Preparing for my first Winter Camp

This weekend I'll be going out with a group to partaking in my first winter camping experience.  While we will be in a designated campsite and have the luxury of bringing a car full of equipment, this is still a fairly significant milestone as it marks my first foray into spending nights out in the cold.

The presented a problem to me.  Of course I have gear, but the majority of what I have can be considered "3-season" equipment, that is, it was designed with spring/summer/fall conditions in mind.  How then can could I reasonably make the transition into winter treks without having to invest hundreds of dollars into buying brand new specialized gear?

Of course this is a problem that has been encountered many times because, and because I have no intention of messing around with hypothermia and so a lot of research has gone into how to stay warm both at night and during the day.  Of course I have invested in better quality cold weather clothing, but was surprised at what could be done to 'winterize' the gear I already had.

Tent
The first discovery I had was that the key difference between a 3-season tent and a 4-season tent is actually structural, since a 4 season will likely have to support the extra stress of snow and high winds.  In terms of insulative value, there isn't much difference between what the 4-season offers compared to the 3-season.

Fortunately for us it's been a fairly mild winter so far, and so we're not expecting a lot of snowfall.  At this point, warmth has more to do with the quality of clothing, sleeping bag and sleeping pad.

Clothing
As stated before I did a bit more investing in clothing, upgrading different parts of my base, mid and outer layers.  I won't go into more detail that this, since it's way beyond the scope of this post.  The key thing to remember is that layers are important, and each one has a specific purpose that should not be ignored.

Sleeping Bag
My sleeping bag is a SnugPak Softie Elite 3, which is rated to -10 extreme.  I usually like assume a 10 degree tolerance for comfort and that the rating would be the bare minimum needed to keep me from dying.  With that said, I will be bringing extra blankets for insulation, a luxury I can afford since we'll have a car.

Sleeping Pad
I've had my self-inflating pad for a few years now and would be foolish not to bring it.  The sleeping pad adds a lay of insulation between the ground and body which makes a world of difference.  The cold ground can suck the warmth out of the body very quickly and be deadly.

Other notes
One thing I almost overlooked was a method of staking out the tent.  I take for grant that in the other seasons I can hammer stakes into the ground and have a fairly secure setup.  In the winter, this doesn't work as well as snow doesn't hold on to the stakes.  So how do we get around this?

Anchors
This could be bags filled with snow, rocks or a "deadman's anchor" made from sticks or tent stakes.  All work well but involve digging a hole and then burying the anchor and stamping down the snow on top to secure.

Snow stakes
Specifically designed to hold in deep snow, these stakes aren't as likely to put up from the snow when hammered in.



At the end of the day, all the research I do will not match the lessons I will learn from actually going out and doing.  Still, it pays to be prepared and I would rather be over prepared than under...