Wintersports
Snowboarding
Camping on snow: 11 Shred Hacks winter camping tips
When hunting for those first tracks and virgin powder slopes, venturing deeper into the wilderness is often the best option. Here’s how to set up camp and spend the night.
Xavier de le Rue knows a thing or two about expeditions to the remotest of places, but he’s also a fan of exploring the backyard of his own home resort. Both adventures, near or far, often involve spending the night – and thus, setting up your tent on ice and snow. What are the main things to consider? Find out here:
Watch Xavier De Le Rue share his best tips for camping out on snow:
1. Choose a safe location
The last thing you want on your winter camping trip is exposure, avalanches, rock or ice falls, so choose a location that’s a safe distance from vertical rock and ice faces where ice chunks or loose stones could drop onto you. You should also stay clear of avalanche-prone slopes. These don’t have to be steep to be risky: three out of four avalanches occur on slopes between 34º and 45º, which look like inviting hillsides. Be smart with your choice of sleeping spot.
Stay safe
© Beanie De Le Rue
2. Set up the tent
After you've stored your beer in the snow (you don’t want to drink warm beer!) compact the snow to create a flat base. Let it sit for 10 minutes and the snow will harden. Work as a team to put up the tent, and make sure the exterior tent sits snugly over the inner tent, so it doesn’t flap around all night.
Setting up the tent
© Beanie De Le Rue
3. Securing the guylines
In snow, you either need specific snow equipment to fix the guylines, or use this smart trick: Dig a hole with your shovel into the snow, fix the line with a little twig by rolling the line around the twig and placing it horizontally onto the inside wall, and cover the hole with snow. Compact the snow by stepping on it.
4. Building a cold trap
Here’s a trick that comes from igloos; often, the entrance tunnel is U-shaped, with a passage that’s lower than the inside floor. The idea is that the cold air sits at the bottom, and blocks any air current that would let warm air escape to the outside. Digging a little trench in front of your tent entrance keeps colder air lower, which prevents it from entering your slightly higher tent entrance, ultimately helping you stay warm. It’s practical, too – putting your hiking boots on and off is much easier sitting on a little ledge, with your behind still in the dry inside of your tent.
5. Mattress tricks
It’s important to invest in a good air mattress, because that’s the layer of air that not only makes for a softer cushion to sleep on, but also insulates you from the cold ground below. In very cold environments, it also helps to place an emergency blanket or sleeping pad under the mattress to further block the cold temperatures. In even colder situations, add an additional foam mattress into the mattress combo.
Invest in a good air mattress
© Beanie De Le Rue
6. Walling up
Building a snow wall around your tent can be a really good protection against high winds, unless a huge snow storm is announced, in which case those walls will gather snow instead of keeping it away. Another option is to dig wide holes into the snow and place the tent inside, which is often seen on longer-term expedition base camps.
7. Water supply
No need to carry around extra water bottles if you’re camping on snow – you've got all the water you need around you. You do need a small, reliable stove and a pot to melt the snow in. Place some water at the bottom so you don’t burn your pot. Lids and insulated pots are even more efficient.
8. Never, ever forget the cheese
Never forget the weapon of choice: a nice bit of cheese. Along with some beer, bread chunks and sausage that combine into Xavier’s infamous beer fondue, you’re getting all the calories you need to stay warm.
Fondue time
© Beanie De Le Rue
9. Your number one tip
Getting out of the tent at night when nature calls is horrible: dark, ice-cold, potentially slippery. So here’s the insider’s tip: keep an empty bottle handy. For the ladies, browse festival supplies to find interesting cardboard helpers, so you can also make use of the bottle solution.
10. Dry your boot liners
Nothing worse than getting into wet, cold or even frozen boots in the morning. Dry your liners by taking the liners out and place them into your sleeping bag. While our body heat will dry them out, the resulting smell will make for a mind-numbing sleeping aid.
11. Bonus tip: Cosy warmth
Use your normal drinking water bottle filled with boiling water as an improvised hot water bottle. It keeps you warm all night, and in the morning you’ll still have some warm water for your tea. Attention, make sure that the lid is screwed on correctly and sits bullet-proof tight - a litre of spilled water turns the best down sleeping bag into an non-insulating mess in seconds and might put you in danger.
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