I want to do circuit treks o the Huayhuash and Ausangate, and hike to the summits of Misti and Chachani.
Do those who have done these think that a North Face Nuptse jacket will be a good one? Or is this not warm enough...
Also, folks in Lima once told me that to sleep outside in the Andes at altitude you need a negative twenty bag. Negative twenty degrees -- or a plain old zero degree bag?
Thanks in advance
Nobody can really help you there as everybody is different. In addition, it depends on what season you're going in. I assume you are experienced with hiking in general if those are your plans, so have some experience sleeping in cold environments and you just want to know how cold it can get. We did the Santa Cruz trek. I have an old synthetic -5 ºC bag. My girlfriend has a new -20 ºC down bag. We generally were both warm enough (we also wore thermal underwear, warm socks, a fleece and other warm sleeping wear inside a 3-season (almost 4-season, but can't handle standing on snow) tent. I am not sure what the temperature went down to, but it got very cold (as in, finish up your coffee and dash into your tent cold) the moment the sun set, so probably reached -10 ºC, maybe colder, during the night. We were there in July. We also hiked the Choquequirao to Machu Picchu hike, with the same gear. It was not as cold as the Santa Cruz trek, although it had 2 nights at similar altitudes (Yanama and Totora are around 4000m altitude, about the same as the first and 2nd nights on the Santa Cruz trek).
I believe the highest camp on the Ausangate circuit is higher than anywhere we camped, while the Huayhuash circuit is mostly similar (just more nights at that altitude). For summitting the two peaks, it's more about your hiking gear than your sleeping gear, as I presume you will be setting off on your ascent around 2AM (we didn't climb those peaks, but that was approximately our departure time for the peaks we did). I got frostnip from not paying enough attention to how cold my hands were getting when summitting Licancabur. I didn't know the lack of oxygen makes cold harder to deal with for your body, and what felt like fairly normal cold in my fingers (no worse than I've felt when skiing) was actually dangerous at altitude. My fingers have fully recovered, but it was not something I'd recommend: use good quality gloves (and probably boots with a better thermal rating than my old, and extremely comfortable, but very much patched together leather boots). I believe my down jacket (a cheap one from Decathlon) was sufficient, and it was mostly my gloves that weren't good (cheap and old). My girlfriend had no issues and has a mid-range north face down jacket (similar to the one you're looking at).
Hi SFNovelist.
I use a -18oC sleeping bag for this sort of thing, as well as base camps at 5000m, and have had no problems with it. I also take a silk liner, which gives me another 5oC or so, just in case. I do not feel the cold as badly as some people. Three layers on the hands, windproof/fleece/liner, is IMO a good idea for early morning starts. I only use a lightweight down jacket with two 100 grade fleece layers and an outer softshell for most things up to 6400m. The down goes on the outside and comes off as required.
Hi Mitzimeow,
That temperature rating is negative four degrees Farenheit, right?
These are the boots I decided to go for:
http://www.salomon.com/us/product/quest-4d-2-gtx.html?article=379472
As always, thanks for your advice, which is much more knowledgeable than what I came up with on my own.
-18oC is about 0oF. I find that to be fine. The boots look excellent. Rugged enough but comfortable.
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