My first winter camp @ Arrowhead Provincial Park (Part 1 of 2)

 I've been wanting to graduate to winter camping for a while. I always knew that it'd be challenging and, in the back country, any situation could easily escalate into a life threatening one. So, I decided to try it out in an accessible provincial park of Ontario (Arrowhead Provincial Park) in the heart of Canadian winter. This allowed some room for gear malfunction and also granted access to emergency services should something go wrong due to inclement winter weather.

Arrowhead is a popular provincial park sitting just outside its bigger brother, and my favorite, Algonquin provincial park. The park has a well established trail system for winter activities and also hosts Fire and Ice nights (more on that here) on the natural skating rink. 

The temperature that day was -12 degree Celsius (-17 with wind chill) or 10 degree Fahrenheit (near zero Fahrenheit with wind chill). And, we had a lot of snow a day before and there was an active warning for more on the day I was to camp. I couldn't have asked for a better night... 

In my research for winter camping, I realized that having the right gear is mission critical. Good gear is important for back country escapades in other seasons as well but you could, potentially without risking your life, overcome malfunctions in the summer/shoulder seasons (see my Highland trek in Algonquin park (here)) with minor workarounds. With winter camping, the margin of error is incredibly thin and a minor error in judgment could easily put your life in jeopardy. 

So, I put in a lot of time researching the right gear - I had to literally refresh every component of my summer camping setup. Here is what I ended up with :

Sleep

• Tent: MSR Access 2 (https://www.mec.ca/en/product/6008-236/access-2-person-tent-2.0)
• Sleeping bag: Nemo Sonic -20F (https://www.nemoequipment.com/products/sonic-ultralight-mummy-sleeping-bag)
• Sleeping pad: Thermarest NeoAir NXT MAX (https://www.thermarest.com/ca/sleeping-pads/fast-and-light/neoair-xlite-nxt-max-sleeping-pad/neoair-xlite-nxt-max.html)
• Down balaclava: Outdoor Vitals LoftTek Hybrid (https://outdoorvitals.com/products/lofttek-hybrid-balaclava?_pos=2&_sid=19e431e99&_ss=r)
• A cheap insulating tarp like insulating fabric from Amazon (I used this inside the tent to increase insulation; and used the regular MSR tent footprint under the tent)

Kitchen

• Primary Stove: MSR whisperlite universal (https://www.msrgear.com/ca/stoves/liquid-fuel-stoves/whisperlite-stove/11782.html)
• Backup Stove: MSR PocketRocket deluxe (https://www.msrgear.com/ca/stoves/canister-stoves/pocketrocket-deluxe-stove/10955.html)
• Soto utensils
• Fuel (White gas for Whisperlite and Canister fuel for PocketRocket )

Clothing

Base layer; Fleece; Winter jacket (Kanuk, a local Montreal firm - I am a big fan); wind breaker gloves; lightweight 800 fill down jacket for emergency use

Other accessories

• Snow shovel (BCA 2H: https://backcountryaccess.com/en-ca/p/dozer-2h-avalanche-shovel-2024)
• Hatchet (Fiskars X7: https://www.mec.ca/en/product/6026-372/x7-hatchet)
• Fire starters, emergency matches, emergency blanket
• Pee bottle (you don't want to walk to the compost toilet in the middle of the night)

In the next part, I'll go into the detail on how the gear fared and also on the overall experience.