Surviving in a Winter Wilderness

By Bryan Bergeron

It’s winter-time in the North Country.

It’s ten degrees outside, and the wind chill is hovering around zero degrees. The wind pierces your body, causing all exposed skin to become numb in a matter of seconds, and as you walk outside, you slip on the layer of ice that has become permanently glued to the ground. The sound of cracks and creaks can be heard in all directions, as ice-laden tree branches break away from their foundation.

Not even bears dare to fight against these elements, but Mother Nature doesn’t intimidate everyone during these winter months.

In the Adirondacks, some people aren’t hindered by the wrath Mother Nature reaps on its inhabitants for four months out of the year; instead, they embrace it. They camp in it, they live in it and they welcome the approaching wind chills and freezing temperatures, as the Adirondacks become a camping ground for many people throughout the duration of the North Country winter.

“Over the past several years, we have seen an increase in winter camping since technology has improved equipment and clothing,” said Dave Winchell, the region five spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Conservation. “The improvement in technology has allowed for people to safely recreate in the Adirondack back country during the winter.”

While technological advancements have made this type of camping completely feasible, proper precautions must be considered before venturing into the Adirondacks during the winter chill. Since summer and winter camping are two completely different things, specific equipment must be also used in the winter to prevent things such as hypothermia from occurring, Winchell said.

In the winter, one has to look out for approaching storms, which have the ability to creep up on people quickly in the wintertime. On top of that, Winchell said that snow takes away people’s energy at a quicker pace because deep powder hinders a camper’s ability to move around, making traveling in distances a long and strenuous process.

“Conditions in the mountains at high elevations are much worse than on the ground,” Winchell said. “It’s going to be colder, it’s going to be windier and the snows going to be deeper so you need to be prepared for that.”

Nevertheless, with proper preparations, a winter camping trip can be an exciting, fun and satisfying experience, Bobby Donahue, a North Country resident who frequently delves into the winter wilderness by ice climbing and camping in the Adirondacks.

In order to be fully equipped against the elements, one would need a sleeping bag that can withstand freezing temperatures. Preferably, at least a zero-degree sleeping bag should be used, Donahue said.

While Donahue prefers to use down sleeping bags when he camps, since they are lighter then synthetic sleeping bags, synthetic bags can also be used. A down sleeping bag, however, must be used with caution, for all of its insulating properties are lost once it gets wet, Donahue said.

A close-cell, foam sleeping bag is also needed to camp throughout the winter season. Blow-up pads are frowned upon for winter camping since the warm air within the pad will compress in the cold weather, causing the pads to become soft and unusable, Donahue said.

In addition, winterized tents are needed to protect yourself against the elements, said Russell Brown, another North Country resident who often goes on winter camping trips.

“A lot of summer tents have a lot of ventilation, which is awesome for the summer, but during the winter all that air flow causes all your body heat to get lost outside of the tent,” Brown said.

Bringing a stove and numerous amounts of “instant” foods are also necessary because eating helps produce heat throughout the body, Donahue said.

In total, the full amount of equipment needed will cost around $1,000, and a normal, one night winter camping trip will produce a bag full of supplies that weighs around 35-40 pounds, Donahue said.

While the use of this equipment will allow for someone to make it through the night, and will decrease the chances of a camper becoming hypothermic, it will not keep the camper cozy and warm throughout the night. Even with the proper preparations, it is a given that a camper will be cold throughout the night.

Due to this, campers have come up with numerous tricks and ploys to cheat Mother Nature from giving winter campers frost bite or hypothermia throughout the night. One such trick is to keep a container of hot water within your sleeping bag, Donahue said.

“Boil some water at night, put it in a water bottle, wrap it up in an extra piece of clothing and throw it in your sleeping bag,” Donahue said. “It doesn’t freeze and it will keep you warm all throughout the night. Then in the morning, you will have luke warm water that you can use.”

Another such trick is to always carry your water bottle upside down, Ryan Doyle, the outdoor leadership coordinator for the Adirondack Mountain Club, said

By carrying the bottle upside down, freezing occurs only at the top of the jug. Then, once you flip it over, the ice will go to the bottom of the bottle, allowing you to continue to drink the water, Doyle said.

“It won’t freeze the cap onto the bottle itself, so you can still unscrew it and drink it,” Doyle said.

Using these tricks and bringing all of this equipment are necessary for survival, but using these things would be useless if the camper does not bring the proper clothing and does not layer his outfit appropriately, Donahue said.

Synthetic and nylon clothing should always be used in winter camping because of their insulating properties, while one must always wear multiple layers of clothing in order to keep moisture away from ones skin, Donahue said.

“By layering clothes, you create dead air space between your clothing and your skin; it keeps you warm, it keeps the cold air away from your skin,” Donahue said. “If you don’t layer properly the moisture will build up to your skin, and eventually, you’ll have all wet clothing- it takes a lot more energy to warm water then to cool water.”

Brown also stressed the importance of layering and the significance of synthetic clothing.

“Make sure you have nylon, polyester or wool all the way down to your underwear and socks because if your base layers aren’t these types of clothing then you can lose all your insulation,” Brown said.

Both Brown and Donahue warned to never wear any type of cotton when going on a winter camping trip. One reason for this is because cotton loses all of its insulating properties once it gets wet, Donahue said.

“A lot of guidebooks say that cotton kills,” Donahue said. “Once it gets wet it keeps in all the moisture and takes a long time to dry, whereas synthetics push the moisture out and dries faster.”

Wet cotton clothing also keeps you colder than any other type of damp clothing because it “robs” heat from you, which is another reason why “cotton kills,” Winchell said.

“When cotton gets wet it actually transmits heat out of your body, so you’ll lose heat a lot quicker,” Winchell said.

While layering your clothing and avoiding cotton are important aspects for survival, Brown said that too much base layering can backfire on the camper,for it could make the camper start to sweat. In turn, this sweat will make your clothes wet, which causes for your clothing to lose some of its insulating properties.

Even though the risk factor of winter camping is much higher than that of summer camping, immersing yourself in a winter wilderness can become a life-long memory if one is aware of what they are getting themselves into beforehand, Donahue said. In fact, by taking the necessary precautions and by thoroughly preparing for the night, winter camping is a fairly safe sport.

“Plan ahead and know where you are going and know what you are getting yourself into,” Donahue said. “There are so many different areas where things could go wrong, so not knowing what you are getting yourself into can cause a lot of problems. If you know what you’re doing, then it’s just an acceptance of risk.”

And in the Adirondacks, a lot of people are accepting such dangers.

“There’s a fair amount of people who use the back trails throughout the winter,” Doyle said. “It’s certainly not as busy as it is in the summertime, but there are definitely a lot of people who go out in the winter.”