SHTFDad may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
Most good-weather campers are apt to shiver at the mere thought of extending their outdoor adventures into the year’s colder months.
The hassles and hardships of camping at this time of year, such as sub-zero temperatures, icy trails, howling winds, and heavier gear, make it seem less enjoyable than camping and hiking in more friendly, welcoming environments.
Contrary to popular belief, winter camping and hiking can be just as enjoyable, if not more so.
With quieter trails, gorgeous snow-covered landscapes, and the hugely satisfying crunch of snow beneath your feet with every step you take to look forward to, there’s a lot to love about winter-time backcountry wandering.
14 Tips for Camping in the Snow
- Don’t allow your core temperature to drop excessively before taking action—keeping yourself warm is much easier than trying to restore body heat once you have cooled down. If you are headed to a tree-free area (or when deadwood is likely to be damp or buried in snow), pack plenty of firewood.
- Drink plenty of fluids and eat regularly. Our bodies generate heat when digesting food in a process known as diet-induced thermogenesis.
- Adding an extra insulating layer, such as a fleece or down jacket, can typically remedy a drop in core temperature if your extremities are cold.
- Wear liner gloves under your shell gloves so you can carry out more intricate tasks (using your map and compass, GPS device, or taking photos, for example) without getting cold hands.
- Leave all sharp gear (crampons, poles, ice-axes, and snowshoes) outside your tent at night—any rips in your tent’s fabric could result in a very uncomfortable night!
- Warm up before going to sleep by doing a short workout to raise your core temperature—star jumps, burpees, squats, and push-ups should all do the trick.
- While out on the trails, keep your breaks short (5 minutes max) to prevent allowing your body temperature to drop excessively.
- Consider using a bottle instead of a hydration bladder to carry your water, as the tubes on hydration sacks can easily freeze over and prevent you from getting your fill of H20.
- Add a few degrees of warmth to your sleeping bag.
- Instead of using butane, which can stop working at lower temperatures, consider using liquid fuel or propane, both of which perform well in freezing conditions.
- Douse a few cotton balls in petroleum jelly to use as a firestarter, stow them in a waterproof bag, and pack a few lumps of coal inside an egg carton to use as kindling.
- If you plan on hiking in deeper snow, use snowshoes to avoid wading knee-deep and adding hours to your travel time.
- Stow your batteries close to your body while hiking and inside your sleeping bag at night, as sub-zero temperatures sap battery power rapidly.
- Throw a hot water bottle in your backpack to use in case temperatures drop particularly low.
How To Stay Safe When Camping in the Snow
Before embarking on your first camping or hiking trips in the snow, you must master a few skills and gain a wealth of knowledge to ensure your safety.
This is the time of year when frostbite, hypothermia, and avalanches await the unprepared. Don’t ignore safety.
1. Route Selection
The most significant steps you can take toward ensuring your safety when camping and hiking in snow begin at home.
Before setting off, be meticulous with your route planning. First of all, be careful not to overstretch yourself time-wise. Many newcomers to winter hiking are unaware that traveling in snow-covered terrain can often take a lot longer than on snow-free terrain.
Benightment in the year’s colder months is a far more serious issue than in the summer months, particularly if you had planned on returning to your vehicle before nightfall and don’t have adequate camping equipment.
It is also wise to do some more detailed research on your route, poring over maps to identify any particularly steep or avalanche-prone sections you would like to avoid.
2. Camping Equipment
Camping in cold and snowy conditions can be just as cozy and comfortable as camping in warmer months, with a few tweaks to your camping kit and sleeping setup.
Your sleeping bag and tent are the two biggest contributors to your well-being when camping in cold weather.
When buying a sleeping bag for camping in winter, a good rule of thumb is to look for a bag with an EN (European Norm) temperature rating at least 10 degrees lower than the lowest temperatures you expect to encounter on your trips.
It is, after all, far easier to cool down when it’s too hot inside your sleeping bag than it is to heat up when it’s too cold. In most locations, a standard three-season tent won’t cut it in snowy conditions.
Anyone planning on taking their camping trips onto the white stuff should look for a double-layered, four-season model with a high hydrostatic head rating.
Additionally, storm flaps around the base of the rainfly and over the zippers, along with a geodesic or semi-geodesic design, will provide stability in high winds. Finally, when choosing a tent for camping in the snow, we’d highly recommend opting for a smaller model rather than a larger one.
Smaller tents offer superior thermal efficiency because they have less interior space for your body to heat, despite the fact that winter camping requires bulkier gear.
Other campsite gear items that can significantly enhance your comfort and safety include a sturdy sleeping pad, tent slippers, and an extra tarp to reinforce the insulation of your groundsheet or to cover your rainfly for an additional layer of protection during particularly severe weather.
3. Safety Equipment
The most important gear items that contribute to your safety on snow trails are as follows:
- Crampon
- The best ice-axe for hiking is either a hybrid, slightly curved model or a piolet-style walking ice-axe.
- Avalanche safety gear
- If an avalanche catches your party, you can use an avalanche beacon to find your team members or yourself.
- Use a snow probe, snow shovel, and snow saw to locate and rescue anyone caught in an avalanche, and dig a snow pit to assess the stability of the snowpack before venturing further.
- An inclinometer allows you to measure the angle of any snow slopes and steer clear of any that fall into the 25-45 degree bracket most prone to avalanches.
- An all-in-one smartphone app—the Avalanche Lab App or Mammut’s Safety App are highly recommended—that doubles as both an inclinometer and avalanche beacon and also provides GPS navigation and avalanche forecast updates.
4. Clothing
The consequences of poor clothing choices when hiking or camping in snow are far more severe than in more clement conditions.
However, by following the standard layering system and adding a few tweaks to optimize your attire for winter excursions, there’s no reason to worry about falling foul of the weather or being uncomfortable during your cold-weather hiking and camping.
Apart from a comprehensive selection of winter-appropriate layers, your winter hiking and camping clothing kit should also include the following essential items:
- Gaiters: To prevent snow from sneaking in above the collar of your boots and saturating the boots’ insulation, your socks, and your feet
- Gloves: Two pairs, with a liner glove underneath and a meatier, insulating, weather-proof glove on top.
- Ensure you have two hats in case one becomes lost or wet.
- Neck buff: To prevent drafts from entering around your collar or to pull over your mouth in biting winds or particularly cold conditions to facilitate and ease breathing
- Winter boots: In sub-zero temperatures, three-season boots will provide minimal insulation and may not be sufficient. Look for a pair of well-insulated, waterproof, robust four-season boots with crampon compatibility.
5. Timing
According to Naismith’s rule, the average hiker should allow one hour for every three miles of hiking, plus an additional hour for every 2,000 feet of ascent.
In winter conditions, we should be prepared to adjust our timing estimations to account for conditions underfoot, heavier pack weight, and navigation difficulties.
Giving yourself enough time to reach your campsite is all the more crucial in the winter months because of the sharp temperature drops when the sun sets and the risk of benightment (and all the fun and games that might entail if you happen to be far from your campsite or car).
6. Weather Forecasts
As with any time of year, camping and hiking in winter require paying close attention to weather forecasts before you set off on your trip in order to avoid any nasty, unwelcome surprises.
While a slight change in weather conditions might not affect your plans much in the summer months, in winter conditions it can make a huge difference in terms of your enjoyment of your trip and your safety.
When it comes to weather forecasts, one thing to keep in mind is that general forecasts rarely provide an accurate picture of what conditions will be like in mountainous terrain.
The difference between temperatures and conditions at your trailhead or the nearest town can differ greatly from those just five hundred feet up, never mind several thousand feet up, as may be the case on your hiking trips.
Mountain-forecast.com, which offers detailed forecasts at varying elevations for over 11,000 mountains in various ranges around the globe, is one of the best resources available.
7. Prepping the Terrain
When camping in snow-covered terrain, you have to exercise extra care to ensure you don’t inadvertently put yourself at risk by choosing an unsuitable spot for your tent.
Ideally, your pitch should be:
- I am far away from any slope (or the run-out avenue of any slope) that might potentially cause an avalanche
- Scrub, hillocks, boulders, or trees provide shelter from the wind.
- Avoid positioning your tent near trees that have large branches that could break due to snowfall or strong winds, potentially landing on your tent during the night.
- In a spot where it will catch the morning sun (i.e., east-facing),
You can further optimize your pitching point by implementing the following strategies:
- Create a small wall or surround it with snow to protect your tent from the worst of the wind.
- Stomping out a “footprint” for your tent will give it a more solid foundation and also position it lower in the snow, thereby minimizing its exposure to the wind.
8. Winterizing Your Tent
In addition to getting your hands on a reliable four-season tent, a four-season sleeping bag, and a beefy sleeping pad, there are a few other measures you can take to ensure you stay safe and warm when camping in the snow:
- Bring a tarp to use as a second groundsheet, and add more insulation to the bottom of your tent.
- Lay any spare clothing under your sleeping pad to form an added buffer between you and the frozen ground beneath your tent.
- To increase thermal efficiency and reduce the amount of space your body must heat, bring all of your gear inside the tent.
- Lay rocks on the material at the bottom of your tent to prevent drafts from entering the tent under the flysheet.
A word of caution: No matter how hazardous conditions may be outside, never attempt to cook inside your tent or heat up your tent using a stove or fire, as this can easily result in carbon monoxide poisoning.
Wrap-Up
It may be ever so slightly daunting to those considering it for the first time, but there’s no reason to be overly apprehensive about hiking and camping in snow as long as you take the precautions required to maximize your chances of staying safe, warm, and comfortable on your trips.
By reading the above article, you’ve already put yourself one step ahead of the game, and following the above advice will, we’re sure, help to ensure you stay safe and sound on many a happy hiking camping trip in the snow in the future.