Rooftop camping in winter is great. The cold and the crisp air make camping something else and also contribute to the fact that you are most likely to be alone where you choose to camp.
It is really cozy to sit covered in fur in a winter landscape by a fire, make hot coffee and look at a starry sky.
But it is important to be prepared and to think about what equipment you bring.
We at Taktältarna have tested roof tenting in the winter on several different occasions and in temperatures down to minus 15 degrees with our roof tent Åreskutan .
Among other things, we have used it as a place to sleep on the way up to Abisko, where we traveled to hunt the northern lights in February and in the spring winter when we went on a ski trip in southern Lapland.
Here we share our best tips for those of you who want to pitch a roof tent in winter.
8 tips for those who want to use a roof tent in winter
1. The most important thing when you are going to roof tent in the winter is to have a sleeping bag adapted to the temperature outside. Feel free to also have an extra sleeping pad or wool blanket to put on the mattress for extra insulation.
2. Sleep in woolen underwear and a hat. If you miss the cap, much of the body's heat will escape through the head.
3. When there is snow outside, it is more difficult to find secluded places to spend the night. This is because small roads and parking pockets are not always ploughed. A campsite, rest area or large parking lot can be good options for winter camping. The advantage of rest areas is that there are also usually good toilets!
4. Use an insulating inner tent , it both raises the temperature inside the roof tent and minimizes condensation on the tent fabric.
5. If you want to hang out in the roof tent, there are external heat sources to use, we have tested the Heating Buddy gas heater which works great. You just screw on an ordinary LPG container and it gets hot in no time. It shuts itself off if the carbon dioxide/carbon monoxide levels get too high or if it falls. Others use a diesel heater with a pipe up the roof tent, which is powered by a battery. Both options are nice to start when it's time to crawl into the sleeping bag for the night or out of it in the morning.
6. If it's freezing outside, be patient when unfolding and collapsing the roof tent as all the materials become stiffer. Above all, the cover of the roof tent will be a little more difficult to assemble.
7. If you do not use a heat source in the roof tent, it is good to take a short run or do a few squats to warm up your body before crawling into the sleeping bag. Please drink something warm just before bedtime. If you're really frozen, or it's really cold, you can have a bottle of hot water, wrapped in a protective cloth) to put in the sleeping bag, warms nicely!
8. Bring plenty of firewood with you - both for coziness in the evening and for warmth in the morning when you get up. Extra blankets to wrap around yourself in the camping chairs are also nice!
Fancy a roof top tent? Check out our roof tents here . If you have any questions about roof tents and roof tents, you are always welcome to contact us! info@taktaltarna.se
All photos except the one of sleeping bags and the gas heater were taken by Philip Alexandersson .
