Winter Camping Tips: What to Pack for Cold-Weather Camping

A winter camping trip can be a great way to escape the crowds, bugs, and other annoyances you might find in the summer. Enjoy silence and solitude in a popular national park or state park and a more private camping experience, during which you can appreciate night skies and natural wildlife you might not otherwise see in the warmer months.

Consider packing these snow camping gear essentials along with the rest of your equipment to stay warm and safe in winter conditions:

• Base layer: Thin long johns or other base layer clothing options will help you maintain your body temperature, insulating your body and wicking sweat and excess moisture from your skin. These materials also have an elastic quality, making them multipurpose pieces of fabric in a survival scenario. You can use torn base layer pieces for cordage or as first aid bandages.
• Four-season tent: Find a durable winter tent option you can quickly deploy in the field under high winds and failing light. It would be best to practice this quick setup with snow stakes or guy lines before leaving on a solo, backcountry backpacking trip. This practice will help you prepare for a snowstorm or other inclement weather events you might encounter. A four-season tent will have a much higher R-value (a measure of insulating capabilities) than a three-season tent, meaning its thicker insulation will offer greater protection in arctic climates or car camping emergencies during winter.
• Headlamp: You will have less daylight in the winter months, so it is essential to keep track of available light and set up camp before nightfall. Packing the right gear includes securing a headlamp. This hands-free light source will illuminate your work in failing light and help you spot potential dangers if you must travel at night.
• Hiking boots: Waterproof shoes, socks, gaiters, and boots are essential accessories for any winter camping enthusiast. Your feet are the farthest extremities from your heart but will be in nearly constant contact with frozen surfaces, making them the most challenging body part to keep warm. If you are traversing an area that recently experienced heavy snow, you might want to bring cross-country skis or snowshoes to cross loose snowpacks.
• Sleeping bag: A winter sleeping bag is necessary for you to retain body heat and enjoy a restful sleep, enabling you to recharge for the next day. You might also choose to pack a sleeping bag liner, stuff sack, or waterproof cover to enhance the weatherproofing of your sleep system. Place your clothes and boots at the bottom of your sleeping bag while you sleep to warm your clothes using your body heat overnight. This helps you avoid dressing into frozen clothing and footwear in the morning.
• Sleeping pad: A cell foam pad or an inflatable sleeping pad creates a layer of protection between you and the cold ground. This added distance will cushion your sleeping position, promote more rest and recovery, and reflect your lost body heat back toward you. Slide your pad inside your sleeping bag to avoid slipping off it while you sleep.
• Waterproof outer layers: Snow pants and a waterproof jacket will repel moisture from melted snow and keep you warm and dry. Pack waterproof gloves or mittens and a beanie to protect your fingers and ears from cold air and ice. It’s advisable to find outer layers with vents to release excess body heat since sweat will cause you to freeze quickly and dehydrate you faster in a survival scenario.

Cold-weather camping can be a fun, adventurous outdoor activity, but you should first familiarize yourself with these safety tips and other best practices:

1. 1. Avoid lee slopes. Avalanches occur on open slopes between 25 and 45 degrees. Setting up camp on a lee slope, or slope with the wind direction, that falls within this pitch range will significantly increase your chances of triggering an avalanche. Skiers, campers, and hikers should also avoid any areas of loose snow. If buried underneath snow in an avalanche scenario, stay calm and conserve your breath. Dig space around your face and spit. Gravity will pull your spit downward, enabling you to determine which direction is up. Use your hands, ice axe, or any tool you have available to dig your way to the surface before you suffocate.
2. 2. Build a fire. Liquid-fuel stoves with a propane canister or wood fire can be great techniques for keeping your body toasty and warm while also drying out wet clothes. Avoid setting up your sleeping area near the fire so you don’t catch any sparks, and ensure you provide enough ventilation for smoke to escape a snow shelter or other enclosed space.
3. 3. Collect potable drinking water. Dehydration is one of the most dangerous risks of winter camping. Due to the colder temperatures, you might hydrate less often than you would in a hot or humid climate. In reality, your body dehydrates much faster in cold since it must work harder to regulate your body temperature. One of the first steps to setting up camp should be collecting potable water by melting snow and using a filtration water bottle to filter any impurities.
4. 4. Create adequate ventilation. It is a common instinct to close a shelter to retain warmth; however, this can create several problems. Less ventilation will trap humidity and condensation in your tent, thereby moistening your clothing and increasing your likelihood of freezing when you leave the tent. You also risk reducing airflow enough to raise the carbon monoxide content of your tent’s interior to dangerous levels.
5. 5. Set up a windbreak or vestibule outside your shelter. Your winter tent might already have a vestibule or windbreak accessory you can attach to the ground with guy lines and tent stakes to reduce wind chill in your shelter area. The vestibule increases the footprint of your shelter area while also shielding you and your gear from the wind. You can build snow walls around your snow shelter to achieve the same effect.

Certain outdoor activities carry an elevated risk of serious injury. Wilderness scenarios require extensive survival gear, including but not limited to food, water, maps, protective clothing, and first aid, along with mental and physical fortitude. This article is for educational and informational purposes and is not a substitute for hard skills and expertise.

Prepare for any outdoor journey by grabbing a MasterClass Annual Membership and committing Jessie Krebs’s wilderness survival course to memory. As a former United States Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape instructor, Jessie can teach you everything you need to know about packing for a trip (neon is the new black), purifying water, foraging (crickets: the other white meat), starting a fire, and signaling for help (forget SOS).