Winter in the High Country: Cold-Weather Camping
He also recommended toting a pair of crampons to anyone who needs to travel somewhere slick. The toothy points on crampons can turn any ice field into a relative walk in the park.
There are tons of tricks to staying alive, keeping warm, and enjoying the wild and wooly winter season. Here's a quick overview of the basics.
Dress for Success
Tony Nester, owner/instructor at Ancient Pathways Institute, teaches a series of courses designed to help Arizona adventurers stay safe in the wilds.
He said the key to comfortable winter adventuring is simply dressing right. While a hiker's choice of attire is important every season, it's absolutely critical when the temps dip below freezing and the snow flies. A hiker's life depends on it.
"Respect the season. Those three words can keep you alive," Nestor warned. "Clothing is your first shelter."
Nester advised staying away from cotton clothes at all costs in the cold. In the mountains, he said, cotton fibers soak up just about every bit of perspiration and precipitation, leaving your body cold and clammy, leaving you susceptible to hypothermia and death.
"Cotton kills, as the saying goes," he said. "Wear Polartec or wool, fibers that wick perspiration and moisture away from you. Wool is a time-tested, honored material and it's very durable.The follicles that grow on sheep interlock and spiral, making a tight weave that holds up well when wet. It works well around the fire, unlike synthetics. Wool has kept people alive for centuries."
While the survival instructor admits his preference for sheep fiber comes partly from a die-hard woodsman perspective, he allowed the new synthetics are quite servicable.
He said, "Synthetics take up less space in your packs and come in more colors and designs than with wool. It compresses better than wool."
"My wife likes the Thorlos," he said with a laugh. "But I'll stick to the thick, old fashioned all-wool socks."
To resolve the wool vs synthetic sock question, SWEAT tested Thorlo socks, a proprietary blend of acrylic, wool, polyester, nylon and spandex, against REI's classic ragg all-woolies. Over a snowshoeing weekend, I wore Thorlos' heavyweight Backpacker Thor-lon brand on the first day, and simple wool on the second. The result: while both kept my feet toasty, the wool socks absolutely required a synthic Capilene liner sock to wick away sweaty moisture. Thorlo socks did not require a liner sock and the spandex component kept the socks from slouching and sliding uncomfortably
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