Our third episode of Amateur Hour, where we’re not experts, but we have a little more experience than the lay person on various topics. This episode, we’re talking about winter camping! Check out our first episode here where we introduced ourselves and various topics on back country camping.

Being in two different provinces with wildly different terrains, we touched upon differences in BC (British Colombia) and in Ontario, they type of gear to bring and why.

Drawing from that, we dive a little deeper into camping trips and tricks for winter season. We spoke to topics, such as:

• Why winter camping?
• Layering system
• Sleep system
• Staying warm
• Winter gear
• Tents
• etc…
• and a fire round of tips and tricks

While there was limited time to discuss everything in detail, some of the key points that are different than camping in summer were staying warm. It’s just as easy to get hypothermia as it is to get heat exhaustion. We just don’t recognize it. There is a bit more gear to bring, no doubt, but that will also help keep you warmer and enjoy your time outdoors in the negatives.

Of course the barrier to entry is slightly higher for winter camping, as equipment is more specialized. If there was one piece of equipment to invest in, is the sleeping bag. You could get away with a 3 season tent, but ideally you’ll want to focus on the bag. This will need to be kept in consideration with your entire sleep system, from your sleeping pad (thicker and keeping yourself off the ground), to your layering system of what you’re wearing in the sleeping bag.

In time, we’ll provide more tips and tricks through more articles or videos, but for now, enjoy the video, below!