Customer Reviews

Amc Guide to Winter Camping: Wilderness Travel and Adventure in the Cold-Weather Months

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3 star:		(1)
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Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Stephen Gorman's Winter Camping continues to be a superb introductory "how to" guide for enjoying the special allure of winter camping. This comprehensive manual covers gear selection from tends and clothing to stoves and sleds; travel tips for skiing, hiking, and snowshoeing (including naviagion and ice travel); winter safety including weath and health, injury prevention, hypothermia, and winter rescue; and making camp including site selection, tents, snow caves, and snow houses. Of special value is the information on backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. Exceptionally well laid out and organized, Winter Camping is an absolute "must" for novice campers, and has a great deal of value for even experienced winter campers.

This is an excellent resource for beginner winter campers. I have read through all of the winter and snow camping books and literature available and find this one to be the most complete. Gorman mentions a lot of the details that many other authors leave out. You may notice as I did however, that the cover scene is used about five times throughout the book. A good book, worth it's price.

If you are going to buy only one book on camping in the winter time, this should be the book. Extremely well written, covering everything from groups and leadership to family camping. Gorman also exposes the reader to different options and equipment, (traditional vs. modern, skis vs. snowshoes, etc.) in a fashion that allows the reader to choose what might work best for them. I heartily reccomend this book to anyone considering heading out into the backwoods in the winter.

This is really a great guide that just about covers every relevant detail on winter camping. Its been my springboard to extensive winter outdoor activity. In here you'll find all the basics: Gorman discusses everything from gear for travel like skis, to camping technique, to clothing, safety, etc. He presents modern techniques & tips but he also mentions traditional info. as applicable.

Specific to this edition of the book are a handful of new pictures but most of the material is almost the same as the earlier edition, which is to say great. Thus if you can't get a hold of this edition not to worry as the previous edition is as good.

This is my favorite book about winter camping. The author has thought through the entire process of winter outings. Travel by snowshoe, ski, or mountaineering gear. Tenting. Sleeping. Cooking. Picking an area to visit. Getting there and back alive. Also, Steve Gorman recognizes the value in a wide range of styles, from the modern alloy snowshoes, Mountain tents, synthetics, and Gore-tex to the traditional modes of wood stove and saw, canvas tent, ash and babiche snowshoes. He makes snow camping sound fun, the difficulties manageable. Right up there with Rustrum's "Paradise Below Zero", Harry Roberts' "Moving On", and Glenn Randall's "Cold Comfort".

This book has some great info about Winter camping, but for experienced outdoors-people looking for new ideas or more advanced info, this probably isn't the right book for you.

Quite frankly, if you're not an experienced back-country skier or a snowshoer, Winter camping probably isn't a good place to start, anyway. This guide runs you through everything from layering your clothing to the type of boots that you should have. It's a comprehensive guide to Winter camping. Sounds great, but that carries some dangerous implications.

Winter camping has an additional level of danger in it, due to the inherent climate conditions, so going in unexperienced in clothing layers, boots, and gear is a potentially hazardous undertaking. I would get experienced with backcountry Winter day-trips, and be a pro at 3-season conditions, before taking on Winter camping (even after reading this book).

All in all, good book, but it's a little fluffy in the wording, and not very rich in more advanced info (health hazards, altitude+cold issues, tent anchor techniques (in high winds, low winds, soft snow, ice, etc), bad/extreme weather). In other words, if you've never been Winter camping, and you're beginner/intermediate with backcountry Winter explorations, consider that you may be heading into a dangerous situation, without proper experience and only a elementary understanding of the Winter camping environment and the potential hazards that exist.

This guide covered a lot of issues I had concerns with prior to my first hardcore winter packpacking trip. I was very glad to have read it for its tips on having successful campsites, navigation, and equipment selection. Some of the information can be found in traditional guides, but it is nice to have a book that focuses its attention on the subject specifically.

It's a significant improvement of an already fine reference for cold weather hiking and camping.

The Winter Camping Handbook: Wilderness Travel & Adventure in the Cold-Weather Months, Updated Edition

Robert C. Ross 2008