I think the big thing was when my foot slipped out of the blankets, I woke up and couldn't feel 3 of my toes, not much room for a fat old man to sit up and rub blood back into his foot, so by the time I was done I had been out of the covers and brushing against the frosty tent a lot, I was chilled all over and there really isn't a lot of room for mistakes like that in winter camping. Maybe my 2nd mistake was sticking to our diet, I think in the whole day I ate
1 cup cooked oatmeal with some dried fruit & black coffee Around 6 Am
an orange Around noon
2 hard boiled eggs & a strip of beef jerky with black coffee maybe 4:30 pm
Clearly not carb loading for the night.
3:30 seems early but my job has me up that early maybe 80-100 days a year. . . .I can't really sleep much past 5AM in my own bed, so uncomfortable & Cold at 3:30 I knew my odds of getting back to sleep were slight. . . .might just as well start coffee and move around to get warm.
I don't think the snow in the tent was a factor at all. . . .it was never warm enough to melt so nothing was wet, I slept with one blanket folded in thirds under me and it insolated so well the snow under the tent where I slept showed no signs of melting. . .just crushed down where I slept on it.