Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Any cold weather camping tips?

wool cap = check
insulated booties = check
hot water bottle = check

Have you all any other cold weather camping tips you would like share?

...ones that don't involve a heated shelter, that is

comfortable slippers = check
warm stove or fireplace = check
cup of hot coffee = check
good book = check

Canvas wall tent and four dog stove.

Merino wool base layers.
Smart wool socks.
Pine needle tea.

And of course, a heated shelter.

Electric blanket...

Open lace up boots widely when left overnight, so you can get feet in them in the morning when they are frozen. If you need to make a quick bathroom trip you won't have time to warm them over a fire, etc.

Turn one water bottle top down and place it where at least a smidge of body warmth keeps it from freezing solid. Or take it into your sleeping bag full of hot water when you go to sleep.

Tear open hand warmers-- wonderful. If cold, one in a chest pocket, in the top of a sock at ankle, inside wrist at cuff, etc.

Open gaiters and lay them outside down on the ground to stand on with boots off, to put feet on while while thawing boots, etc.

I forgot about "store water bottle upside down" thing <-- thanks!

This way the ice is at "the bottom" and you can still get at the water that did not freeze.

Oh yeah, "bury water bottle in the snow" to keep it from freezing

Stay dry including rain and sweat. Slow down and de-layer before you sweat, just don't get your inner layer wet.
Use fire, even if you don't have a heated shelter. Keep a fire going somewhere in camp, especially if you can use a natural reflector to kick more heat back to you.
Keep your head and neck warm. It will help with your hands and feet.
My funny guy answer is: Watch "Jeremiah Johnson" and then turn up the heat in the house and crawl back under the down comforter!
Seriously, winter is a great time to be out. Quiet and solitary. Just be careful to no do something stupid and get yourself in trouble.
Take a camera and get some pictures of things you will only see in winter.

With no heated shelter???

Why would you do that to yourself?

You could be sipping on Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve with a buddy around the fireplace in the middle of nowhere, but you want to do it the hard way?



Joking.... Get a cheapy space blanket and pitch it by the fire to break wind, and keep some heat in. A friend of mine does this all the time XC skiing for lunch.

Not sweating up a base layer? I can't do that. I wear a 150 weight with a wind shirt down to about 20-25 degrees if I'm moving, and I sweat through my kit bag and pack. I just towel off and let my nipples get good and hard, then put on a dry Ibex Indie Crew 190 weight and a 320 weight top once I get where I'm going.

There�s an art to keeping warm when sleeping in temperatures below zero. Start by insulating yourself from the frozen ground and then use a really good sleeping bag. I suggest that you use both a closed cell foam sleeping pad and an insulated pad like a Thermarest �Camprest" or �NeoAir� of Big Agnes �Insulated Air Core�. You need a mummy style sleeping bag rated at 0� or colder.

A good 4-season backpack tent with a vestibule will make a big difference. It's important to keep the inside of the tent free of snow and dry. So leave your boots in the vestibule. One big advantage of sleeping directly on the snow is that there won't be any rocks, sticks or bumps under you and the snow will eventually conform to your body contours. If you setup your tent on the snow then first put a light waterproof tarp on the inside of the floor. Any moisture will run under the tarp and freeze between the tarp and the tent floor. Next build a nest inside the tent with extra clothes, stuff sacks, backpacks, etc. This keeps you from rolling off the sleeping pads onto the frozen floor of the tent. Wear only clean dry clothing to bed. Wet clothes, even those wet with only perspiration, will take several hours to dry. Wear your knitted hat to bed as a nightcap. Also sleep 2 to a tent and the extra body heat will make a difference. Bring a wide mouth pee bottle so that you can urinate in the middle of the night without leaving the tent.

If your feet get cold, zip up your coat and slip it over the bottom of your sleeping bag. Or you can put a couple of hand warmer packs in the bottom of your sleeping bag. If your chest is cold, put your coat on inside the sleeping bag.

Bring a good thermos with an insulator. I couldn't find an insulator big enough to take a thermos, so I built my own using foam rubber and duct tape. At night first temper the thermos and then fill it with boiling water and put it inside the insulator and then inside your backpack. In the morning you have hot water for instant cocoa and oatmeal without getting out of your bag.

KC

In addition to the insulated booties, I like to change socks too.

Before I do either, I put both the clean/dry socks and insulated booties inside my jacket to pre-warm them and sit on the foot end of my bag for 15 or so minutes just so that it is not totally icy when I first get in. I find that my overall feeling of cold is more positive if my feet are not totally iced up. If I go into the bag with icy feet, they stay cold for a long while unless:

- I REMOVE my socks so that my bare feet can warm up by tucking it under my knee, one at a time and
- I pump my bag a little bit every so often so that the warmth around my torso can get down to my feet.

I also find that simply changing my sleeping position to my side helps relieve pressure from my "I've got to go right now" bladder in the last hour before daybreak.

Looseness in a bag tends to mean cold spots for me - want the bag to touch me all over. I also try to make sure there is not too much shear/twist or tension in the bag because it tends to compress the insulation and also thus gives cold spots.

Clean dry merino socks, bottoms and tops. I put my jacket or down vest in the bag with me to keep from putting on a cold jacket in the morning. Also put my isobutane canister in the bottom of my bag so it doesn't sputter in the morning. Actually never been out there in much below low-mid 20's.

Check this out. Go to youtube
Search Basic Shelter. From bobby so famous
I built it and slept in 20 degree weather with a military 4 part system sleeping bag
Using a military poncho as a floor and a backpack air mattress. This shelter rocked and it was light to backpack.

Check this out. Go to youtube
Search Basic Shelter. From bobby so famous
I built it and slept in 20 degree weather with a military 4 part system sleeping bag
Using a military poncho as a floor and a backpack air mattress. This shelter rocked and it was light to backpack. Warm all night!!!

Vapor barrier socks, if you can stand to have them against your skin great. Your socks and boots will stay dry. Otherwise between the socks and boot will keep your boots from wetting out, just have to change socks daily.

Leave the water bladder at home the hoses just freeze up when it's too cold.

Have a metal water bottle that way you can use a heat source to melt it after it freezes solid, which it probably will. Especially if it's below 0 and you try to bury it in a snow bank to keep from freezing.

Also agree with KC sleeping on top of the snow is really comfortable and if you're on a bit of a slope you can bank the snow up on one end of the pad to level it out, works great.

Put a space blanket down on the floor of the tent, then put your pad and sleeping bag on top. Put another space blanket over the top of your sleeping bag. In addition to reflecting heat back to you, the moisture from your breath and body will condense and freeze on the top of the top space blanket, and can be shaken off outside in the morning. Keeps your bag from getting frozen insulation, which causes it to lose loft, and therefore insulating ability, and from picking up extra weight on multi night trips.

Sorry Dan, but I prefer to sit by the fire and break wind without a barrier to keep some in, that just don't sound right.

Seriously though, everyone pays attention to the rating of their bag, but pay attention to the R value of your pad and use a thicker one than you would for 3-season camping. Wear a warm hat in your bag, and a neck gaiter or loose-fitting shirt or sweater just bunched up around your neck.

Eat some food that has a high fat content before bed, the calories will help keep you warm through the night.

In a floorless shelter you don't have to go outside for a whiz. Not even out of the bag really.

Have your stove ready to go so that all you need to do to heat up water in the morning is reach over and light it without getting out of your bag.

A candle lantern or other small lantern will heat up a small tent a few degrees, sometimes that helps in the morning.

Fat chick is all you need.

Insulated booties really help for me when sleeping...dry socks for bedtime also. I put the not so dry socks in the bag to help dry them out overnight.

Heated shelter is the ticket though...lol...

Define "cold weather camping"?




balaclava provides more/better head/neck coverage. Wear it when sleeping

change socks often. At least 2X/day. change to dry socks at bedtime.

Manage sweating. Peel layers before getting wet. Stay dry.

Stay hydrated. Easy to say, but 'make' yourself drink water.

Right ... first question ... how cold is "cold?" That can mean a lot of things and the difference between 'em is important. Second question is "where" because that can say a lot about humidity. I can enjoy a dry cold much colder, by thermometer, than I can a wet cold. Next thing up I guess would be whether that cold includes wind or not.

Tom

It sounds like everyone has covered this pretty well, we preach to our Boy Scouts to change out of ALL clothing worn during the day and dress into fresh dry base layers before bed. I'm still struggling to enjoy winter camping.

Another advantage to Mountain House meals is using the empty containers (trash) as hot water bottles. After dinner, rinse out the Mountain House container and fill with hot water. These feel great for getting the foot box of your sleeping bag warm. Be careful not to crush the container and get your bag wet. They are pretty hard to pop open but it can happen. Another multi-use item for the ounce counters.

It's been mentioned that bladders with drinking tubes can freeze. If you have one and get caught in the cold, empty the tube after each drink by blowing the water back into the bladder. It's not a cure all but it does help.
This also helps in hot weather as the water doesn't get hot in the tube.

^^^^^ This, then unzip your coat, put the tube inside, and zip up.

Almost forgot... keep canister stove fuel, batteries and Sawyer squeeze filter in sleeping bag at night.

Man, I should look for a water bottle cozy that has pockets built-in for all this junk.

Make sure your water filters are empty or drained or don't let them freeze. The ceramic(or whatever its made of) filter can crack.

When we took that trip last fall, that little water bottle filter I carried was cracked when I got home. Pretty sure I let it freeze with a little water left in it on that last day hunting.

That's why I drained the Base Camp at night. It would be interesting trying to filter water with a 3' frozen hose.

That's a great tip on the water filters. I haven't had that happen, but that would not be good.

Always good to have either a way to melt snow or some Potable Aqua tabs as a back-up.

In the absence of a stove, a 3-wick emergency candle will heat up a small tent quite nicely in about 30 min in -10F weather. If you burn it for 0.5-1 hour each night and morning, they last for several days.

That would have been bad enough. It would have been worse to crack a filter as we had no backup! One of us would have been riding a llama out and driving to Ketchum to buy a new one!

Actually, we DID have a backup filter, buried deep in one of those panniers. They're pricey enough that I wouldn't want to waste one, though. Besides, what's a mere gut bug anyway? It would give you a MOST memorable flight home to remember the trip by.

"Actually, we DID have a backup filter, buried deep in one of those panniers. They're pricey enough that I wouldn't want to waste one, though. Besides, what's a mere gut bug anyway? It would give you a MOST memorable flight home to remember the trip by."

Ha! Yeah, I'll hang onto the memories I have thank you. "Exploding" in an airline lavatory while indeed memorable, and likely for everyone aboard , is something I hope only to experience in my imagination.


Ohh, how bad that would be. It's even painful to imagine.

There are a million little tricks that you will learn with experience. A lot of the gear stuff has been covered, so I'll try not to be redundant. It's been awhile since I was into winter camping, but some that I remember are:

Jumping jacks before bed.

Filling a Nalgene type bottle with boiling water before bed, putting it in a sock (I have neoprene sleeves I've fashioned for this), and throwing it to the bottom of the sleeping bag. I used to actually make hot chocolate out of it, then have that to drink in morning on waking (that was before I drank coffee, maybe substitute). Nothing like a warm drink when it's time to get up.

In snow, you are always making water as it is hard to stay hydrated. Put your extra water bottles upside down in the snow and bury them. That way they don't form ice on top when you open them.

Be careful with that first drink of choice. You don't want -10deg whiskey hitting your throat!

Sleep with your extra cloths in your bag. On cold nights, put your boots in your bag with you. Frozen boots suck. Your body will do a good job at drying out damp gloves/socks etc during the night.

Don't count on making time like during the summer months. You have to carry so much more gear and the going can be much slower.
Carry a shovel. There are many designed for this purpose. Building a wall to block wind, emergency shelter, fire pit, level tent pad, etc make this necessary.

Bury sticks in the snow to tie your tent off to--"dead man" anchors.

Be careful with your stove. While melting water, the base can heat up and let it tip over. It sucks to have an hour worth of snow melting dump over. Bring plenty of fuel. Oh, and test your stove at low temps before going. They don't all behave at low temps!

Sleds can be great for carrying gear if the terrain allows. Put your ropes through pvc, maybe 5' long. Cross them so they form an X and tie them to your belt or pack.

Kc nailed it about a quality.insulated.pad. also jet boils don't work.so.well.in.cold. I haven't tried my sol.yet. obviously need a zero degree bag or better. A fat chick obviously is a game changer as some have mentioned.

There is a lot of great advice here. If it is really cold, try to take a tent with a wood stove in it. Cold weather camping can be luxurious with the right heated tent. Plan on doing your cooking on the wood stove and forget about hauling along another stove. Eat hearty, especially for the evening meal. Keep your clothing dry.

If you don't have a stove heated tent it is important to stay busy. Use a campfire for heat, cooking, staying busy and drying your clothing. Reflectors behind your back and behind the fire are helpful. Two mats under your sleeping bag; something like ensolite next to the ground and air/foam on top.

I used to do a lot of winter cross country ski trips and did fine with nylon mountaineering tents, good sleeping bags, layered clothing and plenty of food.

Just cook with it upside down, once you invert the cannister it'll burn great!

Wouldn't that be broiling?

You didn't say if it was backpacking or simply camping. Will assume the former.

Devote a pair of good socks to sleeping only. Dry your daily socks by the fire or in your sleeping bag if needed. You may need to devote an entire base layer to sleeping use only.

Get yourself a 20oz bottle of gatorade. Drink it while hiking. Use it for a pee bottle at night. Disgusting yes, but it makes a world of difference. Full bladders make you cold! With the bottle you just roll over, unzip, and you are done pretty quick and never leave the bag. If 20 oz is not big enough, you get an A+ for your hydration efforts! Trying to execute this using a normal water bottle is a self-correcting error ...

Keep a bag of M and Ms handy. If you get chilly in the wee hours, this will help a lot. Sleep with a good hat on.

And of course, if you don't have an adequate pad, you are screwed.

I remebered another one!

I know a lot of you have the NeoAir Xtherm. It actually matters which side is up - shiny towards you. I made tgis mistake once because I was setting up in the dark. Though it only got down to 28� F, I got cold under me

When the Xtherm's are the right side up, they work well even when only 1/3 inflated to at least 19� F => verified last night

The reflective thing on the Xtherm really works. I'm think of trying it uninflated with a double bottom hammock.

Put your whiskey bottle in a snow bank to keep whiskey liquid!

Arctic Oven

Canister stoves like JetBoil and their ilk work better in the cold with a little help. I like to put a pair of Hot Hands chemical hot packs under the fuel canister or placing the canister in a small partially filled pot of water while cooking acting to help warm the fuel for better burning.

Put away the butane stoves until spring and use a Svea.

Bring a snow shovel...



...and bacon!

Just turn it upside down, it'll work great.

In some respects, I think you guys are lucky in that the severe cold means its a very dry cold..

We don't get too much snow, and even when we do, the temps rarely drop below say 25F and often just hover around freezing..

This means our snow tends to be wet and slushy and keeping dry is a major problem..

So far as warm weather, it also keeps the water in the tube from leaking down the front of your shirt/coat. If there's any air leakage around the bite valve it drip and even can siphon. I don't usually blow into the tube but I do open the valve, pinch it, and hold it overhead so the water runs back into the bladder.

Tom

You are correct in every phrase.

I.e. I love going east to the Rockies or merely the east slope of the Cascades even though temps are almost always much colder during late Fall hunting seasons. Clothes stay dry and dry out if they get wet, it is a paradise for dry firewood, we can lounge around a campfire outside, sit on down logs or blocks of wood without soaking our rear, damp stuff inside a vehicle doesn't mildew, I can even wear jeans and stay comfortable etc.

Sometimes our snow can be so dry that XC skies will sink clear to the ground in knee deep snow, literally. Snowshoeing when it's like that can be workout you really don't want.

Yep, with an anecdote: In extreme cold on a late moose hunt we had the lightest, fluffiest snow I've encountered: three feet deep and snowshoes would sink to within 4 inches of the ground. Without snowshoes we'd sink to within an inch or so. A friend and I toiled all day and covered 3 miles taking turns breaking trail. We would try snowshoes for awhile, decide it was easier without them so pack them for awhile, back and forth. Cloudless sky in bright sunshine. The air sparkled and if we stood still we could hear a musical tinkling, frozen water vapor bumping in the air I suppose. It was astoundingly dry. Ice evaporated out of clothes, containers etc. without freezing, just shrinks and dissappears.

Ditto that. Dry cold is so much more forgiving. To a point.