Winter camping

[Stan]

I once camped with an old Native American and his wife ... actually, we shared a bunkroom at Mizpah Hut ... and they shared a lot of trail knowledge. I mean, what better source?

He was telling me about duralog or whatever the commercial name of these long burning artificial logs. Said that bringing along a modest quantity of chips from these logs makes excellent fire starter.

... as does balsam fir, even when green (but watch out for flyaway live embers) or birch bark (preferably off the ground). I always carry a plumbers candle, too, for help in starting a fire.

 

[Jasonst]

Ditto the above, plus bring either a 4-season sleeping pad or two three-season sleeping pads. I always thought I was a "cold sleeper", then I bought a 4-season sleeping pad, and it made all the difference. Boil or heat water before going to sleep, put in a nalgene bottle, seal tight, and place in your sleeping bag for extra warmth. Plus you'll have water to drink/cook with in the morning.

.

Excellent suggestions. I also had the problem with the sleeping pad and think I have it licked. The Warm Nalgene also is a priceless thing.

J

 

[percious]

I'm not trying to be an advertisement here... But I just found a great way to turn your 3-season pad into a 4 season pad for only 9.3 oz. This is lighter than an actual 4 season pad if you have a "Prolite", and you have the added benefit of bringing an emergency pad/snow sitter for your dayhikes. Please check it out:

http://www.advancedmountainproducts.com/products/Thermolite/index.html

I used this weekend before last on Marcy (stayed at Marcy Dam leanto) and found it to be warm down to 5 degrees with my full length prolite 3.

Oh, and the water bottle trick works well. You just have to make sure you wake up before it gets cold.

-percious

 

[Reekee]

Winter Hot Tips

About a month ago there was a thread on this site about winter Hot Tips which may prove helpful.`Go to the Members list under Reekee then go to "threads started by" and the thread is there.

 

[Desalad]

Another good idea worth not a lot of weight is to bring along some newspaper and lay the newspaper down beneath your sleeping pad. It will act as a little extra insulation between you and the ground. I've used this "technique" while sleeping in leanto's and it has definitely added some warmth.

An eagle scout leader gave me the tip and its served me well.

 

[Desalad]

Some even carried those duralogs.

THanks for the suggestions. We actually did carry in two duraflame logs. We managed to collect a lot of blowdown, and there was even an old big tree that fell across another tree. We were able to chop it down and split it. We got a really nice and toasty fire going Friday night!

 

[Neil]

It never fails!

Maybe the Northeast US is different (I don't have much fire experience in the NE) from Quebec and Manitoba but for getting fires going on the first match every time at neg. 40 we always use birch bark and sticks. By sticks I mean the lower dead branches still on the tree (usually pine). Once on the trail we always make a habit of harvesting the first birch bark we spot and we get lots and lots of it. Before going to bed we always make sure we have a generous supply of birch bark and sticks for the morning fire carefully placed where we'll find it all easily if it snows. (Note: you might not want to strip too much bark off a single tree or you'll kill it.)

 

[Desalad]

As it turned out we probably didnt need the duraflame, but we brought it so we burned it. Everything last winter was really wet so even though we got the base lit, the actual fire wood was too cold and wet.

This year we used lots of little branches and actually a couple pieces of newspaper and got a blaze going in no time.

I think its possible that last year the fire failure was operator error...I stayed tucked in nice and toasty in my sleeping bag while others tried to light the fire.

 

[expat]

Emergency fire starting

There's a great product called Fire Ribbon, and it should be available at most stores, and Campmor near where the stoves are located. It's primarily used for pre-heating stove generators in cold weather, but can also be used to start a standard fire. It's a gel that burns, and it comes in a toothpaste-sized tube, so it's easy to pack. It's only a few bucks for a tube.

 

[DougPaul]

> There's a great product called Fire Ribbon,

I have heard that vaseline soaked cotton balls make good firestarters. Easy to carry some in a film can. (Haven't tried it myself.)

Doug