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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Breckenridge
    Posts
    726

    Telling how cold it got last night when camping

    So the situation, camping to ski spring corn the next day. Temps have been high, so I want to make sure it got good and cold last night to set up the snowpack.

    I've got a suunto altimeter that shows the current temp, but don't see any way to see historical temps on it.

    Short of waking up at 3am to check the watch what's a good way to tell how cold it got last night(is there some functionality I don't know about with my watch?)

    Or, is it good enough to wake up, feel the snow and if there's a good crust on it we're good to go? Am I being too anal to want to know the min temp when I can just look around for the info I need?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Breckenridge
    Posts
    726
    Never mind, I just learned that it actually is coldest at sunrise, not at 3am as I initially thought. So I'll just check my watch when I get up.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    736
    A min/max thermometer would do the trick.

    http://www.amazon.com/Extech-39240-T...761501&sr=8-26

    I used to have an analog one I got from REI many years ago. Don't know what happened to it, and I don't think they are available any more.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    South Lake Tahoe
    Posts
    3,612
    my suunto records temp data for the last 24+ hours. I have the X6. Remember to take it off your wrist and put it somewhere safe.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    3,739
    Is there a temp. where you would not ski?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Tahoe
    Posts
    912
    Quote Originally Posted by TomCrac View Post
    Is there a temp. where you would not ski?

    The answer to that is "it depends". Obviously, its nice for the temps to get under 30 all night, but I've been on missions where our thermometers didn't get lower than 40 and we had good, safe, solid snow, and I've had mornings where the low was in the high 20's and the snow was punchy and sketch. From my experience, there is definitely no "magic number", and it depends on a few factors (duration of that low temperature, cloud cover, aspect, etc) but obviously a low nighttime temp is essential.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    S-E-A-T-O-W-N
    Posts
    1,792
    I don't think it's air temp you're primarily concerned with. If it's a clear night the snow can get a lot colder than the air.

    Also, if a warm front comes in partway through the night, it'll be warm in the morning.

    Is there something wrong with just feeling the snow when you get up? If it set up hard, you will know right away. I don't think you really care how cold the air got overnight. You care about what the snow is like when you start climbing and whether there is cloud cover.
    that's all i can think of, but i'm sure there's something else...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Banff
    Posts
    3,390
    Cloud cover is important aswell. You can still get a really good freeze at "warmer" temps if it's a clear night.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Vancouver - BC
    Posts
    346
    When I first started touring I did a few trips with someone who'd done come CAA Ops level courses. He tended to do temperature observations consistently at about 6am. Having a more complete temperature profile for overnight wouldn't hurt, but there are probably other sources of information that are more worthwhile.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    I-70
    Posts
    3,448
    Quote Originally Posted by timmaio View Post
    Never mind, I just learned that it actually is coldest at sunrise, not at 3am as I initially thought. So I'll just check my watch when I get up.
    No wai, that must mean that the longer the sun is NOT shining on you, the colder it gets, UNPOSSIBLE!!!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    SW Jongistan
    Posts
    447
    Bring bottle of cheap tequila camping.

    Offer bottle to ski partner in the evening.

    Leave ski partner outside tent when he is no longer capable of crawling.

    Color of ski partner's lips in the morning = proper color of kick wax for the day.

    As a plus, you get more room in the tent and don't have to deal with someone else's nighttime outgassing.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Vienna/Austria/Europe
    Posts
    226
    coldfeet I like your approach. in YYyyurope we usually employ the Nutella gauge. it also works for kayaking during summer. also, you don't get a lawsuit from Strassbourg that easily.

    tutorial: buy glass of Nutella. in the morning, simply observe the state of Nutella (fluid/solid) and the amount of energy needed to penetrate it with a knife. for kayaking, if Nutella is really liquid before lunchtime, get ready for a glacier-fed run in the afternoon.

    * might also work with peanut butter for winter use
    ** you might get more reliable feedback from chopping up the snow and checking whether its just the top layer that is frozen and if so how thick this top layer is
    *** watch out for inversion weather and make sure you are not camping in a lake of cold air commonly found in depressions or valleys, it might be much warmer further up on the mountain

    btw, as mentioned above the freezing cycle of corn snow depends strongly on the snow's ability to give off heat by long-wave radiation to the atmosphere. clear nights are a must.
    ~#at night the highway's diesel roar/speaks to me and tells me more/than any book I've ever read/or anything you've ever said#~

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