What's some essential winter gear?
Going on 3 man expedition to Northern Sweden sometime around January, none of us have camped in this kind of weather before.
What's some lifesaving gear we can't overlook
Winter essential
What's some essential winter gear?
Going on 3 man expedition to Northern Sweden sometime around January, none of us have camped in this kind of weather before.
What's some lifesaving gear we can't overlook
half-platoon tent with a stove
but im gonna be honest it sounds like youre gonna freeze to death
A jacket
>What's some lifesaving gear we can't overlook
A functioning brain. Using PrepHole as a reference for essential gear is comparable to using PrepHole as a reference for building a nuclear reactor.
Lots of lube
It's currently -13 C in Umeå
I very much doubt that you'll make it
We're Danes
We'll make it
Lmao gaylords gonna freeze to death kek
-13C isn't even that cold...as long as you have a good shelter and sleeping bag and know how to start a fire...
This. For me, its not the temperature thats the factor, but the wind. I can be on in -15C and feel fricked at -2C with strong wind.
-13 isnt even that bad, i got caught out in a blizzard in the middle of spring last year, it was -25 at night and i had a 4 degree downbag, was fine the few days cowboy camping. not comfortable, but i didnt die
piss bottle for night
Several sets of woolen underwear. Wool socks. Waterproof shoes. Winter sleeping bag. Ideally a sleeping bag liner. Good quality tent. Thick matress or foam layer in tent. Hot water bottle or several chemical heating packs. More gas than you need. If you have the space, a heater. Tbh the stuff you would need to carry to not have a shit trip means it's not really worth it unless you can carry it by sled or pulk. Test all your gear in advance and spend one night in your backyard
Wool, lots of fricking wool.
Wool socks, really fricking thick ones.
Wool underwear, top and bottom, really thick ones.
Something that keeps the wind out.
Good boots that are at least 8" high, size up one size.
Mittens for anything that doesn't require fine motor skills, don't use thin gloves.
It was -20 here yesterday, though I'm quite a bit further north than anything in Sweden.
No tight fitting clothes for outer layer, goes for hands and feet too.
Cold is no problem if you are prepared.
You also need more food than normal, and extra dry clothes, change often, socks especially.
>wool and good socks
good footwear is the way to go
you can always stick you´re hands in pockets when they get cold but good luck doing the same with toes
and i forgot the image
That's good shit, but remember to air your toes once in a while.
Sweaty feet will make you suffer.
Probably backpack
How much poly/cotton content is considered safe for winter clothes?
FDF uses 50/50 cotton/polyester blend for their uniforms and they get used all year. Every uniform is about the same, give or take 15% to either material. I'd argue that it doesn't matter that much because it is the most outern layer.
Although, some boomers here seem to swear by 100% wool frieze clothing.
I don't want to start another winter tread, so I'll ask here.
Best tools for starting fire in the winter.
Last week I was trying to light up a small fire and it was hard.
I had a tiny blowtorch - it stopped working despite me keeping it warn.
Zippo lighter failed, which was weird, but maybe because it was chinkshit.
Matches ware ok, but they got humid quickly and ware later useless.
Ironically, small BIC lighter worked flawlessly.
The weather was -10 and windy, wind being the most troublesome factor.
I set up a tarp but it didn't help that much.
As my last resort I usually use fuel tablets or vaseline mixed with cotton that I store in small plastic boxes, I didn't have to use those cause I had some kerosene.
You need to bring your own firewood that is dry.
i had coal
This is just bullshit. Conifer forest is full of burnable wood in basically any weather the biome has to offer, standing dead trees are always dry inside and often contain fatwood, birch bark is about the best tinder in the world, and dead lower branches of spruce trees and lush pine trees stay dry even in heavy rain, and if there isn't too much snow it's quite easy to find old tree stumps that are so saturated fatwood that they've stopped rotting completely. In so much below freezing basically everything is dry expect the deadfalls you dig under the snow.
This is correct, northern Sweden is covered in pine forest, with some birch here and there.
If you can't get a fire going with pine and birch bark as tinder, then you should stay /in/
>Best tools for starting fire in the winter.
The best/easiest tool is a lighter. But you should always have at least 3 ways to start a fire, with a ferro rod being one of them since it's the most fail safe. Keep a little bag of tinder on you (seems you already do this). Duct tape rolled up into a tight tube acts like a wick and will burn for quite a while, so that's also a good way to get a fire started. It's also good to know how to extract tinder from your environment even in the winter. How you do that depends on where you are. Obviously if there's nothing flammable in your surroundings you're SOL, but you should know that beforehand and plan accordingly. Learn about feathering, local types of moss, birch bark etc.
Matches work best in the cold, in my experience, if there's no wind, a bic lighter is awesome.
The bark on birch is perfect tinder to get a fire started, if you don't have birch in your area, do some testing with whatever you have there.
Small spruce or pine twigs burn hot and ignite easily, if you dry some roots ahead of time, they are extremely good.
Kerosene can be tricky when it's really cold, alcohol is much easier or gasoline.
Ferro rod, storm matches and experience.
>Layering
Wear a proper base layer (e.g: merino wool) and learn how to layer properly so that you can add or remove pieces of clothing to keep your temperature regulated. Too cold and you freeze, too hot and you sweat and then freeze. No cotton should be touching your skin. Cotton is okay only for mid layers, and if it ever gets wet you're better off removing it from your body. Wool on the other hand will keep you insulated even when it's wet.
Socks should be pulled up and your long john legs pulled down and tucked into them. Your shirt should be tucked into your long johns.
>Jacket
Get a down jacket with both a high fill power (600-800) and a high down:feather ratio (80/20 or 90/10). Quality ranges quite a bit for down jackets and the higher quality ones tend to get pretty expensive. Make sure you're paying for quality, not just brand. Also it's worth noting that down becomes useless when it gets wet, and it also tears and burns easily. If you need something more robust get a thick wool coat instead and add more layers underneath. Or even wear an over sized wool jacket over your down jacket as a shell.
>Boots
Get yourself some tall, thickly insulated boots that are meant for cold weather, and some extra thick wool stocks to accompany them. Size up half a size so that your feet aren't too cramped. Better to have slightly too big boots than slightly too small, since too small will constrict your blood circulation. A bit of extra space also allows for warm air pockets.
>Head, face and hands
Real fur hats are the warmest. After that comes thick wool. A balaclava is a must if it's going to be windy at all. You can and should later your hats and make sure your ears are protected, since that's what gets frostbite first.
Mittens are better than gloves, though if you're using your hands a lot, gloves will still get the job done. Get something thick. If your hands tend to get clammy and sweaty look for ones with wool liner. Avoid cotton as mentioned already.
take someone with experience moron
two foam pads each. zero degree sleeping bags. good boots.