Toasty Liner is a sleeping solution that I designed a few years ago.  It is a fleece sleeping bag liner with pockets that add warmth to the camper on cold nights.

The idea came from watching Scouts try to stay warm on the Klondike events in which Scouts camp in the snow.  John Seidel is a scout master and noted that his boys would take a bunch of warmers and stick them in their bags in an effort to stay warm.

The bag that John was using at the time had a nylon lining, so that when he was snow camping and crawlen into his bag, there was a period in which it was really cold and the nylon didn’t help the comfort level at all.

He experimented with fleece for a liner and came up with the idea of sewing pockets on the liner to hold chemical hand warmers in place.

He shared the idea with me at a trade show and we designed a fleece liner to go inside a sleeping bag to make the how experience of sleeping in the cold more comfortable.

We eventually worked it into a commercial product and have sold it at camping and outdoor gear show.

Being from Texas, we don’t have much occassion to do snow camping, so around here we use it as a couch throw to keep our feet warm during the winter. 

If you’re interested in how it actually works, you can check it out at www.toastyliner.com.

Maurer and St. Clair have produced a cool video on making a Quinzhee.  The scenery is fantastic and these guys make this look easy.  But they include great content like

• How to pick a site
• How to prepare the base
• How to lay out the opening away from the wind
• How to  prevent a cave-in

This is good stuff.  Makes me want to go buy my snow shovel right now.

HOW TO BUILD A SNOW SHELTER

Ben is a student at Colorado Mountain College in the middle of the Rockies.  In this blog he gives an account of his first overnight experience in sub-zero weather. 

This lucky guy gets to take his Outdoor Education in Snow Orientation.  My first Outdoor Ed class was in Roller Skating.  I guess that’s the different between Texas and Colorado.

What I find interesting in Ben’s account is what he describes about sleeping and about the food that he brought on this first experience.  This was just an overnight trip, so for provisions he brought  a type of rice dinner for the evening meal and bagels for breakfast.   He discovered that light carbs like bagels just won’t cut it in snow camp.

His account of getting ready for bed in a low-slung tarp made be tired just reading it.  And when he got up in the morning even his boot laces were frozen and it took his feet two hours to get warm after thirty minutes of breathing on his boots to get them loose enough to put on.

That makes perfect sense, but I would never have thought about it until I had made the mistake myself.  Thanks Ben for the warning. 

You may also find his account of sweating instructive.  OK Pros…how do you keep from sweating when you got a long way to go and very little daylight.  What would you have done differently?

Snow Orientation Part 1/3

I realized that winter camping is a whole different ball game than summer camping. I realized that winter camping requires perfection in every way possible. Everything you do in winter camping, contributes to the outcome of your well …

Michael and Clarrisa go on their first adventure with a snow cave in Canada. This fascinating account by Michael is both interesting and honest. What sounded like a good idea at the time turned out to be a lot of work and a very cold night.

Michael recounts enough detail about how they constructed their snow cave to give me an idea where I might start if it ever snowed more than eight inches in Texas.

Some experienced snow campers might be able to enlighten us newbies as to why Michael and Clarrisa were so cold when they tried to sleep.

This is not to be critical of this brave couple. But I would simply like to learn from their experience without having to spend a sleepless night shivering.

Read their account and let me know why you think they slept cold.

Canada – dog sledding and winter camping

This week we ended with a dog sled ride and a winter camping trip. Clarissa, Chloe, Michelle and I all went on the dog sleigh – the day started with a 9am pick up by the musher, who had all 10 of his dogs in a trailer behind him. …

Winter Camping Shelters

Ty Hildebrand of rustydeals.com wrote an interesting article about four-season tents.  He’s in Bend, OR so has some great opportunities to do snow camping in the Cascades.

I found his ideas on building a wind break against the tent wall a great suggestion. 

I didn’t realize that four season tents have stronger poles.

His enthusiasm is infective, makes me want to go out and try it out right now. Only problem is that it is 70 in Dallas right now.

Here’s the link to his article.

Winter Camping Tent Tips – High Peak Tents « advanced trail – weblog

Winter Camping Tent Tips – High Peak Tents. October 9, 2009 by rustydeals. Now that we have gone over sleeping bags in our previous post it is time to go over shelters, better known as tents. Do not use anything less than a 4 season …

The proper shelter in cold weather camping is essential to both survival and enjoyment of the experience.

Snow Shelter Comparisons | WinterCampers.com – Celebrating the …The Ontario Preppers Network believes that the ability to use snow effectively for shelter in the winter is the single most important skill anyone who spends.

Cold vs. Hot Tent Camping | WinterCampers.com – Celebrating the …Typically, the only “warm” in warm winter camping is in the evenings and perhaps again in the morning when you are awake and in camp to tend to some sort of heat source. That heat source might be a campfire in front of a tarp shelter, …

Carl Mulherin’s experience of surviving forty eight hours lost in snow mobile country is very instructive. His strategy of assessing his priorities, evaluating his resources, building his snow cave and maintaining his positive attitude are great examples of successful survival.

Man recalls surviving 48 hours in B.C. winter wilderness …Drawing on skills gained through past experiences camping in the snow and years spent as a scout, he assessed the situation. He took stock of his provisions: half a litre of water, a sandwich, four protein bars and two beers. … Concentrating on his shelter was one of the ways Mulherin, a former industrial salesman, said he kept his head screwed on straight and his thoughts positive. Whenever he got bored or needed to heat up, he’d walk in the circle he drew around his …

That’s it for today.

Dave