Good stuff. I've got two bags and typically use the lighter - PHD Minimus - on most three-season trips. I use a silk liner - keeps things clean - and my down jacket as a pillow. Andy is right on the money about the necessity of changing into clean and dry clothing. And also - before getting into yr inner, stash every piece of wet gear either in the outer or outwith the shelter entirely. I suspect that not taking care of this piece of business results in many of the alleged cases of condensation. More likely water vapour rising up from a truly horrid melange of wet socks and worse . . .


No mention of company! Many ears ago I spent an interesting night camped up above Loch Avon. My Border Collie, Cherry, did her very best to get into the bag with me. I don't normally go for inter-species dating but there are times and places, oh yea.

Once when pitched in freezing cold conditions I discovered that my down sleeping bag had accidentally got quite wet in the torso area. I used it anyway, hoping that my body warmth would gradually dry it out. Instead, I got incredibly cold as the wet bag sucked the heat out of my body. After a lot of suffering and worrying I hit on a solution. I clasped my hands across me chest whilst lying on my back, using my fists to raise the bag from the inside, thus creating an air pocket between it and my chest. This air pocket insulated me from the damp bag and gradually the air pocket warmed up, and so did I - and the bag eventually dried. I pass this on for what it is worth.

I also often continue to wear the day's damp socks (inner and outer) overnight, provided of course that the weather is not too cold. They dry beautifully by the morning.

In freezing cold weather, when damp boots have frozen solid overnight, I put them inside my sleeping bag, at the foot, for the last hour before I get up in the morning - whilst I am cooking breakfast. Frozen boots can otherwise be very hard to put on!

Great article! Thank you for posting it. I get really cold feet, and used to suffer badly until I discovered down bootees. They are the best investment ever!
I agree about changing your kit when you retreat at the end of the day. A change of clothes in a dry bag has made a real difference on a number of occasions when I have been out in terrible conditions all day. A couple of times I have been so cold at the end of a day that I have used my platypus as a hot water bottle. As a safety measure, not being sure about it holding hot water I have then put the platypus in the dry bag from my clothes, as an extra layer. A Nalgene bottle would be great, if I carried one!

Down Booties... YEP. I have some Goosefeet ones with over booties for going outside.
And there is the down jacket for extra warmth.

And.. Have a hot drink, I find that helps too.

For me, the biggest leap of faith is to take off layers when you are in your bag and still feeling cold. I used to have a good laugh when folk suggested using spare layers as a pillow. Spare layers? I didn’t have any. Now I have learned that, slightly counter-intuitively, taking my jacket off will warm my feet as heat can be redistributed throughout my sleeping bag. Of course, now I sleep with the love of my life: a custom-made PHD bag – brilliant.