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Winter Camping

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2014 22:37:48 No.420478 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>420504 >>420704

Discuss tactics and strategies for camping innacold. Specifically:

>Sleeping systems
>Coverage systems
>Fire sizes/styles
>Firewood collection
>Lighting
>Clothing
>Footwear
>Things to do to pass the time
>Safety measures

Also here are some winter camping vids:

Ray Mears - Canadian Rockies (not winter but hypothermia oriented content)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eeoq1BkP4k

Winter Hammock Camping in the Adirondacks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_XVT-Ehbo

Winter Camping in a Tipi Hot Tent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8tGAXQuQ4Q

Dave Canterbury - Winterizing the Hammock for the Common Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihyNZHk-jL4

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 2013-12-31 12.48.52.jpg, 1MiB, 3264x1952

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2014 22:52:57 No.420486 Report

Quoted By: >>421030

Get a warm sleeping bag, if it's really cold I sleep with an additional fleece liner and long underwear.

If it's realy snowy I just pack in a bit of firewod and keep a small fire. After sun goes down you won't want to be outside of the tent so I usually find i just cozy up in the tent after sunset.

One thing I can't stress enough is to not leave shit out overnight. Once left out a dehydrated meal bag and my gloves underneath my pack and awoke to the meal ripped apart by a raven and my gloves frozen solid.

Building snow structures; Igloos and Quinzees is pretty fun, always bring a snow shovel.

Will post a couple winter camping pics

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO 2014-01-17 10.05.46.jpg, 193KiB, 1280x960

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2014 22:54:00 No.420488 Report

Quoted By:

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO taun taun.jpg, 10KiB, 300x232

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2014 23:01:28 No.420490 Report

Quoted By:

This may smell bad, kid...but it'll keep you warm...'til I get the shelter built.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 17 Nov 2014 23:30:37 No.420504 Report

Quoted By:

>>420478
I'll bump. Would love to convince my wife to go winter camping.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2014 09:59:00 No.420704 Report

Quoted By:

>>420478
>Sleeping systems
>Coverage systems

The Ray Mears lean-to looks like it could work. Put a couple mylar foil space blankets on the rear wall and it will really reflect the fire's heat on you.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2014 20:14:40 No.420822 Report

Quoted By: >>421468

I've done it once. I remember it was great fun!

I used a basic, cheap, chinese, tent from Tesco (or similar) for about 15USD. It was a 3 season tent, that managed to survive over 6 years of abuse. How the hell did it do it, no clue... It was a shared tent amongst friends and we purposedly did not care about it much, to see how much can it take.

To the point: that time we were semi prepared. I had a sleeping bag and lots of clothes.
Sleeping bag - insufficient for that night
Clothes - to make up for what the bag was lacking.

A friend had a wool blanket (couldn't find a sleeping bag) and a bunch of clothes. Needles to say, he was miserable most of the night, but woke up happy he survived.

We ate a good warm supper, made on a gas stove.
Made a fire to keep us warm before going to sleep.
Insulated the ground with evergreen branches and erected the tent on top of that.

After a quick breakfast we packed up and left.
I would like to do it again, but have no one to do it with.
I have equipment much better than before, bought last season, that hasn't seen proper use so far...
I am afraid going alone in case something happens, as I have much less experience with /out while in winter, compared to /out during other seasons.
Any wise words on how to do it?

Anonymous

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Anonymous Tue 18 Nov 2014 21:25:12 No.420838 Report

Quoted By: >>420994 >>421030

Over the weekend a couple of friends took me out for an over night trip in Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana and I fucking loved it. I don't have any gear of my own but my buddy lent me his nice ass 3 man tent while he and my other friends slept in hammocks. He let me try out his Eno Double Nest and I've decided to pick up the Single Nest OneLink package thing.

The thing is it got pretty chilly that night at about 37F and I'm torn between spending $500 on a decent underquilt/overquilt setup, just using a pad and sleeping bag or trying to rig up my own underquilt. 40F will remain the average temperature down here until about April. How would you guys insulate a hammock? If I get the Burrow/Incubator 40 combo from HG would it be uncomfortable in the warmer months when it's about 70F at night? How effective is the Hot Spot at making a pad not a pain in the ass?

>TL;DR
Buy nice UQ/OQ, sleeping pad or DIY UQ/OQ for 40F-70F hammock?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 04:21:28 No.420994 Report

Quoted By:

>>420838
Bruh, you shouldn't have to spend that much money if you're not dealing with weather below freezing/

Coldfoot !!eppOvF3ot92

Coldfoot !!eppOvF3ot92 Wed 19 Nov 2014 05:36:16 No.421030 Report

Quoted By:

>>420486
What sleeping bag and pad do you use when camping in conditions like in your pic? Do you have any experience with the Exped Downmats?

>>420838
>that picture
So I guess there's no way to get in that hammock without getting the foot end of it all wet from having stood in the middle of the stream?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 18:53:32 No.421226 Report

Quoted By: >>421227 >>421319 >>421330

I am about to be homeless in a little over a week and have decided to go innawoods for 2 weeks until some dividends come in.
here is some info:
In Alberta
have 4x4
have a cheap walmart tent
have a -10 C Bag
Have a Groundsheet

I am trying to get my hands on a USGI MSS bag but by the time it ships, I won't have an address. So my second option is too:

buy -20 C bag and combine with -10 C bag
Wrap Tarp Around me
Sleep in truck

how fucked am I?

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 18:56:12 No.421227 Report

Quoted By: >>421253

>>421226
same guy;

what I really want to do is:

get USGI MSS
get a ground sheet
place tarp over USGI MSS hanging from trees
build fire next to bivy
live comfy for 2 weeks.

my truck can carry all the food, I can boil snow for water. Will be random camping so no fees plus wood will be free.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 20:00:09 No.421253 Report

Quoted By: >>421270

>>421227
Why not just sleep in your truck? And how long will you live this way? It's totally possible to survive, I'm just curious if you have an income.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 20:30:30 No.421270 Report

Quoted By:

>>421253
my truck is full of shit. I will have to live like this for 14 days until I can check into a hostel. I have income via dividends that I receive every month.

I don't want to sleep in my truck because I would rather be comfy in a tent or bivy bag. In a bivy bag I can keep a fire going next to me. Hard to do that in a truck.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 23:22:26 No.421319 Report

Quoted By: >>421362

>>421226
Is the weather expected to go lower than -30c where you are? No knowledge of the climate there. 2 sleeping bags combined and wearing some clothing is plenty id say.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 23:43:36 No.421330 Report

Quoted By: >>421335 >>421362

>>421226
How much money do you have? You probably don't need a new sleeping bag.

I have camped in -23C (in Lake Louise) with a -7C MEC bag. I was fucking cold when I woke up in the morning, but I obviously survived. (I didn't think it was going to get so cold that night, so I wasn't that well prepared).

The most important thing you should get if you don't have it, is proper padding to sleep on - the typical recommendation in winter is 1x foam mat and 1x inflatable - the combined R-value should be at least 5. If you have good padding, wear a toque, fleece pants, and fleece top to bed, and have your mummy bag fully zipped, you should be good for some pretty low temps.

If you have a nalgene or two, fill them with hot/boiling water before you go to sleep and keep them in your sleeping bag.

I've done a fair bit of winter camping in the Canadian rockies, ask me anything.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 19 Nov 2014 23:52:12 No.421335 Report

Quoted By: >>421340

>>421330
For a person that fits into a regular length bag (in the US, we have 6' and 6'6" bags), I've often heard it recommended to get a longer bag and then fill the foot end with boiling nalgenes, as you described. The downside is that there's all that extra space down around your feet if you don't do this. What are your thoughts?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 00:03:33 No.421340 Report

Quoted By:

>>421335
Personally I think you are better off buying the bag that fits, and then putting the bottles between your legs or in your armpits. Wasted space is wasted space, not to mention larger bags weigh more and are larger when packed, and doing it this way puts the bottles closer to large veins/arteries.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 01:43:46 No.421362 Report

Quoted By: >>421364

>>421319
>>421330

I just got back from buying the USGI MSS Bag. Some guy had one here locally. Checked out the tags, legit Tannier Industries. No rips or patches. Grade "A" gently used. Paid 160 Canuck Ducats. About the same as ebay minus the 6-9 day waiting period on shipping.

Its not so much about the cold, but its about comfort. I "could" last in my -10C bag, but for 14 days straight I might be miserable.

So now my set up will be:
Inflatable bitch
Foam Mat
USGI MSS
-10C BAG (if needed just in case)

This will go into

My $20 "season" tent I bought at walmart. Most likely with the door open to prevent condensation but still have some extra coverage from the wind.

This should last me the 14 days until I can return back to society. Second plan is to use the USGI MSS in the back of my truck and live the homeless hobo life, stealth camping by night and working labour day jobs by the day.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 01:46:24 No.421364 Report

Quoted By: >>421367

>>421362
Sounds solid.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 01:51:56 No.421367 Report

Quoted By: >>421371

>>421364
thanks. just some more back ground info I drove out west here to Alberta to work in the oil patch but I haven't been able to find work. I am staying at a hotel that limits you to 14 days stay. That is the reason I want to go innawoods instead of paying for another hotel until I can return to this one.

Just trying to stretch out my money. Instead of paying for hotels perpetually, I would rather have things that I can camp with that will last a lot longer, money wise.

Kind of like paying for rent vs owning your own home. Now that I have my set up i only have to worry about food/gas/insurance/maintenance on truck until I can find work on oil rig camp

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 02:00:48 No.421371 Report

Quoted By: >>421380

>>421367
Makes sense to me.

If you can camp near water, do it, and make sure you have something to filter large particulate out (whether you will be starting with water or snow, you will likely need it). Melting snow for water is shit. It takes about as much energy to turn ice to water as it does to bring freezing water to boiling, and because there is so much air in snow you have to keep adding it to the pot to actually get enough water. Since you'll be using wood fuel it doesn't matter as much, but this makes a huge difference over time when you have to carry all your own gas.

If you're going to be trekking in snow and there is enough of it, pulling your shit on a sled is generally much easier than on your back. Just depends how far out from your truck you are going to go.

What region are you planning to stay?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 02:21:38 No.421380 Report

Quoted By:

>>421371
in Alberta, random camping is allowed with no permit as long as you are 1km from any road. Some people just camp 50meters from the road. I would like to be near my truck just in case but if I have to play by the rules I need to leave my car on the side of the road and trek 1km innawoods.

I am thinking about grabbing a kids sled from ShittyTire or Wal-Fart. tie some paracord and pull. Only issue is I have no snowshoes.

I am planning to stay in a 4 hour max radius of Edmonton. I was thinking about reaching the Forestry trunk Road near nordegg. I hear a ton of people random camp along that road. only problem is I was told that road might be closed or not maintained during the winter.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 20 Nov 2014 06:15:58 No.421468 Report

Quoted By:

>>420822
Where you from anon? If Washington I'm down for adventure.

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