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A friend in Bend told me my sleeping bag rating was basically a lie
I was complaining about being cold in my 20-degree bag during a trip to Mt. Hood, and he asked if I was using a sleeping pad with a good R-value. I had no idea what that even was. He explained that the bag rating means nothing if you're losing all your heat to the ground. I switched to a pad with an R-value of 4.5 and slept warm the next weekend. Anyone have a favorite high-R-value pad for colder weather?
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wright.michael7mo ago
Wow, that ground heat loss fact is a real game changer for winter camping.
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spencer_kelly7mo ago
Yeah, that "game changer" line hits home, @wright.michael. I was reading about this guy who camps in Minnesota winters. He said just using a closed-cell foam pad under his sleeping bag was like night and day. Before that, he'd wake up shivering because all his body heat was just draining into the frozen ground. It's wild how something so simple, like a cheap foam mat, can make the difference between a miserable night and actually sleeping warm. Makes you rethink the whole "thick sleeping bag is enough" idea.
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