How To Live In A Heated Tent
A heated tent is a fantastic way to spend the long, dark nights of winter outdoors, particularly in the deep cold of the far north.
While a modern four-season mountain tent – or even a bivvy – may be tolerable for a few nights out in sub-zero temperatures, when it comes to truly living outdoors for an extended period in a winter environment, nothing beats a heated tent.
Hot tenting has a lot going for it. First – and very important in a cold environment – is that you can get your clothing and footwear dry and free of moisture on a regular basis. This means your clothing will perform up to its maximum potential while out and about during the day. A warm space also allows you to properly air out your sleeping bag on a daily basis. Moisture in your clothing and sleeping kit will significantly reduce their performance.
Having a warm space also means that you are warmed bodily. This saves calories, which you would otherwise be using to keep warm. A heated tent, properly sited and organised, provides a comfortable space in which to cook, eat and relax. It’s not a sin to be comfortable while winter camping!
A tent stove isn’t just for keeping you warm either. Your stove provides a heat source on which to cook, produce hot drinks and melt snow to produce water.
A tent heated by a wood-burning stove is a much more efficient way to keep warm and cook than an open fire outside. You will burn much less fuel, which means gathering less firewood. This saves time, effort and calories as well being kinder on the local environment. Even a relatively lightweight canvas tent containing an efficient wood stove can quickly create a comfortable atmosphere of +20-25 Celsius inside while it is minus 20 to 30 Celsius outside.
So, a heated tent has distinct advantages in winter. But there are some things you must know to get the most out of your tent.
Heated Tents: Safety First
There is a major risk factor inherent in heating a canvas tent with a wood-burning stove. You have a fire in a metal box, which becomes very hot, within the confined space in which you are living, surrounded by a material that is flammable.
This gives rise to specific dangers.
First, there is the danger of severe burns for anyone who comes into contact with the stove when it is up to operating temperature. Even a glancing touch can be enough to injure. Clothing can be easily damaged too.
At all times you must be aware you are working upon a surface that is either uneven or purely compacted snow. A snow platform will, over time, soften with the internal warmth of the tent as well as with people moving around on it.
Softening of the snow platform will be most pronounced nearest to the stove. It is while moving in these areas that you need to take particular care. Putting your foot through the snow floor of the tent and falling towards the stove is to be avoided at all costs.
Second, there is the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. While exhaust gases from the stove should be sent up the chimney, fumes can sometimes backup, even flowing in the opposite direction, coming out of the vents at the front of the stove and entering the tent interior. In particular, this can happen if there is a strong wind blowing towards the output of the chimney.
While carbon monoxide is both odourless and colourless, in the context of a wood burning stove it is also likely to be accompanied by a good deal of smoke. Hence, if the fire is burning overnight, you should always have a fire guard on duty. They will detect any smoke as soon as it enters the tent.
Third, there is the risk of a tent fire. One of the main considerations in avoiding tent fires is to make sure that the chimney pipe does not get too hot, certainly not red hot. Ideally the design of tent you are using incorporates protection or isolation of the tent from the hot stove chimney, which necessarily has to pass through to the outside of the tent somewhere. This can be a panel of flame-proof material or there may be some physical structure-such as a fire guard or grill material, either of which separates the chimney from the main body of tent material. Some chimneys also have spark-arrestors on the end. Also, check that the tent material has been treated to make it flame retardant.
Another consideration is the materials that are stored near to the stove. In particular, firewood is often stacked nearby so it warms and is readily available to fuel the stove. While logs themselves are unlikely to spontaneously combust due to the radiant heat of the stove, slivers of birch bark and wisps of beard lichens on the wood can set alight this way.
Care must also be taken with the use of candles and other naked flames inside the tent.
You should keep a knife to hand in case the tent does catch fire, in which case you can cut straight to the side of the tent and escape.
What To Do Overnight? To Heat Or Not To Heat?
One option to minimise the risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning overnight, while the tent occupants are sleeping, is to allow the stove to go out and sleep in an unheated space. This is one of the reasons why you should have full winter sleeping gear even if you have a heated tent.
In this case it is definitely worth leaving some small fuel ready to go so that you can quickly and easily light the stove in the morning. It will be only a few degrees above the outside ambient temperature and you will want to get the tent interior warmed up as quickly as possible.
The other option is to maintain a fire watch, whereby at any given point in time one member of the tent party remains awake to both feed the stove as well as keeping watch for fire and smoke.
Obviously, most people will not want to stay awake all night. So, you need to have a rota system whereby each member of the group in the tent takes turns to have a stint on fire watch. In a tent of four, we typically take a shift of 2-2.5 hours each. Personally I find it good thinking time and an opportunity to write journal entries or notes.
If you sleep with the stove off, one person should rise a little early to light the stove and heat some water for breakfast. Everyone else can then get up into a warm tent. This duty of getting up first and lighting the stove can be rotated with a different person doing it every day so as to make it fair.
These latter points highlight a key element of making winter camping in a heated tent work. Even though the tent is quite large by mountain tent standards, it is still a very confined space. Therefore, it’s important everybody does their share of the work and the group has agreed systems so everybody is aware of what needs to be done and how it should be done. This avoids confusion, resentment and unnecessary friction.
Get Organised For Top Notch Hot Tenting
As I have already suggested, an important part of living in a heated tent for an extended period of time is being organised.
This organisation starts right at the beginning of the trip. Take an organised approach to your packing- both personally and as a group.
When you get to the point where you are packing your gear, whether it is onto a toboggan, pulk, dogsled or snow machine trailer, make sure you have a system which allows you to know where everything is. When you arrive at the spot you are going to camp, you will be able to easily lay your hands on the things you need first. This is particularly important in winter. You may be tired, cold, hungry and the light may be limited (days are short in winter), so you are going to want to be efficient in your camp set up.
To ease into a trip, it can be good to make your first night out a shakedown night. This is when you get everything really tightened down. So, it is often good to have a short first day, allowing you more time in camp to set up your tent, get organised and fully up to speed. This is particularly useful if the group has not camped together before or it’s been a while since you all last camped together. As the trip progresses, the camp set-up and breakdown process will become a well-oiled machine.
When you get to your camping spot it’s important everybody knows the jobs that have to be done, which jobs they are to do themselves and with whom. While it may seem obvious what needs to be done, organisation and good communication at this stage saves a lot of time. Remember the aim is to be in the tent warm and with a full belly as quickly as possible.
Choosing and Preparing The Winter Camping Pitch
In choosing where to pitch your tent, there are a few major considerations.
Generally, the first thing that needs to be done is for the site of the tent to be prepared. As with any shelter, you are looking for an even, flat surface on which to sleep. You have two choices; the first being to dig out the snow and erect the tent directly on solid ground; the second choice is to create a platform of compacted snow on which to pitch the tent.
Achieving a flat surface is typically difficult when digging down to the ground, as you’re never quite sure what lies beneath the snow. In my experience, you are unlikely to find a large enough area of flat ground for a tent of several people to live and sleep comfortably just by taking a chance and digging in an area that “looks good”. You are just taking pot luck. And there is no way that you will dig multiple pits until you find the perfect one – you just don’t have the time or the energy.
Our preference is to create the platform because we know it is going to be flat and comfortable for everybody to lie on. Digging down to the ground, by comparison, particularly in the boreal forest is likely to reveal uneven ground, logs, frozen features that are hard to change and potentially even frozen water, none of which makes for a comfortable surface on which to sleep. The downside of creating a platform is that over of the next few days the platform will slowly – and it is only slowly – start to melt a little and compact. This creates a surface that is no longer flat but somewhat saucer shaped. This convex surface tends to centre on the stove.
Certainly, if you are staying in an area for only a night, or even a few, tramping down a platform is the quickest and most certain way of achieving a comfortable living and sleeping surface.
Another issue with digging down to the ground is that you are sleeping at the lowest point of the tent. Whereas, if you create a platform, you can then dig a cold well in part of the area for the coldest air to drop into. Then, even on nights where you are not running the stove, you will not be sleeping at the same level as the coldest air in the tent. This makes a significant difference.
Camping in a tent that relies on a wood-burning stove, means you will need access to a ready source of firewood. Once you get to know your stove, you will know how much it will burn in a given time to keep your tent warm at different external temperatures. Efficiency with a saw and axe is what’s required to process the dead-standing timber into useable pieces of fuel but having the raw material relatively close by makes a big difference. You should be keeping an eye out for potential fuel before you settle on a particular site to pitch your tent.
Winter Tent Organisation Starts Before Putting It Up
It should be fairly obvious that you cannot mount a heated stove directly on compacted snow or even frozen ground. The heat of the stove will melt the surface. Therefore, you must mount the stove on some sort of legs or framework so that it has a stable platform regardless of what the snow is doing around it.
Work this out before you put the tent up. It is often easier to set up the stove first. Another tip for this stage is to save space by digging the cold well under, or partly under, the stove.
Organising Your Camp Around Your Tent
In addition to an area to pitch the tent itself, you are going to need to organise your camp around it.
Have an area near to your tent where you can keep spare logs, ready to section and spit as well as having the space to do this safely. We generally extend the tent platform to create this space.
We also prepare an area of snow where we can store our toboggans and spare equipment duffels. Once the extended platform is frozen solid, we can process fuel, access equipment, go to the toilet, collect snow and generally move around directly outside the tent, without having to put on snowshoes.
Around the perimeter of this area, you should also designate a place where people pee. This should be strictly adhered to. As the old saying goes, “don’t eat the yellow snow”. Yes, the yellow snow is obvious. Until it snows or drifts. Hence, the need to have a designated pee area.
You should also have an area for brushing teeth, which can be the same area as for peeing if you want. You don’t want everyone spitting in your communal water supply.
Away from these areas, you should have an area that is designated for collecting snow for melting into drinking water. This area should not be used for anything else.
Some distance away from your camp should be your main latrine. This should be placed with as much careful consideration as you would give the position of a latrine in summer. In particular, you should consider what will happen to melt water in the spring. You should not place your latrine on top of or close to watercourses. Burn your toilet paper. Do not leave it buried in the snow.
Moving In To Your Heated Tent
Once you have your platform established, stove installed and your tent set up, you can then get organised with your group kit and personal kit.
When we are camping in the winter, my groups all have a personal duffel bag, which we call a tent bag, containing our sleeping equipment, some spare clothing for inside the tent, wash kit and anything else we might want inside the tent such as a book. We organise ourselves so that each duffel fits at the top of our individual sleeping areas.
As soon as we have laid down the tent flooring – usually the canvas tarps from our toboggans – we lay out our sleeping mats too, which has several advantages. First it provides protection for the snow platform from feet, knees and hands breaking the crust as we move around inside the tent. It also provides insulation for us from the snow underneath.
You will necessarily have to be wearing your boots while getting in and out of the tent, then removing your outdoor footwear before proceeding to the sleeping/living area. This means it’s useful to have an area near the door that it is OK to stand on with boots. If you are only staying overnight you can just have the snow platform showing. We have found, however, that if we are staying in area for several days, then it is worth putting down what are effectively roughly hewn floorboards.
There are two issues, which are linked. The first one is that this area near the door is often where the stove is also situated, so the radiating heat from the stove is quite high in this area, causing a softening of the floor. The second issue is that this small area near the door is the area that gets most foot traffic. So the combination of heat from the stove softening the snow plus a lot of weight in one particular area means that if the floor platform is going to be damaged anywhere, this is the place it is most likely to happen.
We have found by making the simple addition of floorboards in this area means the floor stays in good condition for days rather than deteriorating steadily after day one. These boards are made from firewood offcuts. An alternative is to use spruce boughs.
You can stack firewood inside the tent so you have ready access to fuel. Make sure you have split the wood down into the various sizes you will need, from kindling up to main fuel. You can also stack some spare, processed fuel outside the front door, in case you need to bring some more in.
As soon as the first firewood is available, we typically get our stove going and get some snow melting so that everything starts to warm up and we start producing water. It can be hard to stay well hydrated while trekking in the cold, dry conditions of the far north. Hydrating yourself once in camp is a priority.
Arrange your group equipment inside the tent and have a system, so that everyone knows where things are. Only take kit – personal or group – into the tent that needs to be in the tent. This allows for maximum room inside as well as minimising time both unpacking and packing. Everything else can stay outside.
As the inside temperature of the tent increases above zero, you will want to make sure that when you do enter the tent, you have the minimum amount of snow on your clothing and equipment. Otherwise, the warmth will simply melt the snow and make your kit damp, which can then freeze into it if you go outside again. We position a brush outside the front door for removing snow.
Enjoy Your Winter Camping Experience!
Winter camping done badly is a miserable experience. Winter camping done right is a wonderful experience. The devil is in the detail and it does take some practice.
It’s worthwhile making the effort, though, as winter camping takes you to some amazing places and allows you to see some incredible aspects of nature.
You can start hot-tenting before the snows come. It’s a great experience to camp out in a warm tent during the damp and frosty nights of autumn. It’s so cosy; you’ll wonder why you’ve never done it before.
The forests in full winter conditions are quiet and empty – much wildlife migrates south and many people simply stay indoors or close to home. In contrast, the winter camper sees the best the season has to offer and literally extends their outdoor life to a world of year-round possibilities.
Do you use a heated tent? Or do you own a canvas tent but are yet to invest in a stove? Or do you prefer other means of winter camping – cold tenting or hammocking even? Let me and others know in the comments below…
Recommended Further Reading
A Snow Walker’s Companion: Winter Trail Skills from the Far NorthParadise Below ZeroComplete Guide to Winter Camping
Related Material On Paul Kirtley’s Blog
A Winter Camping Trip In The Northern Forest
Winter Magic: Return To The Northern Forest
How To Split Firewood On Snow: Key Axe Techniques
Surviving A Winter’s Night in the Northern Forest: How To Build An Arctic Lean-To
179 thoughts on “How To Live In A Heated Tent”
Thanks for this, a great read. All I need now is some snow. 🙂
Hey Andrew, good to hear from you. Yes, snow has been very sparse here in the UK this winter too…
Excellent article and far more practical advice than I had ever thought possible – great tips and ideas in any cold environment.
Thanks
Dean
Hey Dean,
It’s really good to hear from you. It’s been a while.
Thanks for your comment and I’m happy that this has added to your cold weather knowledge.
All the best,
Paul
Great article as always mate, I was lucky enough to get a SoulPad and I have been out in the snow with it once without a stove it was still a good weekend. Just have to wait for a decent amount of snowfall then I will go longer with the stove in tow.
Hi Craig,
Sounds good. Yes, when it’s cold and damp, getting that stove on is a real treat. It feels luxurious as soon as you start to feel the benefit of the heat.
It would be great, though, if we do actually get a decent amount of snow this winter…
All the best,
Paul
That. Looks. Awesome!
Oh, it is!
Paul, again a very good article with excellent photos. A few considerations on site selection I use here in Maine: shelter from the wind, access to a source of water, and access to standing dead wood. With our snow pack and topography finding a level site is usually not an concern. We access water by chipping through pond ice using a chisel. I can not remember the last time I melted snow for water. Finding a good supply of standing dead wood (Cheeco) is a always a major consideration.
For additional reading, I highly recommend ‘The Snow Walker’s Companion’ by Alexandra and Garrett Conover. It may be out of print.
Hi Paul,
As always, it’s good to hear from you and to share in your experience.
Interesting regarding not melting snow. How thick is the ice typically you are chipping through?
I agree the Snow Walker’s Companion is well worth reading. I have included it in the recommended reading section below. At present it seems to be commanding a high price in the second hand market but as always, it’s worth keeping an eye on as the prices of many out of print books seems to fluctuate widely.
Thanks again for your comments Paul.
Warm regards,
Paul
This thickness of the ice varies year to year and by location. Normally it is in,the range 6 to 10 inches. So far this year snow cover is thin but it has been very cold recently. Last weekend the ice was 12 inches thick on a small central New Hampshire pond. I expect the ice will get thicker.
Paul, just had a thought for an addition to your list for further reading: ‘True North’ by Elliot Merrick. It has just been re-published. This is an account of Merrick’s travels with Labrador hight of land trappers in the winter of 1930. My copy is dog eared, highlited and flagged. Paul
Thanks Paul. It’s been on my list for years…
I have done my fair share of hot tenting as you call it while I did my national service in the Norwegian army. One of the biggest problmes was snow melting under the oven. There was seldom more than 20-30 cms of snow covering frozen ground where we camped. So as the snow melted, it did not run off. It just gathered under us. So after a couple of days we the floor under us was completely soaked, with the cold well filled with freezing water.
The sollution was to add a good layer of spruce branches over the floor. That alsp provides good isulation from the snow. But with thousands of soldiers excercising on one area, that was not really allowed. We just had to live with the wet stuff under us.
But for a lone tent out in some wilderness area that will help a lot. Specially if you cover the spruce branches with a tarp.
For safety we used to build a barrier of branches around the oven too, so that nobody zinged their sleeping bag at night. It was kind of crowded with 8-9 men sleeping in one tent 🙂
Hei Rune,
Thanks for your comment. There’s some great advice and information there, thank you. It’s also interesting to hear some of the compromises you had to make from a military perspective (it does sound quite crowded!). Was it the round Norwegian military tents with a gasoline stove you were using when you served?
Warm regards,
Paul
…Oh and these days I prefer hammocking. But I only stay out a a night or two…
Yes, that can keep things simple…
An astounding article Paul, never even considered a heated tent before reading this but now am inspired to set doing this as one of my goals. Thanks for taking the time to put this together
Peace
Zed
Hey Zed,
Good to hear from you my friend. I’m glad you enjoyed this and it has opened up some new possibilites for you 🙂
Take care,
Paul
Hi Paul, than you for yet another great article and fantstic photos. I personally have not had the chance or finances to use a heated tent but I certainly do like the idea. I use a little one man hooped bivi during the colder months, and although a bit cramped I have always been snug thus far. I am considering buying a Polish Lavvu tent made from two poncho’s, I’ve heard pretty good reports about them and it with give me extra room so as I can take my dog with me. Obviously this will not be heated as hiking with a rucksack into the Kent woods does make it hard to lug a stove. So hopefully soon I will be able to experiance camping in the snow, I have been told by a fellow bushcrafter that it is fantastic.
Thanks again for all the hard work you put into your articles “Much Appreciated”
ATTENTION!!! DANGER!!! Unexpected Danger of this Canvas Tent!!!
DO NOT USE POLONIAN MILITARY TENT WITHOUT TESTING INDIVIDUAL FIRE RESISTANCE!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!
In Germany this tent is the cheapest offer for a pyramide tent in military shops.
German bushcrafters tried to use it as a lavuu / kotta / tippi / firetent.
The tent burned down like a plastic bag or cheap polyester tent if you light it with a cigarette lighter!!!!!
It looks like as if something is in the canvas, that burns like alcohol! Perhaps it is Diesel.
Somebody wrote in a forum in internet, his tent took fire over from a barbecue, which was standing 2 meters away from the tent, and burned down so fast, that he could not save more than a lether belt out of it.
I do not know the People, who wrote that. I never have seen this tent. But after I had to read from 3 different persons, that this tent burns faster down than a normal plastic tent I recommend you to take the tent, if it is deliverd to you, and go in the garden, and try to burn it on a secure surface!
I have no reason to think, that the people , who wrote that were telling untrue things.
Pay attention!
Alternativ options for that form are the old austrian military tent, swedisch military tent, german Bundesgrenzschutz tent.
French Legion Etrangere and german Wehrmacht are more flat in the construction and smaller in the size.
Expensive but in my opinion the best option for a canvas lavuu / kotta / tippi / firetent are the availabel different sizes and standarts of the german boy scout tent (Pfadfinder) “Kohte” produced by Tortuga or Troll. You pay around 500 € and get a new produced black canvas tent, that every german boy scout group uses. For 4 to 8 persons. Open fire in the middle, you use firewood in normal sizes like you would do it open air. 4 parts you can carry on 4 persons. 4 emergency exits. Perfectly designed and made slowly better in the last 85 years we use it in germany. I never heard about a burning one. It is a better made form of a 10 000 year old design.
People who are interested in that i can tell everything about it, I slept minimum 1000 times in it. And i used all existing sizes and slightly different forms.
Use what you want, but do not kill yourself in a polonian army tent. For me it looks, as if that would be easyly possible.
Marcus
Do you believe everything you read on the internet? I’ve seen these set up with no issues and a wood stove being used..
Hi Paul,Great article,n great pictures.Takes me back many years to hunting in ALBERTA,in the winter n living in “Hot Tents”.But now I’m in my 70’s,even in mild UK,I’m getting a little soft.lol
Best wishes and I hope you catch up on your backlog of mail.Mike.
Hey Mike,
I’m glad this brought back some good memories for you.
Getting soft? That’ll be the mild British winters, not you 😉
Best wishes and please do keep in touch.
Paul
Good article Paul. I’ve been winter camping for 35 years and hot tenting for 15. Here in Northern Minnesota we usually go to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. We also bring a chisel or auger to access the lake water for drinking. We are also fishermen, so it serves for that purpose too. We put some sort of thin sheet metal over a split wood platform under the stove. Helps a lot against melt down. One thing to remember is the colder it is out the better the chance of setting your extra wood stacked in the tent on fire. With that stove humming along for longer periods it’s easy to get the wood too hot. Speaking from experience here. It’s quite a shock to come into your tent and find a fire outside of the stove. Also make sure your stove is angled slightly up from front to back. This will help the stove draft better and keep it from smoking when you open the door.
Here’s a great website for those interested in winter camping and wanting some more info.
http://wintertrekking.com/
Bob
Hey Bob,
It’s good to hear from you. Thanks for dropping by and leaving such a useful experience-filled comment.
We tend to put two long poles across the tent to support the stove in the Snowtrekker and dig the coldwell so the stove sits over the top. The snow can then melt away a bit but the stove stays on a stable, level platform. But I’ll also be interested to experiment with the metal plate idea.
We too like to do some ice fishing and we take a portable auger with us. I’ve had mixed experiences with ice chisels in the north of Sweden. Where the ice was several feet thick, it was a real pig to chip out iron-hard ice. Sharp auger blades cut through it like a knife through butter by comparison. But maybe I didn’t have the right chisel. Do you have a maker you could recommend?
Good point regarding colder weather meaning you run your stove hotter which makes combustion of nearby materials likely.
Angling the stove up towards the chimney is a great tip too.
I’ll be sure to direct people over to http://wintertrekking.com too.
Thanks again and warm regards,
Paul
I agree, augers are much faster than chisels. I do have something called an ice needle that’s based on a type of chisel used by Cree commercial fishermen on lake Nipigon. It has a pyramid shaped point with which you strike the ice. When it’s very cold the ice explodes. Has to be very cold though, below -10F for it to work. It was made by a local blacksmith who is no longer doing that though. So, yes, I’d agree the auger is best.
It’s great you are promoting the hot tent experience. Takes a bit to get set up, but it’s such a great time of year to be out. Makes areas you’ve been to many times new again.
Consider the Mora ice spoon, it looks like a shovel that turns in the ice and if sharp can give an auger a fierce run for it’s money. You will have to search for one but it is well work the effort.
Good luck
Fr Dave Birchfield
Hey Fr Dave,
I’ll have to keep my eye out for one of those on my Scandinavian travels…
Thanks for the heads up.
Paul
Going to try the angling up the front of the stove! Thanks
Great article Paul. Something iv always wanted to do but don’t get much snow in Anglesey haha ! all the best Paul .
Thanks Paul. Haha yes but Anglesey has other redeeming features 😉
Cheers,
Paul
Hi Paul and Paul .
Both of you are right.
I live in Anglesey and I remember walking 10 Miles to work in LLangefni in the snow and the temperature was -13 Deg C at 4:00am in the morning. Walking by the river was one hell of an experience.
All the best
Adrian
That was a great read – covers everything one needs to know to get into Hot Tenting. I’ll have to refer others to the article. Love my Snowtrekker. Sure makes extended stays in the winter a pleasure.
RR
Hey Don,
Yes Snowtrekker tents are great. Which model do you have?
Please do refer others here if they will find it helpful.
Warm regards,
Paul
Greetings from Michigan, USA… Wind chill today -25. I’m not camping today; I’m home by the fire. I liked your take on the heated tent, but you didn’t mention the all important “latrine”. How do you take care of that in frozen ground?
Keep on writing; I’ll keep on reading.
Jim
Hey Jim,
Good to hear from you and thanks for your comment. Sounds cosy where you are and I’m glad you like the article.
There is a short section in the article about latrine arrangements, just after the section on collecting snow for water.
If you have questions on thus, please just ask!
Take care,
Paul
Great article Paul! An excellent primer. Thanks for writing it.
Hey Tim, very good to hear from you and thanks for your comment. Coincidentally I was thinking about you just the day before yesterday, having re-watched the Woodsmoke video with you, Larry Dean Olsen, Mors Kochanski and co.
I’ll have to get out to Maine for some winter camping one of these years…
All the best and keep in touch,
Paul
Very well done, you have gleaned many good suggestions from many experts and amateur campers. I live and camp in Wisconsin and spend a good part of the winter outside practicing what you preach. We use a toboggan (plastic) to tote our kit and food. Well I must get packed for my next weekly trip. Keep the cold out of your bones. Again very well done article. From a Scouting Polar Bear, good times to you all Fr Dave Birchfield
Thank you Fr Dave,
It’s good to hear from you and thank you for your kind comment. My friends and I also use plastic toboggans. Mine is by Black River Sleds, who I believe are based in your home state of Wisconsin. So, I’m glad to be in good company in that respect 😉
Enjoy your winter walking – good times to you too 🙂
Warm regards,
Paul
I took my recycled tipi to the woods a coupe of times with a calor bottle woodburner 🙂 It had a liner but tbh was a bit of a toy compared to the Sioux ones it was based on. However some of the design aspects were really interesting to work with- the liners, using the chimney flaps for draft, the asymmetrical pitches performance in high winds especially, I learned a lot 🙂
Hi Sally,
It’s nice to hear from you on here and thanks for leaving a comment.
What you say is interesting and very valid – in using things that you have made yourself, you learn much more about their design and functionality, more than you would if you just bought a product. Experience of use means that you can modify things further and be in a position to understand the pros and cons of each aspect. Design, manufacture and the experience of use all have to go hand-in-hand.
Warm regards,
Paul
hi paul
my winter camp last year was nothing like yours
i hammocked in the gales over here in ireland before christmas, the hammock rising up and down as the trees bent , the rain was hammering on to the tarp , i had a great nights sleep enjoyed every minute of it tucked up in my 4season sleeping bag the only problem i had was starting the fire for the dinner but i won in the end
Hi Paul,
It’s good to hear from you my friend. Yes, that does sound like a different winter camping experience to the ones I’m describing in this article. But it still sounds like a blast! I love those nights where you hear the rain bashing on your tarp and the wind blowing through the trees; you might even feel a breeze going across your face. Yet you are warm and cosy in your sleeping bag and you can just relax and enjoy raw nature working around you.
All the best,
Paul
Thanks…AWESOME READ.
You’re very welcome Sergio. I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
All the best,
Paul
I really liked your article on hot tenting. What size wood stove & pipe do you like and why? Thank-you!!
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment – I’m glad you enjoyed the hot tenting article 🙂
The stove depicted with the Tentipi tent is their old style vertical-cylinder type. It wasn’t a great stove for many reasons. They have a horizontal stove now, which at least has a flat top on which you can put pots but it is very heavy and has no chimney damper.
The stove depicted with the Snotrekker tent is the medium model of the range of stoves Snowtrekker supplies. The two smaller stoves come with a 3″ stove pipe and the two larger with a 5″ stove pipe, either of which fit the model tent we were using, which has an apperture for the 5″ pipe. It’s a good size stove for the space and well suited to the tent.
Hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Paul
A great article. I’ve done a local camp in some woods already this month. Apparently, it got down to a chilling -1c! I used a uco candle lantern for warmth and light, and had a great time of it. I would love to do a snow camp, although I don’t think it’s possible on your scale. Let’s see what Feb/March brings! An inspiring read, thanks once again.
Hi Phil,
Thanks for your comment. A damp minus one Celsius can often feel much colder – it’s the damp, penetrating cold we often get in the UK. I’ve definitely felt the benefit of a heated tent in those conditions too.
As for a candle – yes, it can make a big difference to comfort levels, particularly in snow shelters. In such a shelter, you also get the benefit of nice light and a handy oxygen level indicator.
Hope we get some winter camping opportunities close to home in Feb/March.
Warm regards,
Paul
Those who are looking for ice removal tools. there is a thing called a Mora ice spoon that might to be hard to find but works very well. We used to race motor powered ice drills and won some brewiskies at times. Also an extension can be added for ice over five or six feet deep as found in northern Minnesota and Maine. They also pack very well on a toboggan. I also bring a ice chisel for enlarging the top of a ice hole for easy extraction of water with a large pot. Check out the use of the ice spoon on youtube there are some funny videos showing how not to drill deep lake ice.
Good cool camping guys.
Fr Dave Birchfield
Hi Paul, really enjoyed reading the recent blog about living in the heated tent, not something I have ever tried but it looks great. I spent a very cold night in a tent on the Black Mountains in about 4 feet of snow when I was younger and I was completing a ‘leadership’ exercise as part of my training in the RN….a stove would have been bliss
I especially liked the photo at the end of the blog showing the beauty and the vast expanse of the night sky…magic…also interesting to note the position of ‘Orion’s Belt’ relative to where I see it from my back garden…gives me an idea of where the pic was taken.
Kind regards. Lee
Hi Paul
Thanks for this great article! In March I’ll be making another trip to Sweden, and if all goes well, we’ll be sleeping in an old (but good) Swedish military heated tent. Having slept outside in a selfmade shelter last year, this will enable me to spend a night without shivers. I’m printing this article right now and I’ll give it as lecture on the plane for my companions, it’ll give them, as it gave me, a good insight in the little details that come with this kind of camping.
Kind regards!
Hey Ruud,
Thanks for your kind words and feedback. I’m glad you found this article interesting and that you’ll be able to apply the details to a practical situation in the near future. I hope your companions find it as illuminating as you and that you all have a great – and safe – trip.
Warm regards,
Paul
Good article, learned a few things even after having spent lots of time in “hot tents” during my time in the Swedish army.
Thank you Pehr.
Med Vänliga Hälsningar,
Paul
Another fantastic article, Paul. Tremendous detail and some great tips.
I’ve recently bought a bell tent made by BCT and a Frontier stove. Perfect for family camping in the northern Swedish spring. I like the Snowtrekker tents but I can’t imagine what customs in Sweden would want if I imported one. I paid over a hundred quid in duty for two pairs of Steger Mukluks…
Vi hörs!
Leo
Hi Leo,
Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you found it useful and you picked up some tips.
I’ve heard good things about bell tents combined with a Frontier stove, particularly for creating a pleasant atmosphere during Spring and Autumn camps that would otherwise be cold and damp.
I understand about Swedish customs – they seem to be extortionate and painful to deal with. Several years back I had some hassle with them when I had some new equipment sent straight to an address in Sweden from the United States, rather than have it delivered to the UK first then for me to arrange commercial shipping to Sweden with the rest of our gear. They just couldn’t seem to comprehend what was going on and kept sending demand letters in Swedish to me at my friends house (for months and months and months), even though she explained the situation in Swedish and I could easily prove the equipment was back in the UK.
Speak soon!
Paul
Hey Paul, thanks for your reply!
I wonder if you’ll write something about wind. Here in Michigan wind chill is a killer; it can lower the real feel temp by 15 degrees or more and protecting myself from it is a big problem.
I really like your articles, so keep writing.
Jim
I’ll add it to my list Jim 🙂
Hi Paul,
That was a very well crafted and informative article! I picked up a stack of really useful tips and, budget permitting, my treat myself to Frontier Stove and a Bell tent for use next winter. Also, there were some great posts from other readers, all of which only adds to the value of the original article.
Keep ’em coming!
Rov
Hi Rov,
Thanks for your kind feedback on this article. I hope that you are able to put what you’ve learned from it – and the associated comments – into practice with a heated tent of your own. If you do invest, let us know how you get on with it.
Warm regards,
Paul
thankyou Paul for this article,
I am planning to move my family out into a 6mt bell tent with stove for a few months.. over winter, only in kent, england, but we do get some sub zero temps and snow. Although this is almost a necessity I am really excited and eager to do this.
Obviously i want to keep the tent as warm as possible for the kids especially. would you thing an inner sleeping tent would make a difference to overnight warmth? and would a carbon monoxide alarm work in a tent?? and do you think a wooden floor would be a good idea or would rugs be as good insulation as anything. sorry these are just ‘housekeeping’ questions.. its just that your article is the only one i’ve read where you actually do sleep out in snow, which could be a possibility for us.
thanks nicola
Hey Nicole,
This sounds like a really cool idea. I have a link to http://www.offgridquest.com/inspiration/life-stories/370-astrid-in-the-yukon. This is a woman who lived six years in the wilderness. Maybe it will be interesting for you. 🙂 I wish you luck.
Shawn
hey nicola… hope u have a great winter.. 🙂 i live in a tipi in the north west highlands for much of the year and have found the following great for semi permenant camping.. instead of an inner using something more substansial around the outer edges.. i tend to go for an unbroken ring of stuff.. be it cooking , book shelf, storage etc to just above chest high. ( when stting cross legged ). This acts as a heat reflector allowing for a warm space in the middle ( soo nice when the temperature drops..). as u use ur space more check for cold spots and places that are losing heat and fill them in with some cool stuff.. for floors i tend to use thick carpet underlay on top of a waterproof membrane with tibetan wool blankets on top… if ur groundsheet isnt fitted in gather some straight thin branches and put them around the outside to creat a lip for any momvement of water to run under… and if u can get another tent for storage making ur living space clutter free and mellow… 🙂 being outside is a gift.. blue skies.. mark..
Hi mark
Living in the highlands! I’m very jealous! Can I ask why you live in a tent? We have a 6 mt bell tent, all our equipment is around the edges as you suggest, it has a zipped in ground sheet. I have a tanami tourer canvas tent as a kitchen/storage tent. We haven’t been cold even at -4 a few nights.. I’m sure you get it MUCH colder there? How did you cope in the gales last month?
I find the wind is the worst weather, but have loved every minute.. Sadly my adventure might be coming to and end soon as we have a house to go to prob in the next few weeks 🙁 will miss the sky!
Are you in the tipi now?
Nicola
Hello Paul
Another cracking article. I’ve recently invested in a lavou tent and wood stove and I’m looking forward to trying them out soon. Lots of good tips and information here.
Many thanks.
Adrian.
Hi Paul,
It’s nice to see you are working your way through the material here on my blog 🙂
Glad you found this one at the beginning of autumn – quite timely, particularly as you have your own tent and wood stove ready for the winter. Enjoy the cold evenings 🙂
All the best,
Paul
Paul:
Great article and and web site.
I was wondering what the model and size of the tent.It looks like something I’d want for cold weather camping in Canada.
Brian
Hi Brian,
The tent is by Snowtrekker, which you will be able to get hold of easily by mail order at least.
The model is a 3 person Exp Shortwall.
Warm regards,
Paul
Dear Paul
I wrote before mentioning I might be moving the family into a heated bell tent,
Well it’s happened and nearly 3 weeks in,
I’ve a windy smithy stove which has barely gone out since we’ve been here. And we remain warm and dry.
Looking forward to snow!! Only been rain and thunderstorms so far.. But we are not deterred, I have never felt so at home in my life!
I enjoy all your blogs and have reaped some excellent suggestions that I’ve put into practice.
Regards Nicola
Hi Paul
A very interesting article – what make of Tent is in the photo with s chimney coming out of the bottom right corner?
Thanks
Rob
Hi Paul,
My one experience with cold-weather camping was with an unheated nylon tent and low temps of -14 C. We had good equipment and were pretty comfortable. This was a hiking trip over very rugged, mountainous terrain, and a stove, chimney and canvas tent would have been impossible to bring.
Obviously you don’t carry your gear on your back. I’m curious as to how you typically arrive at your campsites – by snowmobile, four-wheel-drive vehicle, boat or some other means?
Robert Lee –
I suspect Paul is using pulks/ahkios/toboggans for the majority of the load. That would be typical and traditional for soft snow. For hard snow (think polar pack) a Nansen sledge, komatik or even a two-bob sled with cross reach chains, if tractor drawn, would be common. In soft snow, you don’t want excess weight on your back, even if on snowshoes or skis.
But, you can purchase (or make) very lightweight pyramid style tents from silnylon, and lightweight sheet metal collapsible stoves exist, also. Try looking for “cylinder stoves” “roll-up stoves” or “folding stoves”. There are fairly serious wood burning stoves in the 2-3 lb range (for nominal 8-12 man structures, probably half of that in winter, practically speaking), and even lighter stoves under 2 lbs for smaller tents. I’ve also seen a very clever tent heater made on the pattern of the old Sibley stove as a roll-up from either stainless or titanium foil.
My plan is to build a silnylon pyramid tent and a knock-off of the Hill People Gear Shepherd Stove (currently out of production), just to keep behind the truck seat as insurance, winter and summer – you just never know. I have an Ed Tyanich/Kifaru style roll-up cylinder stove partly built (my “alpha release” version uses galvanized steel roof flashing and stainless cook top burner covers from Walmart, rather than the titanium shim stock and Snow Peak titanium dinner plates many people use).
As an attack of “esprit d’escalier” – check out some of the hot tent setups Lonnie has tried out, as presented on his Far North Bushcraft channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_8yo4mNMJkB7noKGLd7jUA
He and his wife live, indoors and out, in Alaska. Lonnie runs trap lines by snowmobile, and he has tried a lot of different hot tent styles – tipi, pyramid, lean-to, etc. – mostly made on the cheap from plastic tarps and Gorilla tape. He gives very even-handed reviews of the pros and cons of each style. He also has a video detailing a collapsible stove which he made from galvanized steel heating duct metal, which would be less fiddly to assemble than many design I’ve seen – perhaps a little heavy for one person man-hauling with a toboggan, but still lighter (if less durable) than the smallest Four Dog box stoves, the Knico Trekker or Packer models, or the venerable Ellis stove, I’d think. For two people, when common loads can be divided, something like Lonnie’s stove seems easily justifiable.
As for me, I’m still hot on the trail of developing my own version of the HPG Shepherd Stove knock-off, though, because: I believe that it could be assembled one-handed, without removing mittens; there are only 2 separate parts (neither of which could be easily lost in the snow), not counting the roll-up chimney; and it’s reputed to be reasonably fuel efficient for a stove which doesn’t explicitly have provision for secondary combustion (though mine may have, eventually) since the hot coals stay close together by gravity. Especially as emergency insurance, the three above qualities are highly valuable, since many knock-down stoves have none of the above. One handed assembly with one’s “off” hand could be invaluable in desperate circumstances. No easily lost parts is obvious (but many competitive lightweight collapsible stoves use threaded rod and wing nuts or twists of wire). But the fuel efficiency issue is worthy of contemplation. Boreal forests usually have no shortage of dry fuel, but it may not be easily accessible in quantity due to injury, illness or vicious weather. Too, if travel across treeless barrens is required, the amount of fuel to be packed becomes consequential (refer to the trip the Connovers made across Ungava, detailed in at least the later editions of “A Snow Walker’s Companion”).
Hi
I spent a winter in a canvas tent. Back in 1983 used a 20,000 BTU Kerosene Heater it kept us toasty
in that tent.
Nathan
Impressive article, great photos.
We winter camped for 4 days with a group of 21, including 7 children. We only set up one heated tent, used mainly by the people with night watch, and to let people dry and change clothes.
Our heated tent was not as professionally competent as yours, so in addition to the firewatch, we also used the cheap carbon monoxide detectors from Walmart (less than $20) and recharged the batteries with a rolled backpack solar panel.
The biggest attraction for the group was letting each family privately use the heated tent in shifts to change clothes, field bathe, and heat water to take to their unheated tents.
Hi Paul,
Great article and you picked a beautiful spot for camping. What kind of pole do you have to secure all your boots, socks, etc on for it to dry out? How do you secure it??
Thanks!
Joe
Hi Joe,
We have two loops of cord, which provided four lengths of hanging line from one end of the tent to the other, hanging just under the apex of the tent. These have spring-loaded clothes pegs attached to them, to which we clip our clothing and other items which need airing out. It’s a simple system that works very well.
Warm regards,
Paul
Absolutely Wonderful Paul! Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience! I do a bit of snow camping but mostly with an open tarp and long fire. This heated tent looks much more comfortable! I’ve been looking at stoves lately and this just seals the deal for me!
Thanks!
Marsha
Hey Marsha!
Thanks for reading. I’m so glad you found this so interesting and inspirational.
A hot tent and stove is super-comfortable. It’s also much more fuel efficient than an open fire.
Given your snow camping experience, I think you’ll like this article too: http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2014/arctic-lean-to-shelter-revisited/
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul
We are nearly Ten weeks in living in our heated tent.. Wondering what to stock up with now winter is upon us especially in case of snow. 2 adults, and 5yr and 8yr old kids. Then I saw your video on food for a week.. Although I’m not carrying the food it does need to last and need to be tasty , again your video hit the mark.
Thanks for all your advice
Nic
Hi Nic,
It sounds like you are having a real adventure. What are the temps where you are?
Let me know how you get on with the food. NB remember to include more fat.
Best,
Paul
Hi
Hi.. Sorry I keep trying to reply but it goes wrong! We are in south east kent so not ridiculously cold .. But -1 /-2 the last few nights. Good advice about extra fat.. When it’s drummed into you not to eat it you forget you need it! Especially for the kids. Will update on my shopping trip.
Thanks for taking the time to reply
Nic
My pleasure. I’m glad everything is coming together. Sounds like you are experiencing life first hand. Fantastic!
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi
I would like to go live in a canvas wall tent with stove for a year. I have a friend who has some wilderness land in New York. She built her own cabin. But I would only build a platform for the tent. The tent would be from a reputable company costing about $2000 with stove. I am mostly just saving up my money for this adventure, to handle whatever comes up. I have no idea how much it will cost for supplies. Do you have any ideas for me? I have 3 sleeping bags, a 0 degree down, a 20 and a 30 degree. I have a bio stove, plus a jetboil for emergencies. I am planning my clothing, no cotton. Really, any tips are good for me. Thank you. I_ loved your article.
Hi Shawn, just to clarify your question – do you mean you’d like advice on how to work out the cost of your supplies or advice on what to buy in the first place?
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul,
I am planning on getting a 14×16 Wilderness Tent with matching stove from a reputable Canvas wall tent supplier. If you have any advice on what I need or how to figure out how many supplies I will need and the cost for a year, please do, I am eager to hear it. I´ve been reading up on it, but I think I won´t really know until I am out there doing it. I raised my three kids on camping in New England, the Berkshires, and up and down the coast, winter and summer. But that is my only experience, unfortunately.
Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.
Best wishes,
Shawn
oops. I meant ” any advice to give”.
Hi.. Just out of interest why no cotton clothes?
All the best on your plans.. Definitely do it!!
I think the biggest realisation of living in a heated tent is the vast amount of wood needed, soft and hard .. We have fallen on our feet and the owner of the land we are on asked if my husband would ‘clear up ‘ some oaks he had felled a while back.. Beautifully seasoned, just needed ringing up and splitting, but oak doesn’t burn well on its own so mixing it with off cuts from a local joinery shop and chestnut, hornbeam, beech and silver birch from my husbands job coppicing. SO MUCH WOOD!
Nicola, does your stove have a chimney damper?
Hi Paul,
No it doesn’t.. That would make it more economical on fuel wouldn’t it?
Would it be worth have one fitted I wonder?? Lovely deep frost this morning!!
Hi Nicola, I missed this at the time. Apologies. Yes, it would make it more fuel efficient. The big difference you will notice is how easily you can increase the temperature of the tent. It really helps prevent so much of the heat going straight up the chimney.
Warm regards,
Paul
Morning Paul
These are the stove we have.. There is a plate under the chimney that acts like a damper but is in the firebox, there’s a diagram here I think.. http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/our-woodburners-hand-made-devon
It really is a great little stove.
Unfortunately we have to take the flue out when it’s windy as the tent whips it around, and we seem to have had the windiest year ever!
Hi Paul
Here’s a link to our stove http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/our-woodburners-hand-made-Devon it has a plate under the chimney to keep the heat in .. Sorry joy sure how it all works, I need to read up!
And here’s a pic of our set up [IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/2lcshes.jpg[/IMG]
We had a really windy night so no fire as we have to remove the flue as the tent moving lifts it out of the stove and delivers it half way across the tent, all good fun!
I don’t know why but my comments keep only delivering in halves.. I’m sorry if I come across abrupt! It cuts off my farewells
Hi Nicole,
Hope you´re good. Was wondering, do you have the “Wendy” model? And I guess you´re saying that it uses a lot of wood. It took me a while to figure out my stove. Now I get it burning hot and then I shut it up and slowly burn out. Doing that once in the morning and once in the afternoon is enough to keep my livingroom and kitchen warm. I use about 8 33cm split logs a day. But in addition, I also add 4 charcoal bricks. I imagine I will need much more for the tent. Could you give me a guesstimate how much you use? This is very useful research for me. Loved the picture of your tent. Its round and really big! Anyway, hope you are staying warm and safe. Lots of trees down around here, so please be careful!
Best regards,
Shawn
Hi Shawn
We have the Louis model, our tent is 6mt round so pretty huge to heat! (If we had known we would live in the tent we would have got the bigger fire with an oven but we had the tent already) We also like to leave the door open in the evenings like an open fire. We use around 1 to 2 buckets a day of wood, the bucket is around 2ft diameter by 2ft deep.. And generally we don’t keep the fire in overnight as we are all warm enough in bed with out it.
We have been very fortunate to have been given some seasoned oak butts to log up!
All the best
Nicola
Nicola, do you live in a tent too? I live as simply as possible in my home, heat with wood, save rain water and such, but my life feels too complicated at times. I would not be on my own at first. My friend has been living in a cabin, off grid that she built. She offered me land to camp on and support. I´ve dreamt about this for the last 4 years, and the time is drawing near to make the leap. My youngest son is finishing school in the Spring. I would go in the Spring and IMMEDIATELY start chopping wood for the winter. That would be my main goal. I would like to have a simpler life, and time to relax.
Cotton kills in the winter. It is definitely not good to have flannel, denim and cotton in bad weather. Cotton absorbs water and doesn´t let it go, lowering your body temperature. If the temperature is under 50° F and you get wet, there is a real danger of hypothermia. Fleece and wool are better.An under layer of synthetic material for long underwear, then your fleece or wool, and outer protection against wind and weather. But I see when I do laundry, cotton dries last.
Hi Shawn,
I’m the same Nicola as at the top of the page.. Thanks for the link to the woman who lived in the wilderness! I am in kent, England. And yes we do live in a tent, a 6mt bell tent with a wood burner. I don’t go the whole hog and collect rain water.. Good for you!! I have the use of an outside cold water tap so quite privileged 🙂 we are only in the tent between moving houses, not sure how long but I’m hoping to see some snow! We rent and are waiting for our next landlords to finish doing up they’re 2nd house so we can have the one they’re living in.. I know I won’t want to live in a house ever again 🙁 It was quite a step to take as We’ve two small kids, 5 & 8 , my 8 yr old has downsyndrome so I was expecting all sorts of opposition but everyone just says it’s great! The kids LOVE it! I see what you mean now about cotton, it won’t get that cold here and I’m not out in the wilderness! Where are you? You say New York but that makes me think city.. Will you still have your house? Looking forward to hearing how you get on! One last thing ..what are the rules of just living anywhere where you are? Not very easy in England!
All the best Nicola
Hi Nicole,
At the moment I am living in Germany. I would like to go to a friend in upperstate New York who built a small cabin on land she rents, no road, hike in only. I would like to live in a 12×14 Wilderness Tent for a year to see how i like it. At the moment I rent a very big house with my mom with lots of land, but it is very rustic too, heat with wood, rainwater containment and all. I love it, but I feel that I am working just to live here, its not such a good feeling. Best case scenario, I can rent out my part of the house, and have it back after a year. We´ll see. My 3 kids are grown, I have 2 dogs and a cat though. I wish you all the best, kids love camping, well at least mine did. I was a diehard camper, equipment left in the car and we would just take off when I didn´t have to work, go anywhere and spend the weekend in a tent. Was lovely. Now I have time to try different things out. The Bushcraft thing sounds like I would love it. I´ve read everything I could get my hands on about it starting with Bradford Angier, who left the city and went to the wilds of Canada with his wife. Good reading. Right now I am reading ” Call of the Wild My Escape To Alaska”. And of course this blog. I research every outdoor equipment place I can find, and try to see how much equipment and rations I would need. I look for local winter camping clubs. For me this is fun, not a necessity. Maybe this chance to live in a tent is a blessing for you, Nicole. 🙂 BTW the land I am going to is privately owned and I have the owners permission to camp. It is land used for recreation, hunting and camping. Not residential.
I know this may sound crazy but we did a trial run in our garden for ten days. Using only what we would have when we actually were tent living.. And then we could see what extras we might need or what we wouldn’t really need. Doing that really convinced me I wanted to do it for real.. And helped me choose what we really needed to take. I also set my mind to thinking this tent was now home and that’s it for now so make the most of it there’s no going back. It sounds like you have a great year ahead!! Spring is nearly here so go for it!! Get the tent now and over winter in your mums garden? It’s strange that we all want this outdoor life but still need the internet haha!!! Really hope you do this .. So exciting!
Hi Nicole,
Haven´t heard from you for a while.
Was wondering how you spent the holidays and how its going. Rented a campsite nearby starting in April and finishing in November to “give it a try”. Thanks for your advice. It was helpful. My youngest is finishing school in June-July, and wants to get his own apartment or go live with his sister after graduation. So I will give up my portion of the house (my mom lives upstairs), and live full time in the tent and start saving money for a heated tent and my year of living in New York in it. If you have any ideas where I could get one, I´m still looking around. Anyway, have a good New Year, and hope to hear from you.
Kind regards,
Shawn
Hi Paul my question went straight to facebook,didn’t want that, anyway i was asking you where can you set up a yurt all year long in a forest or someplace else which i know i’m allowed without upsetting anyone else and vice versa,i can’t afford rent anymore with these 0 hours contracts but also can’t afford to buy a plot of land,just the yurt,please please please help me i have been trying to know this for so long, God bless you.xxxxxxxx
Hi Carla,
If you have the landowners permission then I believe the main issue is then one of planning permission if you leave the structure up for too long.
The following may be useful to you: http://www.woodlands.co.uk/owning-a-wood/woodlands-and-planning-legislation/
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul, Hi Nicole,
Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year.
I just wanted to update you on my progress. I picked up a nice 3 season tent to start with. A 6 person King Pine Dome tent with front screen room, big enough for my labrador and me. I will heat it with butane or propane. In April I will be setting up on a campground on a river, a kilometer away from my house. It has bathrooms, washer and dryer and restaurant. But it is for ca 400€ from April-November. I figure it will give me time to empty my house, and save some money to get my Wildnerness tent with woodstove. It will also be good practice I think, get used to living without electricity and a bathroom nearby. 🙂
Oh and Nicole. You are sooo lucky to have encouragement from people for what you are doing. My family is thinking I´m a bit nuts! Hope to hear from you.
All the best,
Shawn
Hi Shawn
Firstly I’m glad my advice to try it out for a while has helped, sounds like your plans are going really well. Nice you have the dog… Company is important sometimes. My friends always thought I was mad and some are starting to worry too much .. But what I’m doing is really just between houses and I may soon be dragged back to four walls 🙁 but 14 weeks so far 😀
We have had fabulous freezing nights.. Really put the tent to test. Top tip is take a proper mattress, may as we’ll be comfortable! And the depth protects from the cold ground. We have never been cold at night even when the fires gone out. And a portable loo, you won’t want to go traipsing to the communal one in the night if you need to. I’ve literally used all the bedding we would have in the house normally, and floor rugs, chair, tables etc. if transport is no problem then be comfortable, really make it like home..I bought nothing special just what I had ..
Just please do get a carbon monoxide monitor, ours went off one night and I hate to think what might have happened if we hadn’t had one!
We got our tent from belltent uk, but you can get them anywhere really. The stove is from windysmithy and is fabulous! I think the whole lot was around £1000 ..
Propane is the way to go if it’s cold and your using gas.
People say I’m brave having done this, but it think the bravest thing is not letting what other people say sway you and upset you with your plans, very few will really understand. I don’t feel brave at all, just that I tried out something I really wanted to do.
I wish everyone could try it!
Hi Nicole,
Its good to hear from you. Its nice someone understands. Its like I have only one thing on my mind…simplify. I feel like I am working to pay for all this stuff I really don´t need or want. I mean my house is nice and big, but for the most part I am alone and bored. My mom and kids say I am crazy, but I just want to get rid of this hopeless feeling I have everytime I pay another bill. My lab is my constant companion, doesn´t care for the cold so much, so I got him a sleeping bag too. I think at first I will just take a sleeping bag, mat and cooking stuff, and see what I need. I spent last night measuring out my living room floor to see how much space I´ll have. I put aside the stuff I´m definitely taking. Anyway, its nice to have someone to tell this to. I wish you the best. Hope to hear from you. Best regards, Shawn
Hi Nicola (and Shawn),
I’m enjoying your exchanges of info and encouragement. It’s great to see people using my blog to connect and help each other in this way.
I’m not going to get in the way of the conversation but I wanted to add that I really liked this comment: “People say I’m brave having done this, but it think the bravest thing is not letting what other people say sway you and upset you with your plans, very few will really understand. I don’t feel brave at all, just that I tried out something I really wanted to do.”
More power to you Nicola for forging your own path.
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul and Nicole,
It is so helpful for me to hear from you. Otherwise I have zero support for what I am doing. But really, can you be happy by doing what other people expect you to do? I just hope I don´t wimp out in the end. The target date is April 1st. My 3 season tent has not arrived yet, coming from America. But I just keep going over my supplies, so that I will be as organized as possible. Thank you for your advice about the carbon monoxide alarm. I am not taking any extra days off, but it is right before Easter so I will have some time to relax and enjoy it, once I am set up. There is wifi down there, and I will be able to charge my laptop and phone at work, because I don´t want electricity. Been experimenting with the best lanterns, and gas stoves. But as I will be alone, I probably won´t feel like cooking all the time. So I am taking a bio-lite, a jetboil, and a plain 2 burner gas stove. I´ve got a good 30° and a 20° f sleeping bag for the spring weather, and just to be safe a 0° f goose down sleeping bag. When my tent comes I will experiment with which heater I will use initially. I heat with wood now, so I like it warm! But there´s no way to have a wood stove in the 3 season tent. I am saving up for the 14×16 wilderness canvas tent with stove for the winter. Gotta find a place to winter camp too. But that will come. One step at a time. 🙂 Anyway, thanks a bunch to both of your for your support. Please keep writing.
Kind regards.
Shawn
Dear Paul..
Wow thanks! Just speaking my mind
Hi Paul.
Sorry only a bit of my reply showed!
It went onto say I really appreciate your input and you certainly don’t get in the way of our conversation, please do so more! After all you do have the best advice and your blog really encouraged me with my plans
🙂
Hi Shawn
You sound very organised, so exciting for you. Paul has an excellent blog about food on here, high calorie, small packaging, perfect if you are really ‘camping’ eating. I have to cook proper dinner every night as it’s not just me here, I only have two ring gas burner and it’s plenty with a steamer pan.
get a good strong chest to keep your extra sleeping bags etc .. We had a mouse get in and nibble a bag and some bedding! And a few biscuits haha! And the chest will make a good table. Got to put the kids to bed so look forward to your progress report!
All the best
Nicola
Hi Nicole,
Sometimes the preparation is as exciting as doing a thing. Thanks for the chest idea. Haven´t gotten so far in my thinking yet. I love to cook. At the moment I have a wood stove, gas stove and electric stove, but I really only have time to cook for parties and family gatherings. My mom is home all day and cooks for my son and me. I am hoping to be able to experiment with cooking in my tent. When I took the kids camping, years ago, I made Indian food on the camp fire.
I am concerned that I make a comfortable, efficient cooking area with a rack for hanging stuff on. I am planning on making my bed and my kitchen area myself, when I know what I want.
I hope you aren´t getting the winds we´re getting! It is unbelievable here right now. Hoping you´re safe and warm.
Best wishes,
Shawn
Hi Shawn
How is the camping going??
Nicola
Oh my goodness! I just noticed that I´ve been spelling your name wrong, Nicola. I´m so sorry!
Haha don’t worry about the name
Dear Shawn and Paul ,
I’m am sorry.. My comments keep only delivering half! Thanks for you well wishes about the high wind, we had a very windy night but tightened up all the ropes and double pegging in places, took the chimney out and plugged the hole and slept soundly! After countless windy nights here I’m convinced the bell tent cannot be blown over, unless all the pegs pop out at once! What do you think Paul?
I’ve heard of the poles bending/snapping but ours is a lot thicker than normal and metal and been great .. Even with my daughter using it as her favourite climbing apparatus
It’s done it again aaaagh!!
Please be assured I always send well wishes if it happens again!
Very nice article that covered just about everything.
The only thing I did not see mentioned is this little tip. I have not been in one since my army days. But we used to keep a dirty side and and clean side on each side of the entrance. The clean side was for storing food and cooking gear. The dirty side was for fuel, dirty clothes, boots, garbage bag etc…that way we avoided mixing stuff that does not go together: JP-8 fuel (for our Optimus 111 stoves) does not mix well with food as some unlucky souls found out 😉
But it’s all about being organized, and you certainly are 🙂
Hi Rune,
Thanks for your tip. Having observed some Norwegian military set-ups, I became fully aware of the importance of having a clean side and dirty side, particularly when liquid fuels are involved.
It’s certainly something I try to adhere to. It’s a little difficult to maintain the same order in a Snowtrekker tent as the stove is on one side of the entrance (rather than the middle), so we keep the wood there. We keep food and other items on the opposite side but we do have to keep a small trash bag there too, otherwise it would be too close to the hot stove. But you are right, it’s about being organised, having a system and everyone adhering to that system.
Thanks and warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul,
I hope you are enjoying your winter. I just wanted to say that my email isn´t sending at the moment, so I put an answer in your facebook. Your lists of things to bring are really good. I have a Wilderness Tent which is about 4×6 meters and a matching Wilderness stove picked out. But it is in America, and I have little hope of being able to afford to ship it here. So I was wondering where I could get a good, large tent and stove here in Germany. So far I have only found some material on Amazon to make my own. Or tipis, which I don´t think I´d like. Do you please have any contacts I could ask? Thanks a bunch. Talk to you soon.
All the best,
Shawn
Hey Paul,
Can you reccommend a good supplier of four season tents with chimney gaps ?
Bell tents, tipis, yurts or whatever you can suggest.
Great extensive article,
Cheers,
Charlie
thanks for a great read been looking into hot tenting usually I hammock with my older son but with 6 kids in total 4 being girls & there mum they wont camp with out a tent or some heat in it lol women in my house just to used to comfort can you recommend a large tent that will house 6 in it 1 adult 5 kids in reasonable safety pref with fire area at rear of tent due to kids in it youngest is 4 so they don’t touch the stove but also don’t want they having to get past it all the time many thanks terry
Hey thanks for this article. So I plan on doing some primitive living in my future and I’m trying to decide if I should buy one of these tents or buy a small, vintage rv. Either way I plan on buying a chunk of wild land.and setting up there. Any advice on this matter?
I’d go old school and opt for a solid canvas wall tent.
Hi Paul. I’ve been living in a tipi for over a year now.. have you or anyone reading this any tips on how to stop the rain coming through the chimney flue and gap between flue and canvas on a tentipi eldfell stove. cheers
Hi Jilly,
Out of interest do you have a spark arrestor on the top of the chimney?
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul
Many thanks for your reply. I do and I also have a silicon tube (soul pad) to stop some water getting through but I think the problem is the top of the spark arrestor (which is not sealed) and the chain which it trickles down. Make sense?
Kind regards Jilly
Yes, that makes sense. Perhaps look into a spark arrestor with a covered top and just open on the side…?
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Jilly. I am researching tipis, because I would like to live in one year round too. I had some ideas some ideas. I don’t know exactly what kind of tipi you have. But when it rains, you can adjust the flaps as you would for a head wind, leaving a narrow opening at the very top. This helps when the rain isn’t coming straight down or too hard. Do you have an Ozan hanging up over your sleeping area? That should catch the drops that would normally land on your head. The rest should be sliding down your poles to hit the ground on the outside of your liner. Another thing I would think about is, is your tipi straight up and down? It should be angled towards the entry and longer towards the back. I hope this doesn’t sound too simple to someone who is actually living the dream. I hope I could help. Wishing you dry nights and good luck.
Warm regards
Shawn
Hi Jilly. I am researching tipis, because I would like to live in one year round too. I had some ideas some ideas. I don’t know exactly what kind of tipi you have. But when it rains, you can adjust the flaps as you would for a head wind, leaving a narrow opening at the very top. This helps when the rain isn’t coming straight down or too hard. Do you have an Ozan hanging up over your sleeping area? That should catch the drops that would normally land on your head. The rest should be sliding down your poles to hit the ground on the outside of your liner. Another thing I would think about is, is your tipi straight up and down? It should be angled towards the entry and longer towards the back. I hope this doesn’t sound too simple to someone who is actually living the dream. I hope I could help. Wishing you dry nights and good luck.
Warm regards
Shawn
Thank you for a very well written article. Nice to see that you like to endorse the swedish winter, the golden Smörpackage (butter) made me smile. Living in heated tents is standard issue for scandinavian army service and i like it a lot. This summer I bought a used Tentipi 5 BP to be used in winter. It is a realy nice tent but i do not use stoves jet due to weight and cost. Instead I rely on open fire in a “firebox” . And that is how I ended up here since it is quite tricky to make a fire without suffocate by the smoke. I am still on a practice level but it is a matter of different things.
High burn rate, or how to describe it. When the fire slows down smoke will occur due to poor combustion. I found it very helpful to have some dry spruce to put on to get the fire going. Otherwise the quality of the wood is important but it is not always easy to find dry birch.
Ventilation, the top of the ten tipi is very clever and ventilation can be regulated. I have not yet tested it in snowstorm or downpour though. But the fire also needs a steady supply of air and i considering some sort of plastic tube for this which seems to be a classic trick.
Hopefuly I will build up skills to go winter camping in Lapland. A very nice website and channel by the way.
Jonas
Hi Paul, where would be the best place to get a highwall canvas tent, like one in your pic, for hot tenting in the UK? I went out trekking with garret conover in maine 2010 and loved the experience but I can’t find a suitable tent in the UK. I don’t mind secondhand, I just can’t find one. Thanks.
Hello Paul
I love your winter articles and videos. I obtain skills and entertainment from them though they seem to be limited compared to your other content. Your winter content seems to take place in the subarctic northern regions of Scandinavia and for the most part seems very similar to what we get here in northern Quebec, during the winter. I’m commenting to not only show my admiration for your entertaining content but also because I have a question for you regarding ground cover. Hot tenting that takes place here usually involves laying Spruce boughs for ground cover before placing sleeping mats and bags. I don’t like the idea of using Spruce boughs as ground coverage because I feel like it damages the live tree too much for only a single winter camping season. I would like to ask you about your system. I see that you use a canvas drop cloth then place your sleeping pad and bag on top of it. Is that all there is to it? Do you use a Bivy? The canvas drop cloth does it protect you from moisture? What kind of canvas is it? Is it waterproofed? I would just like to know about your sleep system. Temperatures I deal with in the winter months will be lowest -45C with windshield.
Thanks for your educated free content you put out Paul. Best regards!
– Michael
hi paul.just watched your video on hot tent camping,loved it,many thanks,regards enid.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for a great write up! Please excuse my
naivety, how do you wash / clean yourself in temperatures that low? Short term a bowl of warm water, but long term?
Ward regards,
Tom
As I also have a wood burning stove on a narrowboat, I’m very aware of CO, and use a battery powered CO alarm with my tentipi and led fell. It’s never gone off, but it is an extra reassurance.
Yes Roger, you can’t be too careful. CO is a silent killer.
Warm regards,
Paul
In our 5 months over wintering in our bell tent the co alarm went off once! I dread to think what might have happened! I MISS MY TENTING SOOOOO BAD
Hi Paul, great article, I just wondered whereabouts you were camping, in the snowtrekker?
Are you on private land? If you are outside of a provincial park, in the Norwegian, or Swedish Wilderness, are you allowed to take dead standing wood?
If you wanted to make a bough floor, would you have to find a recently windblown tree, to take the boughs from?
Thanks.
Hi David,
It’s good to hear from you.
The photos in this article were taken on multiple different trips.
But to give you an idea of one of the trips in Sweden, check out the following article:
Winter Magic: Return To The Northern Forest
Hope this helps answer your questions.
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul
I have just spent 6 months on a painting project living in a tipi and filming the whole experience, and I just wanted to thank you for all your articles. They have enlightened and helped me a lot during the whole experience. Would also like to tell you that your podcasts are fantastic and have kept me many a cold night company. I have mentioned your podcasts and share your blog on my latest the tipi diaries episode hoping that others will find the precious info gems you so generously share. All the best,
Ric
Hi Ric,
Thank you for your kind comments. I’m so glad that I have aided you in what sounds like a wonderful endeavour.
I’m also gratified to learn I have been a helpful and friendly virtual companion via my podcasts.
Thank you for sharing my work. I hope to return the favour for you.
I am going to check out your website right now…
Warm regards,
Paul
Hi Paul.
Im trying to buy a tent stove , Like the titanium back packers stove in the UK.
All seam to be in the US ,
Its only for me but a 2 man or even a medium would do.
The tax in UK on a 375 Dollar stove would be silly
I just paid 38 pounds on a 65 Dollar Silky Katanaboy from Hong Kong .
Any help would be worth a hug ( yes got to that stage of frustration ) or appreciation :-))
Thank you, your article has inspired me! I found my father’s tent canvas over 20 years! and I made oven, and went into the woods. and it was a wonderful new experience despite a foot of fresh snow in November! nature is beautiful as always, but even I was struck by the comfort and convenience of a tent with a stove. those who for whatever reasons can not buy a stove advise to make it out of prefabricated elements of ventilation, it took me just one night and it was very easy. tell me why you do not use many-sleeping bags? I rescued them many times on mountain climbing. thanks again and sorry for my english.
Hi Paul,
I hope you are having lots of adventures! Just wanted to report in that I was able to camp up to now with my nylon tent and my kerosene tent heater. I’ve been out 5 days and loved it. But now i will invest in a Sibley Bell tent 5m and a frontier stove so i can fully experience wintercamping. If you have any more advice about tents or stoves, I would love to hear it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks a bunch. Wishing you the best winter.
Warm regards
Shawn
Hi Paul,
Many great tips, thank you!
Would you please share the size of your exp shortwall snowtrekker pictured?
Is that 8×10 or 9.5×11? Trying to make a decision for myself, leaning toward a 8×10 but with the medium kni-co stove for purposes of less wood processing and more cooking space. Mostly tripping to a single basecamp with 2 people, rarely 3 and some solo.
Thanks.
David
Hello Paul,
I love reading your articles. I have a couple of questions though, I hope you or one of your readers can help me….
I finally got my Sibley 500 pro 4 season tent! I would like to set it up in my garden to test it for a month. I got acacia tiles to make a deck underneath, but I need to even out the ground underneath before. I’m thinking mulch or stones. I thought I would ask before if you had any better ideas.
2nd question. Is the frontier stove a complete waste of money for a stove this size? I mainly like its price. I know these questions are real novice questions, but I’ve made some bad choices this year and completely flooded my tent. My tent will be my base camp for 7 months, starting in the spring. The area is prone to rain. I am trying to figure out things beforehand. Thanks a bunch for any advice. Hope to hear from you.
Keep smiling
Shawn
Excellent article. Though I do have a question. If you are planning on sleeping in the same place as the stove, how do you extinguish the stove fully for the night so as to be sure you’re removing any risk of carbon monoxide poisoning while you are sleeping?
Tom, CO production is higher when the wood fire is starved of oxygen so i would suggest that if not burning all night to open stove door at a suitable time before you retire for the night to let it burn out quickly. A bit of trial an error to get timing right. Once wood burnt out and cold you should be able to sleep safe from CO. I suspect many people new to hot tenting underestimate the risk of CO From a woodburner. Especially those hipster glamping types I see at langdale NT campsite these days.
Be Careful. Stove Gas will KILL. I never sleep with a stove burning, even if one is up to keep watch, as the heat after a long day will lul one asleep and then there is no one watching?? Most people die from stove gas or combustion gas, what ever you call it, then you realize. Heated tents bring more safety care than you realize. There are way to heat a tent without having the stove inside the tent. REALLY.
After a couple of days of real cold, your clothes and bag get frost in them, and have to be dried out. Within 24 hours of wearing the best equipment you can buy, you feel it. You have to have a hot tent to dry them properly.
There’s no choice.
Some excellent advice and great tent heater choices. When you’re cold, wet, misserable and faced with an uncomfortable night, a tent heater can be a real lifesaver.
Indeed it can George 🙂
We utilize the M1950 hex tent and liner with M1950 Yukon stove for heated winter camping. We set it up usually prior to the snow on a level surface. We keep fire wood stacked for easy access under our cots and use wooden planks to cover most of the floor space. We utilize a lot of the same concepts contained in your surpurb article. Sometimes we use a tarp to make a covered foyer to store equipment during inclement weather.
Hello,
I have never done winter camping so I have question whose answer may seem a bit trivial.
I have heard that when you camp in the summer, it is strongly advised that you should never eat or especially cook INSIDE your tent, because the smell and aroma may attract uninvited visitors. It is strongly advised that even non-food items which are still fragrant (ie. toothpastes) should be put inside the food bag and be hung from a tree a good distance away from your tent.
How is the situation any different while winter camping in a hot tent?
Many thanks in advance.
Hi Paul, Great article, lots of detail, thanks. Is the smoke in the tent happening with the stove in the first Photo? Or was the problem with the pipe running out at an angle? I am quite surprised.
What is your wood burn rate? My homemade stoves only use ~400g/h, but I still can’t get an automated overnight burn beyond 0.5h. I have been tinkering with simple-barrel-stoves to see if they can be filled and burn cleanly at a low rate just to keep the tent warm. My first tiny experimental stove https://timtinker.com/simple-barrel-stoves-searching-for-the-holy-grail-of-an-overnight-ultralight-tent-stove-warmer-by-experimenting-with-coffee-tins/
burnt too quickly, but I think there is potential with a bigger stove if the air can be restricted without getting flue smoke.
I would be interested in your thoughts?
Thanks again,
Tim
Hi Tim,
In my experience, you need a larger stove to get longer overnight burns. You can stack more wood and it keeps in contact with other pieces for longer without going out. A chimney damper in addition to a door damper is essential for getting a slow burn AND keeping the heat in the tent.
The smoke coming into the tent was due to the angled chimney combined with a change in wind direction. The solution we have found to to place an additional elbow on the end of the chimney so the top is vertical. Any breeze is then more likely to blow over the top of the aperture rather than into it and down the chimney.
I hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Paul
Neat article Paul. I was just checking out this article – https://bestofcamp.com/best-hot-tent-for-winter-camping/ and I like the look of the Stout Bell Tent. Just wondering if you had any thoughts on it? And what about a stove? I’m new to all this hot tent stuff so getting to grips with everything I need is a bit confusing!
Wanting to enjoy winter camping with a tent stove I bought a Seek Outside Titanium Cub Stove (the original, discontinued version with the solid side and rear panels, not the Cub U-Turn).
I ordered my stove with the cook top from the Cub U-Turn model because I wanted the 2.5 inch stovepipe aperture instead of the standard 3.125 inch which I feel is too large for a firebox of this size (6″W x 6″H x 9″L).
I also ordered a spare stove base panel to use as a snow platform and an additional 8 round base feet.
To make a side mounted warming rack based on the Kifaru Stove version I bought a sheet of 0.5mm titanium expanded mesh and some small bore titanium tubes and for a grate I bought another sheet of the expanded titanium in 1.0mm thickness as I will be using smokeless charcoal briquettes at times.
I’ll also experiment with a small titanium stack robber (based on the one made by the much missed Woods Walker) fitted onto a 9′ titanium stovepipe along with a damper and spark arrestor.
I’m interested to see what sort of heat output and duration is possible from a firebox of this size burning found wood, manufactured fire logs and smokeless charcoal briquettes.
As a cycle camper I won’t have to backpack everything, so carrying charcoal briquettes is fine by me.
As I have every intention of bringing my helinox cot and chair I may need to use a bicycle trailer to avoid overloading the bicycle.
My aim is to have a warm and comfortable camp with good seating (my swivel chair) and bed (my high leg cot) with both a xtherm max sleeping pad and summit 12mm foam mat.
If it gets really cold I have an eVent bivvy bag to put my sleeping bag in and a silk inner bag to put into the sleeping bag itself.
Having previously been cold, wet, uncomfortable and unable to sleep whilst winter camping I hope that by investing in good quality gear I will improve on that in every way.
The cot and chair were chosen as I have disabling injuries and need good support when sitting and sleeping and the confidence that neither will fail and drop me onto an extremely hot tent stove!
Being able to rest sufficiently is also important as a winter cyclist too.
The thought of cooking and baking in my tent is something that I’m really looking forward to, and however it turns out it should be edible!
Jetboil is coming for tea breaks en route.
Winter campers (especially those with disabling injuries) would particularly benefit from having a tent stove and mine will enable me to have mini adventures with a high degree of comfort and to undertake trips which I otherwise wouldn’t consider.
My equipment selection, mode of travel and travel itself are goverened by my disabling injuries, everyone has their own preferences and needs and I’ve just tried to find what works for me (despite friends saying that its too risky to try because of being disabled!)
Whilst tent stoves will make camp life better in every way, it is still a fire within one’s tent and should be treated with respect and adherence to safe operation in an enclosed and well ventilated space.
I have a combined smoke and C02 alarm and am also going to buy one of the keychain C02 alarms to clip to my pillow.
I’m hoping to have a comfortable and warm camp, not my own funeral pyre…
Great article, one question though. can stoves be reproduced from natural materials? I am more into backpacking and low-budget camping than dogsledding and snowmobiling. and I am not to keen on carrying a stove around, for obvious reasons. I am also somewhat novice to bushcraft and not the most in practice due to reasons such as being under 18 and not exactly being aloud to leave for long periods of time……
I also was wondering where you get your tents, I have looked at plenty of thrift stores and online sites, they are all either bits and pieces of canvas and grommet or to costly.
Hi Derit,
There isn’t a natural alternative to a metal box stove for a heated tent. Some traditional conical tents – laavu, chum, teepee, käta, etc, – were originally used with fires in their centres but they tend to be quite smokey and need good ventilation. But if you are lightweight backpacking you are unlikely to be in such a frigid environment where you would need one. And if you are in a cold, snowy environment on snowshoes, then a toboggan or pulk is better than a backpack. Each of those types of transport will accommodate a wood stove.
Our A-frame tents are from Snowtrekker Tents and our conical canvas tents are from Tentipi.
https://www.snowtrekkertents.com/
https://tentipi.com/
I hope this helps.
Warm regards,
Paul
Can you use heaters in any tents? Is it safe?
Hi Paul, Thanks for your detailed and informative article. I have the PDF. You have covered a lot. A great read and you describe the joys of hot tenting so well.
With regard to your reply to Derit, concerning backpacking with ultralight tents and tent stoves, I know from experience that there is a place for tent stoves and ultralight tents for those who wish to travel on snow on skis or snow shoes to trek through and enjoy a winter wonderland. My joy comes from telemarking and touring on fat pattern-based skis.
I use a DIY silnylon pyramid or bell tent (~800g) with a tiny SS unconventional downdraft stick burner stove. The stoves, stove pipe and all parts can ‘live’ in the matching dinner pot and two or more matching pots can be carried, all nested together if needed.
https://timtinker.com/the-kiss-tent-stove-for-alpine-tent-heating/
Yes it is tiny by comparision with your stoves but as an inverted wood gas burner it is a serious, clean and efficient and unlimited source of heat for warming bodies, cooking, snow melting and drying clothes (est. ~800 watts from burning a miserly 400g of damp sticks/h). It is very suited to mounting on bush poles up above a deep snow surface or even better above deep snow pit for sitting comfort. An added bonus is that the tent stove can transform into an outside blower stove for fast outside cooking when the weather is OK.
I hope this might stimulate interest in this alternative lightweight hot tenting that can provide similar winter pleasures.
Tim
Great article. I have been looking at some Swedish Army surplus tents. The Canvas 8 Man Patrol wall tent as well as the Recon 8 Man lavvu type teepee tent looks interesting for more mobile type of set up where the frame work is more easily improvised. Any experience with these tents? Other surplus Bell type Arctic tents synthetic or canvas are readily available. I am leaning towards Canvas as I like older materials and also looking to be able to fabricate a cover for a lavvu or teepee from a Canvas tarp or similar materials. Thank you again.
Hello again. Just looking for some info on the Swedish Surplus 1970’s Canvas wall tents and the bell lavvu style Patrol or recon tent types. Looks like great Swedish build quality. Have you ever used the Swedish M-76 steel tent stove? Found some German Feld Ofen looks similar without the feature of the cooking pot of the Swedish model. Looking at the Space Heater Arctic as a wood stove that can also use liquid diesel or kerosene fuels. Great informative articles. Thank you.
Anther helpful article Paul. I have also found your clothing and staying warm articles very helpful. I am off to Northern Sweden for the first time in February 2023. I am going with instructors Jamie Dakota & Adam Logan, we expect to be a party of 10 in total. I have a bit of a random question. I am a fit 65 year old. Is there anything in particular I should be thinking about for someone my age. I realise we are all different, but any general points would be helpful.