Tips for Sleeping Campaign-Style in the Winter

Sleeping campaign style at a winter event can present some problems. First of all, most parents are reluctant to let their kids go out and sleep under the stars or in a dog tent when it is 30 degrees outside. Also, how can you be sure that you won't get frostbitten or catch a cold? Follow these tips below and you are on your way to winter campaigning.

- Pick a good spot. If there is a nearby tree that can provide shelter for you, set up under it. It is also good to set up next to the company fire. The embers that remain once the acual fire is gone will keep you warm.

- Technique. The way that you set up your sleeping spot is integral. If there is straw or pine straw available, make a base out of it that you can set everything else on. It will be much more comfortable. If you plan to set up a shelter tent or a shebang, put it up over your pile of straw. Then, put your gum blanket on top of the straw. Put your regular blanket on top of it and lie down on top of it. Now, fold yourself up in it like a taco. That will keep you warm as any sleeping bag will. Greatcoats also make good blankets too.

- Wear Everything. If you have mittens and scarves, put 'em on. Just like during the day, wearing heavy layers will keep you warm.

- Your Parents Have the Last Word. Use your common sense. Your folks know best when it comes to your safety. If they tell you not to sleep under the stars, don't do it.

- Share Your Shelter Tent With a Pard. Not only is it authentic, but it can keep you a lot warmer. Shared bodyheat really works for keeping you warm.

- Wear Somethin' on Your Head. You lose a lot of heat through your head. A nice nightcap can keep you a lot warmer. Your regular hat works too, though.

Comments

[Sandy]

Don't forget a cap on your head (you lose a lot of heat through the top of your head) and to point your feet toward the embers, if you can.

[william]

That is a very good point! I forgot to include that in my article. Thank you very much for adding that.

[Sandy]

You're welcome. Glad I could be of help!

[Ty Gladden]

If you'd be so kind as to allow, I would like to add my 2 cents (or more) on tips to help people to keep warm, and to elaborate a little bit more on some of the fine points you posted.

1.) Remove your shoes before you goto sleep. Leather will actually freeze and not hold heat in your feet well, and do more harm than good.

2.) Put on a clean, dry pair of socks RIGHT before you goto sleep. The sweat from your feet on your socks from the days events, will freeze at night.

3.) If you can, put on a clean, dry shirt. You've been sweating all day, and now your going to try to sleep at night in a wet shirt? Not the best idea ;)

4.) Always try to stay off the ground. Dead, dry leaves, or hay preferably, act as a "buffer" to keep the moisture from the ground to seep into you from underneath, and also acts as a barrier to keep your body heat from dissipating into the ground.

5.) One rubberized ground cloth, or poncho, is good. Two is better. Buddy up with a pard, and pool your resources together. One groundcloth on the bottom will keep moisture from the ground off of you, while another on top of you will keep body heat in better than 2 or 3 blankets! You lose just as much body heat into the ground, as you do into the air, and the rubber is a natural insulator.

6.) Build a windbreak if possible. If a breeze always comes in from the same direction, try to stack some dead brush to block the flow of the wind. Or sleep behind a rock on the opposite side of where the wind comes from if no brush is to be found.

7.) Sleep with your head raised higher than your legs. Your legs have the longest blood vessels in your body, and it is harder for your heart to pump cold, slow moving blood into, and out of them if it has to fight gravity. Let gravity "pull" the blood into your legs. It helps.

8.) If you are going to make a shebang or lean-to (out of a shelter half, or a poncho/ground cloth), then try to face it towards your company fire, sort of like a mouth. This will keep the heat of the fire "circulating" inside your shelter, and keep you much, much warmer. Here's a little diagram I drew to explain.

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2520/heatiu3.jpg

9.) Walk around at about 4am. Believe it or not, a 15 minute walk will get the blood pumping which in turn gets the body heat to warm up your body, and relax your muscles (no more cramps in the morning from sleeping in the fetal position!), and will actually help you sleep BETTER those last couple of hours before reville.

And as you said, keep that melon of yours covered up! Most heat is lost through the head and face!

Thanks for lettin me add/expand on some of your tips. These ALWAYS keep me warm, no matter what temperature it is :)

[william]

Thank you very much for the additional tips! Excellent!

[william]

P.S. I like the diagram as well.

[Ty Gladden]

Glad I could be of a little help. I know how it is trying to sleep, when your canteen is literally frozen next to you :)

My MS Paint skills are second to noone! ;)

[Pvt. Ben Miller]

if you don't mind sleeping in different ways,find a wide tree and sleep up against it with all your blankets around you. With a fire close to you (mostly coals).
thats a trick I learned French and Indian War reenacting.

[William]

Good tip!

-Wm.

[Pvt. Ben Miller]

Any time!!!