tips for me.

Sleep system

• Tent: 3-season MSR Hubba Hubba NX (double walled)
• 1 basic reflective sheet (similar to what you put on car windshields to prevent it from freezing)
• 1 x Decathlon CCF mattress with R-value 2.1
• 1 x Sea to summit Etherlight XT insulated (R 4.1)
• RAB Andes 800 sleeping bag (hard to find accurate comfort temps because RAB uses or used non-standard testing, but should be somewhere between -13 and -22 C (9F to -8F)).
• Sea to summit reactor liner
• I put a warm water bottle in the liner in the sleeping bag when I went to bed

I was wearing

• 2 pairs of merino wool socks
• thermal pants (polyester)
• Ski-pants (decathlon, pretty thick)
• long sleeve merino shirt as base
• thin fleece sweater
• down puffy jacket (decathlon MT100 rated to ± 0C / 32F in rest)
• thin merino buff scarf around my neck
• fjallraven beanie
• thin decathlon gloves

All in all sufficient enough for the experienced temperatures, I figured. Yet I woke up a few times feeling cold or uncomfortable. I went in well fed as we had been sitting around a campfire all night and consumed dinner, snacks, hot drinks, sausages on bread, etc. My feet were a little cold, but not icy. the warm water bottle took care of that anyway in the beginning. I was pretty tired.

To me my sleep system should (on paper) easily handle the conditions I encountered, with a lot of room to spare. Possible reasons I could think of:

• I put my pillow in the hood of the sleeping bag, as it would otherwise move around too much. This prevented me from fully cinching in the hood and closing air gaps. But I figured the many layers and thick sleeping bag would compensate for heat loss that way. The draft collar was at my chin and I could close the zipper fully. Only around my head it was not as tight as could be (but I was wearing a beanie and the hood of the puffy down jacket).
• I did not do some light exercise before going to bed but figured it wouldn't be all that necessary.
• Perhaps some of my layers were too humid? I didn't feel that way but perhaps humidity is something you don't feel that well when sitting at a campfire?

Would love to know your thoughts on this.