Winter Camping Survival Kit

Today I got a little bit bored 2 hours into a lecture on scanning electron microscopy, so I started putting together a list of things to take on a winter camping trip.  I think camping in this landscape would be very relaxing:

(from Randi Hausken's flickr)

(Mt. Washington in the winter, photo from Matthew Pearson's flickr)

Note, I'm joking about camping in that 2nd location: I doubt there would be too much time to relax when camping on an exposed face of Mt. Washington in the winter.  But still, winter has its own serenity, and if we could get over the fact that it's so damn cold out there, then we might be able to appreciate winter forests in the same way we appreciate forests in the summer.

I have slept in a snow cave once before.  Was it comfortable?  Well... no, not at all.  The take-home message of snow caving was that I managed to spend a night outdoors at 7000 feet in the winter and was still alive at the end of it.  But I didn't purchase a winter sleeping bag for the occasion, and I could have used more sleeping pads.

With more preparation, winter camping in comfort should be doable.  People camp on Everest, after all.  There's some excellent gear out there.  Many companies make lines of red, orange, and yellow mountaineering tents that I have been ogling for a while.

With that in mind, I present a list of gear that might get me through a night in the forests of New Hampshire in February in approximate comfort.  Comments encouraged!

• Mountaineering tent (3 person, 4 season)
• Sleeping bag rated to at least -20 F
• Thick sleeping pad (or 2)
• Crampons and ice axe, if hiking up things before camping
• Big snowshoes, that will support a backpack's weight
• Gaiters
• Balaclava, wool hat (or huge fur hat from Russia), ski goggles, scarf
• Thick long underwear
• Tops: underarmor shirt, normal shirt, fleece, ski coat
• Bottoms: underarmor pants, normal pants, ski pants
• Thick mittens (not gloves): preferably 2-layers, with inner lining gloves (not mittens) for tasks requiring dexterity
• Thin socks under thick wool socks
• Chap stick
• Hearty, protein-rich food.  Including a bunch of salami and cheese; salami and cheese are key.
• Fuel, for melting snow and making oatmeal and stuff
• A big sack of chemical hand and foot warmers
• Possibly an 80 L backpack, if this requires a lot of space to pack
• Heavy-duty hiking boots?  (Might be overkill)

Is there anything I forgot?  Before this gets silly, we may assume for this exercise that I have remembered to pack underwear, etc.  Anyway, I feel like I would sleep pretty comfortably if I had all that.  I want to try it out!  Here are some extra precautions I would take:

• Don't go alone (obviously)
• Sleep with water bottles in the sleeping bag, so they don't freeze overnight
• Pack water bottles inside backpack, to try to prevent freezing during the day
• Start out by testing this in weather above 20 degrees F, then try it in 10 degrees F, then 0 degrees F... and keep working your way down, to assure continuation of life!

(from Cpt. Obvious's flickr)

Please comment if I've forgotten anything.  (Cole, I'm looking at you!  Well, no, I am not actually looking at you right now, since I know that will be your first objection.  But I would appreciate your input nonetheless!)

And now, for the bonus question: if you wanted to go all crazy with this, could you manage to go winter camping using only gear and clothing you made yourself out of fur, leather, and wool?

A Plan!

As many of you know, I live in New England but am originally from the Portland, Oregon.  I spend a lot of time longing for the tall, snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but I'm stuck with these dinky little things instead.  Now, after 6 years of living here, I do finally like these dinky little hills for their own sake.  They have their own unique beauty, especially in the Fall, and the crunch of leaves under my feet as I walk through a deciduous forest brings back nostalgia for some wonderful hikes I've had on this coast.

That being said, the Appalachians...

(from Ismael Alonso's flickr)

...are not the Cascades.

(from Michael Lehenbauer's flickr)

In order to deal with this discrepancy, I have devised a cunning plan.  I shall take a small, well-hiked hill, Mount Monadnock:

(from Doug Kerr's flickr)

And then I will climb it in the winter!  And no, not like November or December.  It must be climbed in the January/February chills.

(from Tim D. at ecodiversity.com)

It's looking better already!

(from AMC Connecticut)

(from David Albeck)

I'm pretty excited.  This is one of the best hiking ideas I've had in a while.  Best part: as long as the weather's okay, you can get through this without much equipment.  I'll probably bring an ice axe and crampons, but that's mostly just so that I have an excuse to buy an ice axe and crampons.  You have to spend your REI dividend somewhere.

I've gotten a friend, Alex Khripin, to say he'd be up for climbing this in the winter.  See, Alex, now it's been published on a blog, it's official.

(By the way, go check out his blog at Unwholesome Foods.  It is fascinating and occasionally disgusting.)

After Monadnock in the winter, perhaps some winter camping is the next step?  Could I camp on a New England mountain in the winter?

(Monadnock photo, from Matthew Gemmell's flickr)

(And winter is coming.)