Camping in winter

[georgedawes]

Not me I hasten to add!

My daughter will be going with scouts, and although we have a lot of camping kit, it's very much for spring and summer camping!

Any recommendations for sleeping bag/liner, mat etc? Can I get a 3 season bag and add a liner to it? Clothes should be fine but I'm a bit bewildered by the choice for equipment!

Hi @georgedawes, we're just giving this thread a bump for you in case anyone's around to answer your queries.

Have the group given you any guidance?

When DH does it with DDs...

• SIM on top of rollmat for ground insulation
• tracksuits for sleeping not PJs. Plus hat, gloves and socks
• extra blankets
• good sleeping bag.

For his scouts he makes sure there is plenty of food and hot drinks and exercise.

The leaders should be able to help. Mine went just before Christmas and had two normal sleeping bags one inside the other plus two blankets, one for over and one for under on top of standard roll mat and was plenty warm.

He had a neck gaiter and hat and slept in joggers and a jumper plus wool socks. He also took a hot water bottle which the leaders filled for him. The key is keeping dry so pack dry clothes in plastic bags then add in lots of extra plastic bags for wet clothes to keep segregated. Mine had a blast, I hope yours does too!

That's unusual - even the cadets don't sleep outside after october

Plenty of padding underneath! Scouts should have equipment you can borrow, or that they will take for your DC to use. You shouldn't need to buy special stuff for a one off trip.

Not that unusual for scouts, where sub zero certificates are a thing. Ours were bivvying at October half term.

All the layers, and staying dry is a must. The menu will be planned around hot stodge, and the trick is to never take off a layer til you’re boiling.

Blankets below as well as on top of the sleeping bag, and sleeping in tracksuit / sock / hat is a good choice.

Definitely not unusual for Scouts... Winter Camp was a massive annual event pre Covid!

DD goes to the Scout winter camp with Guides. It's great fun. She takes a very good down sleeping bag and has never been cold.
But yes, 3 season and a liner should do it. Mat plus SIM should keep out the cold and take a blanket. Lots of layers.
Their Rangers unit did a bivvy in October too. Hardcore!

Do you have an ex-military shop anywhere near you? My DDs have winter camped with guides and used military sleeping bags. They are quite bulky but DDs were never cold

Yes absolutely it is a scout thing - there's a badge for it and everything!

We have a kit list and it's useful, although doesn't give brands or detailed advice. We're fairly experienced campers but certainly not winter ones though! Conscious it's in a very exposed place and don't want her to be cold, may have to do an equipment test in the garden (again, definitely not me volunteering!)

I used to do a lot of this when I was younger. In winter I used a down filled three season bag with an additional one season rated fleece liner. I did also have a military artic sleeping bag but it was heavy so didn’t get used much.

Regardless of what bag you use, adequate insulation underneath is the key to a good nights sleep. I had several miserable nights, one on my knees, before I worked that out.

Conscious it's in a very exposed place

On occasions, I used the combo I mentioned on top of mountains with no tent, just a plastic bivi bag. Noisy in the wind.

Wow etulosba, very impressive! Not sure I could do it in actual bothy!!

Ds did frosty camp the weekend of Storm Whateveritewas, in Nov /Dec, so the Friday night had to be cancelled as the tents blew away! They re-pitched and camped Sat night whereupon it snowed. I was shitting it and sent him in ski socks, base layer, trousers, two tshirts, hoody and dual coat with instructions not to undress until he came home. Also SIM, 2 not-brilliant sleeping bags, a silver foil emergency blanket as a base layer, and two huge fleece rugs.
I barely slept for worry and, after we battled through the snow to ‘rescue ‘ the orphan of the storm, he came home filthy and smelly and delighted, not having even bothered to unpack one of the bags or one of the blankets.

I have a vango 4 season sleeping bag (goes to minus 5) a thermorest mat, a silk inner liner, thermals, really waterproof jacket (10,000) and trousers.

We lightweight camp in sub arctic mountains with our children. Admittedly summer, but temperatures around zero.

Insulation layer under is crucial as pp said. Wool and down clothes best if you've got or can get. Gloves n hat. Crocs to slip on to reduce night wee faffing and consequent heat loss.

Personally I'm just never really warm out there unless I have a hot water bottle, makes all the difference if you're a chilly person, but rest of family are fine. Just some extra clothes, good mat and a decent bag.

More concretely, I think most of our mats are Exped. My bag is a Polish down one. Will try to remember the name.

Cumulus! That's the bag make. But I'm not sure this is the kind of kit you'd want to be buying for a one night trip.

Crazy winter camping Guide leader here
Get a length of that silver bubble wrap stuff that you put behind radiators as an extra layer of insulation between the roll mat and the SIM. My SIM is a cheapy millets one, but thermarest or Vango are better. I also like Alpkit for some stuff, I might get one of their mats when mine gives up the ghost.

Hot water bottle x 2 (one for feet and one to cuddle), silk sleeping bag liner if you can afford it, or microfibre. A mummy bag is much better than envelope style as you can reel it in to keep cold drafts out. I use a 4 season, and at one winter camp when it was forecast to snow I put a 2 season inside it - I felt like a caterpillar and couldn't turn over, but I was warm .

A top tip is to get changed into whatever she's wearing to bed at least half an hour before so the clothes have warmed up before she gets into the sleeping bag. Wear a hat to bed, with a hoodie hood over the top to keep it on.

You could also get her a USB hand warmer or usb heated blanket that she can turn on and pop in her sleeping bag if she wakes up cold in the night.

I have done some colder camping (frost on tents levels of cold) but also as the Mammy Leader, am the one most likely to be woken, but feel the cold, so aim for fast cosy conditions.

Insulate under you to prevent cold seeping up from ground - not just the sleeping mat but at least another layer like blanket, foil lining, etc.

Put on thermals early in the evening under clothes - do not take these off later, they are a base layer for sleeping as well as keeping warmer once sun has gone down. Both top and bottoms. You can change your top layer if you need to but preferably not once you've got the heat into both and the air between the layers. It's much harder to warm up at bedtime than earlier when you can be active.

Wear a warm woolly hat in bed. Wear warm dry socks in bed - change your socks late in the evening to have dry ones in bed.

Hot water bottles are useful. Have a hot drink close to bedtime.

And a few thinner layers are better than 1 thick layer, so you can add/remove as needed. Both daytime and nighttime.

I've tried a lot of sleeping bags in my time, but the best I've ever used is the current British Army modular sleeping bag system and it is actually quite affordable compared to the big brands. There are actually two, the "lightweight" bag and the "mediumweight" bag. The lightweight goes inside the mediumweight to make a 4 season bag.

Depending on the temperature, you might be able to get away with just the medium bag, especially if inside a tent with other people.