winter camping

[Moravec]

Tenting in the snow is obviously different than the rest of the year. It is usually best to get to your campsite before the snow falls however that may not always be possible. Snow can either be your friend or worst enemy depending on how you work with it.

In all cases you want to try to get down to dirt level with your tent and NOT have snow underneath your tent if at all possible. Yes, I realize it may not always be possible, just do your best. To facilitate this a good square-nosed shovel is in order. You don't want snow under your tent especially for long term (longer than 2 days) camping because as you heat up your tent either with body heat or some other source you will eventually melt the snow under the tent and as it thaws and freeze again can do some real damage to your tent.

Once you are down to dirt level or as close as you are going to get you will need to stake your tent down into possible frozen ground. The hard plastic tent stakes that come with most new tents usually don't cut it with this without breaking every other one. There are many types of metal stakes that I would recommend for frozen ground and just plain frozen snow however my best recommendation is concrete form stakes. These are steel stakes about 18" long with holes up and down the side. The holes are for putting nails into forms however we will use them from putting nail through them to hold down the stake loops on tents to keep them from sliding up the stake.

Before putting down a tent and if your tent does not have a decent vinyl floor I would highly suggest some type of water proof tarp on the ground under your tent.
http://www.kirkhams.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=tarp

Once you get your tent staked down properly and put up don't forget to put down extra guidelines and stakes for the winter storms and heavy snow loads.

One last thing I do to my actual tent is put some kind of waterproof tarp over the top of it if it is possible. When materials are available to construct such I will build a frame to stretch my tarp over and lashed it all together with the tarp lashed to the frames. If am close enough to use trees I will then lash the frame above my tent on a minimum 15 degree angle. If trees are not close enough I will build two "A" frame stands to go on each side of my tent to hold the frame above it. Again everything lashed together and staked down.

Never underestimate winter storms and their damaging effects on camping gear.

[Moravec]

From past experience with LONG term camping in deep snow I have found it best to have a 18 - 24" space around the tent when ever possible. The hear from the tent will eventually melt snow close to the tent and you don't want that water in or near your tent. I have been in 7' snow fields and dug my tent down to dirt level. The helps tremendously with wind and winter storms.

When setting up your tent in pre-snow long term conditions for long term keep an 8 foot space behind your tent and a minimum 4 foot on each side to allow for snow accumulation and to have a place to put the snow you take off your tent through out the term of camping. If you can find out a little about the area you will be camping in BEFORE you go and what average snow levels are this will help you understand better about space requirements for snow removal and storage.

Remember snow is a great insulator so use it to it's full advantage. Snow caves make good refrigerators.

When setting up my tent with a family of four or five tents I like to have all of the doors facing each other and use the flys on the front of them as a common covered meeting/eating area. Sometimes and additional tarp rig in the middle is needed however a common fire in the middle is usually used instead.

[Moravec]

tent setup graphic

[Kelly Alwood]

this is good for thought..something for me to keep in mind as i plan things out...thanx kenneth...

[Kelly Alwood]

any thoughts, words, or ideas about putting canvas tarps over summer tents for winter use? anyone?

[Kelly Alwood]

Last week I ran a Winter wilderness survival class in upstate NY. Very cold. It got down to -19, and -37 with windchill. Here is an example of a shelter that works as long as 1. you have a good quality, built for the cold sleeping bag, and 2. It is constructed propperly.