I visited Down Works in Santa Cruz - it is entirely possible to go head to toe down, and very tempting. The Montbell down pants, one of the down jackets, and one of the Down Works balaclavas (they make these themselves) plus Western Mountaineering down booties (hard sole, very puffy and lofty) might just do the trick.

You say she's as warm as you when hiking, but gets cold when you stop.

If she's sweating while hiking, her clothes are getting damp, even wet. When the extra heat of muscle movement ends when you stop hiking, the damp clothing could chill her badly. The damper the clothing, the worse it will be.

It sounds crazy, but you actually want to be just slightly chilly when hiking to minimize sweating, then put on extra insulation as soon as you stop. This was our regular practice when we lived in Canada's sub-arctic.

Alternatively, have her change to dry clothing as soon as you stop. If she does this, be sure she changes everything - down to the skin.

"but if you're in camp and only using it for an hour or two I don't imagine that being much of a problem. "

Space blankets do nothing to insulate. She will still be cold, just not as cold as she would without it. If you're going to try, find the material Sarah uses - at least she'd have the fabric against her skin instead of being wrapped like a burrito in foil.

I don't use vapor barriers and given that the morning last November when we woke to a frozen over lake and frozen mud, and I still had frozen perspiration on the outer shell of my down quilt, I'm quite happy to take as much down and fleece as I can carry instead.

As stated earlier her low heart rate is most likely the reason. If you find a way to overcome this problem please let me know. I suffer from the same problem. My resting heart rate is 41. I asked my doctor recently why I was so cold. I can shiver in 60º temps and drive with the heat on in my car on a nice sunny 65º plus day. The answer was the low heart rate.

Most people who have low heart rate have a high stroke volume, and that still keeps sufficient blood moving. Find out your blood pressure. Often it is sufficient to move blood to the large muscles, but low blood pressure can contribute to cold extremities.

--B.G.--

" low blood pressure can contribute to cold extremities"

Indeed. Story of my life.

While low blood pressure is great for overall health and a factor that retards physiological aging. it's not so nice for those of us trying to keep our extremities warm!

To wit, two weekends ago with night temps that dropped just below freezing, I slept in my Western Mountaineering Summerlite (rated to 32), in a well-ventilated Tarptent Moment, wearing BPL merino base layers, R1 pants, R1 hoody with hood on over a merino wool cap, liner and wool blend socks, WM Flash jacket wrapped around my feet, and the bag hood cinched around my head, on a Torsolite + GG 1/8" thinlight, and I still had cold feet and slightly cool legs and outer edges of my arms, where they pressed up against the bag. Additionally, I was well-hydrated, well-fed (with hot food), and always change out of sweaty clothes and wrap up promptly upon returning to camp, or making camp.

My core was good, so there was no major problem, except that I didn't get the kind of sleep I would like to get.

I've since bought a pair of Feathered Friends down booties, which I used last weekend, and loved, but that wasn't a comparable test since I was sharing a double walled tent, and temps didn't drop below 40; I was warm.

As others in this and the other recent thread have testified, more and more I'm starting to realize that this is one aspect of UL backpacking where I'm going to have to ride the cusp between UL and just light, at least as far as winter bags go. I've got some winter Sierra trips coming up, and there is no way I'll be able to extend the Summerlite down far enough using all the UL techniques at our disposal.

Alas, such are the wages of low blood pressure.

This is a bit of an issue for me too. I try to eat as much as I can, all carbs and protein, very different from my home diet. My last trip in the snow, I made hot cocoa and oatmeal while in my sleeping bag, before I ever got up. Oh, don't drink too much before going to bed..

I try to eat as much as I can, all carbs and protein,

Why all carbs and protein? Fat digests lower than carbs, and has more calories than protein -- why not include fat in your supper/evening dining to have calories coming available during the night to help keep you warm?

-- MV

When I know it's going to be below 30F, I take a block of cheese to supplement dinners. Helps that I really like cheese... Trader Joes is my best friend. There's always a nice variety of different cheeses. Can be easily added to pasta, or just eaten like a post-dinner snack.

Olive oil in your dinner

Where can you pick up little foil individual-serving olive oil packets?

http://www.minimus.biz/Marconi-Organic-Extra-Virgin-Olive-Oil-packet-F01-0851202-1100.aspx

Thanks, that's a great resource for all kinds of stuff.

Minimusbiz is great.

Where can you pick up little foil individual-serving olive oil packets?

You could also put the amount you want in a small dropper bottle.

-- MV

Edited by blean on 03/08/2010 21:46:45 MST.

Sorry to break it to you, but if her heart rate is low because she's in great shape, seek military solutions. In other words make her get down and push.

This isn't uncommon and push ups work well. Its not what you or her want to hear, because it's not fun and you don't get to buy more gear or an outfit but it works.

Sorry, but maybe you'll feel better if you count them out for her.

Thanks for all the responses everyone, got a plenty of new ideas that we'll have to try out. For those of you saying its a sweat problem, that definitely isn't an issue here. Mostly just a heart rate issue. Alex, you probably have the only realistic solution other than more layers or adding external warmth. Unfortunately, following your advice would prevent me from dressing my fiancee up like a giant orange reflective burrito, and that sounds like a lot more fun!

To clarify,
I always bring olive oil with me and use great amounts of it. Carbs and protein, because I want high calorie and long lasting. When backpacking, I skip my usual low calorie veggies, that,s all. Not enough fuel .

Sweet! Get her one of those North Face expedition suits and wrap her up with SOLAS tape.

http://www.thenorthface.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=38573&storeId=207&catalogId=10201&langId=-1&from=&parent_category_rn=&variationId=70M

Edited by Vertigo on 03/09/2010 10:34:49 MST.