Introduction

After watching for a relatively wind-free day for literal months, it finally dropped enough to actually head out and do some testing with my camping gear. (In fairly cold weather)

Just an overnighter within easy cycling distance from home as the main goal was to figure out if I’d actually be capable of winter camping with what I had. Namely:

• Tent: Wechsel Exogen 1
• Mat: Therm-A-Rest Z Lite
• Pad: Trekology UL80
• Quilt: OneTigris Down Quilt

I also went out there with a big fluffy backup blanket and an already filled hot water bottle in my pannier bag.

Evening

The evening got off to a fairly bad start when the key to my borrowed bike lock broke off in the lock. Luckily I hadn’t gotten as far as wrapping it around anything yet so no harm done. (Other than to the lock)

I got settled down and made myself some instant cheesy pasta and ate my thermose of pre-warmed soup I brought from home.

Sleep Setup

The plan was for the mat to go on top of the pad and for their R-value to be combined hopefully? However I quickly found my bodyheat getting sapped from under me. Not sure if it was that the pad was touching the edge of the tent or if it’s just that ill-suited to winter but I eventually got rid of the pad entirely and just went with Therm-A-Rest with my fluffy blanket under and around me like a sleeping bag and the quilt over the top of me and made it through the night with a decent amount of sleep. Definitely extremely cold though.

Conclusion

I feel like I asked a hell of a lot from the Trekology. It was extremely comfortable but not really designed for this kind of winter camping. I think I’m going to invest in a warmer mat for future camps but otherwise I think I’ve got a decent setup. It feels amazing knowing I should now be able to go on out exploring on my own to more remote areas and I can’t wait to get further afield and put some proper distance between myself and civilization!