Click on the image to the right to listen as Scott chats with North Shore Radio host, Mark Abrahamson, about the joys of Winter camping in the coldest weather with a hot tent!
Pack & Paddle: Hot Tent Winter Camping Transcript
0:00:00.2 Mark: WTIP's feature Pack & Paddle with Scott Oeth is up next. Scott is a registered Maine Guide, an Eagle Scout, and Minnesota Master Naturalist. He's an instructor for the Okpik National Cold Weather Leader School. He joins us now by phone to talk about hot tent winter camping. Good morning, Scott.
0:00:21.0 Scott Oeth: Good morning, Mark.
0:00:22.0 Mark: I hope you're reasonably warm right now.
0:00:25.9 SO: I'm actually...hate to say it, I'm visiting relatives in Arizona right now, and it's early morning here, and it's a little chilly out on the patio, but it's pretty nice, and it's gonna be a nice day.
0:00:37.8 Mark: Alright. Potentially a place for a hot tent, but not in the...
0:00:41.0 SO: Exactly, exactly.
0:00:41.8 Mark: And into the winter too, actually. Well, talk about hot tent camping up here in the northern country.
0:00:48.7 SO: Yeah. This is absolutely one of my favorite pastimes. Hot tent winter camping is particularly referring to a tent where you have a small metal stove inside the tent with a chimney, and a chimney hole that runs outside, so you're actually running a little fireplace inside the tent. And it's a traditional technique that's been used for a long time in the North with trappers and natives and prospectors, and a lot of different types of back country hunting camps, and it kind of had died out or was lost with the advent of nylon backpacking type camping gear, but it seems to me it's really experienced a resurgence, especially in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. There's a lot of people really getting back into this style of winter camping, and for good reason. It's just a wonderful way to go. It's comfortable, it's relaxing. It's like having... I like to refer it as my canvas cabin that rolls up on a toboggan and weighs 25 pounds, and when I get set up, it's a home away from home in the northwoods.
0:01:51.5 Mark: So quite a few advantages to hot tent camping. Talk about some disadvantage potentially with it.
0:02:00.5 SO: Yeah. I think the main disadvantage is there are some safety concerns. You've got a little metal stove that's going in there and can get red hot, so you can burn yourself on it if you brush against it with gear, especially nylon or synthetic gear. It can very easily singe it, so we more often lean towards wool and cotton shells, some things that are a little bit more spark and fire-resistant. So burns. There's potential of a fire if the chimney gets all sooted up and has gunk in it, or carbon monoxide poisoning some folks worry about, although I haven't actually heard of any cases of that, if you're using the lightweight canvas tents and the stove is running well. Probably for me, the real disadvantage, the only one I've encountered is you never wanna put that tent away wet if it's canvas. It can mildew, and so sometimes, even though it would be nice to set it up, I look at it and say, "Boy, if it's just one night, and I'm just sleeping, I kinda forego it," because it's not a terrible hassle to set up, but it is just enough to put it up, take it down, and then think about how I have to store and dry out the tent when I get home that every now and then, I just go without.
0:03:07.2 Mark: Now, are there moisture issues inside the tent with hot tent camping?
0:03:12.4 SO: One of the wonderful thing, Mark, is a lot of moisture issues if you're using a nylon tent in the winter with condensation from your breath. If you're using that lightweight canvas tent, you have the stove going, it's bone dry inside. And that's part of what makes it such a wonderful... It's not just that it's warm and that you can relax, but you get the stove going there, you can dry out your gear. With a hot tent, you could live out in the winter indefinitely, because every night, you can dry out your boot liners, your mittens, you can dry out your sleeping bag and you yourself can dry out. It's a nice, dry environment. That stove pushes the vapor out through the canvas walls. Very different than a nylon tent where you wake up, it's cold and there's frost on the inside, and you brush it and you get a little snow shower and all that.
0:03:56.6 Mark: Well, you just talked me into it because I've certainly experienced all of the above with winter camping without a hot tent. Now if somebody is interested in doing this, how do they get into this? Maybe go out with a guide the first time and try it, or how can they do that?
0:04:12.2 SO: Yeah. A number of the Boundary Waters outfitters will rent the toboggans with the hot tent set up and the stove, and that's a great way to go. There are guides that can take you out. I take people out. So there's groups like that. There's events. In October and November, there's the Winter Camping Symposium, and the Winters Gathering where you can go hang out with people, and online, I blogged about these things. There's a great group on Facebook called Traditional Winter Camping, and there's a really good website called wintertrekking.com with a very active forum. So loads of materials.
0:04:43.7 Mark: It would seem to be like a good idea to try this with somebody else first before you go out and buy the equipment. I imagine the equipment is quite a purchase to start with.
0:04:54.9 SO: Yeah, the cost is a factor. We have some wonderful boutique makers in the area. Snowtrekker Tents and Four Dog Stoves, and they make the best gear available for this. But it is a high quality gear, and there's a lot of effort put into it, so it's not cheap, and so going out with someone that has a set. Most people are excited about this activity and are happy to introduce others to it, so if they find a friend, go with a guide, rent gear, that's a great way to start. And with any outdoor activity, especially the ones that there is potential for more risk or more of an oops factor, I really recommend people start it close to home. Make sure you have a good bail out point in case things aren't going well. So, nothing wrong with trying things in your backyard or local state park campground before you go too far into the wild.
0:05:43.4 Mark: There we go. That's a great idea. We are talking with Scott Oeth. Now, do you discuss this on your website currently? Bullmoosepatrol.com is just a great website. I didn't get a chance to check out whether you have hot tenting on there yet.
0:05:58.2 SO: Yeah, thank you, Mark. I appreciate that. I have a lot of winter camping related articles. I have some that definitely crossed into hot tent winter camping, some of the activities, and we will certainly be posting more. If you don't mind, I just thought of two more excellent resources.
0:06:13.0 Mark: Go for it.
0:06:14.3 SO: There's a book called The Snow Walker's Companion, written by Garrett and Alexandra Conover. I believe Garrett's actually the author on it, Maine Guides, who lived in the Walton for 10 years in Northern Maine. That is the handbook for this resource, the definitive guide, and then there's a Minnesotan... There's just one of my favorites, Calvin Rutstrum, he's been gone for quite a while now, that wrote many books about outdoor activities and the title of his book just sums this up perfectly. It's called Paradise Below Zero, and he writes about the hot tent experience, and his book is just a gem and really the title captures what it's all about.
0:06:50.8 Mark: Alright. Well, this is Scott Oeth, and his website is called bullmoosepatrol.com. Anything else you wanna add, Scott?
0:07:00.2 SO: Get out there and give it a try. It's a great way to...
0:07:01.5 Mark: Give it a try.
0:07:02.8 SO: Yep, yep.
0:07:04.1 Mark: Thank you very much for talking with us today.
0:07:06.0 SO: Thanks, Mark. Have a good morning.