Winter Camping School

This is a non-survival school for those who want to enjoy the winter, snow and moonlight in comfort.

The Winter Camping School concentrates on the fundamental understanding, equipment and techniques to keep warm in cold environment on an overnight stay. Skills learned in this school are applicable for anyone who plans to spend time in the winter wilderness including hikers, snowshoers, campers, climbers and skiers. It does not teach high altitude glaciated techniques, but it provides solid foundation that can be expanded to camping over timberline.

The Winter Camping School is open to any member of the CMC regardless of group membership or classification. There are no prerequisites but prior completion of the CMC Wilderness Trekking School and/or some winter hiking experience are recommended.

In order to graduate, students have to attend all lectures (Q and A sessions are optional), watching all video modules and submit all quizzes with satisfactory grading.

Students also have to participate in three qualified CMC trips: one one-day snowshoe trip to learn basic techniques and two overnight field trips.  All trips will be on snowshoes, no skis allowed.

Dates:
In-person and online lectures (required):
February 11 (in-person) lecture, February 18 and February 25 online at 6:20 PM
Online QandA sessions (optional):
March 4 and March 18, at 6:20 PM
In-person lectures will be held in the CMC clubhouse. Zoom id will be provided for online meetings.

Qualified Snowshoe Trips are not part of the school and will be posted in the CMC schedule on the following dates:
Day Trips: February 22 (required) and March 8 (optional snow structure building practice)
Overnight Trips: March 15-16 and March 29-30 
April 4-5 is reserved as a backup overnight date if qualified trips has to be cancelled. Note, that these are not make-up dates for missed field trips.

Topics covered