Got a Klondike or Polar Bear campout coming up with your Scouts BSA Troop, Venturing Crew or Sea Scout Ship?  Here are some “Winter Tips from the Hodag” (Hodag Klondike is January 19-21, but these tips apply to all outdoor activities in the cold weather – upcoming Winter Events).

  • Put your clothes for the next day in your bag all the way at your feet to keep them warm for the morning.
  • Put your water bottle in one of your socks, and stick it upside down in one of your boots. This will keep it from freezing at the top of the water bottle.
  • Use a closed foam cell pad, tyvek type wrap or reflective foil insulation piece under your sleeping bag, but on top of your sleeping pad to keep the cold from the ground radiating up to you though your sleeping bag.
  • If you have a water bladder in your backpack, blow out the hose completely and disconnect it from the bladder before you go to bed. Wrap the entire bladder and hose in a piece of reflective foil insulation or clothes to keep it from freezing during the night.
  • If your bag is too big for you, or you get cold, add more layers if you have them. If you don’t, stuff all the rest of your clothes and jackets inside the sleeping bag around you to fill up the space.  The more extra space that is in the sleeping bag, the more area your body has to heat, which will make you cold. If you are still cold, get up and do jumping jacks. This will warm you up.
  • If you have to pee in the middle of the night, do not hold it.  Your body will expend more energy keeping the contents of your bladder warm, than keeping the rest of you warm. Just get up and go to the bathroom.
  • To keep your boots from freezing overnight, lay them down under your sleeping bag under your feet. Lay them down like they came in their original box.
  • Do NOT wear cotton!
  • Bring a set of clothes to change into to sleep in, including socks.  You don’t realize that you might have sweated during the day. When you go to bed, that bit of moisture in your clothes will make you cold.
  • Wear a hat to bed! You lose a lot of warmth through your head at night.
  • Dress in layers. Base layer (polyester or wool), middle insulating layer (like fleece, down, or synthetic down), then outer layer to protect from wind.
  • To warm up your sleeping bag before you go to bed, activate a bunch of hand warmers, and toss them in various parts of your sleeping bag an hour before you go to bed.

Additional Safety Moment Info and Winter Event Newsletter