My Winter Backpacking ESSENTIALS! | Miranda in the Wild

Winter backpacking can feel a little daunting, so here's a breakdown of what I pack. In this video, I'll show you the winter adjustments I make to my backpacking ten essentials, and offer some considerations for anyone deciding to take a backpacking trip in the winter. Links to products below!

AVALANCHE SAFETY LINKS:

Links to my winter backpacking essentials:

Like, Subscribe, Comment, and tune in every Sunday for more Miranda in the Wild!

[emfritz]

Major props to the graphics person that did the poop tube bit. Excellent!

[chunkmuncher]

A few pieces of advice and gear I've picked up through my experience winter camping...

If you've never been winter camping before, go somewhere with an easy out for your first time. During your first time out you will learn a lot about what works for you and what doesn't. If things are going horribly, you want to be in a place where you can pick up and leave very quickly and easily, even in the middle of the night...

You travel much slower in deep snow. My outdoors buddy and I average about 3 mph in the summer, and about 0.5 mph in the winter. Plan accordingly...

Regular hiking boots aren't warm enough for many people when camping in deep snow. I use Sorels if snowshoeing, and my backcountry ski boots if I tour in...

In the winter, you often won't have access to liquid water. Be prepared to melt snow for water. This takes a LOT of fuel. Jetboils will decrease your fuel demand slightly. Also, filters are not reliable below freezing, and many filters will not be safe and will need replacement if they freeze once. Leave your filter at home and purify with UV (preferred) or by boiling. Again, this requires more fuel than you would expect...

Keep your lighter in a dry pocket. Bring multiple lighters...

Bring extra gloves. In my experience, my first pair always gets wet and freezes. This is miserable if you don't have a backup pair...

SOL (yes it's a real brand) makes a thermal reflective bivy that adds several degrees and some water resistance to your sleeping bag. It's super light and compactable. I leave mine in the foot of my sleeping bag so I never forget it. Make sure you buy the breathable one so your sweat and any other moisture can escape instead of getting trapped inside...

Throw an extra pair of socks in your sleeping bag and change into them before bed. My roommie introduced me to sleeping socks and I will never go back...

A foam sleeping pad is good for more than just increasing your sleep system insulation. It's great to sit on around camp. You don't want to sit on the snow for extended periods of time. I never leave home without this in the winter...

If you ski tour in, sleep in your boot liners. They add warmth and if you have to pee in the middle of the night you can walk around in them without putting your boot shells on. When you stick your liners back in your boot, make sure the boot is in ski mode. Counter-intuitive, but it makes the process way easier...

Put hot water in a nalgene, then put the nalgene in your sleeping bag before bed. It stays warm for a long time. Just make sure to minimize the amount of air in there and be SUPER CAREFUL when opening the bottle. Make sure the water isn't boiling when you put it in...
A foam pad is not only good for adding insulation to your sleep system, it is also good to sit on around camp. You do not want to sit on the snow for extended periods of time...

ALWAYS CHECK AVALANCHE CONDITIONS. Please educate yourself. Here in Colorado, we are having one of the worst years in decades for avalanche fatalities. Read avalanche forecasts. Learn what to look for and what to avoid. Caltopo has a great app where you can turn on a map layer that displays slope angle. BCA has an app where you can measure slope angle when you're on a slope. Please stay safe and don't get buried...

Questions? Feel free to ask below. Have fun:)

[nicholasanzalone]

Whoever the editor of these videos is, they deserve a raise!!!

[kyung]

Miranda, High Elf priestess of the Wild

[sisiplem]

I love these videos so much! Keep em coming Miranda and Crew!!

[AngusVivian]

Another hot tip: keep your lighters and fuel for cooking insulated!! One of the first times I went winter camping, my fuel and my lighters wouldn't work until after 20 minutes of panicked scrambling because it was so

[MikeWood]

The upside down water bottle trick! Nice you mentioned that -as well as the freezing of the water bladder/filter. Learning the hard way is no fun :) Dropping all the elf-with-braids knowledge. #pooptube.

[rockytopwrangler]

... Love these video's..
A Pringles chip container makes a useable "poop-tube", , light and with one end sealed already ... ( remove chips first ) ..

.. For those that 'must' get out in the snow and cold, , winter gear set up will be much heavier than a 3 season set up, , so consider using a "pulk" sled to transport your gear, , can be hard enough to travel with snowshoes or spikes so take the weight off your back ...and also consider a proper hot tent and small packable wood stove ... a HUGE benefit through the night ... almost civilized ..

[DonP_is_lostagain]

for your water bottle, you can also make an insulated cozy like you made for your food. And, if you make it right, you can make a pocket in it to drop in a hand warmer to help keep it warm.

[backpacker]

Pretty amazing... Miranda is so wonderful that I can hear the words "can we talk about poop now?" and actually respond "sure, let's do that."

[blakelevy]

I really am digging the hat. Love watching Miranda in the Wild. I find it very informative and also with a dash of comedy! Can’t wait to see the next set of videos!

[russelljackman]

Thank you so much for mentioning Raynaud's! Now I know what's going on with my hand!!! Big hugs! You are GREAT!!!

[natea]

Little addendum to canister stoves at altitude/in cold. If you take your first batch of melted snow turned hot water and put it in a container then sit your gas canister in it as you continue to cook your stove will reach nearly peak output regardless of how cold it gets. You'll get most of the gas out of your canister too as opposed to it freezing and acting as an empty when it gets low. Just keep cycling the water as it cools for long cooking/snow melting periods.

[dillonchamberlain]

I can and do watch these all the time taking notes planning ahead. Super informative practical and overall pleasant.

[standdownrobots_ihaveoldglory]

I can't believe I am watching these vids to daydream about winter conditions....lol long hot summer indeed....

[HikingFeral]

I Don't usually like large corporations telling me what I need but I enjoy the Miranda videos.

[brebeeb]

wow I have reynauds too and I've always been scared of camping in sub 0 temps because of it. It's nice to know that you don't find it prohibitive

[freedomforaging]

"tubes everywhere!" sums up my Katadyn water filter experience as well, lol!

[Blue-pbkz]

Actually, for your repair kit, change one thing out- duct tape won't stick if it's too cold, so keep some, like, medical tape stuff, idk what it's called, that will. Other little tip to make things easier - soak your shoe laces in waterproofing wax, so they don't freeze and go stiff on you, and bring a plastic bag to store your boots/shoes in and if (like me) you can't bring yourself to put your shoes in your sleeping bag, bury them in snow (which will insulate them) to keep them from freezing too much.

[NelsonSherry]

Your stove will actually boil water FASTER at altitude, but, take longer to cook food because the water boils at a lower temp. And, I absolutely cary different "fix-it" in the winter as parts and tools to repair microspikes, snowshoes & skis are different.