Keeping gear warm in sub zero camping?

[trailspinTV]

So, we went cold camping (-6 degrees Fahrenheit) up in Wisconsin two weekends ago and ran into a problem that we weren't exactly prepared for. All of our liquids froze (water, other drinks, canned soups, etc) which makes perfect sense in hindsight, but I wasn't prepared to deal with a 6 gallon jug of water freezing solid overnight. Crack open a beer, and it would be frozen solid in under 5 minutes.

We ended up boiling snow, cooking canned foods directly on the fire, and basically adapted to not having certain things for the 3-day trip knowing we'd be home soon. But, on a longer trip I can imagine this turning into a much bigger problem. What's the best way to keep things thawed out? Keep them close to a fire? Does that mean taking stored food out of their cooler or other container and laying it all within the fire's vicinity? What about when the fire is out and you're sleeping?

Another problem, although not as life-threatening, was that all of our electronics froze up and wouldn't work. Our cell phones, cameras, flashlights - basically anything with a battery were pretty much useless all weekend unless we wheeled long enough to keep the cabin temperature warm enough to thaw them out.

Not sure I'd do the sub zero camping thing on purpose again, but I'm curious what other hard-core campers do when the temperatures are extremely cold.

 

[dblack]

I have a trip this week planned and we were having just this debate last night.
Planned route:

Stuff is gonna freeze.

My plan is to have a cold cooler and a “warm” cooler. The small “warm” cooler I’ll keep in the back seat with fresh vegetables/fruit, a few bottles of water etc. Things I don’t want to freeze solid. During the day I’ll open it up and let the truck heat warm it up a bit. At night I’ll close it up and hopefully the water will act as a bit of a heat sink holding the temperature close to or above freezing.

I’ll have a flat of water on the floor of the truck hopefully thawing as we drive.

Electronics I’m not too worried about. I’ll have maps etc on paper. And they work ok until about -10deg C or so. If it gets colder than that I may take it in the tent with me.

 

[trailspinTV]

I have a trip this week planned and we were having just this debate last night.
Planned route:

Stuff is gonna freeze.

My plan is to have a cold cooler and a “warm” cooler. The small “warm” cooler I’ll keep in the back seat with fresh vegetables/fruit, a few bottles of water etc. Things I don’t want to freeze solid. During the day I’ll open it up and let the truck heat warm it up a bit. At night I’ll close it up and hopefully the water will act as a bit of a heat sink holding the temperature close to or above freezing.

I’ll have a flat of water on the floor of the truck hopefully thawing as we drive.

Electronics I’m not too worried about. I’ll have maps etc on paper. And they work ok until about -10deg C or so. If it gets colder than that I may take it in the tent with me.

The heat doesn't work well in my vehicle which just exacerbates things, but this sounds like a solid plan.

I'm actually kind of surprised to see that the temperatures in the most northern part of your loop are higher than what we experienced only 9 days ago in Wisconsin. In my head, it has to be -25 degrees C all day and night this time of year.

Have a blast on your trip!

 

[Ripley1046]

First of all, I hope WI treated you well aside from the subzero thing... You never get used to it btw.

I've had a bit of luck with the warm cooler thing, not so much on trips, but working out of my truck for a few days and needing to keep some supplies from freezing.

The other thing to try is wrapping stuff in mylar blankets. Doesn't help as much if they are super cold, but if they start reasonably warm it can keep them there. I've had a case of water in the bed of my truck for 2 or 3 days without freezing (solid anyway) with a space blanket and packing blanket wrapped around it.

 

[Revere]

My plan is to have a cold cooler and a “warm” cooler. The small “warm” cooler I’ll keep in the back seat with fresh vegetables/fruit, a few bottles of water etc. Things I don’t want to freeze solid.

That's exactly what I did recently, except I just put everything in the cooler with a couple of ice packs. It was about 2 degrees F overnight and everything in the cooler was fine, staying just above freezing. All my electronics died though!

 

[dblack]

The heat doesn't work well in my vehicle which just exacerbates things, but this sounds like a solid plan.

I'm actually kind of surprised to see that the temperatures in the most northern part of your loop are higher than what we experienced only 9 days ago in Wisconsin. In my head, it has to be -25 degrees C all day and night this time of year.

Have a blast on your trip!

We have our cold bursts. This week in Fort Chipewyan the forecast said it was around -31°F..: I’m really hoping we don’t see that this week. It should be closer to 14°F during the day and a low of -4°F.

It’s going to be... brisk. But we’ll survive.

If you don’t hear back, send a dog sled to find us! lol

 

[Cort]

Boil water and put in a Nalgene bottle, some times two bottles and put in a cooler with everything you don’t want to freeze overnight. Always store liquids upside down(liquids freeze up top first). This allows you to pour if it’s partially frozen.

Electronics need to stay up against your body, coat pockets don’t work.

Lithium batteries work way better.

I make koozies for my electronics and bottles made of reflectix and keep them in my sleeping bag with me overnight.

Boil in a bag meals rock in cold weather, try good to go meals or packit gourmet.

Beer is great cold but whiskey never freezes

Once you figure out some tricks of the trade it gets much easier and you’ll see a whole new beauty around you.