Are you thinking about taking a snowcamping trip to BWCA this winter? If so here are a few hints I hope you will find useful. There is not much you can do about temperatures plunging to -20 deg F, but you can make your trip a rewarding experience by making sure that you have the proper gear. As in summer camping, deciding what to take is a matter of balancing the weight of your backpack with the safety and comfort you want.
I started snowcamping more than 30 years ago. When mentioned the idea of going snowcamping to my father he responded in a heavy Czech accent: “ And who is going to pay for the hospital bills when you catch a pneumonia?” Nevertheless, I never caught pneumonia and came back from years of white outings ready for more.
Preparation consist of selecting clothing, gear and choosing a mode of travel. Let’s talk briefly about each of them.
Do’s: Wear layered clothing and chant the mantra: “To sweat is to die”. It is critical to remember that about 300 yards and fifteen minutes after leaving the safety of the parking lot and carrying a 30 -50 pound pack you will start heating up. Instead of waiting until you feel uncomfortably hot, shed the fleece jacket right away. When you stop, put the fleece jacket back on right away instead of waiting until you get chilled. You can loose up to 70% of body heat through your head. If your feet are cold, put on your hat.
The wearability of synthetic clothing has come a long ways since 30 years ago. Today’s synthetic fabrics are lightweight, absorb small amounts of moisture, and dry very quickly. Here is what I bring (presuming
-20 deg F worst case scenario): Head: Medium thickness balaclava ( polypropylene, not fleece), two stretch fleece hats, and a down hood. Balaclava goes on first, and if it is too warm, you can take it off, turn it backwards and wear it like a hat. Hands: I wear expedition thermal synthetic gloves. Here is a helpful tip: Take a pair of old wool socks, cut off the foot, and hem the loose edge. Now you have a stretch “wrist gaiter”. When you snowshoe pull the sock down over the fingers. Later when you need dexterity, push the sock back toward your wrist. The advantage of this system is that there are no mittens to have to take off . And you also lessen the possibility of losing the mittens while putting them in your pocket. The next layer of defense against the cold are good old “choppers”, (leather over mittens) with a fleece liner (wool liners get damp, then wet, and lastly worthless). Snowseal or waterproof only the palm part so that the back can breath. I also bring a pair of home-made “Super Mitts” (similar, commercial version is available in outdoor stores). These sport two layers of 200 Thinsulate, encased in cordura and oversize fleece liners the slip inside. While “Super Mitts” will make your hands feel toasty even at twenty below, they limit your dexterity. So you will still want to wear your thermal gloves for handling stoves, zippers, etc. Body: I wear cotton T-shirt to keep a layer between the skin and artificial fibers. Medium weight polypropylene is next, followed by Patagonia capilene pullover, then heavy fleece pullover with armpit zippers, and a mountain parka. A mountain parka is jacket with a abrasion and tear resistant shell, with no insulating layer, since you will want at times wind protection without insulation while you are moving. A word about Gortex: Don’t expect it to breath as well as supplex fabric. In the midst of winter, I use a supplex shell. In March with the possibility of rain, I take a Gortex parka. Again, armpit zippers are a must. For staying at camp or a longer break on cold day a I carry a “down sweater”. This is a very puffy jacket, and the lightweight shell is not meant to brush against branches. It also comes with a down hood and is a lifesaver at frigid temps.
Legs and feet: At daytime temperatures twenty above I wear medium weight synthetic long johns and quick drying pants with knee high snowgaiters. In my pack are snowpants and a pair of heavy fleece pants. Both have full length side zippers so that one does not have to remove boots to put them on. Boots: Sorel boots are an old standby. I use vapor barriers to prevent perspiration from taking away the insulation value. Here is how it works: First, put on a pair of white, thin polypropylene socks. Next go to Cub, and buy enough bananas to fit into two plastic bags to take home. Eat the bananas and save the two plastic bags. Now cut off the handles on the plastic bags. Slip the bags over the feet, while smoothing them. Then put on expedition weight wool socks and Sorel boots. This combination will keep your feet very comfortable. A word of caution: Each evening, before going to bed, put on a clean pair of thin poly-pro socks and never put plastic bags directly against your feet.
To ski or to snow shoe?
I started my snowcamping career on skis and with a backpack. Skiing on deep snow portages and trying to climb over treefalls with skis while handling ski poles proved to be challenging. Over the years I switched to snow shoeing and pulling a sled. Now, out for 2-3 day trips, often bushwhacking, I venture out on snow shoes with a low profile pack. The advantage of snowshoeing is that you can leave XC boots behind, and with a pack I can slip through brush and branches a lot easier than with a sled.
Gear:
Tent or Tarp?
I personally prefer a large tarp to a tent. I like the feeling of open space, unhindered by tent walls. In winter you will want to sleep with open doors to minimize condensation build up in the tent. A tarp is simple, and offers visibility of your surroundings in the morning. It is easy to pack, although it may take a little more time to set up tying lines to trees than erecting a tent with poles. If you opt for the tent, bring a “footprint” to put underneath the tent floor.
Sleeping bags: Down is the choice of those who desire light weight and have deep pockets. In Minnesota, a minus twenty degree bag will get you through 90% of winter. I purchased my first bag in 1972 from Midwest Mountaineering for one hundred dollars. It was down and made by Thaw Corp. (now owned by REI?) and rated to thirty below. It lasted thirty years, although the rating has noticebly slipped in the last five of the thirty years (still good to zero degrees). I finally broke down and shelled out a pretty penny for a minus 20 rated Marmot. That small expenditure enabled me to re-discover the joy of snowcamping. For one hundred more dollars you can get a minus 40 rated bag, but it is heavier. Besides, at those temperatures you will find most of your friends camping in a motel, instead of in the frigid wilderness. Here are two tips: Take the bag out of stuffsack when you get to the campsite and to give down time to fluff up. If you camp for more than a couple days, you might want to air your bag out over a branch in the morning so that the moisture in it can evaporate.
Foam pads: Many people swear by Thermarest inflatable pads. I prefer to carry 2-3 closed cell foam pads for they are 100 % resistant to deflating from puncture or abrasion. If you are going to bushwhack, you will want to sew a bag for your rolled up foam pads to prevent them from getting caught up on branches and ripped.
Stoves:
Oh, this could be an article by itself. Rule number one is do not start a stove in a tent. I did once and the last thing that flashed inside my mind, as I watched a foot and a half tall priming flame of white gas twelve inches in front of my fact was, “Cook County Herald headline: Two campers die in a tent fire – at minus 20 below”. That is another story for future article.
Another important advice: Before any trip try your stove outdoors to see if it still works. You will be glad you did.
Before we get to a stove selection, remember that when cooking with a stove on top of snow you will want to put a small piece of plywood, or foam or perforated sheet of aluminium under the stove. Without it, the heat from the stove will melt the snow underneath it, causing ther stove and whatever is on top of it to tip and spill out.
Barring the army solid alcohol pellet “folding H” stove (lightweight, not much heat in winter), your choice is either a white gas or compressed gas type of stove. For short trips in warmer weather, i.e. 25 deg. above I go with a compressed fuel and light weight stove, i.e. primus micro or similar. Get the one with a piezo igniter, as it makes lighting the stove effortless and requires one squeeze between the index finger and thumb as opposed to the dexterity needed to light and hold a match. It is important to keep the cylinder warm by having it overnight in sleeping bag, and then putting an old cut off sock or homemade fleece collar with a small foam pad underneath. The other, much more unpleasant alternative is to hold your hands around the fuel tank to warm it up.
Kubik’s Comments of specific stoves:
Whisperlight – good performance, but plastic pump assembly can crack or break so you have to pay attention to how you pack it. The plastic housing on the pump cracked once on a trip, but I was still able to use it for rest of the trip.
Optimus 111B – This is mostly historical foot note, as this stove is no longer available for sale in the US. This self enclosed stove is very rugged and will perform reliably at 20 below. Unlike in newer stoves you oil the leather pump sleeve and replace the check valve ball periodically (every 3 -4 seasons), it will eventually leak due to deformation or debris from the leather cup from the pump getting stuck between the ball and the valve seat. Despite of its weight and maintenance needs, I have many warm memories of winter camping with 111B stove imported from Sweden. Failed once on trip, due to leaking check valve, unusable (gas leaks out of tank through valve stem and eventually catches on fire, not good).
Optimus Nova – Esthetically pleasing design, but number of problems plague this stove. A three winged stove stand/cook pot support unfolds away from center. Pump parts are all metal, and this part of design is bullet proof. However, two different stoves (Midwest Mountaineering replaced the first stove) exhibited the same problem at minus 10 to minus 20 deg F: It was nearly impossible to connect the ingenious quick disconnect from the stove to the pump coupling. It appears that the metals used contract and expand at different rates making both coupling and uncoupling (gas gushed out) very difficult. Solution is to keep the fuel line connected through out the trip, rendering the quick disconnect feature of the stove meaningless. Another particularly annoying feature is that the flame spreader tab on top of the burner, falls off at low temperature, sometimes deep in snow, not to be found until spring melt off. You can try to crimp it with leatherman tool but mine kept falling off at low temps. Lastly, the bottom nut holding the stove stem to the support loosened up after I prolonged heating. While tightening the nut, the bolt became softer and softer until it broke off. Stove was still usable. So while I like the design, the performance has yet to catch up with cold weather reliability.
Compressed gas:
Coleman Xtreme
This stove has very good cold performance. Its cold weather use can be extended to very low temperatures by slipping a pop can insulator over the fuel bottle. Slip one over the bottom of the bottle and second one over the top, after you have cut off the bottom. Failures Before a trip to Mt. Washington I tested the stove in my back yard and the valve became stuck open. Unusable. REI replaced the stove. I find that Coleman Extreme fuel to perform better at low temperatures than the fuel in six inch diameter upright containers. However it is usable only with Coleman stoves.
Primus micro – I like the compactness, reasonable price and the convenience of the piezo igniter. Obviously this stove is best for 2-3 day trips at balmy temps, unless you like to haul a lot of fuel canisters and/or heating up the canister with your hands. The only inconvenience is weighing the half used cylinders and trying to guesstimate how much fuel is left. For winter camping I always leave with a new cylinder and use the half empty ones car camping in summer. No failures, except for the piezo ignitor that failed in cold in cold weather but worked again after lighting the stove with match.
Incendiary devices
Take both matches and a lighter. Matches should be the heavy duty type, storm and everything else proof. Remember that you will want to handle them with gloves on (unless you like pain from cold) and bigger objects will be easier to handle at -20 deg F that tiny tooth pick matches. You will need to keep your lighter in your pocket, to keep the butane gas warm enough to expand.
Cook pots
Is titanium best because it costs the most? If you got that impression take a look at metal heat conductivity
Copper, Aluminium, Stainless, Titanium. Obviously you would like to cook pot with most heat transfer from flame to the pot. That would be copper. But copper is heavy and so aluminium is a good compromise between weight and heat conductivity. Stainless and Titanium are nice, but you are more likely to scorch your food, and it will be more difficult to start melting snow.
Utensils
In winter, use only plastic utensils. Lexan is a good choice. In winter I only bring spoon. Simplicity is the mother of happiness. Colored lexan spoons are easier to spoon on snow then white ones.
Water bottles should be wide-mouth and although that they may claim that you can pour in boiling water, I would wait a bit. Turn the screw on plastic cap tight, but not so tight that cracks. This can happen especially with boiling water in the bottle (it softens up the plastic cap). Another useful gear is a bottle insulating bag. Bottle insulators with zipper 1/3 of the way down from top make it easy to grab the bottle and pull it out of the bag. Water bottle insulator should be from soft material so that when you grab the bottle you have good grip on it.
I find from experience that insulated covers made with stiffer, foam pad like material so difficult to hold that I stopped using them. Bags with flip type cover on top are very inconvenient because there is not enough room between the inside of the bag and the bottle to slip your hand in with gloves on and grab the bottle.
Headlamps:
As with stoves, there has been a proliferation of headlamps in the last few years. This super nova explosion has been fuelled by availability on new LED’s (light emitting diode). LED are more efficient and make your batteries last longer. On the other hand, for night summer hiking I like the punch of a halogen head lamp. But in winter the visibility is much better due to reflection of ambient light from snow and your head lamp, that an LED lamp will be all you need. Some manufacturers have both “hyper bright” LED and low intensity LED’s for task lighting on the same housing. Advantage: With the 100,000 hour LED life, chances are that you will burn out before your headlamp does.
Heat packs
There are chemical heat packs on the market. I some times bring them, but if you don’t use them by the expiration date they may not work next year. My advice is to depend on your clothing and not on a disposable device.
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