How To: Winter Camping

[AZMedic]

Ya I also noticed that ya lose a lot of dexterity with your fingers in the cold and not just because of your gloves...

[ODA 226]

As nasty as it sounds (and depending on your aim), I always bring some kind of container into the tent with me to use as a pee bottle. Nothing sucks worse than having to exit the tent in the middle of the night to tinkle.

Go to sleep with a condom in your fartsack. If nature calls in the middle of the night when it's minus 52 degrees F and you don't want to get out of your fartsack, get dressed, crawl down your tunnel from your ice-shelf, remove rucksuck from the end of tunnel, exit snow-cave into 30 MPH winds, pee and then reverse the process.....SLEEP WITH A CONDOM IN YOUR BAG!

If you really need to go, unzip fartsack, roll on side, put on condom, RELIEVE YOURSELF , tie off the condom, place it away from your immediate sleeping area, zip up fartsack and resume a refreshing night's sleep!

In morning, use filled, frozen condom to help extinguish your campfire before you begin movement. WORKS LIKE A CHARM!

Sorry ladies....you need to go outside to pee!

226

[chimpac]

A homemade tarp 8'x15' and a coffee can stove makes a 4 season out fit for me.
I am cooking inside, use only 400 grams of wood in an hour.
Chimney is 40", high enough for sitting in the tent.

[Rush2112]

A how-to on building your tent that way would be great!

[AZMedic]

A how-to on building your tent that way would be great!

I agree I would like that very much. Looks lightweight but durable.

[ZombieGranny]

Sorry ladies....you need to go outside to pee!
226

Women can pee in bottles too, gentlemen.
Make us go outside, and we'll warm our frozen feet on you!

[Woods Walker]

Never wear tight fitting boots. Layer your clothing but remove some if warm. Use a bag rated to the expected temps or lower. If it’s warmer often use my bag as a quilt or unzip it. I don’t use much clothing inside my bag. First if the bag is tighter this seems to compress the insulation some but then again I am 6-1 250, secondly clothing can be damp from the day and is suck city inside your bag. I use a hat, warm socks and my boxers. No shirt etc. The only exception is sometimes a vest or fleece pullover but for me often less is more. Hate to overheat in the nigh and walk around the next day with damp clothing items however my heated shelter can mitigate most issues. Insulate yourself from the ground. The loft in a bag will compress down to nothing under your body and without a closed cell or insulated inflatable you will get cold back. If packing an insulated inflatable also take a closed cell as anything holding air can leak. It has happened to me at negative 20F. Never use air pads without a good R value alone, heck I don't use them at all in winter. Never winter camp without a hat and gloves/mittens. Pack extra socks, wool is the best for me but often sleep in fleece socks and hang the wool inside the shelter. Oh man a tent stove is pure gold! I also use White gas or more often a hobo, just depends on the shelter etc. Wind is bad news on exposed skin. If using a bivy rather than tent also pack a tarp. If the snow base is deep I float the camp. For those conditions snow shoes are mandatory. You will get no place fast in 4 feet of powder without them. If packing in also use hiking poles with snow baskets. For ice/light snow base use my Micro Spikes. Eat high calorie foods and drink enough water. Don’t worry about the late night piss. You will be worse off not drinking enough in the first place. Still it does suck crawling out of the bag 4 am. Use wide mouth canteens and insulated covers. I pack a hatchet to drive tent stakes into the frozen ground or use snow pegs if floating my camp. But don’t drive the tent stake all the way, leave an inch or so. Just drive them in a bit deeper when breaking camp to free them from the ice. I have used dead fall for tie-offs too. 35F with sleet and rain is far worse than subzero/dry. I often melt snow for water if streams etc are frozen over. I like candle lanterns. Guessing there are more good tips but these are the ones that came to mind.

[chimpac]

A how-to on building your tent that way would be great!

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=53145
This is a copy from the thread
I am wondering if I have said enough to make clear the features of my tarp shelter.
It is rectangular 8'x15'. The edges have reinforced nail peg holes 3" from the edge about 24" apart. I use 6" or 7" pole barn (ring)nails or aluminnum nails. 42" from each end in the middle I have a string loop inside attached to the tarp to hold a flexible pole that is the same length as the tarp is wide. The pole has a center mark so I know it is in place. The pole is bent and held bent with a string tied to a nail in each pole end.The hooped pole is set to lean back from the chimney.
In the center there is a stove jack that is two piece metal that can be put in with a pocket knife.
The chimney diameter is 3" in the picture I now use a 2.5"x 40". There is a 28" spreader pole at the chimney so there are pockets, made from plastic pipe, attached to the tarp. The tarp in the picture has sewed in doors, which is one of four ways of entry as explained in a post on this thread. The vertical zipper is usually closed, the horizontal part acts as a slit vent. There are 2 horizontal slit vents in the other side at eye level.

When the tarp is pitched each corner is pulled tight from the chimney over the hoops and nailed down. If there is no wind and the nails hold, 4 nails will do to light the stove then put more in later.
In the summer the tarp can be pitched as a shade, no walls.
more questions are welcome. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26369 Page 9-12

[Murph]

Updated to my Eurkea Tent Thread, I set it up to see how it'd go. Picture and all that after the jump:

viewtopic.php?p=1250426#p1250426

[honeybadger65]

Fleeces make a good middle layer.

However, over my base layer, I usually layer a soft shell jacket, and than my puffy down jacket over that. If needed, I can double my base layers if it gets colder.

Nice thing about soft shells is that they dont hold onto snow like a lot of fleeces do. They are really great and IMO better than fleeces when it comes to water/wind resistance. Some are even waterproof or windproof (but not both, as you want some breathability with a good middle layer).

If you dont have a soft shell, a fleece will work fine though.

[Mampfies]

Sorry ladies....you need to go outside to pee!
226

Women can pee in bottles too, gentlemen.
Make us go outside, and we'll warm our frozen feet on you!

An Igloo 2-gallon round drink cooler makes a dandy in-tent piddle station--nice wide (non-frozen!) rim to sit on, lid cuts all odor. Be sure to mark it for pee only, and if you're getting one second hand, make sure the spigot doesn't leak.

[mbaz73]

The only near winter camping I have ever done was when I was in the NG and we would need to head out to Ft. Devens for weekend drill. Our last outdoor overnight drill was always in November. Some were much colder than others! As far as equipment goes my typical setup was sleeping pad on the ground, sleeping bag and poncho done up shelter style with mini bungees. Switched off time to time using shelter halves when friends would remember to make their tanker roll correctly.

[Crouton]

Do you guys typically use 4 season tents?

I remember when i was in boyscouts we had those Coleman Sundomes... I want to say they were alright, but I do remember waking up completely frigid a couple of times.

[grennels]

I've done a winter camps in the past, and it can be a good experience or it can be f'n miserable. Key factor is in how much you plan ahead. I'm by no means an expert, and I'm sure there is plenty that could be added to this so feel free to do so.

In no particular order, the most important things to address are Food, Heat, Shelter, and Clothing.

Food: Due to the fact that your going to be cold to some degree, your body is going to be using up a lot of calories trying to keep itself warm. This means your calorie intake per meal should be more than what your using. Big, hearty, warm meals are the key here. It's also important to stay hydrated, most people wouldn't think it in the winter, but your body needs water regardless to operate right. Warm beverages are a plus, but cold water is better than nothing.


Cold air is typically DRY air. Sucks the moisture right out.
So does beer and whiskey. Drink plenty of water.


Heat: Your main source of heat will be your camp fire. It's okay to have more fire wood than you think you'll need, it can always be used later, or by the next guy. As a back up small propane heaters work very well. They're easy to use, and you don't have to worry as much about burning the forest down. If you have multiple people try to schedule a rotating fire watch overnight, waking up in the morning and trying to get a fire going sucks.


Not if you bring a couple bottles of charcoal liter.


Shelter: Not much to say here, most everyone has tents. If you have a choice between a larger or smaller one, go large. Chances are it wouldn't need to be staked down (the ground could be frozen.) You'll probably need extra room for larger sleeping bags, blankets, etc. Plus if you need to change clothes, you'd want to do that inside the tent.


If you have snow (which is what MAKES a winter campout) you can stake your tent using
"deadman" tie outs. Tie your ropes to fair sized branches and bury them good and deep.
Stomp it down.

You will need Thermrest or some kind of insulating ground pad.



Clothing: LOL - Lots Of Layers! A good base layer of long johns/polypros/etc is a must. Build up from there, avoid cotton, prefer wool. My opinion is fleece is a good mid layer. Make sure you have awesome socks, hats, and gloves. Thin glove liners are a plus for when you need to do more delicate tasks without freezing your hands. One overlooked thing is a good neck warmer / scarf /balaclava and one big enough to pull up onto your nose.

Lots of socks (non-cotton) and base layer stuff. You WILL sweat. And when winter camping,
moisture and dampness are NOT your friends.



Almost forgot the most important tip--

An empty milk jug in the tent at night. Sucks to crawl out into the cold darkness
to take a leak.

[Murph]

Great additions grennels!

[Murph]

Bump for the approaching winter season!

[Vulcan]

^Thanks for the bump!

Has anyone ever tried a tarp tent + emergency blanket combo? Basically have a two-layer tent; tarp outside, space blanket inside (to reflect heat back in) kind of a deal.
I seem to recall I've got both lying around here somewhere. I can try it myself if no one's tried it.


EDIT: Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
Emergency Poncho/ Space blanket Shelter
http://iowawoodsman.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... elter.html

[Murph]

When I was in High School the SAR group I was with did a winter camp in Upstate NY with just a large tarp. Someone fell asleep overnight on fire watch, and I woke up with a frozen face around the head hole of my mummy bag.

How I didn't get frost bite, etc, makes me still wonder to this day.

[Resolute]

Well, it's 20 degrees outside right now, with winds blowing to 40 mph. I had to go outside to find the trash can and lid - they ended up about 500 feet away and 2 houses over. I thought I was bundled up, but I forgot one thing - my face.

I was outside for only 20 minutes, but my nose, chin, and cheeks are still warming up. I'd love to try some winter camping, but it looks like I'm going to need some more specialty clothing so I don't lose my face.

[Murph]

Well, it's 20 degrees outside right now, with winds blowing to 40 mph. I had to go outside to find the trash can and lid - they ended up about 500 feet away and 2 houses over. I thought I was bundled up, but I forgot one thing - my face.

I was outside for only 20 minutes, but my nose, chin, and cheeks are still warming up. I'd love to try some winter camping, but it looks like I'm going to need some more specialty clothing so I don't lose my face.

I've got one of these bad boys for just those occasions:

http://store.colemans.com/cart/balaclav ... p-287.html

[Resolute]

You like it? Nice site, BTW - never been to Coleman's.

[Murph]

Yeah, that thing has gotten me through a number of Upstate NY winters. As for Colemans... I just linked to the first site I found searching with google image. I think Sportsmans Guide sells them too, or at least use to.

[Regular Guy]

I sweat, a lot. All the time. At a moderate work level I'll sweat in 0 degree weather.
I need a base layer that isn't going to retain water or at least stay warm when wet.
What can you recommend?
Likewise, my tent is a coleman. It's a stinker. I need a four person tent that is 3 season. I've used a propane heater and awoken to feel like I'm suffocating. It worked but the carbon-monoxide build up scared me.
So recommend me a tent and how to use the propane without killing myself.

[Resolute]

Baselayers that will stay warm when wet -

My favorite is the SmartWool baselayers. I have to admit, they're a bit expensive, but I worked at an outdoor store for a few years and got them on the cheap. They're 100% wool, don't itch, and if they get wet, they still retain some 70% of their insulating ability.

Second (close second) favorite is Patagonia Capilene. Wicks better than Smartwool, but because it's synthetic, it ends up stinking more than wool. I've been told that they have some new technology that reduces its odor, but I haven't had a chance to test it out firsthand.

I'm sure some other people will have other mil-issue clothing to recommend - I'm not too familiar with that clothing though.