Yea, my wife says her idea of "roughing it" is a Holiday Inn with no pool.Originally Posted by JohnO
Holiday Inn is your friend.
On a serious note: No cotton clothing! Stay hydrated. Don't underestimate Mother Nature. Extra Socks!
Yea, my wife says her idea of "roughing it" is a Holiday Inn with no pool.Holiday Inn is your friend.
On a serious note: No cotton clothing! Stay hydrated. Don't underestimate Mother Nature. Extra Socks!
The path of least resistance will seldom get you where you need to be.
Random shit that hasn't been covered yet that might be overkill if you're next to your car:
- Flip your water bottles upside down, that way the ice forms at what is technically the bottom of the bottle.
- Snow anchors are straight legit when formed correctly.
- Put your hardshells under your sleeping pad for that extra bit of performance and to keep the pad from freezing to the tent bottom.
- Make sure your tent is ventilated well, to prevent a bunch of frozen condensation.
- Wear a balaclava or hat regardless of if you're bald or not, given that the head is a place that you lose so much heat from.
- It's not gay if you're spooning strictly for warmth.
- Put your feet/lower legs inside your ruck.
- Put handwarmers at your toes.
- Put hot water bottles in your groin (warms up the body better due to interacting with all the blood there).
- Canister stoves are unreliable in the cold unless you have a way to keep the canister warm.
- Do not burrow into your sleeping bag, as this introduces moisture from your breath and decreases insulation performance.
- Already said before, but the pee bottle is a huge deal.
- Bring Biffy bags; trying to dig catholes in the snow ain't fun.
Last edited by Default.mp3; 12-17-2020 at 11:26 AM.
I bought a roll of Reflectix and cut pieces to fit under our sleeping bags in addition to our pads. The USGI MSS sleeping bag system used to be a great value for this type of camping, about everyone in our group ended up with one. I’m not sure what the current pricing a d availability is.
This is awesome, all. Thanks. This is what I've got for normal camping gear:
Kingdom 6 tent from REI with ground tarp
Old mummy sleeping bag (rated for 0, I think)
Various foam sleeping pads
Propane camp stove
Various water tanks/bottles, but not insulated
Cooking supplies
I've also got a parka with a fleece layer and a shell layer, as well as good hats and wool socks, but no cold weather pants, really. Sounds like long underwear, pants, mittens, and insulated water bottles are probably the highest priority things?
Hadn't heard this before. Can you explain?
Keeping them in the bag overnight always seemed to do the trick, though I guess it would be an issue if you're trying to do extended cooking instead of just having enough useable time to boil a cup of water for a Mountain House pouch.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
You might want to bring another tarp for making an awning above the fire/tent entrance in case it's raining/snowing. If you have some nitrile gloves laying around from other tasks they make a good base layer for your hands, followed by some wool glove liners https://www.amazon.com/RefrigiWear-M...dp/B0761Z2SV3/. I prefer freezer gloves to mittens but everyone has their thing https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Vinylov...dp/B012YEXSGW/
Just extra bit of insulation, having the ruck around your sleeping bag. Having all your shit in your tent in general is thought to also help insulate the tent, just from all the stuff inside.
Bigger issue is more lunch or dinner if you've left it in a place for it to get that cold... which hopefully you don't do, but people forget. That, or they don't know and just stick their canister in the snow while they try to cook. But yeah, it isn't too hard to use a canister stove, as you noted, just need to be aware of the limitations and work around them as needed.
If you're sleeping on a cot or hammock, you still need serious insulation under your sleeping bag. The air temp can be lower than the ground temp and you'd be surprised how cold you can get with a little bit of moving air drawing heat away from underneath you.
For stoves: propane canister stoves will still work very well down to colder temps than you're talking about, but butane will fail. Some of the mixed fuels like Snow Peak Giga Power will do fine for a while since they're a mix of propane and isobutane. But, they're burning the propane off faster than the isobutane so it's not like you get linear performance until empty. Pressurized liquid white gas stoves are the gold standard for performance in the cold but they need more futzing than canisters. I don't know how many meals and drinks I prepared on an MSR XGK Expedition without failure.
For car camping at your temps you have a lot of choices for reasonable cost, either propane or white gas. Look for a larger burner that distributes heat around a pan better instead of a small burner focused in the center, and knobs that let you adjust for simmering instead of only "off" or "smelt steel". We've used propane for years when truck camping because the weight doesn't bother us.
If you add a buddy heater to your tent, bring a battery powered CO detector in with you. Get one with an LCD display that actually shows what it's reading. And have a plan to keep the heater away from your nylon floor and walls.
Got it. I almost always went tentless after cub scouts.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
Little late, but I am an unabashed Patrick Smith fanboi. And while I am not sure I would go floorless tipi and stove from Kifaru, I am none the less getting a floorless tipi and stove before I retire and spent a bunch of preference points in Colorado or Wyoming.
https://kifaru.net/4-season-camping-written-in-1998/
https://kifaru.net/category/patrick-smiths-essays/
While I like the value/features of a competitor's setup, Mr. Smith is a true gentleman who is incredibly knowlegeable and has frequently shared his knowlege freely. Every year or so I pull up those essays to read...
A proper 8 man floorless tipi with a wood burning stove runs 12-15 pounds total, with liners available for extra insulation and to reduce condensation at an additional weight and cost penalty... Generally when looking at those tipis you divide the "man" number by two to have a comfortable shelter you can move relatively freely and have room for gear. The 8 man will squeeze in 8 people, or four comfortably with gear. I use a smaller MegaTarp with a stove and am sold on his concepts and designs for portability and comfort. VERY spendy, though.
pat
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