Snow camping with a helping hand

Access to more remote backcountry ski terrain; a quick escape from the day-to-day treadmill of life; positioning for one of my biggest passions, night sky photography; and just for the sheer fun of it, are all reasons I love snow camping.

Although the challenge of managing the cold is part of the experience, this past season I upped my winter camping game by adding a titanium wood-burning stove to a tarp tent as my preferred winter camping set-up for warm and cozy nights. Being warm before sleep is a game-changer when it comes to moving the needle from survival to enjoyment in the cold. As are a few of the unique Voile products that elevate my snow camping experience.

Choosing the right skis

With a heavy overnight pack, I choose snow camping locations with relatively mellow access. Think long, low-angle touring and rolling terrain versus any steep inclines. For these kinds of routes, my go-to ski is the extremely versatile and ultra-lightweight, Voile Hypervector BC. A 96-waist (177-length) full-size alpine ski but with “fish scale” traction-pattern bases. The lightness of the skis without skins and the efficiency of the kick and the glide make travel with a heavy pack much more pleasurable as I move over the snow on the way to camp.

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  Stomping out a tent platform
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  The scaled-base HyperVector BC

At camp, they are perfect for moving around, stomping out the tent site, or getting up in the night to go out and take photos without having to mess with skins. The skins stay stowed in my pack, dry for later use on steeper skin tracks. If anyone has tried to dry skins while snow camping, especially after the sun has gone down, you will understand this benefit. From camp, I like to push out into bigger terrain to farm powder turns. Here the Hypervector’s excel again with great float and edging well on the hardpack of windblown ridges. So fun! We return to camp with big grins from skiing fresh untracked snow far from any civilization.

A Shovel Perfect for Snow Camping

People recognize Voile as having the best shovels on the market. Strong and lightweight, they are the go-to for backcountry rescue. The T-Wood Avalanche Shovel (which has a saw stowed away inside the handle) is simply genius and takes it to the next level. While I wait for the snow to set up after stomping out the tent site, I deploy the saw, cut, and process wood for the stove. Sure, some branches can be snapped but when a certain length is needed it is far easier to cut them and get the size right, as well as avoid an injury from flying wood shards (yes, this has happened to my partner one night necessitating an 8-mile hike at midnight to the ER and sewing a lip back on). The 7-inch, 6-teeth/inch blade is the perfect size and length for cutting the kind of wood needed for my stove.

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  The T-Wood Shovel out in the field
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  Saw blade in action!

After gathering enough fuel for the night and morning I head back to camp. Here I put away the blade inside the telescoping handle and deploy the shovel’s aluminum scoop. This makes quick work of digging sleeping and cooking platforms inside and outside the tent. Like I said, genius indeed!!

A simple and solid Tent Hack

My tent of choice for snow camping is a pyramid or tarp tent. One of the many advantages of this setup is I do not need to carry any tent poles. Instead, I use two items that I bring anyway – my Voile CamLock 2 Carbon ski poles and the Voile Straps which I have wrapped around each pole for emergency or any other use. The two ski poles are placed together at the correct height and are secured firmly with a couple of Voile straps to form the center pole of the pyramid tarp tent. Ultimately adjustable due to the nature of the straps, this adaptation is both strong and stable and of course, it saves over a pound of weight.

Being someone who likes to wander around the camp, if I need to use my poles after camp is set up, I switch the ski poles out with my probe. Since the probe is not as stable, if there is any wind in the forecast, I will put the ski poles and straps back up.  

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  Voile CamLock 2 Carbon ski poles and Straps as tent pole
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  Blue hour at camp

In Short

Camping during the harshest season of the year doesn’t come easy but the more I get my snow-camping system dialed, the more comfortable I get. With the addition of the hot tent, the right skis, a shovel with a saw, and the use of poles with Voile Straps as the center pole of my tent, I find my time to be more efficient and enjoyable. So, there you have it – some of my simple tips and tricks using the ever-reliable and ingenious Voile equipment which makes a big difference for me when snow camping.

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