Staying warm

Whether bivvying, camping or crashing on a friends floor (or indeed in a former POW camp in the Val Veny) technique is as essential to staying warm as gear.

Knowing the basics can make the difference between a sleepless night spent shivering and waking up rested, ready to hike/climb/laze about.

Firstly, slopes. Sleeping across a slope means that during the night your body works to keep you in the same place. This leads to waking up stiff and sore. If possible try to find flat ground but if this is not feasible then have your head uphill to your feet.

If camping in thick snow (which is an interesting experience) dig a pit just outside the tent door, the size of the porch. This allows you to sit on the edge of the groundsheet and easily put on shoes, crampons etc and gives a space to cook in, store gear etc.

If it is cold outside have as much ventilation as possible. This means leaving as much of the inner door and outer open as possible, opening any and all ventilation flaps and hatches. This can make the difference between waking up in a pool of your own sweat and breath and waking up dry. Wind reduces condensation by carrying away wet air, in hot weather it is not really a problem.

Sleeping mats are absolutely essential to a comfortable night. The insulation in a sleeping bag compresses underneath you, rendering it next to useless and a great deal of heat is lost to the ground. With a sleeping mat (Thermarest, ridgerest etc are very popular) this is minimised and a great deal of comfort is added by the extra padding.

Pillows....I know one person who carries a travel pillow, it seems a little superfluous when most sleeping bags come in a stuffsack/compression sack. I stuff these sacks with spare fleece, down/synthetic jackets etc as required to make a large, comfy pillow. It is wise to use a drybag instead of a stuffsack if possible as this will keep these vital items dry.

A bivvy bag will add a great deal to the comfort of a tent. It means that your sleeping bag will stay dry regardless of condensation and will reduce convection cooling.

The worst night I ever spent was outside a cave in Northumberland in April. It was the most fantastic clear night and I elected to sleep outside in an £8 synthetic sleeping bag, on a bouldering mat. I got next to no sleep, could not climb the next day and was utterly miserable. I woke at one point to find that our BBQ had blown over and was close to setting some people's bivvy bags on fire and all night the sleeping bag acted as nothing more than a wind tunnel with me in the centre.

In the Val Veny Tom, Nick and I were walking in to an Alpine hut when the heavens opened. Unwilling to use the expensive refuge (Elizabetta? I have stayed there before on the Tour du Mont Blanc) we made it to building that was a POW camp for allied prisoners in the second world war. Here we ate, spread out our sleeping mats (having swept the floor of animal mess and stray using our boots) and had a good night's sleep.

Choosing the right sleeping bag is essential. Down and synthetic have vastly different properties and are not suitable for the same jobs, this is gone into in great detail elsewhere. Synthetic for when it might get wet, down for when it needs to be light is the manta.

Going to sleep after a large, decent meal means you will sleep better than if you have eaten a pork pie and some jelly babies. It is your metabolism that provides the warmth, give it fuel! Also water, as you cannot metabolise without this.

If you need a pee, don't hold it in. Your body is wasting energy by heating this up. Also, you might piss yourself and that would be a disaster.

Sleeping bag liners...these come in cotton, fleece and silk. Silk is lightest, cotton is cheapest, fleece is comfiest and heaviest. All will add slightly to your warmth and will keep your sleeping bag smelling better for longer. In especially warm climes these can be used on their own, and in Alpine huts to keep you comfy under the scratchy blankets.

The craziest thing I have heard of is a guy who would go winter climbing, eat a can of beans and wrap himself in the flysheet of a tent.