This weekend the forecast promised cooler temperatures and light snow, something that usually is scarce in Denmark. So off course i had to do a little gear testing and check if both gear and me was up to standards. In the service there is a saying: Train hard - fight easy, when it comes to hiking and camping i´ve made my own little analogy: Train hard - camp easy
I deliberately found a windy unsheltered exposed campsite to find flaws in my technique/setup.
Conditions faced where: temps of around 19dg fahrenheit with a windchill factor reaching around -9dg fahreheit.
Here is some pics on the way out.
After some recent threads on HF about falling trees, i wanted to make sure that i did´nt end up in the local newspaper, and after pushing my selected trees - this nearly missed my face(note the glove for size comparison)after this i of course found some other trees to hang from.
Here is a pic of the "camp" after setting it up:
After setting up camp it was Tea time with Tinny(and Stovemandan(Tanks for the tips Dan, they worked like a treat))
After a short while i decider to retreat to comfort and luxury in the hammock, watching Avatar on the ipod. As you can see i am beginning to look a bit sleepy:
After this i couldnt take any more pics - both my camera and phone went dead from the cold.
All in all the trip was a success, i learned some important lessons:
Wear thin gloves for dexterity(i only had ski gloves that didnt allow me to setup camp
Wear gaiters; Snow filled shoes ain´t nice...
Make sure your stove is placed on a firm ground, mine tilted several times - because it thawed underneath.
Wear snow goggles, normal glasses are rendered useless in wind borne snow(they fog up and get covered with ice)
A big tarp is useful for keeping snow out of your stuff!
Get a headlight -much easier than holding an aluminum flashlight in the mouth!
Keep electronics in a hot place, the batteries dont like the cold(or just get lithium batteries)
Enjoy
/Bomber
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