What sort of gear would I need for snow/cold-weather camping?

July 30, 2006 9:33 PM

What sort of gear would I need for snow/cold-weather camping?

In the next year or two I'd love to start doing more camping during the winter months. I live in Denver, CO so mountains/snow are right at home and finding a place to do the camping is no problem.

What I need some advice on, is what sort of gear I need to keep from freezing to death.

posted by JPigford to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

Waterproof outer gear plus wool or synthetic insulating layer. No cotton; cotton loses its insulating ability when it gets wet. Similarly, no cotton socks unless you enjoy frostbite.

For camping, in addition to the obvious tent and properly-rated sleeping bag, an insulating pad is essential to avoid losing body heat to the ground. Even sitting around, you can lose a lot of body heat through your butt.

Decent boots, warm hat. Gloves, of course. Waterproof lighter. Camp stove (I like Whisperlites). Food with enough calories to keep your body heat up (always eat before retiring; you burn a lot of calories sleeping in the cold).
posted by SPrintF at 9:55 PM on July 30, 2006

Start with a quality 4 season tent. The next most important piece of gear is a good low temperature (0° to 10°) down sleeping bag, and some kind of reliable padding/ground insulation. Next most important is a good stove, as melting water and cooking food are key to living cold.

A lot of gear choices thereafter have to do with whether you are planning to backpack or drive in, so whether weight is a big relative factor for you.
posted by paulsc at 10:02 PM on July 30, 2006

Ultra light Joe has a list, lighter is better.
posted by hortense at 10:41 PM on July 30, 2006

Chief Scout from Canada here, army surplus is the best camping gear - especially for winter. If you don't like Oilve Green check out what NATO uses in the army surplus store and try to find a knock-off. I live in Saskatchewan and have camped in weather where exposed skin sometimes freezes in under one minute and at times worked outdoors.

Dress in layers, so you can remove them if you get too hot and then peel layers until you are comfortable. Wear a t-shirt, sweater, heavy coat. Avoid metal buttons and zippers and make sure zippers have a cloth flap over top of them.

The NATO issue arctic parkas are the warmest coats I have ever encountered. Same with the boots (the white ones - the similar looking ones in stores are totally different) - they are really heavy though and unpleasant for walking. Check the army surplus stores.

If you plan on hiking, probably the biggest problem you will have is keeping your feet warm and dry. Get good boots, wear a pair of regular athletic socks, a pair of wool socks and put your feet into plastic bags (like the ones you get bulk produce it), then stick them in the boots. If you are walking in snow, even if it looks fairly shallow use snowshoes.

Mummy bags are the warmest sleeping bags, but are pretty uncomfortable as they restrict movement. Be sure to check out the cold weather rating of a sleeping bag. If you bring extra blankets, think wool. You can also sew sheets inside a sleeping bag to increase the insulation value.

You can make any sleeping gear warmer by wearing a touque to bed (I know they are called something else outside of Canada but I don't know the word). Most of your heat is lost through your head around 90%- always cover your head. Canadians wear these things for good reason.

I am personally not fond of wearing long underwear. You can buy some very heavy wool pants, or pants that have quilted material built into them. I believe in army surplus this is Russian military issue. They are very warm. Wool is the best material because it insulates when wet. Stay dry, being wet is a killer.

Down is the best insulation but it gets heavy when wet - the synthetic down (which I can't remember the name of) is pretty good as well and ages better. I believe they are nearly the same price.

Do not sit or lay in the snow, this will cool your core too much. Dig the snow out underneath your tent, or lay down pine branches underneath your tent. At the very least, use closed cell foam between you and the ground.

You will need much more fuel than normal, espeically if you don't have potable water. Keep a lot of firewood around.

Eat a lot of fatty foods like beef jerky and nuts. Wear sunglasses because you can get snowblindness if you don't.

I never used tent heaters or insulated tents. Your clothing is the most important thing, and I will caution you that expensive high-tech camping gear is not necessarily any better than good winter clothing used properly.
posted by Deep Dish at 11:25 PM on July 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

You can get a 0 degree bag, IME 90% of people end up wishing they had a - 15 / -30 bag (I'm a hot sleeper and have inherited some nice bags this way!). The new ones with the water resistant shells are great. Down or synthetic- up to you, I like down but you have to keep it dry.

We have a North Face 4-season mountaineering tent. It does the job great but it's heavy, cramped and in high winds the flapping of the fly will make you lose your mind quite quickly. If you are with a group it's nice to bring a tarp style tent too so you can dig into the snow, set it up over the hole and have a roomy mess area.

This is a good article with lots of info.
The only thing I'd add is that I always keep a spare set of long underwear and lgiht weight shell or mid wear in a drybag, in case I fall in a lake or something. It's just enough to keep me warm while the rest of my stuff dries out.
posted by fshgrl at 11:29 PM on July 30, 2006

In the mountains near you, you have to be prepared for wind and high altitude effects. Here is a link to some excellent winter camping advice.
posted by paulsc at 12:01 AM on July 31, 2006

You can scrimp on summer gear and not do too badly. If you exercise good judgement, cotton t-shirts, non breathable rainwear, and leaky boots aren't inappropriate for summer trips.

Winter trips are different. Wet feet, forgotten sunglasses, cranky stove all mean the trip is over. You'll have to spend a bit of money, but there are ways to do well for not a whole lot of money. For clothing, I have two pieces of gear that really make a difference: good boots, and a warm jacket.

I got me a set of plastic mountaineering boots, but they're heavy. What you're probably looking for are a set of waterproof boots with double liners. Army surplus actually aren't bad for this, and will be pretty cheap. You'll looking for calf height boots with a heeavy wool or felt liner in them that pulls out. This goes with you in your sleeping bag. They stay warm, and I find I keep my feet warmer when I put the liners under my heels in the sleeping bag. If the temeratures are sustained below zero, do not bring your backpacking or hiking boots. A lot of these advertise that they have thinsulate or some other insulation. This might make them ok for day trips, but they will freeze overnight, and starting the day with frozen toes is a good way to get frostbite. Don't overdo it on socks. A thin synthetic liner sock and a medium wool or synthetic is plenty. The boot does most of the work. Jamming socks in to the boot on your foot will just compress your toes and squeeze the warm blood out.

As for a jacket, splurge and get yourself a baffled down jacket. Quickly, there are two types of construction for wool jackets. Sewn through is when the down is held in chambers made by sewing a seam through outer and inner layers of the jacket. This makes a cold spot at every seam. Baffled means that the seam has an extra piece of fabric in it so the down chambers is square instead of pinched by the seam. This is expensive, but worth it. It makes the jacket a lot warmer.

Layering: Instead of beinging tons of different layers, think about the different metabolisms you'll be experiencing on trail. When I'm out on trip, I think about, and dress for two different metabolsims. Resting metabolism, (morning, and evening, plus rests during the day.) and Moving metabolism. I dress for my moving metabolism (light wight long underwear, and a light polyester wind shell, with perhaps a light fleece in between if it's really cold out) and then when I stop, I'll put the big down jacket over everything. This is way easier than having 3-4 fleece jackets that dont work with one another well and are heavy and bulky to carry. The down jacket packs small, and comes with me all the time. (A lot of people are adapting the layering strategy from Mark Twight's 'extreme alpinism.' I don't share his fondness for synthetics over down, but the notion of dressing for 2 metabolisms is spot on.)

I splurged on synthetic insulated pants with full length side zippers. I can put them on and off wearing my big boots, or even skis. They're really helpful keeping me warm on cold mornings, and when it's time to hit the trail, I can take them off at the last minute and get moving before I get cold. (The legs are harder to insulate because taking layers of and off during the day is a real pain. You have to guess when getting dressed in the morning. Coming back to camp in the evening and zipping on big warm pants without taking my boots off or even getting into the tent is a big help.)

You'll notice I haven't said anything about gore-tex. Lots of climbers and winter campers have abandoned gore-tex for cold weather use. The chief selling point of gore is that it's waterproof. But if you know that the daytime temperatures will be well below freezing, why bring anything totally waterproof? (except boots) I have a $40 lightweight polyester wind shirt. Good ones are made of microfibre polyester, which just means that the fibre is thinner, and more densely packed. It keeps out wet snow, breathes better than goretex, blocks the wind, and packs into it's pocket. (about the size of a soda can.) WAy better than gore-tex.

Good behaviour and good judgement are better than boatloads of gear. I find it way easier to get dehydrated in winter than summer, because it's harder to feel it. I find it easier to wear too many layers than not enough for the same reason. Watch your sweating. You'll probably be surprised how little you need to wear once you start exerting yourself. Your body is working very hard just keeping yourself warm. Have a light layer at the ready in late afternoon.

On summer trips, I really enjoy a long relaxed lunch. In winter, it's hard to stay warm on a long rest like that, and the usual summer favourites liks peanut butter sandwiches are totally frozen. Trail mix, cheese, salami, dried fruits are all your friends here, as is a thermos of soup prepared before you leave in the morning.

Sunglasses are absolutely essential, and easy to forget. Do not venture above tree line for any amount of time without them on. Some folks carry ski goggles if they're going somwehre windy. They're less likely to fog up, and most will go over prescription glasses. Sunblock and lip balm are handy as well.

Sleeping comfortably in winter is an art form, and the subject of a whole other post. A minority of people will argue for sleeping naked in the sleeping bag. I'm not one of them. Do have a clean, dry lightweight long underwear just for sleeping. It's a pain to change out of the damp stuff you wore during the day, but it's worth it.

As I've gotten better at things, I find the real challenge is not staying warm, but managing moisture and hydration. Moisture in the sense that it's easy to get sweaty, and anything I wear becomes less effective as it gets damp. (On long trips, say a week, this is a particular issue for down sleeping bags.) Hydration is tough because everything tends to freeze, and melting snow for water is time consuming.

Your first trip should go like this: Camp within earshot of the car. Show up in the afternoon or evening, make camp, have a good dinner, and hit the sack. (This way you can eat well, sleep dry, and hop into a heated car if there's a problem.) Then get up and do a long dayhike and hop in the car when you're done. Get more ambitious as your comfort level improves. I have recently discovered the awesomeness of the $10 children's sled for dragging small mountains of gear across frozen lakes. It's lousy on hills, but the lakes are great for good views and some of the creeks flowing into them are liquid year round which will save you time and duel.
posted by thenormshow at 12:05 AM on July 31, 2006 [2 favorites]

The best advice I have seen in print, in the most accessible medium (with great cartoons) is Allen and Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book, even if you aren't planning on skiing it has great winter camping tips. You can stop by REI and read a bit before buying.

Equipment:
Sleeping pad(s) [I prefer non-inflating like Z-rest]
Good Sleeping Bag [approx 0 degree]
Fleece pants, fleece top
polypropylene long underwear
Down jacket is nice
Headlamp [lots of dark in the winter time]
A good hat
Warm socks, etc
Plastic mountaineering boots or plastic ski boots [nice because you can take out the liners and sleep with them so they don't freeze at night]
Someone to cuddle with.

Learn how to build a quinzhee shelter. You'll stay much warmer than suffering all night in a tent.

Please consider taking a class. Winter camping in Colorado is a whole different experience than camping in the summer. Colorado Mountain Club is great. And, apparently they have a Winter Camping School.
posted by fieldtrip at 12:43 AM on July 31, 2006

Have you winter camped before? Rather than splurging immediately on thousands of dollars of gear, I'd suggest you join an outdoors club and borrow / rent equipment. Experiment until you have your gear combination the way you want it, because individual preference is a huge factor. Some people like expensive high-tech fabrics and carbon-reinforced space-frames, others more prefer army surplus gear that is cheap but heavy.
posted by randomstriker at 12:45 AM on July 31, 2006

Get one of these!
posted by sgobbare at 8:02 AM on July 31, 2006

Toque's outside Canada are generally known as warm hats. Which is why many of us non-Canadians also use the word.
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:02 AM on July 31, 2006

Some great advice here. I second the warning about dehyrdation -- you really don't notice it as easily in winter and I've seen fellow campers suffer badly as a result.

Building a quinzhee is awesome, although it takes a bit of work piling up the snow, letting it firm up for a few hours, and then digging it out. Great for a base camp, but not for the nomadic camper. If you build one, make sure you poke enough airholes, because the snow freezes solid from body moisture overnight. Due to body heat, the temperature inside hovers around freezing, which is really quite nice for sleeping.

I don't have a 4-season sleeping bag as I'm too cheap to spend big $$ for an item I can only use one season per year. One solution that's worked for me is to wrap a Summer barrel bag around a three-season mummy. If I get too hot, I can get rid of the barrel. Also, I use a hostel sheet for added warmth and efficiency, as its easier to wash the sheet than the whole bag. And you'll want to wash it, as you really stink after a few days of winter camping.
posted by RibaldOne at 11:36 AM on July 31, 2006

A few random suggestions. I should note that I'm assuming this is more backpacking and not so much car camping. If the former, I'd have to disagree with Deep Dish on the military surplus front, but I guess I haven't seen what Canasian military gear differs from what you find in US stores.

Quality synthetic thermal under, a good (mummy! - it makes so much more sense!) warm sleeping bag, a good warm piece of headgear, always a dry, extra pair of socks/clothes.

Down is a great great material, but you really should be prepared to do what it takes to keep it dry. If you're relying on it and anything happens where it gets wet (a legit concern in snow), it really will be worthless until you get it back to civilization and a dryer.

Decent-to-good waterproof boots are worth it.

But even if you ignore everything above, Go Buy A Copy of The Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher. he's a very good writer and really is an outstanding resource for any and all outdoors activity.

Peace and good luck,
posted by gbinal at 7:25 AM on August 2, 2006