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Posted by Festus Hagen on May 25, 2008 at 8:47:09 pm EDT
In reply to 3-season tent use posted by MTB416 on September 29, 2007 at 12:54:13 pm EDT

I did a winter camping trip this year with 6 of my looniest friends, 3 days 2 nights over President's Day weekend. This was on Polliwog Pond nearby Lake Placid NY.

We had an assortment of tents and equipment. One guy had a 4 season tent but the rest of us had a variety of 3 season stuff. Mine was a Northwest Territory dome tent I bought at Wal-mart probably 15 years ago!

Although we had to pitch our tents in between 12-18 inches of snow, we didn't get a lot of snow while we were there. However, we did see temps as low as -17F the first night, and well below 0F the second.

My biggest mistake was overestimating my sleeping gear. I thought my sleeping bag was rated to 10F, and I figured if I used a summer-weight sleeping bag inside I should be good. Well when I got home I looked up the rating on my "winter" bag and found out it was only good to +30. No wonder I shivered some that first night but hey, I didn't die :) Other than a slight case of frostbite one guy had (from poor boots choices) we all came through with flying colors. Pictures here for the curious http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n119/rickstrat/camping/

Probably my worst moment was on the colder night when I woke up at probably 3:30am and HAD to "go see a man about a horse". From now on, when winter camping, a good-size empty bottle will come in the tent with me at night, and I won't be leaving it. Zippers are tough to operate when you've lost the feeling in your hands.

Just this weekend I ordered a three-season tent with full rainfly and two vestibules, and also a -30 mummy bag. I know I won't get to play with the sleeping bag for months, but I figure this is the time to get a good deal on one. Look forward to using the tent all year 'round.

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