Is there a safe, efficient, battery-operated electric blanket on the market for winter tent camping?
Hello anne c: Winter camping is loads of fun. It is best to avoid artificial means of heat, as when it runs out, you will get cold quickly. Good insulation below you is very important. Buy or borrow a good quality bag and sleeping mat. Cheap is OK in the summer, but deadly in winter. A fleece blanket inside of your sleeping bag (if you sew, you can make a bag liner out of a thrift-store fleece blanket by folding lengthwise and sewing the bottom and up 2/3s of the side). Loose fitting, dry fleece sleeping socks and a night cap are very welcome. I would imagine that you may end up opening up your bag in the middle of the night to cool off 8). Remember to drink plenty of fluids during the day and eat carbs and fats so your body’s heater can function properly. Your body gives off as much moisture in the winter as it does in the summer. Wear warm loose fitting clothing of wool or poly rather than cotton. Keep drinking water near you as you sleep, and if you wake up thirsty, you can get a dr
It probably would be better if you just get a sleeping bag that has sufficient insulation and use a closed-cell sleeping mat. When I was camping in Antarctica we used a closed cell mat, a thermarest, and a -40F bag. You probably won’t have to go to that extreme. A ground cloth under the tent could also isolate the bottom of your tent from the snow. I have used a rugged “space blanket” (not the cheap emergency space blankets, but one that is more like a lightweight tarp with a reflective surface on it…or a piece of plastic tarp…some tents come with a footprint that clips into the bottom). Cutting tree limbs is very old school and is not encouraged anymore due to the “leave no trace” ethic promoted by most organizations, including the Scouts.
As others have said, you can do cold-weather camping without using battery-operated blankets. My son did cold-weather camping in sub-zero temps at the annual Valley Forge Encampment last February (he’s going again in three weeks), and he and his fellow Scouts layered, layered, layered — not only their clothing, but also their sleeping bags and their tents. Their troop doesn’t have four-season tents, so they made do with their three-season half-dome tents by starting with a tarp on the ground, then a groundcloth (footprint), then the tent. They also had a tarp layered over the tent’s rainfly. Inside the tent, they each had two sleeping pads (ThermaRest/CrashPad-type). Some had sleeping bag liners inside their mummy-type sleeping bags and some had two sleeping bags, one inside the other. Some used handwarmer/footwarmers in the bottoms of their bags to help keep their feet warm, and of course, they wore multiple layers, including wicking long underwear, insulated snowpants, long-sleeved
