Winter camping

[Sweep]

After some really nice trips this year I fear I may have to put the camping gear into storage until March.

Not so much the temperature that bothers me - anything can surely be handled with more kit/layers - but the desperate lack of light.

And most campsites for sure close at the end of October.

Can anyone encourage me with any solutions/plus points?

[DevonDamo]

I take a nerdish pleasure in having kit that allows me to stay warm/dry/comfortable in inclement conditions. On Friday, I headed out into a local forest and stopped overnight in a posh hammock tent (which I'd borrowed from a mate to compare against the one I own of a different brand) with a Thermarest NeoAir, a proper pillow and a 4-season sleeping bag. I had a great night's sleep although it was a fairly mild night for the time of year. I brought an appropriately weedy torch, which meant I had usable light throughout without needing to touch the spare batteries. I was using a cheapo Wilkinsons JetBoil copy with some provisions out of an army ration pack. I loved lying there listening to all the deer (or murderous psychopaths - can never be sure which it is) moving around outside.

I don't think I can persuade anyone that out-of-season camping is a good thing - the idea either appeals to you or it doesn't. But even in the depths of winter, you can get some nice high-pressure weather where it's cold but dry and scenic. It might not have been so much fun if it was raining/muddy etc, but even then it's just a matter of bringing the right kit and working out how to use it to best effect.

[horizon]

Can anyone encourage me with any solutions/plus points?

I went cycle camping a couple of weeks ago - we've had some very warm weather for October. I think I'm going to go again to push the boundaries. After all, people backpack camp in the middle of winter in the snow. Here in the UK it's either cold and dry or warm and wet - both have their advantages.

WRT light, it is already dark quite early even in early and late summer so the problem has to be addressed. For me the solution is a good headtorch. Plus, if necessary a trip to a local pub if one still exists. Warmth, and having to stay in the tent are my bugbears.

[bikepacker]

I have camped in January a few times, staying mainly at C&CC sites that are open all year.

[crazydave789]

wild camp or find the sites that welcome bushcrafters in winter and let them have fires. some sites do stay open in winter on a reduced footing or the sites that do caravans cornwall is usually open all year round and some of the sites popular with climbers like malham cove or the lake district never closes.

you can practise your bug out technique for when the big city is taken over by the zombie plague.

there's always warm showers, staying in someones house makes early starts easier as can using a tarp bivvy set up.

[mercalia]

After some really nice trips this year I fear I may have to put the camping gear into storage until March.

Not so much the temperature that bothers me - anything can surely be handled with more kit/layers - but the desperate lack of light.

And most campsites for sure close at the end of October.

Can anyone encourage me with any solutions/plus points?

well for me its the desperate lack of warmth than light, no fun having to wear warm coats all the time, frost on the ground and it does get very cold out in the sticks in winter , very cold hands etc

[bikepacker]

This is what winter camping can be like:

[mercalia]

This is what winter camping can be like:

and that is meant to ENCOURAGE Sweep? to stay at home maybe

Now this is more like it

[youtube]uGWIYmLcVSI[/youtube]

just add a solar cell array and a tv then no need to go out at all

[crazydave789]

This is what winter camping can be like:

you big fibber that's june in jedburgh. still at least snow is an insulator, the old artic tents in norway were very cosy with two feet of snow on top.

the UK is usually cold wet, although they think we are due a white winter this year. but they did say that the past few years.

[crazydave789]

I though sooty and sweep had a campervan anyway?

[pjclinch]

One thing to be aware of for winter camping is nothing wet is going to dry out, so you have to be that much more disciplined about not getting wet stuff in the inner. But beyond that, as long as you've got the kit to keep you warm enough there can indeed be a pleasure in just doing stuff that other people think is mad (c.f., "riding a bicycle").

Pete.

[Vorpal]

When I was younger, I did some winter camping in the USA. Although it was sometimes rather cold, waking up on a quiet, snowy morning with no one else around, it always seemed worth it.

I don't know if I would still enjoy it, but I suspect that with the right kit & weather, I would. I'm less inclined to take risks these days, so I likely wouldn't back pack out of the reach of civilization to do it.

I've never combined winter camping and cycling.

[mercalia]

here you are the USA army way

[youtube]Pyv2gsCo7Vo[/youtube]

I am surprised they leave their guns outside

[Tangled Metal]

We get the camping bug every year from about February. We wait as long as we can but first sign of warmer weather we're camping. However it often leaves us cracking the snow and ice off our tent in the morning. Great Langdales NT campsite is a good place to pitch up. Three pubs within falling I mean walking distance.

We mostly car camp early on though.

It's funny but we generally stop camping before the frosts start but we start again before the frosts finish. I guess cabin fever sets in after winter so we can't wait to get out. Mind you I've had some really quite comfortable camps out as early as February in valley sites even in the highlands before now. You sometimes get really good weather. One trip was in the Larig Ghru in February with little more than a hopped bicycle bag. It was nice enough but just a bit drizzly. I've been on top of Buchaille Etive Mor in early February with thin base layer rolled up to the elbows getting sun burnt before now. Sun reflects from snow and boy does sunburn under the nose hurt!

Pick your location, pick your days and go for it. Failing that book a pod or wooden yurt with range fire / stove.

[Sweep]

Thanks for the post tangled.

But you won't be getting me in a yurt. Rather smacks of poncy glamping by pretentious types to me.