How low can you go? Temps that is.

[Heavy Shovel]

Hey all. Couldn't find this topic at all but it seems to be a very important one (to me at least). So how cold is too cold to climb or hike or camp?? I'm sure everyone has a different opinion. But with this weekend's summit temperatures hovering around -5 to 0 degrees, I thought I'd ask.

FYI, planning to take on Elbert and Massive this weekend.

Thanks,

HS

[Cygnus X1]

Can't answer that for you but a big factor is the gear you have. You'll likely be camping at temps below 10 degrees at tree line. Do you have good warm layers not only for the hike but also for while you are idle around camp? How good is your sleeping bag? Do you have decent insulation from the ground (sleeping pad)? Will your tent keep blowing snow out? Do you have a stove that will work in those temps to melt snow? Are your boots and gloves/mittens well insulated? Are your water bottles insulated? Lose the bladder for this trip cuz the tube and/or valve will freeze. Do you have protection from strong winds such as balaclava, goggles, top and bottom shells, etc? These are just some of the things to think about.

[Heavy Shovel]

I appreciate the input. Assuming we have all of the basic understandings of cold weather and preparation...I really just want to know from everyone exactly at what temperature do you consider cutting off your trip? Just trying to find that minimum cutoff that no one really wants to cross. Being from Texas, this would be a good piece of information to have.

I.E. you are planning a winter trip, turn on the news, check the weather...you then turn to your wife and say "it doesn't look like i am going this weekend because the temperature is going to be (fill in the blank) with (fill in the blank) mile an hour winds"

What is everyone's personal cut off?

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

With the right gear, most people won’t turn back because of temps. It has more to do with snow conditions. With my current gear, I wouldn’t go if the windchill was likely to be below -20F or so. But with better gear it wouldn’t be a problem (exped has some seriously insulating down pads and feathered friends has a -60F bag. I doubt an iso canister stove would work well at those temps, but something like the MSR xkg should work.)

[highpilgrim]

Art Davidson would argue -148F.

https://www.amazon.com/Minus-148-Degree ... 7W25B7KFPT

http://alaskasportshall.org/inductee/fi ... -denail-2/

[JaredJohnson]

you then turn to your wife and say "it doesn't look like i am going this weekend because the temperature is going to be (fill in the blank) with (fill in the blank) mile an hour winds"

I don't have the experience to answer the question yet, but I recently attempted Mt. Washington in the teens and winds maybe 30-50mph above treeline with wind chill around -10 to -20 f, which was acceptable to me. Since I hadn't encountered these conditions before I brought along a lot of layers I didn't wind up needing for the conditions I encountered, so I know I could go lower, but not sure how much lower yet. Until I have more experience I plan on being pretty conservative when testing my limits. I came upon this article while researching conditions in the Presidential Range:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015 ... -the-wild/

TL;DR: -20f and 60-100mph winds were enough to kill someone who had experienced harsh conditions before and tried to prepare. The conditions were also bad enough to significantly hamper rescue efforts from presumably well-qualified winter mountaineers. There are a lot of guesses on why they made the choices they did. They might have been relying on old forecasts, or they might have been fooled by tailwinds that turned into headwinds once they tried to get down. At any rate that seems to be a good example of getting in over your head specifically WRT temperature and wind. Learn from it!

-Jared

[medic1369]

Ice climbed in minus 38; worked in minus 50.

It's all contingent upon your motivation.

[globreal]

I appreciate the input. Assuming we have all of the basic understandings of cold weather and preparation...I really just want to know from everyone exactly at what temperature do you consider cutting off your trip? Just trying to find that minimum cutoff that no one really wants to cross. Being from Texas, this would be a good piece of information to have.

I.E. you are planning a winter trip, turn on the news, check the weather...you then turn to your wife and say "it doesn't look like i am going this weekend because the temperature is going to be (fill in the blank) with (fill in the blank) mile an hour winds"

What is everyone's personal cut off?

I use to have a mental block, so to speak, where I wouldn't be to interested if the temps were below zero. However, I've done several trips where it's in the negative temps and it's been just fine. It comes down to all the variables and conditions, not just temperature. What is the weather doing? The temperature may not be the "cut off." It may be more of the winds. It could be 25 degrees out which is relatively warm, but if it's 60mph winds above treeline....forget it.

And then it may be 25 degrees and no winds at all, but it just dumped 4 feet of snow in the mountains. I probably won't be interested in potholing through that for miles on end. I may prefer to let that settle 3-4 days to allow the avy danger to settle down and the snow to set up to walk on it easier.

And then, as mentioned in a previous post...what is your gear? What you carry or choose not to carry can make a huge difference on your comfort and success during a backcountry outing.

[Eli Boardman]

For me, so far in Colorado I have only canceled trips because of avy conditions / precipitation related problems. One time on Bross in a -50 F windchill felt pretty cold. That day, I still had another layer in my pack the whole time. Taking pictures without gloves was a pain (literally). I've also spent plenty of days in windchills around -20 to -30 F on the Hudson Bay.

[Scott P]

So how cold is too cold to climb or hike or camp?? I'm sure everyone has a different opinion. But with this weekend's summit temperatures hovering around -5 to 0 degrees, I thought I'd ask.

Here are the coldest overnight temperatures I have recorded in the backcountry in the Rockies for each month:

cold1.JPG

For Colorado only:

cold 2.JPG

I have recorded actual temperatures of -29 on day trips, but I don't always bring a thermometer on day trips so some climbs may have been colder.

In Colorado at least, I don't think there is any such thing as too cold to climb. I have climbed several times in windchills in the -50's on the new windchill charts and the low -70's on the old charts. Once you get the hang of how to stay warm, it makes things easier. It took a few years for me to figure out though. The hardest parts to keep warm (at least for me) are toes and face, especially the nose and sometime cheeks and ears. If you can keep those warm, the rest shouldn't be too bad.

While I have never been out in a day that is too cold to climb, there is such thing as too windy to climb. The winds on the high peaks can be extremely powerful, especially in the winter. I'm not a small guy and I did get blown off a mountain once. It was pretty scary.

It may be surprising to some, but when it comes to extreme temperatures, the valley floors and basins get colder than the peaks. The record low on Pikes Peak is -39 and the record low on Mount Evans is -40. I have personally recorded temperatures of -48 at my house at a little less than 6300 feet elevation and Maybell at 5920 feet and just west of here has recorded a -61 (which is the record low in Colorado). Of course on the mountain tops though, the windchill is much lower and the cold feels much more extreme. It is rare to have a calm day on the summit of a 14er in winter, but it does happen occasionally. Sometimes the wind can be screaming and it usually is quite windy even on a "normal" day. Expect and prepare for windchills to be well below zero in winter.

Good luck on your climb.

[aholle88]

Like others have stated, it would be pretty difficult to find a temperature too cold to hike in. Wind is the ultimately the deciding factor, and the wind cut-off depends on what type of hike it is going to be. Ridge-top for a long period of time? How much of the terrain is sheltered from wind? Is the route a class 1/2 hike or is it going to involve exposed scrambling/climbing? Determining these factors, checking out the profile of the hike, direction of the wind, etc all play into the "cut-off" for calling it. Then there is just the mood/mental state that you are in. There are days that it is a great time going out in terrible conditions, and then others where you just don't want to deal with it.

[TomPierce]

I've done several subzero days/temps. I think the lowest actual temp (not windchill) was -22 on Denali, but I've been in much lower windchills. Climbed Mt. Washington in winter twice, etc. etc.

I think for those who haven't experienced such temperatures, two things IMO stand out:

1) It's hard to imagine how warm you can stay with good gear (esp warm boots, covered skin, and good mitts) while you are moving. You don't need all that much, and IMO a risk equal to frostbite is overheating and getting your base layers damp. If that happens and you suddenly need to stop moving, you're in real trouble. Hard to stay warm once wet, watch the overheating/perspiration issue like a hawk. Staying dry is critically important IMO.

2) Conversely, I think it's hard for some to imagine how much of their internal warmth is generated by movement, and how flippin' cold it gets once you stop moving and the sun goes down. The warmth is slowly but steadily sucked right out of you. Try it sometime in a safe setting, it might shock you...and send you looking for a good winter puffy to carry with you when you're out. Light and fast has its merits, but in winter you're rolling the dice if you don't have the gear to stay out overnight if things hit the fan.

Just my .02.

-Tom

PS: All that said, I think going out in temps below about -15 is a bit of a hassle and starts losing the fun appeal. Taking off your mitts to fiddle with things is tedious, water containers freeze more quickly, you have to watch every bit of skin exposed to the wind. Eh, do-able...just maybe not a lot of fun.