Episode-1197- Damon Butz on Winter Camping
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Damon Butz is from Calgary Alberta Canada in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He grew up camping, fishing and snowboarding in the mountains. Damon is an architectural Designer by trade with varied hobbies such as Permaculture design, gardening, gold prospecting, preserving and Beekeeping.
However his first love is backpacking. Damon is a volunteer with a local hiking group where he participates in and organizes summer and winter backpacking trips. He has extensive experience with winter camping trips and day trips involving snowshoes, nordic skis, split board and cross country skiing.
Damon Joins Us Today to Answer Questions Such As…
- What type of winter trip should you really consider
- What clothing do you take on a trip
- What are some of the key pieces of equipment for winter trips
- What modes of travel are best for winter trips
- What are some common mistakes made on winter trips
- How to get started in winter trips if you don’t know anyone doing it already
Resources for today’s show…
- Members Support Brigade
- Join Our Forum
- 13Skills.com
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- Shop for TSP Silver
- TSP Gear
- Back Yard Food Production – (sponsor of the day)
- Survival Gear Bags – (sponsor of the day)
- The Year 1197 on Wikipedia
- PermaEthos.com
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
As a Canadian who suffers with winter, for what it seems is six months a year up here, this will be a great one to save for my ride to work. I have only done day camping/backpacking out here on my four acre lot. This is going to be a good one!
The 3 best reasons to go winter camping. Are the 3 B’s
no Bugs
no Bears
no Bodies (the outdoor partier type of campers stay home in winter, so the only people you meet are serious campers)
The main principle for being comfortable in winter is keeping dry. How you do that is up to you as there are many ways to accomplish that task. As Damon mentioned, there is no one best type of clothing to get. One has to find what works for them and their body types. I am a bigger guy to0 and require way less clothing to be comfortable in winter temperatures.
Great episode. If you’ve never winter camped before I would advise what Damon did and meet up with people who are experienced at it or to find a winter camping skills course in your area. These are usually put on by state parks or outdoor guide companies. There are many more things to be aware of in winter temperatures. Ie Hypothermia.
Cheers
Brian
Another interesting thing you could do Jack to go along with the year in history thing, is to link back to the episode from last year and such that was uploaded on the same day as the new episode. You see this a lot on cooking blogs (a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine to find recipes…) and I have found that it gives people a snap shot of different topics that they didn’t necessarily go look for. Really good marketing tactic to get new people to keep looking around your site, by the way.
Damon needs a blog, what a wealth of information!
In addition to the 3B’s, I’d added the 1 S – snakes. Nothing kills the outdoor mood like almost stepping on a rattlesnake.
Ah snakes are almost never a problem. This from a guy that was bitten by a large copper head and spent a night in the hospital over it by the way.
Lol, Jack nailed it… or rather “it” nailed Jack. The one thing worse is stepping on that rattler and having ones flesh punctured by twin hollow teeth.
I enjoy spring, summer and fall camping, but having the biters holed up during winter is a boon. A shame Im so cold natured.
There are no snakes in most of Canada and none in Alaska
Hey ya’ll just wanted to add one thing off topic, I started using this stuff called FrogLube on my knives and guns and it Awesome, made in USA, plant based non-petroleum. Here’s the link
http://www.froglube.com/FL13/root13b.htm
I have been using the CLP paste
I know Damon didn’t want to give brand names for clothes, but what brand pad was he talking about, Thermarest or something better?
I have a couple of Exped brand mats. They have a built in pump and insulation. They are awesome! Very warm and cushioning.
ive got a couple questions for damon.
when tent camping in the winter, what are some methods you use to dry wet clothing?
when i put on cold boots in the morning, my feet get cold and never seem to warm up. any suggestions?
great episode.
have fun.
-p