Essentials for car camping

A

A.0.spin

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I live in eastern va and plan to be up every weekend at some mountain or another this year. I plan on mostly car camping so I need to know what I will need for it. at the moment I know i will need a sleeping bag and maybe a pad but any other essentials?

i work monday through friday so i will have to leave from work and essentially go straight to the mountain every fri. night and come back sunday. I don't really have any camping gear right now except the car and a nalgene right now.

Are resorts on the east coast cool with people sleeping in their car in the free lot over night?
 
wet wipes... best thing to bring car camping ever. They can serve so may purposes. Flashlight, (hopefully you already have this)book with book light, cause it gets boring if you are by yourself and it gets annoying holding a flash light.deoderizing powder, cause your stuff is going to smell bad after skiing and leaving it in the car and you have to sleep in that car.
 
if your tryin to do this cheap than get a camping stove and some camping propane tanks for cooking, obviously dont cook inside your car lol. batteries batteries batteries, including your car battery, if u plan on running accessories off of it, make sure you have one of those emergency car starter things... make sure your sleeping bag is rated to 15 below or more... a bag that is rated to 30 degrees is only meant to sustain life at 30 degrees, not necessarily keep you comfortable, they sell bag liners at most camp stores that will add extra warmth to any bag, usually like 20 bucks... toilet paper, cause you never know where you're gonna have to drop the kids off... you should bring everything you would normally for camping aside from a tent, cause you never know what the weather will bring... best of luck... where you plan on skiing anyway? PA NY VT? or u stayin down there by WV?
 
you need an inverter so that you can run normal electronics off your car, and a mattress pad is really a nice thing to have, i use the one from my college dorm bed, so plush. an suv or van is major plus, but not necessary
 
oh yeah, i forgot one of the most important things. you need to have somewhere that you can park your car overnight without being bothered by the polices...that is important.
 
this post is entirely useless if you dont drive a pickup truck,

BUT, i found one those sweet ass campers that i just put in the bed of truck, it goes on and off the truck in about 20 minutes and has a heater and refrigerator that run of propane. the thing was like $100 and i spent maybe $150 making it less shitty, it sleeps three people with no problems, and like six or seven (maybe eight) if you put people on every open surface,

 
if there is a walmart near by you can park there without being hassled...i like to keep a headlamp just cause its hands free and good for reading or other things. i have a cheap crappy sleeping bag that i lay in the back of my suv for padding and insulation and have a 0 degree rated sleeping bag and have never been cold...and make sure your ski rack locks so you dont get your skis jacked
 
lawn chair

thermarests are awesome

snag a car adapter from the cigarette ligtter to ac/regular 3 prong outlet
 
I did a decent amount last winter, and its actually a pretty good time. but yea, some good padding is a must, especially if you have a shitty uneven surface to sleep on. duct tape is critical, you will definitely need it, and a power inverter or some way to charge/opperate electronics is nice. if you have 2 sets of ski clothes, thats really awesome cause stuff doesnt always dry out over night.
 
me and my boy slep in the car at stowe last year, it was -5 out and all i had was the comforter from my bed and a little yankees fleace blanket, blast the heat till untill its hot turn the car off if you wake up at night throw the heat on again for another 10 minutes keep a window a little cracked just in case, dont park near a snowbank or sleep with your car on, have a bag of jerky to snak on / breakfast, the biggest thing get to where your staying late you dont wana role to the parking lot at 6 and have to chill for 5 hours before you go to sleep, get there at about 11 so as soon you get there you can just pass out
 
i sleep in my van all winter. sleeping bag and blankets are a must. also a space heater is nice, but you gotta be careful about how you power it. I run a gen outside all night and it keeps my rig toasty. Also, a mini bbq is dope and like a pot for cooking ramen. I live off ramen and hot dogs mostly, cheapest and easiest to cook.
Keeping your clothes dry and your boots warm is also a challenge. In my van its not too hard, i just hang everything up and throw the boots on the dash on my way up to the hill

learn to poach showers somewhere too. washing your hair and shaving in public restrooms sucks and makes for some awkard situations.
if your doing it by yourself, bring something to keep yourself occupied, it gets super boring. laptop and poached wifi is nice as well as books.
 
very helpful thread, im planning on going up the night before powder days to avoid all the gapers who cant drive on snow
 
snuggie.jpg

 
im going to be buying a roof top tent for my jeep pretty soon, and a space heater that will hang up above my head. look them up, way practical and you can set up camp anywhere in under 5 mins.
 
i would sugest to bring many playboys along because beating off will allways keep you warm and its also alot warmer if you bring a sleeping bag and a comforter also i like to use electronic water heaters and ramen noodels they are the best snack and will allways warm you up you can get an adapter for your car or just do it from an outley at the resort
 
all good replys. thanks folks +k

will be makin a trip to walmart soon and maybe an order off backcountry.com or is that place overpriced?
 
keep an eye out on tramdock and steap and cheap... the products are from backcountry oulet and the prices are crazy cheap, but its obviously hit or miss
 
weed, liquor to get the job done quicker, dress as you would to go skiing and sleep in that. wake up, brush your teeth with some water from a bottle you brought with. blankets might be needed for warmth during that night (most fuucking likely).

People act like its a big adventure, its like man....its sleeping in a car for 6-7 hours.

Sleep with your car off too. Duh. Or wake up with no gas or dead. If your shit is on you will be seen by anything driving by much easier also.

If you were smart.......you might bring black thick sheets to hang over the windows. Roll window down, insert sheet. Roll window up....instant shades for night.

Hasn't this topic been discussed before? fuck
 
hey if you want a great cheap stove, look at the MSR pocket rocket. 29,99 and will cook anything. Canisters are a good price too.
 
Headlamp AND flahlight (Preferably the biggest mag-lite you can get so you can beat people with it if you have to)

Stove With extra fuel- I'd go with a white gas stove for this purpose, since they work much better in the cold. I find my Gigapower (uses butane canisters) doesn't really work down below 20 degrees unless I warm up the canister in my bag.

Warm sleeping bag- I would go with something around 0 degrees, but thats just me personally, I'm a pretty warm sleeper and have had LOTS of experience sleeping outdoors in a variety of different bags and temperatures so I know just by looking at the loft if its warm enough. Dont use a bag thats been compressed for years and expect it to be as warm as it used to be, They lose loft after a while, synthetic faster than down.

Extra fleece or wool blanket- something you can throw over your sleeping bag without it weighing it down and compressing all its loft. Staying warm depends on trapping dead air. If iyour sleeping bag is all smooshed its not going to keep you very warm

Space blanket for emergencies

Clothes for sleeping in.

Gameboy with pokemon blue

Some heat packs you can throw in your sleeping bag

A closed cell foam sleeping pad, plus maybe a cheap open cell for padding or a blanket to lay on (open cell doesn't insulate very well, so a closed cell pad is for heat retntion)

Enough food you can eat for one day longer than you are plannign to stay, including food you can rely on if your stove breaks. High calorie shit. If you are cold, you would be surprised how much warmer you will be after eating a snickers

Lots of water. (keep your spare blanket over it so it doesn't freeze super fast)

A piss bottle so you dont have to go outside to pee.

A teddybear you can hug if you get scared

Lots of weed.

A pillow

Cell phone charger

Batteries

A shovel to dig yourself out in the morning if its dumping.

Toothbrush + paste (Ben Franklin am I right?)

Thats all I can think of right now. You shoudl also obviously keep an emergency kit in your car (jumper cables, first aid, blanket, gloves, hat, maybe some granola bars, etc). Keep a window cracked, dont cook in your car (carbon monoxide zomg), and lock up your skis. Also, don't run your battery empty, this seems like comon sense, but if you woke up in the middle of the night freezing and wanted to turn the car heat on and your battery was dead, it would be a major bummer. The biggest part is finding a place where you can crash without police or locals bothering you. If you do you are golden.

 
Canisters don't work very well in the cold. The gas stays a liquid. Something about vapor pressure.

White gas ftw
 
That happened to my car this morning. I took an ice scraper to the inside and it worked. But there was snow inside my car for a good while...
 
I have made the mistake of keeping all the windows shut while sleeping. In the morning every inch of every window was covered in moisture, with fat drops on the inside of the sunroof above me. Keep a window cracked.
Also, as has been mentioned, bring jerky. I sometimes bring a summer sausage, a block of parmesan, and a good knife. It lasts, it feels classy, and it tastes good. win-win-win.
 
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