Cold weather camping - tent

[John Scifres]

Like a lot of folks said above, cold weather camping is about attitude more than equipment.  You don't have to have a better tent than that.  I'd recommend a tarp over it though to shed the snow.  It won't be super warm but you can definitely make it work.  

I sleep pretty cold so I usually keep my long johns and maybe even a flannel shirt on.  When it's colder than freezing, I use a mylar blanket on my lower half.  Keep it away from your face or you'll soak yourself with condensation.  I have a pretty light bag though.  Always sleep on top of something.  I prefer the Ridgerest foam pads.

Here is my camp setup.  I've slept in some pretty cold stuff in this.
   
 

My buddy, who is tougher than me, sleeps in that tarp setup in all kinds of weather.

[Badlands]

Jeff
In general, for cold weather camping, the size of the tent you will use will be determined by wether you are going to have a heat source in it or not.  If you want a large tent so you have room to move around, a canvas cabin tent works well, but you will want a heat source like a wood burner or propain heater, the canvas (at least the sides) are breathable and as mentioned canvas is much less suseptable to sparks than nylon or polyester.
If you will not have a heat source, the smaller the better.  Two people in a good quality 4 season 2 person tent will stay much warmer than 2 people in a large tent like the one in your picture. I've done this in temperatures down to almost 0 and haven't had any problems, but I have spent many nights freezing my butt off in a pop up tent camper I used to own.

A few things to think about.

They now make propain heaters with oxygen censers on them that will turn off when there is to much carbon dioxide in the air.

[Badlands]

Opps hit the wrong button.

A few more things

A nalgene bottle filled with boiling water stuffed down in your sleeping bag at bed time will keep you warm most of the night.

Don't use a cot without a sleeping pad under it.

When buying a tent, stay away from tents that do not have ground lenth rain flys.
You want your tent breathable and your fly water proof.  Condensation should pass through the tent and then condense on the inside of the fly and run down to the ground. The only thing in the tent you want water proof is the floor.  A small fly like the one in the picture means that much of the tent is water proof and thus the condensation that accumulates on it will run down and pool inside of the tent.

[hunt it]

Some good advice some bad (nylon tents and kerosene heaters spell death if ones not careful).

A true four season nylon tent has a pole system and sometimes foam blocks that keep the fly away from the tent at all times even under heavy snow. This is esential for breathing and ventilation. True four season tent will have design and strenght to withstand heavey wind and snow. What you have there is a two/three season tent at best. It will work however, it will provide a good wind and weather barrier, very little heat retention. If expecting heavy snow I would put a tarp over the area prior to setting up tent. Never sleep in this tent with below freezing temperatures without leaving one or more windows open for ventilation!! Cheap nylon tents do not breath, you sleep in there and the condensation from your breath will rise and freeze without open windows or doors for ventilation, once condensation freezes on material no more air and you will die!!! This happens evry year when those that don't have this knowledge do this. The same thing happens with propane and kerosene heaters. If you use them for short temp heat make sure windows and doors open enough for good ventilation.

Big outfitter tents with wood stove is caddilac in this respect but not always practical or afordable option.

They survive on Everest in good nylon tents! Good sleeping bag and foam sleeping pad the key. Do not use open cell air matress as circulation of air will rob you of heat.

Winter camping really is COOL have a blast!

[ks_stickbow]

awesome....great advice...I'm still confused about floors in canvas wall tent...


what about when it rains isn't the floor of your tent now a mud hole from saturation, and water running down hill?

mybe it's something I just have to experience to understand.

[IB]

 

Wyoming Campin    None Better

[Noelkman]

Ks_stickbow,

We use a 4x6 piece of plywood and a regular blue tarp for the floor in our 8x10 wall tent. The plywood is next to the door, with a 2' allowance for the woodstove, and the tarp covers the sleeping area. When you have a floorless wall tent you get good at digging drainage ditches in the rain. Sod cloth is worth the added cost.

  Zodi Hotvent  

If you can zip your tent up all the way and put another tarp over the outside you could probably get by with a Zodi heater. The burner is outside the tent so they are much safer. I have a friend who swears by his. Pricey though.


If your thinking about another tent I'd reccommend the Alaknak. We bought the 12x12. Just make sure you pitch it in the shade during the summer. Makes a fantastic sauna  :cool:

[geno]

is that the same co that make the hot water heaters for showers. looks like the same setup.

I just keep an old piece of carpet for the floor of my tent around my sleeping area. I use to have a 16'x32' two stove army issue. when we set it up the kids in the neighborhood thought the circus was in town..it weighed 300 lbs

[ks_stickbow]

Originally posted by Noelkman:
Ks_stickbow,

We use a 4x6 piece of plywood and a regular blue tarp for the floor in our 8x10 wall tent. The plywood is next to the door, with a 2' allowance for the woodstove, and the tarp covers the sleeping area. When you have a floorless wall tent you get good at digging drainage ditches in the rain. Sod cloth is worth the added cost.

  Zodi Hotvent  

If you can zip your tent up all the way and put another tarp over the outside you could probably get by with a Zodi heater. The burner is outside the tent so they are much safer. I have a friend who swears by his. Pricey though.


If your thinking about another tent I'd reccommend the Alaknak. We bought the 12x12. Just make sure you pitch it in the shade during the summer. Makes a fantastic sauna   :cool:  

that thing looks effective and dangerous at the same time

[Tony Phillips]

I have posted this picture of my tent many times. It is a 14x14 pyramid tent with a Cylinder wood stove. I just purchased a Mr. Buddy propane heater with a 11 gal tank.

 

[ks_stickbow]

Originally posted by Tony Phillips:
I have posted this picture of my tent many times. It is a 14x14 pyramid tent with a Cylinder wood stove. I just purchased a Mr. Buddy propane heater with a 11 gal tank.

 

now that looks like a pretty sweet lodge....is it just one pole and a bunch of stakes?

I'm gonna google pyramid tents.....thanks

[Caddo]

Good advise given so far, I can't add anything else.

...other than "What are you, nuts?"    

After a week in AF Artic Survival School, I was broken from any desire to camp in the snow! Cabin's Rock!!!!      

Have fun with it, it's something everyone should do.....once!    


LD

[Tony Phillips]

ks_stickbow,

  Yes it is a single pole and about 16 stakes.You can also set it up with 2 poles on the outside or if you have an over hanging tree branch with a rope. I purchased this one from Don Strinz out of Nebraska.
  With the single pole you can have this tent up in less then 5 minutes.
  I have had it so hot inside we had to open the door to cool it off.

[laddy]

We use a Beckel canvas with a wood stove. It has survived near misses from tornadoes falling trees and blizzards and is still in perfect shape.  We don't use it anymore because Iowa is just to crowded where the good camping and hunting areas coinside.

[rtherber]

A cheap oversized tarp suspended over your tent site(tied off with small bungees)allows you to set up/tear down the tent in inclement weather and also diminishes ozone damage. I have enough excess out the front to allow for cooking outdoors. I use 4 mil black plastic and cut to size for the floor for a tent footprint. The stove port is mounted on the back tent flap.  

[rtherber]

I didn't need the stove in the tent the entire time I was out in Colorado this year. I had the stove jack sewn into the back flap instead of the roof to facilitate using the tarp overhead. Some folks likes the stove centered in the tent.  

[Starkman]

I've been checking out the outfitter cot/pad from Cabela's and was wondering if the pad would take care of the problems associated with cold air circulating underneath.  In Arkansas, our winters are pretty mild, but it does on occasion get down in the 20-30's at night.  Not trying to hijack the thread.
Bob

[Curtiss Cardinal]

The last time a winter camped I built a leanto on the top of a small hill that was a baldknob ringed by pine trees I built a fire pit and reflector the same length as the leanto facing it of coarse. I cleared all the snow from the hill top and used it to make a wind break 10 feet upwind of the leanto. I used a space blanket as a ground cloth in a ditch like bed I dug out onto of that I put my Cabela's foam pad then a wool blanket then my sleeping and another wool blanket.
I built the fire up with some fairly big logs and it was still burning in the morning and I was more than warm all night. It was just about the best night's sleep I'd ever had.
Just a note about cots. Put all your gear under your cot and I mean pretty much cram it full you can also use fabric around the edge like a bed skirt to keep air from flowing around you like you're in the crisping brawer of you fridge.
Still when it's really cold it's better to oput some insulation under you and sleep right on the floor. 4" memort foam pad I just got with a wool blanket on top would be good enought with your sleeping bag and maybe another wool blanket on top.

[snag]

Man, you guys are making me cold! I think I will make my camp with a sun umbrela on the beach in Mexico.

[ks_stickbow]

Originally posted by Starkman:
I've been checking out the outfitter cot/pad from Cabela's and was wondering if the pad would take care of the problems associated with cold air circulating underneath.  In Arkansas, our winters are pretty mild, but it does on occasion get down in the 20-30's at night.  Not trying to hijack the thread.
Bob

you aint hijacking nuffin we're only a half state away