What's the coldest you've been in the bush?

I've gotten down to -10 in the Blue Mountains- Jiminey Cricket that was cold. Easter 2000.

[Steven]

I was walking the Overland Track in August last year. The ranger told us it was -9 at Waterfall Valley Hut and - 11 at Marions lookout. It was that cold IN the hut that there was a coating of ice on the INSIDE of the windows!

[Tony]

Arround -18C to -19C Tin Hut, KNP August 2008, cold nights nice days see pics at link below

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1009

Tony

[wanderer]

Had a cold one on Little Hell back around 2002, was minus 10.deg inside the tent at around midnight
during a winter search and rescue exercise. Suprised the temp. gauge was still working, the icicles
were horizontal on the guy ropes. Ben Lomond in August.
Cheers Jason...

[corvus]

Experienced very cold conditions in the mountains in Tassie never really worried about it as I was well equipped felt about the same as when I exited a perfectly good plane was it 5000 feet or what ,no matter as I was well equipped.
My point being ensure you have the best gear for the conditions you expect to encounter in any possible adverse conditions ( for instance I could not stand extreme heat ) revel in the cold though.
c

[wello]

No idea on the actual temperature, but I once camped in the Labyrinth by Lake Ophion in mid winter. The lake had an inch of ice on top. It was so cold we went to bed just after the sun went down, maybe at 5:30 / 6pm. A couple of hours later when I got up to go outside the tent was frozen solid! I had to fold it back, clacking the ice as I went to get out. Needless to say it was a pertty uncomfortable night.

Wello

[tasadam]

Great topic.
There are a few that come to mind...
This post has some photos of the frost on the tent, we were at Lake Myrtle and I know it got to minus 7 at Liaweenie.
We were testing out the new Nallo2 and didn't want condensation (still haven't had condensation in this tent) so we left the door open a bit much and I awoke with frost on me. Though I was comfortable.

Then there was the trip to Shadow Lake, the lake was frozen solid for a day, the water bottles in the tent froze, 1 litre and they were full. I would have loved to find out how cold it was that night.
I recall we had about 5 layers of clothes as well as the silk sheet inside the sleeping bag and it was just comfortable enough to get some sleep.

Then there was the night that the sleeping bag got soaked and the tent destroyed, as mentioned here and here.
That was probably the coldest because of the circumstances, even though it wasn't cold enough to snow.

Oh, and swimming the Irenabyss on the Franklin river. Now that IS cold! I remember snapping my mind into logical thinking so as not to allow the shock of the cold water on naked skin overwhelm me and send me into shock or panic.
Compared to being in the water, it felt positively warm standing on the other side, naked...

[corvus]

Adam you dont really know what cold water is unless you have experienced the North Sea (Arctic Ocean) knees turned blue and the B ollicks went north and that was in Summer almost as cold as a wash in Waterfall Valley first waterfall in winter
c

[tasadam]

Oh Corvus, I am sure those from the deep north have experienced far colder than I ever will, take those Russians that have their snow baths for example.
But that's not what this is about is it?

[Nuts]

Actually, if taken literally, iv'e been at My coldest when the air temp. probably wasnt that impressive.
One winter I was 'misplaced' in the Bondo forest -west (and up) from Canberra. I was within a klm of the vehicle and had an idea where it was but it was so tricky to find a way back through the blackberry choked pines that I had no hope in the dark. I burried myself under pine needles as darkness fell and the temp dropped... Was kinda cosy until the rain started in the early hours. I didnt have a coat (hey, I was very young) so I gradually got soaked through... The rain stopped perhaps 3/4 am and the sky cleared but I was wet and getting colder. I had been shivering right thru the night but when this stopped and I started to 'not care' I was lucky enough to recognise this as a danger sign. I stood up and shuffled on the spot for what seemed forever until I got enough light to see. Withing 30mins I had found the car and was on my way

That one down to experience, I have never been that cold (for that long) since.

[tasadam]

I had been shivering right thru the night but when this stopped and I started to 'not care' I was lucky enough to recognise this as a danger sign. I stood up and shuffled on the spot for what seemed forever until I got enough light to see.

Well done for that... Do you ever reflect on the what if's from that night?

[north-north-west]

Does going for a skinny-dip in an ice-edged pool count?

Otherwise, there was a night I've already mentioned, out in the West MacDonnells, where a 2L water bottle froze solid overnight and the car had at least a quarter inch of ice over it the next morning. Down filled sleeping bag, plus quilt over it, plus fleece pants and woolen jumper, and I was still shivering.

Coldest I can remember in Tassie was actually in Pine Valley Hut, after being blizzarded off the Acropolis. Never warmed up at all that night.

Come to think of it, I was getting seriously hypothermic Christmas Day '06, waking up to a mini blizzard up on the Main Range after camping under Abbotts Peak. By the time I got to Thredbo I was beyond thinking or caring about anything except getting a ride to Geehi (where I'd left the car).

Actually, I got physically colder than the -10 night in the Blue Mountains hiking on the Bogong High Plains- a short walk, but I was tired, my pack was hurting like all heck, and I just wanted to get back to the car. First the wind came up, 30-40km, then a driving rain- when I discovered my jacket had lost it's seal, and I got absolutely drenched, then it started to sleet in the 40km wind, and then it just kept raining, horizontal. 4km walk in those conditions, soaked to the bone, exposed on a ridgeline, and my car was a 1976 Sigma without a heater, so I didn't warm up for two hours, when I got home and took a tortuous shower. That sucked. I was in company, but I kept walking despite the beginnings of hypothermia, as it was only 4 km. By the time my frozen fingers would have dug out the tent and set it, I'd be back to the car, especially in 40km winds on a ridgeline.

Worst thing of it was, 20 minutes after I got to the car, it stopped raining, the sun came out, the wind died, and I swear the *&%$#! birds came out and started laughing at me.

Lessons learned:

1) KNOW you can trust your rain shell
2) I carry an emergency bivy with me now.

Adam you dont really know what cold water is unless you have experienced the North Sea (Arctic Ocean) knees turned blue and the B ollicks went north and that was in Summer almost as cold as a wash in Waterfall Valley first waterfall in winter
c

There's a place in Canada where you can jump straight out of a natural thermal pool which is barely tolerable, it's so hot, straight into a river that comes off a glacier not more than a k or two upstream. THAT'S *&%$#! cold. I wouldn't do that one at my ripe old age- years of debauchery have left me reluctant to abuse the ticker like that.

[Nuts]

... Do you ever reflect on the what if's from that night?

I do now and then, it is indeed a 'fine line' that keeps us here. The saying about things like this making you stronger...... does apply. Ultimately from that experience it would interestingly not be such a bad ending. When the 'not caring' sets in it includes not caring about the cold, i imagine i would have just drifted off...

Anyhow, lived on and lessons learnt (always carry a coat, a torch could have helped, a lighter or matches if not). I had done a first aid course. I do still find it odd that in that state I found that one logical thought in a 'bizarre' haze. If I hadnt have forced myself up I would have definately lost a few toes at the very least. A couple still feel numb now and then and have ever since.

Scav- Your right about the desert nights, as cold as Tassie though can be 'every' night through winter.

[north-north-west]

Scav- Your right about the desert nights, as cold as Tassie though can be 'every' night through winter.

Yeah, but the stars that night . . . worth every bone aching moment of it.

[Son of a Beach]

I'm allergic to the cold, and generally try to avoid it (I'm still not sure what I'm doing in Tasmania). Apparently my first words were uttered as I stepped (or was carried?) off the plane at Launceston airport when my family moved to Tasmania from Queensland: "Mummy, I'm cold!" (at the age of 2 I was a late starter, but at least it was a full sentence).

By some fluke, I've managed to avoid any seriously cold experiences out bush. I think the coldest I've been was leaving Kitchen Hut on skis heading for Waldheim on the 8th day and then having to wade through a snow/ice covered creek that was over knee deep. Kitchen Hut always seems to make me feel colder when I stop there. I'm not sure why I bother stopping there at all, on cold days.

[Clownfish]

I don't know about bushwalking, but we've had one -6 at Frostbury already this winter.

The coldest I've experienced in Tassie so far was one winter's morning a couple of years back; riding my bike from Hadspen to Launnie, I had to pull up at Traveller's Rest and scrape the ice off the visor of my helmet so I could see where I was going.

[dee_legg]

My coldest night out would have to recently (8th of July) when i spent the night in the hut at Twilight Tarn on Mt Fields Tarn Shelf. I was in a Mont Brindabella which is rated between -3C and -12C and on a 5cm thick Trail Pro Thermarest. It's a big hut, and poorly designed for sleeping and staying warm. It was also the first time i've used my sleeping alone in a looong time which probably had an influence on how cold i felt.
Another particularly cold experience would be how i felt after 3 rafting runs of the Mersey River in May.

Bag buddies are good to have, hey? I may have ot work like a pack mule for the family, but my reward is the company of two female hotwater bottles- very handy indeed! The little one in particular is pretty toasty at night.

[corvus]

Hey t_c_p,
Are you boasting or complaining !! what a wonderful experience to have
c

[Clownfish]

A piece of camping gear that seems to unique to our family is what my Mum, who was a Guides leader in the 70s, called a "Casper" (no, I have no idea why).

Basically it's a woollen sack, knitted really loosely, with big needles, so that it's quite stretchy. You stick it inside your sleeping bag, like a liner,and cocoon yourself in it. Because it's so stretchy, it packs up quite small and light - not much bigger than a pair of Explorer socks.

[bluewombat]

As noted earlier in this topic you often aren't the coldest when the thermometer is lowest. I have skied in -25 C and been quite comfortable, and I have had mild hypothermia in the Blue Mountains in mid summer (canyoning). That aside I can remember absolutely freezing my butt off when I was about 14 camped near some caves close to Goulburn in mid winter, no tent and a cheap cotton wadding sleeping bag, the boy scouts were tough in those days. I also had a really cold night at the Rodway day shelter a few years back in the midst of a snow storm, it was so cold a pygmy possum moved into my son's beanie overnight.
bw

Hey t_c_p,
Are you boasting or complaining !! what a wonderful experience to have
c

Being smug.

[corvus]

Just had memory jogged , coldest night ever spent was in Red Water Creek Cave combination of solid limestone roof and cold wind blowing through the openings,it was fun though and my Scouts just loved it especially as I was a lot taller than them and I repeatedly cracked my head on the roof.
c

Kids love the slapstick, hey?

[north-north-west]

I also had a really cold night at the Rodway day shelter a few years back in the midst of a snow storm

Oh. Gawd, yes. I managed to crawl in there after hauling out from Peterson's when the weather went dodgy the trip before the last one. Made the big mistake of going out via Tarn Shelf instead of the Valley track, and the snow came back with a vengeance less than halfway along. So effing cold and draughty I pitched the tent inside the hut to get a little bit warmer.
And then spent hours the next morning hacking a pathway up to the Mawson Plateau once the snow stopped:

[photohiker]

Great atmospherics in that shot scavenger.

I've been in places that have been cold, but have managed not to get too cold myself. Two exceptions:

1) At the end of the first days walking on the Overland. It was late April and really not too cold, but its interesting how the day's exertion catches up with you as soon as you stop. About half an hour after stopping I could feel my core temp plummeting and I stacked on all the warm clothing I could but I was still shivering like a leaf. Took a major dose of chocolate and a lot of walking around to recover the heat. I'm a bit quicker with the warm-wear these days.

2) Standing in the snow waiting for the sun to rise. My latest effort at this was driven by a mistake over the actual sunrise time. I spent nearly an extra hour out there in a howling gale, and in the end I left before sunrise because I was getting too cold and the camera was icing up!

man that looks *&%$#! cold!

[north-north-west]

By midday it was a clear blue sky and the thaw had started. That's Tassie for you. Gotta love the place.