Winter camping and the long night

Siting and setting up

• Get out of the wind, and out of the valley bottom where cold air pools. Mid-slope beats both
• Watch overhead for loaded branches and standing dead timber
• Stamp out the platform with snowshoes and let it sinter for twenty minutes before pitching. Setting a tent on unconsolidated snow gives you a lumpy pit by morning
• Build a windbreak of snow blocks on the weather side if you have the time and energy
• Deadman anchors: bury a stick, a stuff sack or a snowshoe as an anchor. Tent pegs do not hold in snow
• Start earlier than you think. Everything, tent, water, food, takes twice as long, and you want it done in daylight

Sleeping warm

• Insulation underneath is most of the battle. Two pads, or a closed-cell foam pad under an inflatable, and check the R-value rather than guessing
• Go to bed warm: a hot drink, a short walk, some jumping about. A cold body will not warm a bag
• Dry base layer for sleeping, never the one you sweated in
• A hot water bottle in the foot of the bag, and it is your breakfast water in the morning
• Keep boot liners, water filter, batteries, electronics and tomorrow's socks in the bag with you. Frozen boots in the morning are a genuine problem
• Pee before bed. Holding it costs real heat

Stoves and water

• Canister stoves lose performance badly in the cold as the pressure drops. Keep canisters warm and inverted where the stove supports it, or use a liquid-fuel stove, which handles the cold far better and is the traditional winter choice
• Carry more fuel than you think: melting snow is the single largest fuel cost of a winter trip
• Start with a little water in the pot before adding snow, or the pot scorches and the water tastes burnt
• Never run a stove in a closed tent. Carbon monoxide is odourless and has killed people doing exactly that
• Sleep with tomorrow's water so it does not freeze, and store bottles upside down so ice forms away from the lid

The long night

Sixteen hours of darkness is a management problem. People go into their bags at six in the evening and lie there cold and bored. Plan for it: a long hot meal, hot drinks, a lantern in the cook shelter, cards, a task. Cold and bored becomes cold and miserable, and miserable clients make bad decisions in the morning.