Cold Weather Camping

Be Prepared for Cold Weather Adventure

Cold Weather Sleeping Systems

The following are essential tips to staying warm in cold weather camping. Note: The links to the equipment in the points below are to provide you with specific examples, but are not an endorsement of the merchant. The same equipment can be found in many stores and prices vary widely, so shop around!

1. Have a layer of straw under the tent - keep the tent well away from any flames if straw is used.
2. On the floor of the tent, put down a reflective cold weather emergency blanket, with the shiny side up.

1. Have one or two closed cell foam pads on top of the reflective blanket. Make sure no part of your body is touching the ground. The cold ground will pull the heat out of your body even though you may initially feel warm.It is very important to have a non heat conducting, non absorbent sleeping pad underneath you.

2. On top of the pads, use TWO (2) sleeping bags with the inner bag being at least a zero degree mummy bag. There are several good sleeping bags like this for under $100. The outer sleeping bag could be a rectangular bag, but would be better if it were also a mummy bag. The mummy sleeping bag must be zipped up properly to be effective. We will provide training on this at our meetings and at the campout.

1. Wear a DRY clean layer of heavier weight Polypropylene long underwear, wool socks to keep your feet warm and a balaclava to protect your head and neck. Looser fitting long underwear is better than compression long underwear for staying warm.

1. A hand and body warmer, put inside of a dry sock and placed in your sleeping bag can also provide additional heat for several hours. Do not have the hand warmer directly in contact with your bare skin. A hand warmer placed inside each of your boots, with a sock plugging the opening of the boot can help dry out and keep your boots warm overnight so that they are not frozen in the morning.
2. Put a

1. into a NOT against
2. bare skin!
3. Put your jacket underneath you and between your sleeping pads. This will help keep the jacket warm. Put your dry clothes that you will wear tomorrow in between your sleeping bags to help warm them for wear in the morning.
4. Stay hydrated - staying hydrated is important to keeping your blood flowing through your body and transporting energy and oxygen.

1. Eat a high calorie treat before going to bed, one that is high in fat content. This will provide the calories for your body to generate the internal heat to stay warm.

1. Share a tent - more body heat in the tent will help keep you warmer than if by yourself. Also, a buddy can keep an eye on the other in case there is a problem.

The following video on Cold Weather Sleeping Systems was made by the BSA's Northern Tier High Adventure Base and is a good reference on the above points.

What to Wear - Cold Weather Layering Systems

Polypropylene Down

The purpose of the warmth layer is to trap heat created from your body while allowing it to circulate and letting moisture from perspiration escape. Warmth layers should not be tight or binding as they will not allow heat to circulate and will create cold spots.

The key is to stay comfortably cool without overheating or getting cold. Layers can come off or opened up to stay cool. If you get too warm, first try to open up the collar of your coat around your neck, as this will allow the warm, moist rising air around your body escape and will cool down your core.

Make sure that if you are beginning to feel TOO WARM and are perspiring, that you begin to shed a layer and open up your coat for a short time to shed excess heat. Ideally, you would want to stay comfortably cool, not overly warm. It's really important to make sure that you are consuming water or a sports drink to re-hydrate and replace lost minerals.

How Many Layers are Enough?

There is no one answer to how many layers are enough in cold weather, because it depends on the actual weather conditions, the physical activity involved and the individual person. What I can give you is a method to help you figure this out for you.

Think ahead about the trip and break it into parts. Consider the following situation:

You're preparing for a winter campout and the day of the campout you will be loading up your gear and driving to the campsite. Then, there will be a 5 mile snow shoe hike, lasting through the afternoon. The temperature is expected to be in the 20's F during the day and dropping to single digits at night. At about 4pm, you'll come back to camp to make dinner and hang out around the campfire, going to bed about 10pm.

I would consider there to be four parts to this trip:

1. Packing and loading in the morning

2. Hiking in 20 degree weather during the day

3. Being in camp during the later afternoon with the temperature dropping into the single digits.

4. Sleeping outside in the tent from 10pm to 7am in near zero degree F weather.

1. During the first part of this trip, packing and loading, I will be in and out of the house, running all over to find my flashlight and equipment. Jeans and a sweatshirt will work for this. If I were to wear any thermal layers, I would be very hot and sweaty by the time I headed to camp. This will be bad, because I'll be wet and de-hydrated by the time I start the outdoor event.

2. After the packing and loading phase is complete, I'll change into the clothing I'll wear for the outdoor winter hike. In my case, this is one Underarmour cold gear layer, with a fleece lined water and wind resistant jacket and pants (top and bottom). I'll wear an insulated hat and gloves. On the way to the camp, I'll start drinking water to stay hydrated and drink water throughout the day at regular intervals.. For you, try to do a practice run in similar outdoor conditions prior to the actual event to see what level of layering you will be comfortable with.

3. Back in camp, I'll need to be the most careful. The termperature is dropping, my clothes are damp from the hike and I wont be moving around much. I'll be sitting for hours in a cold camp. There will be a campfire, but in very cold weather, the campfire seems to be better for morale than providing actual warmth. So, once the tent is up, I'll completely change out of my damp clothes .I'll put on dry thermal long underwear. I'll have brought along a down jacket, insulated bib overalls and cold weather pack boots. The balaclava and hooded jacket from the hike top it off. Down is like a miracle layer, because it is so warm. Just make sure to keep it dry. I'll continue to stay hydrated.

4. The next part is when I go to bed. I'll take off the outerwear and put on my hooded fleece pullover. I'll put the hood up and make sure I'm properly zipped into my 20 degree mummy bag which is inside the 0 degree rectangular bag. I'm set for the night. I wake up comfortable at 7am to a frigid 8 degrees.

This was my real world scenario recently on a winter campout in Michigan in late January. I was comfortable and warm throughout the event. But, I have a fair amount of experience and know how many layers it will take in different situations and weather conditions for me. I go through the exercise of mentally breaking the trip into parts and this helps me prepare. If you are unsure how to prepare, try to simulate the part you are unsure of in a safe location, like in your back yard. For example, to simulate part 3, being in camp, try sitting outside in the back yard in a lawn chair in the same weather conditions for a similar period of time wearing the layers you plan to bring, to see if you need to make any adjustments. This takes some time to do, but is a key aspect of "Being Prepared" while not putting yourself into a dangerous situation.

Why is Cotton so bad in cold weather and not recommended as a Warmth Layer?

Cotton becomes wet easily from absorbing perspiration or exposure to rain and snow, and doesn't dry in cold weather. The net effect is that you are kept in a cold, wet state and can become hypothermic quickly.Synthetic fabrics, fleeces and wool tend not to absorb moisture and will in fact wick it away from your body to keep you warmer and dryer.

Warmth Layer - Headwear

An uprotected head can loose up to half of the body's total heat at 40 degrees and up to three quarters (75%) at 5 degrees. It is essential to have your head covered to stay warm in cold weather. In fact, the old saying goes that if your feet are cold, put a cap on your head.

My favorite winter camping headgear is the fleece Balaclava. A Balaclava can be used to cover your head, neck and face from the cold or folded to use like a stocking cap. A picture is below and they can be found online and at many sporting goods stores. A looser fitting Balaclava is better that a tighter fitting one to maintain warmth and comfort.

Another essential piece of equipment is Ski Goggles. Ski Goggles can protect your eyes from wind, cold and bright sunlight reflecting off of snow. They can make an outdoor winter camping experience much more comfortable.

Loose Fitting Fleece Ski Goggles

Balaclava

Warmth Layer - Hands

A great layering system to keep your hands warm is a wool glove inside a water resistant mitten. This will keep your hands warmer than gloves alone, but will also give you the flexibility to take the mitten off and your use a gloved hand for finer motions. Having an extra pair of gloves along makes sense in case they get wet.

Insulated Parka with Waterproofing Spray

Integrated Hood

Weather Layer - Snow Pants or Gaiters

The final part of our layering system is insulated snow pants. The best kind of snow pants are the bib overall type with suspenders. They provide warmer protection of your backside. Make sure they are not tight as pinchpoints will make you cold.

Gaiters are great for winter hiking as they will provide protection for your lower legs and calfs when walking through snow and brush. They will keep your legs dry and snow out of your boots.

Water Resistant Bib Gaiters

Snowpants

For more information, please watch the following video on Cold Weather Clothing Layering Systems produced by the BSA Northern Tier High Adventure Base.

Other more complete resources on Cold Weather Camping & Hiking include:

Book - Okpik: Cold Weather Camping, Boy Scouts of America, 2008

Website - Northern Tier National High Adventure Base (www.ntier.org)

What to Eat - Cold Weather Nutrition

Your body burns more energy on a cold weather campout. Why? Because:

• Trying to stay warm in cold weather takes additional energy and burns calories
• Physical exertion from hiking in, making camp, cutting firewood and just moving around in heavier clothing burns calories
• Excess clothing can make you hot, causing you you perspire and burn calories while making you dehydrated.

In strenuous cold weather activities, you need to eat foods high in energy to replace burnt energy and stay warm, and to make sure that you are properly hydrated. About the right combination of foods to eat is 40% fat, 40% carbohydrates and 20% proteins. Fats have a little more than twice the calories per gram as carbohydrates and proteins (9 calories for fats vs. 4 calories for carbs). For that reason, we integrate more fatty foods into a winter camping trip to provide higher energy to stay warm. The cold weather camping food pyramid is shown below.

The Importance of Staying Hydrated

Be cognizant of whether you may get too hot or cold and plan ahead - "Be Prepared". Often, I find that I have too many clothes on when I am riding in the car to the cold weather activity and am sweating by the time I reach the site. Then, I perspire more when I am unloading the vehicle and setting up camp, helping kids or getting skis on.

By the time we are ready for the activity I am already sweaty, hot and dehydrated. Then it gets worse when I finally sit down and relax. The perspiration begins to cool fast and evaporate, making me colder. The dehydration makes my blood run slower, and less able to deliver oxygen and energy to critical parts of my body. I'm a mess and in trouble.

The key is plan ahead. I won't need a lot of cold weather layers on in the car ride or when I am physically exerting myself setting up camp or hiking. I will need water and start to drink water in the car on the way, so that I've consumed a almost a bottle by the time the physical activity begins. I'll closely watch how much I am perspiring and will adjust my clothing to stay as comfortably cool as possible. My body is then much more equipped to cope with the situation.

Then, when I sit down and relax and begin to cool off further, I'll put on additional layers and button up the coat. Then, I'll drink more water to re-hydrate and have a high calorie snack.

My experience is that you really have to watch children as they won't think of any of these things and don't have the maturity to recognize and take preventive measures.. They are way to excited to get out and have fun. They won't shed layers until they are really hot and sweaty. Then, they won't put on layers until they are really cold, and won't think about drinking water until very thirsty. They are having way too much fun to bother with any of this stuff. By the time they do, they are really cold, thirsty and ready to go home. It takes more supervision on a winter campout to make sure they are safe and healthy. The adult leader needs to make sure they are dressed properly for the situation, drinking water and are staying warm.