Snowcamping tips

Overnight Snow camping tips 

Have a read, it might make your adventure a bit more fun!

Clothing

• Take a look at our day trip gear list for more info 
• Gloves get wet setting up/packing up a tent in the snow, so carry a second pair for camp duties (and if you normally wear mitts, you will want thinish gloves)
• NO COTTON! Cotton loses its insulating qualities when it gets wet, whether from rain or sweat. Cotton also takes a long time to dry out. Wool or synthetic materials are much better suited to winter camping in cold weather conditions.
• Take tight layers off at night (inc underwear & bras). They restrict blood flow and will make you colder.

Equipment

• Snowcamping isn't the time to test out new gear. Bring reliable gear you trust
• Batteries don’t work when its cold. Keep your camera/phone battery and headtorch inside your sleeping bag at night. Warming up dead batteries often revives them

Pack

• If you are using your own pack, make sure it has side straps suitable for attaching skis in case you need to carry them - ask if not sure or hire a club one.
• Your pack should be top loading - you may want to be able to stick your feet inside it when in bed (helps reduce condensation on your sleeping bag, and extra insulation). Hire a club one if yours isnt suitable
• Make sure you have a liner (large orange garbage bag is ideal). Even if you are using other mechanisms to keep stuff dry (eg individual drybags), still have a liner - it has other purposes (emergency bivy, put under mat, get into it if condensation is an issue, keeping stuff dry). 
• Bring an empty Nalgene so after you have had dinner/dessert/washed dishes you can have a hot water bottle to warm up your sleeping bag (and then have fresh unfrozen water to drink in morning)

Stove

• If you are using a shellite / petrol stove, prime it with a modest amount of fuel. Carrying a small bottle of metho to prime the stove is another option.

•  Try share stoves to reduce what you carry.

• Most likely you will need to melt snow for water (even if you are camping at a hut with a tank, plan for the tap to be frozen). You are likely to also want extra hot drinks. You will go through a lot more fuel than a normal bushwalk.

• Some huts have a potbelly stove, don't rely on this - bring enough fuel.  

• Consider what potset you have and if you can use this on a potbelly stove in hut (jetboil pots often won't work resulting in any weight saving being negated)

• When melting snow for water, add a small amount of water so you don’t burn it (yes its possible)

Mat

• Carry 2 sleeping mats. Supplementing your normal mat with an additional closed-cell foam mat, will provide a lot of extra insulation when you are sleeping 2 cm above the snow. If using foam mat, bring 2

• Make sure you have a foam mat (extra insulation, backup if inflating mat fails, and extra uses - eg putting gear on it while you pack up to keep out of snow, kneeling in snow to do stuff)

•  Have a think about how you will pack it, and make sure you will still be able to attach skis to side of pack if need be. 

Food

• Breakfast - you may want to boil water, so porridge/hot drinks is ok-  so long as get up well before the ski time
• Lunch - food you can eat on the go with gloves on (eg zucchini slice, savoury muffins etc)
• Dinner - aim for 3 courses (cup of soup, mains, dessert). 
• Bring plenty of snacks that can shove in pocket when skiing, you will eat more than bushwalking (believe me, i have tested this! - i have used a ski meal plan for a bushwalk and ended up with sooo much extra food!)
• Bring plenty hot drinks (soup, tea, hot chocolate etc) 
• Be a bit creative with food - you can take things you wouldnt normally take on a summer bushwalk as you have access to a "fridge"
• Eat lots- high energy, carbohydrates, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate
• Don’t eat snow! It takes way too much energy to turn it into water

Camping

• Water will freeze overnight (sometimes even if its inside the tent). Be careful you don’t burst your camelback with the expanding ice
• Water mixed with something such as Gatorade, lemonade, etc will freeze at a lower temperature than plain water
• Water treatment tablets are ineffective when it is cold, consider alternative water treatment methods, or melt clean snow
• Camp in a fairly flat area below the treeline, away from ridgetops, on the downwind side of a ridge. You can cut blocks of firm snow using a snow shovel and build a low wall to partially protect your tent from the wind.
• Camp amongst trees but not directly under them. Snow can fall off the branches and break your tent poles.
• Grass is warmer and more comfy than snow if there is some about.
• Before setting up your tent, take a few minutes to stamp down your tent site and scrape it smooth, otherwise you risk an uncomfortable lumpy floor as you slowly sink into it over the night as your body weight compresses a human shaped dent in the snow.
• Snow and water will get into your tent. Carry a small sponge to soak it up.
• A small foam pad is handy and lightweight (bum sized) - ask club if you don't have one, we sometimes have an old mat we can cut up
• Enter and exit huts as quickly as possible to keep warm in 
• Don't leave things out overnight or they may be lost under snow that falls overnight. Stand skis, poles and ice axes upright if snow is deep enough (but not so close they will hit the tent if they fall over).
• Dig 25 cm deep pits in the vestibule. This gives a lot more storage space for things like snow encrusted packs, which you don't want inside the tent. In bad weather, it also gives you a fairly safe place to light a stove and makes it easier to put your boots on.
• Build things with snow! Kitchens, shelter walls around tents are great. Remember to fill them in before you leave so someone doesn’t ski into them .
• At night use your overpants and raincoat underneath your foam mat (waterproof side down). This will be extra insulation and reduce what gets wet

Other tips

• Know where each item of your gear is stored in your pack so you don’t waste time and get cold when trying to find it. Practise packing your pack a few times before you go.
• Instead of stopping for a long lunch, snack on food all during the day at short breaks/make sure your lunch you can eat with gloves on
• Exercise (wriggle around) for a few minutes when you get in your sleeping bag to warm it up
• Leave no trace- Use loos where available and/or carry it out in a pooh tube
• When lying awake at night thinking its cold and needing to go to the loo, go! When you are no longer heating up volume of wee you will be much warmer!
• Wet boots left in a tent vestibule will freeze solid on a cold night. This can often be prevented by putting then in a waterproof bag by your feet inside the tent. Plastic boots- remove the inners and bring these inside.
• Gaiters will keep snow, rain, etc out of your boots and therefore help keep your feet drier and warmer.