OKAY GUYS LISTEN IN I’M BACK

I had a long hiatus! I’m sorry about that. There was a new job, moving house, some overseas work, a smidge of gender reassignment surgery, a year’s worth of extremely busy LARP, I was Alexander of Macedon reborn, and some other nonsense. BUT! Let’s not dwell on that. The important thing is - here we are again!

Just in time for some seasonal WINTER WARMTH TIPS!

For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, winter is coming, has come, blown its snowy load all over the duvet and not even had the courtesy to leave a tenner on the bedside table. The sensible LARPers among us are in their four-month hibernation phase, but some plucky and stupid gamers are still playing all through the winter; and the really thick ones are camping in it. Sleeping in the cold is miserable, and LARPing without a good night’s sleep isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. So please find presented here seven tips and tricks for how to keep yourself warm through those cold winter nights!



Photo by Oli Facey, from Maelstrom LARP by Profound Decisions.





This all starts from the assumption that you have got the basics right - which is to say, you’re keeping your core warm, you have a decent sleeping bag / sleeping system which insulates you from environmental cold, you are sheltered from the elements and your kit is dry. Once you’ve done all that but you’re still cold at night, try some of the following less obvious tips:



1. EXTREMITIES

Many people remember to keep their core warm but neglect the “ends” - hand and feet. While you won’t necessarily lose much heat this way, most people’s comfort is disproportionately affected by how cold their extremities are. Therefore, invest in a good pair of Arctic socks that you wear in your bed - but ONLY in your bed; this will keep them warm, dry and clean. I have a pair which I ball up and keep in the foot of my sleeping bag, changing into lighter, easier-to-discard daytime walking socks (or Sealskinz) when I get up. Make sure you dry and clean your feet properly before getting into bed. (Coming soon: the LARPHacks guide to foot care!)

For your hands, you can wear gloves in bed (wool or fur-lined mittens are favourite to allow your whole hand to heat your fingers up), but if you find that uncomfortable, then tucking your hands close to your groin will help warm them up quickly. The classic “squaddie doze pose” that anyone who’s seen soldiers sleeping on airport floors during a delay will recognise is flat on your back, hands in hip pockets, legs crossed at the ankle - this helps keep heat in your groin and warms your hands quickly. Avoid putting cold hands directly on bare warm skin near your core - it’s tempting but will not help.

2. GET OFF THE GROUND

As per this post, what’s UNDER you is at least as important as what’s over you when it comes to sleeping comfort. A low camp bed (like the one suggested in the linked post) is better than a rollmat, a high camp bed better still, for ensuring that you aren’t losing lots of heat to the ground. If you can’t use a camp bed, using more than one layer of rollmat + ThermaRest + reflective blanket will go a long way to keeping you warm. Ensure that you have good, comfortable covers below as well as above you. If the ground is likely to be wet (spoilers: it’s winter. The ground is going to be wet, my British friends), make sure you have a robust waterproofing solution that keeps the water well away from your sleeping gear.

Photo by Jo Perridge, from Empire LARP.

3. LAYER UP

Make sure your sleeping system is multilayered. Additional layers help catch and preserve warmth far better than a single layer. My gold-plated solution is:

Inner layer - fleece blanket to wrap around particularly cold bits, or to push under my bum if the ground is cold.

Middle layer - silk or cotton sleeping bag liner. (Silk is better for insulation, cotton is better for machine-washing. A liner will also ensure you don’t have to wash your sleeping bag as often, which is a big money saver if you have a large or delicate sleeping bag that needs professional laundering.)

Business layer - sleeping bag. I sleep in a Carinthia Defence 4, which is basically the stopping power of the Army issued sleeping bag at about half the weight. Down sleeping bags are also popular; they tend to be cozier and warmer at the same weight - the only problem is that they become useless if wet, while synthetic bags retain some of their insulating properties even if you have a tent leak.

Outer layer - Bivi bag. This is a waterproof “outer” bag made of Goretex or a similar waterproof material which will keep your sleeping solution dry even if the environment becomes wet. It also provides a final extra warmth baffle, but has the disadvantage that it prevents condensation from your sleeping body from naturally evaporating through the bag - so a few nights in a bivi bag will lead to an uncomfortably moist sleeping bag if you can’t air it during the day.



However, this setup is expensive - if I had paid full price for that lot, I’d be looking at over £200, not including a camp bed. When you inevitably have to compromise, “more layers” is better than “a single more expensive sleeping bag”. If I had to go down to the £40 region for a sleeping solution, I’d buy two £20 sleeping bags (secondhand / military surplus) instead of a single £40 one. But ultimately, to be genuinely comfortable in minus temperatures, you will want a proper 4 seasons sleeping bag or equivalent.

4. SLEEP CLOTHED

Make sure your sleeping attire is warm and comfortable; ideally warm kit (fleece/thermal top and trousers), a hat, and something to cover your neck/chin.

Despite that common myth, you don’t actually lose masses of heat through your head, but sleeping with cold ears or nose is hard! If you can bear it, sleeping in a balaclava or a headwrap is a great way to increase comfort overnight. If you can’t stand anything over your face, a furry or woolly hat will still go a long way towards keeping you warm. If your sleeping bag is a “mummy” style which zips up over your head, then pulling the toggles close until you only have a small space to breathe will help keep warmth inside - again, if you can tolerate it. If you sleep on a pillow or other headrest, pull it inside the sleeping bag if practical - that will stop you sliding off it overnight.

Photo by Steph Morris, from Empire LARP.

5. DON’T SLEEP IN KIT

Ideally, you should have a totally separate set of kit that you sleep in, and which remains inside your tent (waterproofed, for example in a bivi bag or canoe bag) to be changed into. If you can’t quite manage this, then at the very least REMOVE ANY WET CLOTHES before going to sleep. You may be knackered and miserable and just want to crawl into your sleeping bag, but it is a HORRIBLE MISTAKE to sleep in wet kit. If you have to get up in the middle of the night to go for a slash, change BACK INTO your wet kit to do so; do NOT drag your lovely dry sleeping clothes (and socks) through the dew and frost to the loo and back.

Changing into cold, wet kit to go for a wee is horrendous; even worse if it’s frozen - but if you don’t force yourself to do it, the alternative is worse.

6. MY FAVOURITE THINGS

For immediate comfort getting into bed, buy disposable handwarmers, crack them, shove them into your vulnerable areas. I use the type with a papery fabric outer layer (the cheapest ones around!) because this helps absorb a bit of the natural sweat that your feet and hands are likely to push out overnight, and helps avoid the dreaded Damp Morning Sock. If your budget is a bit more generous you can also buy adhesive heat pads which work on the same principle as handwarmers - they’re designed to relieve back pain but work very well for an extra warmth boost in a pinch.

If you have access to a kettle or jetboil, then a small hot water bottle can be a great comfort on a cold night. Personally I use a suede-covered tin water canteen wrapped in my fleece blanket as a makeshift hot water bottle (with the nice side effect that it’s cooled enough by morning to provide a litre of water right there to drink); I don’t recommend this to the risk-averse, since there’s every chance that one dark night the cork is going to fail and I will find my groin covered in near-boiling water and my sleeping bag soaked. You should probably use a proper rubber hot water bottle instead. Don’t drink from it, rubber tastes like arse.

Photo by LARPImages.com, from Forsaken LRP.

7. FUEL UP

If your digestion permits, eating a hot snack or drinking a hot uncaffeinated beverage immediately before sleeping will raise your core temperature and perceived warmth. It will also increase your sense of satiation, which (along with darkness and quiet) are two good stimuli for getting to sleep quickly and easily.





There you have it. I’m back in business! I’m sleeping outdoors in January FOR FUN!





Tips I considered including but ultimately elected not to:

Sexual promiscuity is an efficient and enjoyable way to raise your core temperature in bed!



For a quick fix on cold nights, coating yourself in the blood of your enemies provides an insulating layer for exposed skin; in colder climates, you don’t need to worry about attracting insects like you would when you try this in summer.

If you lack good sleeping gear, disembowell a Tauntaun and shelter in its rapidly cooling corpse.

MORE BURPEES

Photo by Oli Facey, from Empire LARP.

P.S. For those interested in reading my archive, the tag cloud I used to have on my main page seems to have disappeared; if anyone is clever with Tumblr and can message me with a straightforward way to link people to a list of the blog’s tags, I’d really appreciate it, since that’s the easiest way to search through!