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Winter Camping Tips
Post your best winter camping tips!
Here's some to start
• It's a little known (but useful) fact that having a zip lock bag of nuts like cashews (very tasty), almonds, jerky or meats to munch on while in your 'bag right before you crash and also to eat in the middle of the night will help keep you warm because they pack a lot of FAT! (Proteins) Keep your furnace fueled to keep warm! Just be aware of food odors that could attract unwanted visitors (Rodents, critters & bears, Oh my!) during the night! The candy bar with the most calories per ounce is "Butterfinger".
• If you drink any kind of hot liquid before beddy time, make it a mug of 100-percent Ginger Tea which is a non-diuretic. You don't piss it out like all the other kinds of tea available. Ginger Tea also calms the nerves and is good for you, but being a non-diuretic is the main reason I drink it. A spoon full or more of sugar or honey is quite tasty too.
• Having your two insulated pads, the non-inflator you can use during meal time for standing on while preparing food, attending the gas stove, etc to insulate your feet. When sleeping, use a closed cell pad next to the ground, then an inflator type on top of it for extra insulation. If the pads are not full length and your feet get cold, use your empty backpack as a ground insulating pad. Remember to wear extra clothing & a knit hat for sleeping comfort. Put on clean, heavyweight socks just before lights out. You’ll sleep MUCH warmer!
• If camping with a tent, dig down the tent's vestibule space so that when entering and exiting you can stand up straight which is far more comfortable than all that un-necessary bending and stooping. Also having a dugout space of about three feet deep provides you the opportunity to sit down inside the tent at the door with your legs and feet dangling down comfortably while you put your boots on, or take 'em off, etc.
• Kitchen Pit: Dig a pit down to about chest level so you can cook totally outta' the weather, especially the wind. Leave a rounded part in the middle large enough to place all your stove(s) that'll serve as your cooking area and then dig out the sides of the pit for storing food containers, spices, extra fuel bottles, insulated water bottles, etc. You can even get fancy and dig seats along one side that are long enough for reclining on, have walls to protect you from the wind, but still have a room with a view of your beautiful winter surroundings.
• Don’t cook in a vestibule unless you're a highly experienced Mountaineer and/or in a brutally long storm because it's easy to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Remember the latter… you can't smell it, can't taste it, can't see it, but IT can surely kill you.
• Don't even try to use compressed butane gas mixtures or denatured alcohol to cook with. Neither works well in cold temperatures. White gas is far superior to use in cold weather. Pack more white gas than you think you will need/use. Cold weather increases the amount of fuel needed. The MSR site tells how much for two people for a given amount of time for each of the four seasons of the year.
• After the last pot of food has been cleaned, the last mugs of hot drinks have been served; melt some snow/ice for water in the morning leaving this water in the pot then turn off the Stove. In the morning, the water in the pan will have frozen and melting this will be much faster than having to melt snow so your 1st morning's mug of hot drinks will come fast.
• To keep water from freezing; before bed, melt snow and pour into Nalgene bottles, store them cap side down in a snow-bank, covered with 6-12" of loose snow, In the morning their may be some ice in the bottle, but the cap should not be frozen, and there will be plenty of water for breakfast and coffee. A water bottle cozy, made from closed cell foam and duct tape will help keep hot beverages and keep water from freezing. You can also wrap a chemical hand warmer around your Nalgene bottle.
• 10 minutes before going to bed, boil a liter of water and put it in a Nalgene bottle. Then wrap the Nalgene in a wool sock, and put it into your sleeping bag so that it's warm when you get in. This way the bag doesn't sap your body heat, and you have the bottle as a foot or torso warmer. In the morning, the bottle will usually still be a bit warm. Drink it up, and start your day warmer, as well.
• You can never have enough sunscreen.
• Hot liquid Jell-O is an excellent breakfast!
• If you are very dehydrated and hungry, no amount of down will keep you warm. Staying hydrated is absolutely key to staying warm! Water absorption in your gut is much more efficient if there is Na and sugar being absorbed at the same time. Try nibbling something sweet and salty at the same time as you drink, drink, drink.
• If you’re building a snow cave, quinzee, or igloo, be prepared to get very wet. Expect the ceiling of your snow cave to lower somewhat during the night, due to your exhaled breath. It can be a little disconcerting to wake up finding the ceiling a few inches from your face! A pillar of snow left in the center of the carved out cave will help to support the roof. (Although scraping a very smooth ceiling will help, too)
• Winter nights are long, and these things can make a difference between comfort and boredom/pain: a lantern, a good book, good companions, playing cards, down booties, a pee bottle.
Here's some to start
• It's a little known (but useful) fact that having a zip lock bag of nuts like cashews (very tasty), almonds, jerky or meats to munch on while in your 'bag right before you crash and also to eat in the middle of the night will help keep you warm because they pack a lot of FAT! (Proteins) Keep your furnace fueled to keep warm! Just be aware of food odors that could attract unwanted visitors (Rodents, critters & bears, Oh my!) during the night! The candy bar with the most calories per ounce is "Butterfinger".
• If you drink any kind of hot liquid before beddy time, make it a mug of 100-percent Ginger Tea which is a non-diuretic. You don't piss it out like all the other kinds of tea available. Ginger Tea also calms the nerves and is good for you, but being a non-diuretic is the main reason I drink it. A spoon full or more of sugar or honey is quite tasty too.
• Having your two insulated pads, the non-inflator you can use during meal time for standing on while preparing food, attending the gas stove, etc to insulate your feet. When sleeping, use a closed cell pad next to the ground, then an inflator type on top of it for extra insulation. If the pads are not full length and your feet get cold, use your empty backpack as a ground insulating pad. Remember to wear extra clothing & a knit hat for sleeping comfort. Put on clean, heavyweight socks just before lights out. You’ll sleep MUCH warmer!
• If camping with a tent, dig down the tent's vestibule space so that when entering and exiting you can stand up straight which is far more comfortable than all that un-necessary bending and stooping. Also having a dugout space of about three feet deep provides you the opportunity to sit down inside the tent at the door with your legs and feet dangling down comfortably while you put your boots on, or take 'em off, etc.
• Kitchen Pit: Dig a pit down to about chest level so you can cook totally outta' the weather, especially the wind. Leave a rounded part in the middle large enough to place all your stove(s) that'll serve as your cooking area and then dig out the sides of the pit for storing food containers, spices, extra fuel bottles, insulated water bottles, etc. You can even get fancy and dig seats along one side that are long enough for reclining on, have walls to protect you from the wind, but still have a room with a view of your beautiful winter surroundings.
• Don’t cook in a vestibule unless you're a highly experienced Mountaineer and/or in a brutally long storm because it's easy to die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Remember the latter… you can't smell it, can't taste it, can't see it, but IT can surely kill you.
• Don't even try to use compressed butane gas mixtures or denatured alcohol to cook with. Neither works well in cold temperatures. White gas is far superior to use in cold weather. Pack more white gas than you think you will need/use. Cold weather increases the amount of fuel needed. The MSR site tells how much for two people for a given amount of time for each of the four seasons of the year.
• After the last pot of food has been cleaned, the last mugs of hot drinks have been served; melt some snow/ice for water in the morning leaving this water in the pot then turn off the Stove. In the morning, the water in the pan will have frozen and melting this will be much faster than having to melt snow so your 1st morning's mug of hot drinks will come fast.
• To keep water from freezing; before bed, melt snow and pour into Nalgene bottles, store them cap side down in a snow-bank, covered with 6-12" of loose snow, In the morning their may be some ice in the bottle, but the cap should not be frozen, and there will be plenty of water for breakfast and coffee. A water bottle cozy, made from closed cell foam and duct tape will help keep hot beverages and keep water from freezing. You can also wrap a chemical hand warmer around your Nalgene bottle.
• 10 minutes before going to bed, boil a liter of water and put it in a Nalgene bottle. Then wrap the Nalgene in a wool sock, and put it into your sleeping bag so that it's warm when you get in. This way the bag doesn't sap your body heat, and you have the bottle as a foot or torso warmer. In the morning, the bottle will usually still be a bit warm. Drink it up, and start your day warmer, as well.
• You can never have enough sunscreen.
• Hot liquid Jell-O is an excellent breakfast!
• If you are very dehydrated and hungry, no amount of down will keep you warm. Staying hydrated is absolutely key to staying warm! Water absorption in your gut is much more efficient if there is Na and sugar being absorbed at the same time. Try nibbling something sweet and salty at the same time as you drink, drink, drink.
• If you’re building a snow cave, quinzee, or igloo, be prepared to get very wet. Expect the ceiling of your snow cave to lower somewhat during the night, due to your exhaled breath. It can be a little disconcerting to wake up finding the ceiling a few inches from your face! A pillar of snow left in the center of the carved out cave will help to support the roof. (Although scraping a very smooth ceiling will help, too)
• Winter nights are long, and these things can make a difference between comfort and boredom/pain: a lantern, a good book, good companions, playing cards, down booties, a pee bottle.
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