Camping below freezing
Winter camping
Winter camping is the version where the margin disappears. The ground takes more heat than the air, batteries last half as long, water freezes and there is no daylight after four. Almost every item on the list changes: warmer bag, better mat, more fuel, and a way to melt or carry water.
Shelter: TentWho carries the weight: You carry itPower: NoneToilets and showers: SometimesCooking: Your own stoveDrinking water: Carry it in
Plan this tripWho it is for
Experienced campers extending the season, and anyone camping in the mountains outside summer.
The checklist for this trip
The full camping gear list
The packing planner already sizes 29 of these for your trip — the shelter and the cooking kit are yours to bring.
Shelter
- Pitch it once at home before you go — a tent you have never put up is not a tent you can put up in the rain.
- Count them against the tent's own list. Bring six spares — pegs bend in stony ground and vanish in long grass.
- Goes under the tent, not inside it. Trim it smaller than the floor or rain runs along it and pools beneath you.
- A pole splint, a few metres of tape and a spare peg. A snapped pole ends a trip; a splint turns it into an anecdote.
- Cooking, sheltering and drying all happen under it. The single most useful thing to add once the tent is up.
Sleeping
- Match the comfort rating to the coldest night, not the average one. Comfort and limit ratings are different numbers.The planner packs this
- It is insulation before it is padding. The ground pulls more heat out of you overnight than the air does.The planner packs this
- An inflatable one, or a dry bag stuffed with tomorrow's fleece — either beats a rolled jacket.The planner packs this
- Adds a few degrees, and it is the part you can actually wash mid-trip.
- Over the bag, not inside it — compressing the down is what makes you cold.
- Campsites are louder and lighter than anyone expects, and dawn arrives through nylon.The planner packs this
- Fill it from the stove before bed. A warm bag is one you get into, not one you brace for.
Kitchen and water
- Check the fuel type is sold where you are going before you rely on it.
- Never goes on a plane — not in the cabin, not in the hold. Buy it after you land.
- Both, in separate places. A lighter fails in the wet and matches fail in the wind.
- One pot per two people is plenty. Nesting sets pack smaller than the sum of their parts.The planner packs this
- One spork each. Bring a long-handled one if you are eating out of freeze-dried pouches.The planner packs this
- An insulated mug earns its weight: it is also your bowl, and it keeps coffee hot in wind.
- Sponge, a small bottle of soap and a drying cloth. Wash away from the water, not in it.
- A litre each, minimum. Wide-mouth bottles are the ones you can actually clean.The planner packs this
- Ten litres saves a dozen walks to the tap. Fill it on arrival, before dark.
- Not optional where there is no tap. Tablets are lighter; a filter tastes better.
- Sealed and off the ground. Anything that smells is an invitation, from ants upwards.
- Two more than you think. They double as dry bags, wet-kit bags and an emergency groundsheet.
- The reason to get out of the bag on a cold morning. Not essential, entirely worth it.
- Dries dishes, lifts hot pots and wipes the table. One cloth doing three jobs.
Clothing
- Merino or synthetic, never cotton. Cotton holds sweat against you and stops insulating when it does.The planner packs this
- Camping evenings are colder than the forecast, because you stop moving at six.The planner packs this
- Taped seams and a hood. Water-resistant is not waterproof once it has rained for an hour.The planner packs this
- The half everyone forgets. Wet legs end a day faster than a wet jacket.The planner packs this
- Broken in before the trip. A campsite is mud and gravel even when the walk is short.The planner packs this
- Something to put on when the boots come off. Wet boots dry overnight; wet feet do not.
- Sleep in the hat. Most of a cold night is your head, above the sleeping bag.The planner packs this
- One more pair of socks than days. Dry socks are the cheapest morale there is.The planner packs this
- A cotton towel never dries in a tent, and by day three it is the wettest thing you own.The planner packs this
Light and power
- One each, not one shared. Both hands free is the entire point of wearing it.The planner packs this
- Headlamps point away from you; a lantern is what makes the tent a room after dark.
- Cold halves battery life, so a winter night eats what a summer one would not.
- Check the airline's cabin rules before you fly with it — it can never go in the hold.The planner packs this
- One more than devices. Cables are what actually gets lost, not chargers.The planner packs this
- Only earns its weight past two nights off-grid, and only in real sun.
Hygiene
- Decanted into small bottles. Full-size bottles are most of what makes a wash bag heavy.The planner packs this
- Your own roll, in a bag that keeps it dry. Site blocks run out on Saturday night.
- Between the tap and the food there is often nowhere to wash. This is that gap.The planner packs this
- A wash when there is no shower. Pack them out — none of them are flushable, whatever the box says.
- Still not soap for a stream. Carry the water 60 m away and pour the greywater on soil.
- Shared shower blocks are shared shower blocks. Two euros, no regrets.
Safety and first aid
- Plasters, antiseptic, painkillers, tweezers, tape. Check the dates before every trip, not after.The planner packs this
- In its labelled box, plus a photo of the prescription. Two days more than the trip.The planner packs this
- You are outdoors all day, including the overcast ones. Reapply after swimming and after sweating.The planner packs this
- Apply at the first hot spot, not the first blister. That is the whole trick.The planner packs this
- Carries far further than a shout and costs nothing to carry. Six blasts is the distress signal.
- 200 g that turns a bad night from dangerous into merely miserable.
- Paper, and know how to use it. A phone is a torch, a camera and a map until the battery goes.
Tools and repairs
- Cabin baggage will not take the blade — it goes in the hold or it gets confiscated.The planner packs this
- Wrap a metre around a water bottle rather than carrying the roll.
- A washing line, a spare guyline and a tarp ridge, in five metres.
- Sleeping bag in one, tomorrow's clothes in another. Wet is survivable; wet bedding is not.
Documents and money
- Most sites ask for it at check-in, and a photo on your phone is not always accepted.The planner packs this
- Downloaded, not streamed. Campsite reception is exactly where the signal disappears.The planner packs this
- Check it covers the activity — plenty of policies exclude anything they call mountaineering.The planner packs this
- Small notes and coins: showers, laundry and barriers are often coin-operated and offline.The planner packs this
Three things worth doing
- Insulate underneath first. A warmer sleeping bag on a thin mat is money spent in the wrong place — the ground is where the heat goes.
- Sleep in a hat, and fill a bottle with hot water before bed. A warm bag is one you get into rather than brace for.
- Keep batteries, and the water for the morning, inside the sleeping bag overnight.
What catches people out
- Comfort ratings are not limit ratings. A bag labelled −5 °C is usually comfortable to about zero for most people.
- Days are short enough that you will pitch and cook in the dark. Plan the day around four o'clock, not sunset.
Questions people ask
Look at the R-value rather than the thickness: around 4 for frost, 5 and up for snow. Two mats stacked add their values together, and that is the cheapest way to get there.
The planner asks about the weather in the form itself, so this page cannot answer it for you. Choose “cold” at the weather step and the winter pack appears.
The gear above is yours to bring. The clothes, the toiletries and the tech are what the planner is for — it sizes them for the length of the trip, the weather and how many of you are going.
Now size the rest
Let the planner pack the clothes
The gear above is yours to bring. The clothes, the toiletries and the tech are what the planner is for — it sizes them for the length of the trip, the weather and how many of you are going.