Snow/Winter Camping Class

Last night I attended a winter/snow camping basics class at REI. It was given by the woman, Amanda, as the Map & Compass 101 class I took last week. Amanda is REI's Outreach coordinator, and does a lot of the classes. She's good at it, and makes the class enjoyable. I have never gone camping in the snow or serious winter conditions, but I've wanted to do so this winter, for some of the same reasons Amanda pointed out: there are far fewer people out camping in the winter, the solitude, and the potential of building a snow shelter :) I am intrigued by the idea of going to an area where I can say take my camera gear, and snowshoe around for a while, taking pictures, hiking, exploring, etc., and staying there a couple days. The extent of it that I do I don't now yet - i.e. I don't know whether I'll just go to Waldo lake, drive in to a camp site, pitch my tent and use that as base camp, or whether I'll backpack in a ways somewhere, hauling all my gear, and then setup camp. It was suggested to start that you don't go too far from your car, so that if you forget something, or wind up being miserable for some reason (although part of the class was to ensure you won't be miserable), you can exit if needed, or at least run back to your car for something. The class covered trip planning, clothing, gear, food, travel, camping aspects, and hazards. Amanda had a lot of product there for us to compare and contrast to, so that we could readily see the difference between, for example, a down vs. synthetic sleeping bag, wool vs. synthetic layers, and so on. I have been in the market for a new sleeping bag, so this in particular was very interesting, and I'm sold on down (previously I've gone synthetic, although, uh, I think my existing sleeping bag is at least 15 years old, so it's not as if I have recent experience). One of the other quite interesting topics was shelter: tent vs. bivy and/or tarp, vs. snow shelter or snow cave, etc. Amanda never uses a tent, and most often builds a snow shelter (aka a digloo), or uses a tarp. She loves building the snow shelters. I myself am quite interested in non-tent options. Tents are great, but one drawback in the winter is condensation. Admittedly, the easiest, and potentially safest route for me to start out though is likely going to be a tent, I just don't really want to have to carry that in if I don't have to. Amanda also recommended the book, Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. Don't be scared off by the comical cover and such, the book has really good info and is what she used to learn. She doe a lot of winter camping/backpacking, ski backpacking, etc. Lots of other good tips on things like stoves and cooking, water purification, keeping warm, and so on. One other little interesting nugget was these pretty cool folding bowls. Amanda claims she has chucked all her old bowls, and only uses these now. They're really cool in that they open up flat, and are probably easier to pack, super light, etc., but they still work really well. Now it's time for me to gear up. Thankfully they also gave out 15% off coupons last night :) REI has already received a ton of money from me this year, so I shall be getting a pretty massive dividend...