Status update: Late night gear test

This evening the temperatures dropped in town down to -20C, what with the cold snap crashing through the state and the crystal clear night skies. I felt it was a prime time for some cold temperature gear testing.

First off was 30 minutes in the new sleeping bag; I simply laid down a ground sheet right in front of the garage door and tossed the thermarest and bag on top and crawled in. It was biting cold as I was exposed for a minute getting in. Once in I cinched everything up and shivered a bit to start warming up. Just wore pants and light fleece top with mountaineering socks. Quite impressive, with no tent protection (no wind however) I quickly warmed the interior to comfortable. Granted the bag began warm inside the house, but I think it will be doing fine on the trip. It is said temperatures can dip to -30C at night at high camp. While I only spent 30 minutes inside I believe that with a few more expedition clothes I will be very cozy while suffering in the tent.

Since the moon was still fairly full I decided to take some clothing for a walk. I tried to dress up close to summit day: liner socks, thick socks, plastic boots, thin long underwear pants, puff over pants, long sleeve base layer, R1 hoody, thin balaclava, glove liners, wool mittens, mitten shells, and the belay parka. I went for a long 2 hour walk at an easy to very slow pace, to try and simulate slow movement at cold temps. I started off feeling a bit chilly, but that is good. About a 1/2mi into it I was dropping the parka hood to vent. Overall very satisfied.

Some things experienced: cool to cold-ish right foot; not sure if I tied boot too tight, but I definitely knew my right foot was there. Were it to not get any worse, it was well within my suffering range. Could hardly tell my left foot was anything but warm. Core and head area very toasty; I may not need the extra puff jacket and/or vest with nylon cover. Hands quite comfortable; I don’t think I’ll need the super thick mittens. Legs were good too. Granted on summit day I expect the comfort range to be altered by copious amounts of wind, but a wind shell thrown in should do the trick…will try to get up to RMNP this coming weekend to see if I can test in the wind.