Car Camping in AK: Too cold?

EastCoast315

EastCoast315

Active member
Hey, Im considering spending a few seasons up around eaglecrest in a few years, and I really dont want to waste the money on an apartment. So, like any ski-bum type, Im hoping to just crash in the car/camper/whatever Im driving, but I realized: Negative 40ish temps are way to cold for sleeping in the subaru, eh?
 
most of the winter is in the 20s, and closely followed by the teens, really. sometimes we get colder periods where its (more rarely) in the single digits, but those dont last too long usually, maybe a week or two.. and then most of the later season (later march/april) is around 30. its rare that it goes below zero, but it seems like we always get at least a few days where its cold as fuck. it was -30 at night for three days last year. killed my car.. it hated it. oh, and we also get the total opposite. no joke, it was 60 degrees in january one day this year. we were riding 50+ degree spring/summer slush one day. it was weird. that was after the -30 period. then it went back to the usual 20s. the PNW is known for its inconsistent weather.

i definitely wouldnt live in your CAR, but a camper with REAL heating would be totally fine and pleasant.

the ultimate way to bum it would be to have your camper AND your car. park the camper somewhere and leave it while you stay in it, but move it around every couple days so people dont get weird about it, and then have your car to go around town when you need food or whatever. unless camper means a camper on a pickup, in which case you can treat it as a normal car.

it would just be lame to park the camper up in the EC parking lot and have to stick around there all day every day (if thats what you were thinking... people have done it before). keep in mind EC has NO apres ski type stuff or stores, at all. its a ski area, period... which is nice, because people actually go there to ski/ride. but youll have to go to stores for food. the douglas breeze in is about 11 miles from the EC parking lot and has all your basic foods to live off, or theres A&P across the bridge which is just an additional mile, and theyre an actual grocery store, so itll save you some money.
 
also, i dont know how much youve traveled for skiing, but EC vs anywhere in NY is a drastic difference.

dont worry about the cold though. its usually fine like i said, just have a legit heat source, or youll get sick of it reeeeal quick.

if you really wanna be a ski bum though and have at least some kind of living-convenience so you dont have to resort to a little vehicle or whatever, just get a night job of some kind and find a single room for cheap in someones house or something. if you wanna commit to this, its probably worth it. EC closes at 4 on average and opens at 9, so you could easily work something like 5-9 a few nights a week or so and be covered.
 
Wow dude, thank you very much for that info. Im thinking a truck camper would be a good idea. Maybe a kerosene heater would do the trick without draining a battery
 
yeah, for one person in a fairly small space, id imagine that would be totally fine. just keep it sealed and insulated so youre not losing any significant heat.

and on the legit tip, we do have rv parks here and i think a lot of them run like 3 or 4 bills for space rent and you probably get water and electric with that, but i dont actually know this for sure.. just kind of a heard-from-a-friend thing. i dont know how those prices compare to what you might be used to or what you would have guessed, but like i said.. if you wanna make it a little more legit, thats an option, and then have the part time evening job.

even when i was working 20-25 hours a week for 10 bucks an hour, i was making enough to pay space rent and other things with cash to spare. not saying i was actually doing the camper thing, just giving you an idea of the possible money situation.
 
Yeah man, my basic plan is to work like a dog all summer, save my money for a pass, gas, insurance, and food. Im gonna try to eat on 10 to 20 dollars a week. Whats the work situation around there? Is it waiting tables, or like, commercial fishing?
 
commercial fishing relevant to what were talking about is only a summer thing. lots of people do that. waiting tables is also pretty common in the summer, cause we get a ton of tourist action.

if you mean during winter, waiting tables is still an option, its just not as lucrative in the number of customers and tip department. i thought a lot about this last fall cause this is basically what i wanted to do that season, and the best things i personally thought of were working at a small food-store thing (like breeze in as i mentioned before).. just stocking, or being a cashier, or whatever. or maybe a custodial thing if youre okay with that.. most of the custodial things are evenings and pretty much unsupervised, and easily done part time.. theres always a couple listings on the job sites.

restaurants are a better bet though, cause most restaurants stay open through general dinner times, and always have things like cooks/waiters/dishwashers/whatever that are fine jobs just to do part time and have some money in your pocket.
 
another thought.. if you really saved up all summer and had like 5 grand, you could pretty easily make it with no job in an rv space with water/electric + food and everything. pass isnt a big part of it since its only 400. thats what i did this season, but in a house which was relatively the same as space rent for an rv i think.
 
you would only need to worry about -40 temps if you are in fairbanks, which you wont be, so you're good!

have a lovely ski bum adventure. you won't regret it. juneau is so sick and everyone i've met there is super nice and they have some really talented skiers and riders.
 
word on the talented locals. hell, we produced mark landvik, and lots of other guys, but most of them never made it out and got noticed, they just stayed here and shredded.

if youre lucky, maybe the bad larry crew will be around when you come up. if you guys can figure out how to get your hands on a copy of "just livin" (07 video) or "and so much more" (08 video), do yourselves a favor and pick it up. "and so much more" is legit as fuck. seriously killer riding. you guys will be super stoked on the skiing of will geiger and jesse west. will blows minds, and jesse does too, not to mention his style is damn near perfect and its naturally that way, he doesnt do that stupid "keep your arms down and force the steeze out" thing.

truly some of the best all around riders out there, and really great people in general.
 
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