The campout this past weekend was a lot of fun and I got to test a lot of my gear for a cold weather bugout. As far as equipment goes I’ve got some winners and losers to talk about here.
First – I went in ahead of everybody else leaving at noon time and as agreed went straight up the side of the mountain. It’s not real technical, but it is a slog, especially with a 40 lb pack. 
I found a decent place to set up a couple of tents and, and after packing the tent sites down with my snowshoes waited for the other guys to get there. They showed up about an hour later and we pitched the tents and with the help of my Sven Saw got some firewood ready for the evening.
After dinner – around 7:00 we hiked up to the summit – and met up with another guy who came up the opposite side of the mountain. After we collected him we hiked back to the campsite and resumed our fire. I love hiking at night and it was beautiful out. Snow was falling and the wind was whipping it along pretty good, but it was a fairly light snow and we were able to hike without problem.
We got up Sunday morning around 7:30 and since I was the first one out of the bag I got the fire going. The others got up at staggered times, then after breakfast we packed up our gear and hiked out on a trail that was fairly close to the camp. One of the guys checked the weather with one of his gizmos and said the temp that night dropped down to about 5 degrees, but I don’t think it really got that cold – probably more like 15 degrees F.
That’s a quick synopsis. Anybody who’s done winter camping knows there’s a lot more to it then, “… we packed up our gear and hiked out…” I don’t mention the freezing fingers while putting the sleeping bag in the stuff sack, or the time spent knocking snow off the tent before rolling it up small enough to fit in the pack, etc etc. You get the idea.
All in all it was a great time and we’d all like to do it again soon.
Now, the gear review.
Stoves
Winner!
The whisper lite stove from MSR rocks the house. I use white gas in mine although you can run kerosene or unleaded auto fuel in it too. I heated some water on this little guy last night and it melted the snow and boiled it in about ten minutes as I had to keep adding snow to melt. This stove gets my highest rating of Rock Solid.
The only thing you have to be very careful of is when you first light it it looks a little like the space shuttle being launched. DO NOT use in or near your tent.
Loser
The Jetboil. A couple of the guys brought this along and although it’s a great system for summer and fall it does not work well in cold temps. The isobutane fuel needs to be warmed up and when it gets cold it stops producing heat. I would not recommend this for a cold weather trip. If anybody else out there has some experience with this please let me know what you think of it.
Sleeping Bag
I give my sleeping bag a passing grade of marginal. It gets that because I lived to walk off the mountain, but I was a little chilly through the night. Not outright cold, but close to the bottom of the comfortable zone. I think I’ll be looking for a light-weight bag liner.
Gloves
I got a new pair of LL Bean gloves for Christmas and while they’re warm, one of the fingers has already started to rip a seam. These might be good for an easy walk out on the trail – and they will keep your hands warm – but if you’ve got to do any real work I don’t think they’ll last long. If you know of a good, warm pair of gloves that will stand up to hard camping use send me a link. I’m in the market!
Saw
One piece of gear that I always carry with me is the Sven Saw. It travels very compactly and unfolds so that it almost looks like a baby buck saw. It will cut through a piece of four inch oak quickly and easily.
If you don’t have one of these or have never tried one I would encourage you to do so. Again, I’d like to hear if anybody has had a good experience with their saw.
Tent
I borrowed a friend’s North Face four season tent and this also earns my Rock Solid rating. The only downside is that it’s relatively heavy, but we offset that by dividing the tent up and carrying it in separate packs. It was fairly warm inside when it was buttoned up and easy to set up and take down.
Boots
I love my Scarpa ice climbing/mountaineering plastic boots. They’re outmoded these days and a little scuffed up, but I think it just adds character to them! They are the warmest boots I’ve ever owned. Downside: the price. Plastic boots are very expensive.
That’s about it. I used other gear of course, but these are the things that stick out in my mind either good or bad.
Below are some random pictures of the hike.
Flattening an area for the tent (above)
First Light
Lake in the distance
Breakfast
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14 comments
At my age, I’m not as inclined to do this anymore, but it brings back good memories of the time when I used to take these hikes. The pictures are great. Also, thanks for the tip on the Sven saw. I’ve seen them in catalogs before and they look like they pack well.
Presage Buddy – I don’t know how old you are, but my dad was going on winter campouts in his mid sixties and enjoying them. He still goes out – he’s 69 now – but usually in the late summer or fall. Some of my favorite memories camping involve him and my uncle. On this hike I was the Old Dog. :-)
The Sven Saw is outstanding and I’m not getting money from those guys to say it. Once I find a product that works well I’ll stay loyal to it forever if they keep making it.
Jarhead Survivor – I am your father’s age and I still do campouts around the same time of year as he does. Winter hikes and campouts I’ll leave to the younger crowd, but the photos you took let me do the campout visually. Thanks.
Good for you Presager, I’m glad to see guys like you and my dad still have that outside spirit.
i have a “Sven” also. i haven’t tried it out yet. i need to make a canvas case to keep it in. i’m worried about losing the wing nut, and it rattles a little when i carry it. it is nicely made, though.
our scout troop had a larger version of it back in the day, i’m expecting similar performance once i’m finished “customizing”.
for work gloves, i suggest regular “GI” wool liners, inside extra large “insulated” leather work gloves. in extreme cold, i use some “moose hide”, trigger finger mittens, with the “GI” liners inside the original knitted liners. you need to trap a fair amount of air inside your gloves/mittens, but not allow it to “circulate” against your skin.
Questions:
1. what model was the tent – how many people (size)?
2. what is the temperature of the comfort level for your sleeping bag, and the shape?
3. how much fuel did you take with you?
Hey Mainer… Let’s see, it was a North Face VE-25 3 man tent – although there were only two of us in there. PLENTY of room for us and our stuff. We left the packs in the vestibule.
I’m not entirely sure about your second question, but I’ll try to answer it and if it’s now what you’re asking let me know. The temp that night was probably about 15 degrees without the windchill. When I first got in the bag it was very warm, but around 1:00 am or so I started getting cold. I’ll blame some of that on the baffle in the sleeping bag letting the warmth out as I moved around inside the bag. It was a mummy bag (if that’s what you’re asking.)
I took a one bottle of fuel – a quart maybe? – and it was plenty for what we needed that night and I had a lot left over. If I have a fire I’ll usually try to use that to conserve fuel for things like mornings when you may not have a fire, but would like some hot coffee or oatmeal or something.
Hope this helps.
I LOVE my “whisper-lite” stove, never had a single problem with it and it’s not very light compared to other similar models (aside from fuel).
For winter camping I am partial to my Eureka 3 man tent, not sure what the “model” is, I bought it about 10 years ago. I do know from experience that it will literally stand up to a heavy tropical storm or blizzard.
As far as the sleeping bag, I am partial to a “Wiggy’s” mummy bag. An idea for your bag, with a little stitching you can transform an old military wool blanket lined with a poncho liner into an effective cold weather liner and a pretty decent “ultra-light” late spring/summer/early fall bag. If your willing to put in the stitch-time and shop around for supplies I have made them for under $20.
I want one of the “Sven saw’s”, I haven’t seen them before but it looks REAL slick!
For gloves I like my “Scent-Lock” hunting gloves, they are “water resistant” half-mitten style with fleece liner. If I am expecting real wet weather I like to wear the old military surplus trigger-finger mittens to go over them. You have to inspect them pretty thoroughly for wear when purchasing, but if you find a good pair they will last a long time (mine are going on about 16yrs of deer seasons).
SORRY I meant to say that the “Whisper-lite” **IS VERY LIGHT** compared to similar models! Sorry just got off the treadmill a little while ago and I think I left my brain back there!
I have had good luck with the Whisperlite.
Man, now I want to go camping!
Thanks for the heads up on that saw, I’ve never heard of it but the design looks really good. I see one tucked in my BoB in the next couple of months hopefully.
As for stoves, I guess I’m a bit old school. I used to make hobo stoves out of whatever garbage I found on the trail, but I purchased a “foldable pocket cooker” from the sportsman’s guide and love it. It looks flimsy but it’s actually pretty stout, I can stand on it without bending it.
Here’s the site for the saw: http://www.svensaw.com/ if you’re interested.
I’ve used many different kinds of stoves in my time and the easiest to use and cheapest to make is the alcohol stove. I like the Whisper Lite for a couple of different reasons – especially in cold weather, but you can’t beat the alcohol stove for reliability!
Sven saws the best, I have both sizes and extra blades for both.
The blades are very sharp and last a long time.
I didn’t know they came in two sizes. I’ll have to look that up. And yes, the saw blades are very sharp. Like I said, I can cut through a 4″ piece of oak in no time at all. These are also great for making shelters and things like that too.