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When I first started using a hammock for my camping shelter, I wish I’d had a guide to hammock camping in cold weather. It’s a whole different camping environment when it comes to camping in a hammock in cold weather.
Have you ever seen those signs on the highway that say, “Bridge ices before road?” Well, it’s the same basic concept when it comes to hammock camping. Since the hammock is elevated off the ground, you have an air space above and BELOW the hammock that can quickly result in CBS or cold butt syndrome.
Many campers also don’t realize that when you use a sleeping bag for insulation, your body compresses the insulation in the part of the sleeping bag that goes underneath your body. This is less apparent in tents, because you have a sleeping pad to make up for that compressed insulation. This lack of bottom insulation becomes even more apparent in a camping hammock.
So, how do you stay warm in a hammock in cold weather?
Table of Contents
Guide to Hammock Camping in Cold Weather
I break up the guide into bottom insulation, top insulation, and additional strategies for warmth. Camping in a hammock requires a little more thought and preparation to maintain your body heat than camping in a tent. The rewards of sleeping in a hammock far outweigh this additional planning and preparation time, though.
Bottom Insulation
Some sort of insulation under your body is the most important aspect of staying warm in a hammock. Many new hammock campers fall back on their familiarity with tent camping and use a sleeping pad of some sort under their body inside the hammock. This will work and solves the CBS problem. However, the sleeping pad will shift overnight — it’s nearly impossible to prevent this from happening — and it’s not really protecting your whole body (so, now you end up with CSS or cold shoulders syndrome).
A sleeping pad is a good first step, but if you want to stay warm in truly cold weather, you’ll have to invest in an underquilt. An underquilt is basically half a sleeping bag that hangs underneath your hammock to provide bottom insulation without compression.
You can go with synthetic or down. I started with synthetic and recently switched to down. Down packs much smaller in your pack and provides a lot more warmth with a lot less weight than synthetic. Down is not as “water resistant” as synthetic, but most down quilts now include a water treatment that reduces the concern about getting the quilt wet.
Additionally, the comfort difference between a sleeping pad and an underquilt in a hammock is immeasurable. It’s like sleeping on a pillow with an underquilt or sleeping with an annoying mat in an awkward position under your back all night.
Top Insulation
For years, I used my old sleeping bags for my top insulation. Don’t use it like a sleeping bag, though. It’s difficult to get into a sleeping bag in a hammock and you’re just compressing any insulation that’s under your body. I zipped up the toe box and used it like a blanket or top quilt.
Although this will work, a sleeping bag has zippers that can damage your hammock. So, I switched to a top quilt. Basically, the same thing as my sleeping bag used as a blanket, but no zippers or head cover.
Most top quilts have draw strings to cinch the quilt around your neck to keep out drafts and you can choose between a zippered or sewn toe box. The zippered option works find, as it’s “tucked” into the quilt a bit to avoid any damage to your hammock.
Layers
As I mentioned, top quilts do not cover your head the way a mummy bag would. So, you need to have some sort of insulation on your head. You could use a basic beanie, but I’ve had a couple issues with that option. First, the beanie falls off my head in the middle of the night. Second, I feel drafts around my neck. The best way to solve both issues is with a hood that is fleece or down. I prefer down.
Next, you need some type of insulation on your feet. Even with an underquilt and top quilt, your feet can get chilly. Sleeping diagonally in a hammock (the correct way) can result in your feet extending past the underquilt and getting cold. I use heavy fleece socks, but some people prefer down booties. You could also use a pair of dry hiking socks.
Lastly, I add a base layer on extra cold nights. I use Merino wool tops and bottoms for my base layer, but you could use any lightweight dry clothes as your base layer.
Additional Strategies for Warmth
The first additional strategy I recommend is setting up your hammock tarp appropriately. In cold weather, be sure your tarp covers your hammock perpendicular to the prevailing wind. If you set up your tarp parallel with the prevailing wind, you become a giant wind tunnel and you will experience full body cold syndrome, not just CBS.
To help block the wind, you should also set up your tarp as close to the ground as possible. This reduces the amount of cold air circulating under your hammock.
You can also use two underquilts or a sleeping pad with an underquilt to increase your bottom insulation. I have my old synthetic underquilt that I can use with my newer down underquilt if I need some additional insulation for those really cold nights.
Finally, you can get hammocks that have a “winter cover” that replaces the bug net and provides some additional warmth.
Cold Weather Hammock Camping Gear List
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on these links and make a qualifying purchase, I will receive a small commission from those purchases.