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 Topic: Scotland in December. Will I Survive?
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31/10/2019 at 9:29pm
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Why not try a winter weekend first, this would give you a partial insight and a better understanding if you could do a week or more.
Also lets you see if your kit is suitable.
I only say this as you do not seem to be experienced and winter camping in the Scottish highlands is not to be underestimated and can change from a normal winters day to a blizzard in minutes.Your tent could end up looking like a sheet of pure ice.
Even experienced winter campers can get it wrong sometimes.
Even better would be to go with a mate, always a good idea in winter.
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31/10/2019 at 11:30pm
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I was on the Lock Ness Project one summer. All the tents except my Phoenix Phantom were blown down. When I walked from the Military Road to the ridge above the Loch no problem, but trying to get back I went round in circles even with a map and compass. I got careful after that.
In summer, in Normandy, in a tent, I sat out the rain for a day. There's a limit for how long you can read, when you stop reading it starts to get boring. If it's cold you can't hold the book.
I'm an experienced camper, I wouldn't do winter camping alone, I'd want a group out there with me. We'd sleep in small mountain tents and have a larger mess tent. if things went wrong we'd bug out.
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01/11/2019 at 11:28pm
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Based on my winter camping in non-mountainous parts of southern England, I would say
Bell tent plus stove, as long as the tent has a properly fitted flashing kit, spark arrester etc.
I would take a CO detector, too.
Go to an actual campsite so that you can keep your car close, and take bags of kiln dried logs or log-substitutes that can burn in the stove.
Take loads of those little hand warmer things you put in your pocket. They are good in the bottom of your sleeping bag, too.
Hot water bottle.
Foam matting on the floor of the tent underneath your coir mat. The jigsaw type of foam mats. But sheets of cardboard wouldn't be bad.
Sleep on a mat with a high R Value (e.g http://https:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermarest-Ridge-Rest-Solar-Sleeping/dp/B003F01QA0
Maybe off the floor on a camp bed.
Good quality sleeping bag, fleece blankets, fleece hat.
Bucket - you don't want to have to get cold and damp in the coldest part of the night.
I think you might get cold if you sit around reading all day, go for a good walk and then sit in a pub.
My kid did scout camp in the snow and ice, was fine.
Y
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02/11/2019 at 7:47pm
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Good post Ewen, I have some experience of winter camping in small tents but not for a few years.
As you say snow is more likely in Jan and Feb but can snow in December and my concern for the Op was his idea of wanting to spend a week or two with not having any real experience of a Scottish winter.
Hence my suggestion to have a practise weekend before commiting to a longer stay.
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It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
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via mobile 01/11/2019 at 1:09am
