Frozen Adventure

Recently we had our first experience using the SkyRise car tent in BELOW FREEZING temperatures.

Roxy LOVED the deep snow and constant cold, but besides that. . .

. . . It did not go very well. We had been so confident in our 4 season tent, planning to live out in this weather for weeks, but the condensation and freezing fog pushed it passed it’s limits.

I do have to say that we stayed relatively warm with our 20◦F rated down quilt, but we were in danger of getting soaking wet every single morning.

The condensation was INSAINE. Every morning the walls and ceiling of the tent were thick with moisture, dripping down and drenching our top layer of blankets. Every shake of the tent caused it to rain down upon us. This happened even with EverySingleWindow cracked open, differently each night, to try and combat the moisture.

Nothing we tried worked. The tent created such a strange environment with our body heat and the freezing cold that despite our efforts to dry out the tent each day, it grew mold on the mesh windows. There was no escape from the moisture.

In the middle of the 3rd night AusFrog was brutally awoken by a freezing cold puddle under his buttocks. We had gathered such a large amount of condensation under the mattress that froze during the day and melted from our heat at night that it soaked through every layer.

An icy wet butt is NOT a fun way to wake up!

– AusFrog

We were barely able to survive the harsh winter weather for eight days and seven nights, only with the help of our friends who let us use their fire to dry out our stuff each day.

Our friends saved our adventure and made the stay worth wile despite the overwhelming chore of waking up to wipe down the soaked tent, gather the wet blankets and towels, and hope that they would be dry to repeat the process the next night.

We will need to make some modifications if we are going to extreme winter camp in the car tent again. (Call us crazy, but we still want to!!)

If you have any suggestions for these issues while winter camping please leave a comment!