If you love the outdoors, it’s likely you’ve been on a few camping trips. It’s also likely these were summer camps where it is considered warm enough to sleep outside. Many people may not consider it, but camping in the mountains can be enjoyed all year round. Don’t make the mistake of letting winter put you off camping, with the right kit (and our handy tips) some of the best trips can happen in the colder months. Watching the sunrise from a snow-covered mountain top is something everyone should experience…. So here’s how!

Choose a tent designed for winter

Tents suitable for use in the winter will consider a few different factors such as:

Stronger poles:

Thicker poles are handy in order to make the tent more secure in stronger weather conditions. Some 4-season tents may even double up on poles.

None or a little amount of mesh:

Mesh panels are great in summer for ventilation, but in winter they let heat out so best to avoid tents with a lot of mesh content.

Choose a dome or geodesic design:

Choosing a tent designed to deal with the weight of snowfall is important. Dome tents and geodesic designs are often made with winter in mind.

Avoid larger tents:

If you’re wild camping, larger tents are harder to carry in a backpack and are also not great for keeping warm. Stick to a smaller tent so you don’t lose too much body heat.

Use snow pegs:

not all winter-designed tents will come with snow pegs, so it’s best to buy these separately and keep spares. Snow pegs are larger stakes designed to hold a tent down more securely in snowmaking it easier to pitch a tent on more solid ground.

Snow skirt:

Some winter tents designed for thick snow will have snow skirts (extra material around the hem of the flysheet) to bury under snow. This fixes the flysheet to the ground and removes any gaps in the floor that might let heat escape.

A great example of a high-quality 4-season tent ticking all the boxes is the Alpkit Kangri

Kangri is an expedition-tested mountain tent suitable for 2 people or 3 at a squeeze.

The 4 pole geodesic design maximises thetent’ss strength to weight ratio, the result is a personal fortress to defend yourself against the worst weather the mountains can throw at you whilst still being light enough to carry.

Packed with internal features to make tent-living, even in the harshest of environments, vaguely pleasant. There isn't a detail that has been overlooked in this tent. The culmination of all this hard work is a tent packed ready for anything.

When choosing a sleeping bag, be mindful of the comfort rating. A bag suitable for winter should be reading well into minus figures. A mummy style bag with down insulation is best for warmth as they fit snug around the head and shoulders helping to trap body heat. Similarly when choosing a mat, a well-insulated sleeping mat with a R- value of 4-6 is ideal for keeping warm and not losing heat to the ground.
Some great examples include the Eurohike Down Hybrid Sleeping Bag and the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xtherm Camping Mat
When pitching your tent, you might need to use a snow shovel to dig out and flatten down a patch of snow. If you need extra shelter and there’s enough snow, you could use it to dig snow blocks.
If you want to enjoy a warm coffee in the morning, make sure you pack gas designed for the cold. Normal gas canisters are less effective in the winter so cold weather gas contains a specific mix created to work well in minus temperatures.
Handy tip: For extra warmth, fill a hot water bottle up before you go to sleep and place it in your sleeping bag. If you forgot to bring one, filling an un-insulated flask or bottle with hot water and wrapping it inside a sock works too!