Ready to take your camping experiences to another level? Give camping during the winter a try!
Planning a winter camping trip around hiking, skiing, or snowboarding can add fun to your time in the frigid outdoors. With the right amount of planning and preparing, camping in the winter can be comfortable and safe.
No matter what time of the year you camp, having the proper supplies and equipment is imperative. This is especially the case in the winter when the low temperatures can contribute to frostbite and hypothermia.
A Good Pair of Boots
Perhaps the most important thing you can bring on your winter camping trip is a good pair of insulated, waterproof boots. They should go at least halfway up the calf.
Layering
You must protect your extremities against heat loss in the cold weather. Your body generates heat and you need proper clothing to insulate and trap this heat when camping during the winter. If you are participating in an activity like skiing, your body will generate more heat than usual so you will feel less of an overall need to trap body heat. This is why you might see people skiing in 25 degree weather wearing nothing but a turtleneck. But what happens as soon as you slow down and your body’s core temperature returns to normal? You start getting very cold and need to put on more layers to trap more of the heat being produced by your body. This is why you need to have several layers of clothing handy at all times when camping during the winter.
Pack several pairs of wool socks. Doubling up on socks will help tremendously in keeping warm.
Other Accessories
A hat is also imperative. Up to 70% of your body heat escapes through the head. Wear a hat while sleeping to stay nice and toasty.
For keeping your hands warm, mittens tend to work more effectively than gloves. Fingers help keep each other warm, so it’s best not to segregate them away from one another in gloves if possible.
If you’re able to pack clothing with a lot of zippers to help ventilate, your winter camping excursion will be much more bearable. Putting on and taking off clothing can be a real pain in the butt, so it’s nice to have pants and jackets that allow you to ventilate without having to remove your skis, boots, etc in order to cool down.
Final Tips
When playing out in the snowy weather, it’s important to stay as dry as possible. A clump of snow getting into your clothing will later freeze and could cause frostbite.
Bundle up even more than you think you need to at night before going to sleep. Your body temperature, and the temperature outdoors, will be at its lowest while you are sleeping and right when you wake up. A good sleeping bag rated to extreme, sub-zero temperatures is a must-have for winter camping. Keep a thermos of a hot beverage (tea is a good choice) in your tent in case you want a sip of something to warm-up with at night.
Finally, have fun and use common sense. Winter camping takes more planning and precautions than camping in the summer, but with the right preparation it can be a very worthwhile experience!
