Here are tips for winter backpacking to help you start to wrap your mind around colder temperature excursions. I won’t cover everything here with these tips, but the further along I get with the subject on Camp Hike Live California, the more links I will provide throughout the article. And I will at least be going over the basics.
It’s relatively warm here in So Cal during the winter. My 3 season backpacking tent, Big Agnes Rapid SL sleeping pad and REI Trailbreak 30 feel like they are at their perfect temperature when sleeping in the 40F° weather we get here, at close by hike in camps like Mulch Trail Camp in Topanga State Park.
But off in the distance, in the mountains of the Angeles Nation Forest, I can see snow. So let’s get into it…
Have an adaptable layering system – winter backpacking tip #1
Base Layer
For winter backpacking, a synthetic or merino wool base layer is necessary to wick moisture from your skin, and keep it from directly evaporating from it, cooling you down. Do not bring base layers (or any other layers) made of cotton, as this material retains moisture, and can be dangerous when sweating in the backcountry. You can buy dedicated hiking, backpacking, and outdoor sports base layers at places and websites like REI, Arc’teryx, Patagonia, and SmartWool.
Related: Understanding Base Layer Hiking Clothing
Mid Layer
Your mid layer is part of your insulation layer. Same materials rules apply here: don’t bring cotton anything. Mid layers generally are made of fleece, down, or synthetics. They also usually feature front zippers for thermoregulation, and a neck cuff to protect the lower part of your neck. Indeed you should be looking for a mid layer that does have a zipper in the front. This is a way to control your temperature, and thus minimize sweating, or just to open up, and give an escape route for the sweat wicked by your base layer, keeping you dry.
Puffer jacket
Indeed a winter backpacking tips article would not be complete without a high quality puffy, or puffer jacket suggestion. Go for a down puffer for the best warmth to weight ratio for backpacking. Also make sure it’s waterproof treated. Wet down, that’s clumped up and not lofting provides little insulation. DWR or Durable Water Repellent Finish is the catch phrase you’re looking for when purchasing your jacket.
Down Fill Power
The fill power of your down jacket indicates the quality of the down. Higher fill powers have better warmth to weight ratios. However the fill power alone doesn’t tell you how warm one jacket will be compared to another. For winter time, you should consider fill powers in the 700+ range, but the jacket should also be credibly weighted, i.e. more down in it.
Cotopaxi Fuego
Eric Hanson from Backpacking TV likes the Cotopaxi Fuego for general winter backpacking use. It’s an 800 fill power, 14 oz. jacket, which is comparably weightier than say a 3-season puffy like the Arc’teryx Cerium, weighing in at 10.9 oz. of 850 fill. The Cotopaxi Fuego also has the DWR, and naturally water resistant goose down. It also has a few internal pockets so your body warmth can preserve your cell phone battery capacity, and that of your headlamp, in the cold.
Related: Check out my review of my Cotopaxi Fuego when using it in the Appalachian mountains in the winter time.
Fits under a hard shell
You should also pick a puffer that can fit over a mid-layer while also is small enough to go under your hard shell layer.
Hard shell layer
Your hard shell layer is a rain and snow resistant layer to protect the other layers from getting soaked. It also protects against higher mph winds. Alpine Ascents International has a good blog on when to wear a jacket or pant hard shell layer. Basically you want to wear these items when the risk of getting wet from the environment outweighs the risks of getting wet from sweat accumulation, secondary to having that extra, less breathable layer on.
The only time you don’t want to put a hard shell layer jacket over your puffy jacket is when you are in extreme cold and using a bulky expedition style one. At that point the snow is dry enough that it should easily be brushed off the outside of your expedition puffer.
Arc’teryx Beta AR jacket
An example of a hard shell jacket built for winter backpacking is the Arc’teryx Beta AR jacket that can be found at REI. You’ll likely have to get a size or two larger to make it fit over your puffer jacket. You should wear your puffer to REI to do the fitting though, or borrow one from the store when trying on your hard shell.
Be cognizant about staying dry – winter backpacking tip #2
Staying dry means staying warm, comfortable and avoiding hypothermia. You have to constantly be conscious of your sweat rate, and adjust your layering system to minimize sweat accumulation.
But you also need to keep the inside of your tent and sleep system from getting wet. This means taking care not to track snow into the inside of your tent. But it also means having enough insulation in your sleeping pad(s) that your body heat doesn’t travel down into the ground and melt the snow below your tent floor.
And definitely do not let your sleeping bag get wet as it’s not only your night time comfort and safety gear, but is what will keep you warm and alive in an emergency.
You’ll need a 4 season backpacking tent for snowy, windy conditions – tip #3
A dedicated 4 season tent will have thicker material for its body and rainfly. This keeps the warmth in and the wet out. The fly also will have flaps or be lower to the ground to keep wind out of the thermal buffer zone between the fly and body. And it will have more guy line points to handle stronger winds up on the tops of the mountains.
A 4 season, winter tent will also generally have little or no exposed mesh on its body, but instead dedicated ventilation systems to keep the condensation to a minimum. And it will generally have more criss-crossing poles that must be fed through sleeves on the body, to improve structural soundness and handle wet snow loads accumulating on its top. The pole and sleeve design also makes these tents better at resisting wind loads. Basically they’re like a mini-REI Base Camp 4, but not as heavy.
Speaking of weight, they will be heavier than your normal 3 season tents. A 4 season tent like the Marmot Thor 2p weighs around 10 pounds. My normal 2p backpacking tent is like 4 or 5 pounds. Keep that in mind when planning your trip or purchasing your pack.
And lastly, these tents will have more vestibule space for snow shoes or wet stuff you don’t want in your dry inner space.
You need a high r-value sleeping pad or pad combination – tip #4
Even if you’re trying to sleep in a -20F° rate sleeping bag, if you’re not sleeping on an insulated sleeping pad, then you’re going to get cold….very cold. You need a sleeping pad or sleeping pad combo that can get up in the 4 & 1/2 to 6 r-value range for winter backpacking.
Further you’re going to want that r-value to be ASTM rated, which is just a standard testing rating, allowing you to trust that published number the manufacture provides. The ASTM rated pads are usually the ones sold by the big name camping gear manufactures: Big Anges, Nemo, Therm-a-rest etc. I likely would not trust the Klymit insulated pad ratings though, due to the design layout of the air pockets on their pads. Plus they’re heavier. Winter backpacking is already heavy enough as it is.
If you’re not bringing a supplemental fold-up foam pad, then you’re probably going to want to go with the 6+ r-value pads like the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xtherm (r-value = 6.9) or the Sea-To-Summit Ether Lite XT Extreme (r-value = 6.2).
R-values of blow-up + foam pads are additive
If you do have the capacity to add in a 2 r-value fold-up foam pad to your pack, then you can bring your more comfortable 4 r-value blow up pad to lay on top of it. The r-values are additive in a liner manner such that adding a r-value 2 pad to a r-value 4 pad will give you a total of 6 in r-value.
Also utilizing this method means you’re less likely to have to get up in the middle of the night to blow more air into your pad, since it is itself protected from the cold ground by the other pad.
I personally have a Big Angnes Rapid SL sleeping pad with a 4.2 r-value. Thus I could pair it up with a Therm-a-Rest Z-lite Sol foam pad that has a r-value of 2, to get a total heat flow resistance rating of 6.2. Though this set up has one small problem I’ll discuss below.
Use a wide pad so your arms don’t wind up on the cold ground
A pretty useful winter backpacking tip is to use a wide sleeping pad so your arms don’t fall of the pad in the middle of the night a rest on the cold ground as you sleep. You’ll quickly find though, that wide blow up pads (like my Big Agnes referenced above) are around 25 inches wide, while most of the fold-up foam supplemental pads are 20 inches wide. Something to keep in mind if you plan on using a 2-pad combo.
Choose the correct rated sleeping bag – tip #5
Winter Backpacker recommends the following bag ratings for different temperature levels:
| Sleeping Bag Temperature Rating | Expected Temperature At Night | Example Sleeping Bag |
|---|---|---|
| 10 to 15F° | 20 to 35F° | REI Magma 15 |
| -10 to 0F° | 10 to 30F° | Therm-a-Rest Oberon 0 |
| -20F° | 0 to 10F° | REI Expedition |
If you want an insurance policy on staying warmer when the temperatures don’t behave as predicted, Therm-a-Rest makes some sleeping bag liners that can help you stay warmer than you otherwise would.
Be prepared for a higher total daily energy need and eat regularly in cold weather – tip #6
You’re going to be burning more calories backpacking or hiking in the winter than you would in the summer. And because of this constant need for extra energy, you should also be eating on the regular, throughout the day.
Current research in fitness shows that when you exercise in cold weather, your body burns approximately thirty percent more calories when compared to exercise performed in warmer temperature. The cooler temperatures cause your body to work harder to stay warm. Even shivering in cold weather can cause the body to burn additional calories.
American Sports and Fitness Association
I have a backpacking calorie calculator based on trail conditions and a total daily backpacking calorie calculator in my nutrition series. If you’re going into the backcountry for more than a day or two, you may want to bring more calories than these calculators provide. Further, these calculators allow you to enter your pack weight. This is important since your winter gear will be heavier than your summer gear.
High density calories, i.e. fats, like cheeses, nuts, nut butters, salami, etc are an easy way to add more calories per food weight packed. But of course there is also the need for more protein and carbs when trail conditions are credibly snowy, slicker, and more energy intensive to tackle.
Take care not to let your water freeze – winter backpacking tip #7
If you’re using just a regular Nalgene, or Smart Water water bottle, your water is likely to freeze if not managed. You can either bury it in the snow at night, using that as an insulator. Or you can bring your bottle with you into your sleeping bag as long as you’re 100% sure it won’t leak.
Heck you can even boil some water with your stove and fill up a Nalgene bottle to make an improvised hot water bottle for your sleeping bag at bedtime. Just take care not to burn yourself or melt your bag when doing so. Let your bottle cool a little before going to bed, if this is a concern. And about 10 minutes after adding hot water to your Nalgene, re-tighten the lid as the heat can make it looser. Just be aware it will likely be harder to unscrew once it cools down.
Otherwise you might want to put your water in a high efficiency thermos like a Hydro Flask to keep it from freezing. Or follow the Section Hiker instructions and use an insulated bottle with a wide mouth. Fill it up hot, turn it upside down to reduce the risk of the cap freezing on, and keep an eye on it.
You should probably just leave your camel back type bladder system at home, due to risks with getting your stuff wet in you pack. This can be dangerous at the colder temps. But if you’re really intent on bringing one, you should blow air into the tube after drinking to keep water from freezing in that area of the system. The surface area of the water per unit of volume is much higher there, and thus susceptible to freezing quicker than the water in the bladder itself.
Keep in mind water filters usually don’t work below freezing – tip #8
The best way to kill your water filter is to get the actual filter component wet and let it freeze. The ice crystals will destroy it, and it will have holes big enough to let unwanted microbes into your drinking water bottle.
If you’re traversing in a snowy environment, I would bring enough fuel and a stove vessel large enough to melt snow to drink. Don’t directly eat snow as that will eat away at your core temperature.
If you’re in a non-snowy environment and need to use a water filter, better bring one small enough to fit in a zip lock bag and take it to bed with you, if you know it’s going to get below freezing at night. Maybe even rig up a hand warmer alongside your bag.
Bring an appropriate stove for the temperatures you’ll be in – tip #9
The Jetboil MiniMo has a regulator that works down to 20F°, as long as you can keep the canister warm with your body heat before using it. But anything below that, and you’re not going to have enough vapor pressure for the stove to operate.
Also keep in mind even the Minimo stove, which is also the same stove for the SuMo, and the MicroMo, will not work as efficiently in the cold, meaning you will need to bring extra fuel. At 20F° the isobutane component in your fuel canister is not at full vapor pressure. Though the propane component of the canister is still credibly pressurized, it only represents 20% of the fuel mixture.
Liquid fuel stoves and those designed just to burn with a few stray pieces of kindling are probably a better bet when then temperature gets too low.
The battery on your satellite communication device and phone will not have the same capacity in the cold – tip #10
The cold preserves a battery’s longevity, but it kills its capacity. Further, unless you’re in a flat open space, where a low horizon winter sun can hit a solar panel, with its rays at a perpendicular angle to it, the ability for solar charging will be greatly diminished in the field. This means you’re going to need a bigger, heavier power bank battery for longer trips.
Also as discussed above, in the jacket section, you should store your phone in an internal pocket of your jacket to keep its battery warm.
You’ll need a bigger pack than your 3 season pack – winter backpacking tip #11
So you’re bringing a winter sleeping bag that owns 2 to 3 times as much volume as a fall season bag. You’re bringing a bulkier, heavier tent than your 3 season tent. You’re bringing extra fuel or liquid fuel, extra layers, extra food, an extra foam pad, a shovel, etc. You’ve strapped snowshoes to your pack for before you’ve hit snowy areas.
All this indicates you’re going to generally need a larger pack. You should consider 60L+ packs that can handle 35 pounds or more of weight. We’re talking Granite Gear Blaze 60, Hyperlight Mountain Gear 4400 Ice Pack (70L), and I’m a big Gregory fan, owning both day hiking and backpacking packs from them, so check out the Gregory Denali 75L pack. They never disappoint.
Don’t forget you pack liner to keep vital gear dry
Even the HMG Ice Pack with its DCF fabric will somehow still get water in it. Much less anything not made of Dyneema. Thus you’re going to need a waterproof pack liner to keep your sleeping bag, tent body, and other vital gear dry like it needs to be.
Further Reading
There are still a lot of winter backpacking tips I didn’t get to touch here, so check out my winter hiking and camping page for more articles.
See ya out there…