3 Day Solo Winter Snow Camp - Bushcraft, Canvas Tent, Woodstove, Bowdrill

Description

On this adventure I head out for a solo winter camping trip in the snow. I setup the small canvas tent and woodstove, make a bushcraft fire reflector and make this camp my home for 3 days. On the second day a snow storm arrived from the east, bringing with it ice rain and blizzard like conditions. I cook up food on the woodstove and campfire to keep me warm. I also attempt a primitive bowdrill in a snowstorm. Thanks for joining me on the adventure - Mike

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Tags: bushcraft,camping,snow,winter,tent,solo,camp,survival,winter camping,canvas tent,fire,backpacking,axe,snow storm,ice,solo winter camping,adventure,blizzard,cooking,primitive,bushcraft camp

Video Transcription

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hey guys hope you're doing well as you can see our set up camp now got myself the Polish Navy which is the canvas poncho tent - Poncho's button together to make a tent and coming out of the arm sleeve there one of the arm sleeves is the G stove heat U which is kind of their smaller model I've just set up camp really set this up I've got a fire reflector going down here I did get a little fire going it's still going at the moment cooked up some bacon bit of mushrooms had a coffee just enjoyed some time to relax in the woods today it's minus 3 at the moment and as you can see there's some snow behind us which is super super rare for the south of the UK well south of England especially it's really it's really rare we you know we don't get snow every year during winter so to get something like this is actually quite quite dramatic really but I know it's only a sprinkling of snow tomorrow there's heavy snow forecasted it's going down to minus 6 it literally it came upon us fairly quickly this weather so I couldn't resist and I just thought I'd get out here grab the 10 and the stove and just enjoy some time in the woods so the plan is I'm going to do a couple of nights here obviously I've set up the tent now I'm hoping really I am hoping for quite a bit of snow it is forecasted heavy tomorrow fingers crossed it does come in because I've got the stove and temperatures inside that tiny little camera's 10 will get up to some you know well into high double figures which will be really nice but what I'll do now is I'll just quickly run you through the setup and then I'm gonna get some more firewood get the stove going hopefully get some food on fairly early because I've only got a few hours of daylight left I don't want to be collecting loads of firewood throughout the night inevitably it will probably burn out at some point but I just want to try and get everything done now made myself the fire reflector here won't be getting a huge fire going I've just had a fire going down here as you can see I don't want a huge fire built up out here because most of the time we're gonna be in the tent when it's when it's heavily snowing I'm gonna be inside the tent and I need that firewood for the stove really but this was just for a kind of lunch slash dinner really and I've used a stick going on to the tree stump here which was which was part of this fire wall this dead birch here shoved a stick through there and it's now my little simple pot hanger and I'm just the bullies already boiled I just had my coffee as you saw so I'll probably let the fire come out now I've done most of my cooking what I need I've got plenty of firewood here but I need loads more for the stove but I've chopped this up ready for the stove anyway I found myself a little chopping log which I've just seen lying around the woodland here and there is the Polish Levu a double canvas poncho a tent that's the G stove here to save me knocking in and bashing my leg and knocking things off this side this side grill here there's one the other side as well I just fold it up like that to keep it out of the way for now inside I've got myself a ground sheet I've used two Center Pole from a dead piece of birch which goes into the reinforced the canvas up there that's all fine nice and sorted and this ground sheet I rolled up it rolls up nice and small it's just a really cheap II kind of five pound tarp but it does the job keeps me dry and I'm gonna I can tuck it up for the back here to close the gaps I can just tuck it up all around the edge and that shuts off the gaps like that and that's what I do tonight to seal off those gaps to stop that cold draught going in on top of this I will put my self-inflating mattress which will bounce the heat back off me hopefully at the top of the stove I've got the spark arrestor just to be safe really and to put out any sparks so that they don't land on the canvas and set the tent on fire shouldn't need to worry about a carbon monoxide alarm I did bring one but with the tent having open gaps like this in the bottom and it being an enclosed fire coming out up here any cover monoxide really should be released into the air but I do bring one in my pack anyway just for safety purposes so that's my home for the next couple of days I'm gonna do now is get a little bit more firewood for the stove get the stove going so I can build up the heat for when I need to cook later and probably just have a beer if I'm honest let's have a nice cold winter beer so I didn't bring my tent protector the big metal sleeve that goes on top of these tubes here to allow for their allow it to not burn the edge of the canvas tent I didn't want to bring it because of the bulk reasons really I thought it's gonna be a little bit too bulky so I'm kind of improvising here so I don't want to burn the canvas and these these stove pipes get really hot so I'm just improvising with a bit of a stick pinching it by the canvas there and if I get it the right angle without obviously hitting that damper valve there need to make sure that's open then the canvas should there you go it's clear now and it doesn't touch the sides at all

just improvising a bit yes the cold will come in probably quite a bit but that sort of stays for the snow has started again so it's got some birch bark from the tinder bag underneath the great of it matters I'll enjoy twigs

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though she's wrong already stove is struggling to get going we should get on yay all the choices got ourselves a wolf warning the double brew lager piston head amber a baffle amber lager this one and the goose IPA I do like a good goose IPA I think I think I'm gonna get for a wolf warning actually benefit of having a stovepipe smokey to begin with is I can tell where the winds coming from a you see it's a pretty strong wind it's almost horizontal that that's a strong wind I mean we're probably about 15-20 mile now you'll probably hear on the microphone apologies for that this is the this is the snow front coming in over here in England this is how funny this is so this is like the first bit of snow we've had in the south of the UK for easily four or five years like proper snow that's coming in before that probably another five years easiest around every I say five years and even then we probably will get a couple of inches rarely do we get about foot that and this is south of England so this is where as a mild very mild temperatures but the news the media are calling this snow front coming in the beast from the east the beast from the east it's just a bit of snow the breeze from the east is like whenever there's snow in England the media just go nuts it's so funny they go absolutely crazy and it's just havoc like even though they gritted the roads just all the vehicles stopped everyone it's just mayhem it's like Armageddon it's like the world's gonna end when it snows in England it's just so funny all it is is people that have this lack of preparation you just got to be prepared oh well

still gonna lead a lot more firewood than that a lot more you know do for dinner they just gonna put the old thermometer currently reading minus two minus five that's straight from my bag this is my makeshift plate food prep table makeshift food prep table I'll keep everything lovely and neat what's it Oh God this is not a gourmet style if its food this is just camping as you can see there's the frying pan already ah I'll just throw dirt in there my bad then got myself a pepper they say no lightweight backpacking trip this is food beer this is going everywhere [Music]

got some all the wind's coming up sausage as well this is pork this is smoked pork this is sausage it's like those ready-to-eat ones but um which is great for camping because concession the cold weather this just last it's already like precooked look so this should be fine I want to save a bit for tomorrow as well probably use half the sausage now

and then add to that some pepper and garlic steak seasoning plenty of it oh good

the Beast for me [Music]

oh this is so warming it's tasty I'm in prime spot just spoke the stove there's what you want on a cold winter day a full belly oh that's so good will that steak spice pepper garlic beer I like this wolf warning very easy to drink oh halfway we are getting dark and we need a word open that right up for those that are new stoves when you put a new bit on like that and it's when it's low like that ie there's not much flame just hot coals it's alright after a while once it's been going for ages but this is still quite fresh they I want to open that up there all the oxygen through and it the draft or the draw will come through there like you can see my makeshift stick yeah open it up the draught the air will be sucked in through here sucked up through there and it just ignites the word a bit quicker and then when it's really going and you've got some big sort of hardwoods on there turn it right down it's clever because this has got like you can turn it right down and leave gaps there as well or you can turn it freely down so I actually quite like it on this setting where there's two little gaps so there's always a bit of oxygen flow so you can shut it right down at night you know if you want to completely burn it out but generally I like it when it's just a double gaps I saw I've got my student bag in my backpack of the moment I didn't carry on the outside I used to bring my green roll mat didn't bring it this time got myself a blazing mattress much smaller which is why I didn't have my sleeping bag on the outside oh I ate two quick loads of questions about the G stove the stove itself since my videos featuring the G stove in the cabin G stove since come back to me and got back in contact with me and they're now looking to work with me which is really cool so you know I thought I'd be honest with you guys and give you your heads up of what's gonna happen so I'm gonna be helping them out with some videos they've obviously seen the type of videos that I make and they're they're interested and they like what I do I really like the guys at G stove in general I think they're very friendly people they're a family based business up in norway norwegian based really i mean it's a seriously top-quality build state it is quite expensive but you get what you pay for as with anything if you pay for generally a more expensive item it's going to last you longer and be better quality and with things like a stove i don't want to be buying a new stove year in year out I want to buy one stove and that's that and just have it you know for life and just have it sorted as long as I can maintain look after it that's all I like so to my point G stove got back to me they're looking to work with me I've got some things that where there's some great things along the pipeline for myself and G stove they're gonna help me out and the YouTube channel out and they're also gonna help you guys out so there's I know so many of you have been looking at these two stoves and where to get them and how to buy them they've just completely revamp their website it's being launched really soon but they are giving me a discount code for you guys for you full of my subscribers which is going to be so helpful so it's gonna help you guys out because you're gonna get discount on that price and it's gonna help me out because it's an affiliate code so I'll get something I will get a part of that like a commission from that sale so if you brought a stove from the G stove via my link buy my discount code I would get a percentage of that sale so it's a really great partnership and I'm really looking forward to doing that and offering you guys this deal because it's really good and they've got some seriously seriously cool things along the pipeline these guys are well ahead of the game do you stove is so ahead of it compared to other stoves they're just blowing them out there blowing they've blown the competition on the water they've got they've talked

to me about what they've got in the pipeline I can tell you now guys it's awesome it's really cool say hang on a bit if you're looking to buy one and you're a subscriber of mine which no doubt you are if you're watching this hold on a bit and the code will be coming soon and I'll update you on a YouTube video and on my Instagram as well I'll update you when I get that discount code far away boys I watched them home this is a piss I'm going on the piston head by the way yeah school I mean look at this beautiful it's almost like the flavors are in slow-mo we're solidly on minus six at the moment and there's the Fahrenheit for those wanting to know what that is 19 yeah about 19 Fahrenheit I mean the warm guys I'm gonna call it a night because from last week's video or whenever it was recently I was on the coast and I was batteries right now I don't want that happening this trip so being night one I'm just gonna call it night it's about million o'clock now so it's fairly early but I'm willing to bed just want to turn the camera off and save the batteries for tomorrow it's gonna be a cold one but I'll come out of life I've got a lovely toasty stove here which is packing out some serious heat and life is very good I'll see you in the morning folks good morning it's been a cold one there's snow coming the gap where the weather stick was holding open there ten armed the Polish love B ROM so that the stovepipe wouldn't burn the canvas but the snows come through and landed on the stove where the stage did go out and there's little bit of snow which means it must be out here rule we have heard let me turn that down it's not seriously heavy but we have had most night this little melt anyway I don't have melting onto the wood much you see the steam come after the water evaporating off the stove just fired it up the canvas the V it is completely another focuses bird so he doesn't mean trying it's completely dry in here all of this it's all dry it's absolutely it's already keeping the heat from the stove already it's unbelievable Oh fresh powder yeah we had a little bit the old Levu is got a nice little sugar coating let me see it on the edge of the tent as you see the stove cooled down and the snow did land on the inside of the stay of the tenth protector would have been a better idea but that will soon melt I'll brush that off and get a stove gay but the shelter held up pretty well but dust that's now off probably don't see much pressure on it and it's a stupid thing of leaving my Billie too near the edge of the tent and it's frozen so I'm gonna put that man stove put that up there to melt it another coffee this morning with some porridge up we're boiling try not to spit it this time I'll be a bit coffee and porridge in the morning this cook so it's the one boy Anton by the way he made me this a subscriber he makes these cook sirs he's on instagram check him out a soul a soul of Siberia I think he's cool he makes really cool cook sirs finally sussed the porridge game literally just drop it pour it into the bag up to the fill line give her a stir it's nice because it's they're so small the packets but you know they've got good enough porridges stodgy so it gives you lots of energy Fanta carbs in it and because the packets are small they're just really compact for not taking up much space in your pack which I like a bit more in there

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perfect shape for the bow just trim that end off there if anything I could actually use that end to tie around the both use what I've got start snow again I'm just making a spindle I'm what I'm doing a couple of different grips chances are this bow drill might not work because everything's very damp but just teaching you some things you got the chest leave a grip like this to get large chunks of material off very very safe really because you're using your back muscles and you're just pulling apart it's a very powerful cut and this one is just using the wood itself because I'm trying to make this spindle at the moment I'm just thinning out rather than push with my knife on this one like that which doesn't really give you that much control you can lock my arm against my knee and then use the actual piece of wood look for the part or area of wood that I want to take off and then drag that towards me so the knife is staying in a fixed position sometimes it will get caught like that Plus okay yeah you need to have a grip right up here near the tool on the knife get it nice and close so that you've got the most power back here you're gonna end up pulling the knife back towards you like this you don't want that so you want to get you know fairly close to the tour but not on obviously the blade itself and you can alter the angle just by twisting your wrist like this so it's very minimal stress on your body and it's very controlled and doing it like this you can look down this the spindle or stick itself look for any raised areas and just bring that up against your blade I'm not sure on the official term for this possibly a a pull cut or something like that I don't really know I just know that I feel comfortable doing this when I'm trying to make spindles and things like that for bow drills trying to keep things straight and neat this is just the the grip that I like doing don't ask why it's just personal preference ready I guess and I'm nearly there with this spindle in fact I'm almost there that side I'll just come up to this end once I've got the diameter I want then I'll do a thin end and a fat end to put it in simple terms we'll work from there lock a little bit of that with the hatchet because that's a two-pound head so it's definitely gonna take any knots out I just hit one I just any fat parts shave away a bit hatchet not too much let's just call that weight behind it where it can take a lot of material off and the rest I can just tidy with the knife ah the bow break and need a better bow rotten stick that's okay that's what a learning curve it's okay to fail when even if this whole thing fails doesn't matter

that's her a snap and actually looking at that wood it's so spalted already no wonder so I found a green a piece of wood similar shape [Laughter]

so what's in the bag I actually I've still got it my date yeah here keep a limpet shell and I've got two so this is limpet shell the graph the rocks here down in England well and British Isles in general they are edible shellfish don't have many calories in them but their shells are really hard so going to use that as a bearing block ideally I usually use two two of these magalie use that as a bearing block anyway if they're nicely rounded and the shells are really hard on limpets say I'll just use that one so I know it's windy guys I changed my bearing change my half board a bit something a bit still cherry I think so there's a chance of this working a pretty slim pretty much burnt and just gonna get the notches done we're just gonna go for this I'm not sure it's going to work to be honest but it keeps me warm just got some dried leaves to catch the endless night or the limp it gets too hot damn so windy now right we have smoke I think the woods too wet because I can tell where it's brown it's like a light brown it's not black I don't think what is right then if you guys see this where that's really light brown that's because my spindles not my hearth ball it's not seasoned enough and even on the end there it's pretty light brown it's not burning it should be nice and black and I'm saying I usually have to limp it shells just to stop the heat I'm gonna give this one we'll go guys because I've failed a couple of times and I'd really want to try it [Music]

no we are not getting a number today oh well it could be the shape of the spindle who knows obviously conditions are pretty wet and against me another day eh well it snowed a bit more sleeping set up I put my head near the stove and just to keep it as warm as I can

got the mat underneath that inflated mattress plenty of room they've always dry inside which is nice got some water on the boil just for some simple pasta so couldn't carry too much food with me and yesterday was the big the big meal and also it's getting pretty dark outside now and it's still snowing it's here in the yeah so nice quiet strong wind coming from the right still got a bit by a couple of centimeters maybe it's just nothing to you today but you can see the fresh powder wave has some new stuff nothing that's gonna bother me tonight all in pretty much just in my pass in a little plastic bag

I want to show you something pretty cool as well

with the old you toga counter which I showed in that previous coastal camp video there's something I saw didn't show there we go and she goes you can tell it's locked up right you can see the candle glow on the inside what's left of the candle which is quite handy and it's like a little reflector and all it does it's got a little clip on it just here and it clips on the side of your hand literally just rest there and it acts a bit more like a torch then it stops that you know it stops the light here reflecting back into your eyes so you can see out more that way and it's really really quite a useful little thing it's it's amazing that such a small thing can make actually such a big difference you can see that as I turn that look at that reflect acting like a torch you guys can't see what I can see as it's punched out but it's really good mr. really so bright you can see it there just flash it it's like a torch which is really cool so worth checking out guys so simple no I don't want to eat gourmet tonight I'm cold I just want to get it in the body wood carved coffee spoon for the pasta

it's always got to be just the coffee spoon ruining it I got no more firewood earlier hence why thee it was suddenly went like dark on the camera public spent quite a few hours getting some firewood we're sorted for the night batteries are running out on the camera though I'm keeping them in my pocket where I can to reboost them but they're dropping like flies so plan is tomorrow probably get bit food on quickly in the morning if I can I've got to pack up everything guys I'm gonna say goodnight again second night it's been an awesome trip but I'm tired and want to get some sleep it's cosy up in here he's still sticking around to appreciate it be sure to subscribe if you're enjoying this type of video try to mix it up each week with catch and Kirk's camping bushcraft fishing things like that but anyway I'll see you guys in the morning [Music]

morning guys I just got the stove going and I've woken up to find my UV filter on my lens cracked I don't know if that's from where it's been cold or where I've knocked it or maybe it was cold and I've knocked it either way that is well and truly cracked thankfully this is the lens protector so it didn't get my lens in damaged but does mean I'm now filming with my lens unprotected on this particular which sucks we didn't get too much snow overnight I've been a bit of a blanket but good to get the stove going and I've got the last bit of food to cook up now unlike my lens these haven't cracked I wanted to I was gonna not stock stove this morning but I wanted to have a nice hearty breakfast and I was contemplating whether to have the eggs or not because I want to sort of crack on really get back sausage as well so we're going for it we've got icy rain today faster dishes brilliant rain it's coming from site area tent is holding up well though over a homemade spatula I think we might scramble these eggs a bit [Music]

makeshift spatula bit of wood but I think we're pretty much there like a king

Oh hearty breakfast in the morning date really last day I'm going to reevaluate the bow-drill try and have a little go again see where I went wrong combination things where I'm cold not thinking as much oh it's cold today you guys seem to really enjoy my coastal camp I think I was last week's video two days on the coast you seem to really enjoy that thanks for all the feedback on that video I certainly enjoyed it a shame the fishing wasn't good but I did enjoy it let's get some coffee subscribers sent me these nazca face instant coffees thank you sir cotton over here Whistler for madam but they are being used to good effect and coffee coming up come on oh no spinach I'll just keep that warm on the stove now but I tended it offset balls of it this so got room for another coffee

then this is one of the three on ones sugar milk with a lot I can hear the old ice rain now on the tenth tickling tinkling away maybe I set off you get here it's forecasted all day this ice rain lovely

but we'll put it in the tenon see what comes out with one of the questions I can imagine being asked by you guys why have I put my fire reflector here and not closer to the ten well with the wind blowing this way why is the fire reflector not kind of over there I can imagine some of you thinking that my reason for that was the wind was not blowing this way originally it was coming in right through here hence why I put the fire reflected there it's easy enough to move but I don't need to move it now but that's to explain why I put it there and not over there in hindsight if I was lighting a fire now I would I would go and move it over there looking good they the old stove and tent goes well together portable permits no permits no let's just turn to ice now round the edge it's really icy

I can hear the rain you can see some of it falling little crystals of ice rain lovely tip with the stick although it's worked for two days I'm slightly concerned about the burn on this stick and I think that's quite dangerous so don't try it at home kids although it did work for me I'm not advocating that you guys go and do that I just did as a temporary solution but seeing those burn marks isn't good but you know this worked on the job when though persistent three-day persistent cold Siberian easterly wind so I want to give the bow drill ago ago again I still think it is the wood the type of wood I'm using because it's not giving that black burning as I'd like number of other reasons the the hearth board that I'm using is is very I'm not gonna be able to get many other burn holes in that so it's fairly narrow the other thing is it could be my spindle it's quite a thin spindle and it was long I've now chopped it down and done it again but I'm not confident on the shape of the spindle with this one I've thinned it out in the middle to try and keep the bowstring staying there because it was riding up so much so I sort of thinned it out in the middle the chances are it's gonna fail again but I just want to try I want to sort of give it one more try to to really say I've done it just give up really I don't I still don't have much confidence in it but I don't want to just quit so I want to give it one more try the grounds were really uneven let's just try it no harm in trying we live and learn that's better that hopefully that will not better the limpets working fine Olympics show okay one more try actually I need to face the other way so that wind is better

okay my house board really is small not confident the spindle just not confident at all again folks smoke but no cigar deal with me guys cut myself as well so what happening ta outdoors I've done Pedro's before general in like summertime or in the woods woods dry never tried it in the snow that's how I wanted to try it but I just wanted to show you guys they soak a to fail I've had I've been doing this for hours I've been trying to get this going for hours every day everywhere else all the woods damp and all frozen and you know I just wanted to show you that it's okay to fail there's so many people out there that think you know you can get bow-drill fire started straight away or you know it's a steep learning curve this sort of thing that we do is Bush grass fire lighting things like that it's celebrity guys they're the experts these guys that are on the TV you know I'm not like this some of the celebs the TV celebs who have do you do this week in week out they do all the time at the end of the day I'm just like you guys it's just you know I'm a normal guy out here trying to learn for me that was that was new I think it's the type of wood I've never used this type of wood before but it could be anything it could be my skill what could be the conditions could be me being tired where I've just I'm just knackered today three you know I'm generally quite tired not thinking as straight and just wanted to show you guys that it's okay to fail and don't worry if you fail at things it doesn't matter you can pick yourself back up you can learn you can move on and you know it shows that on but I could have edited this out and never put any of this in but I think it's important I do keep it in because it shows that I am just normal I am just like you you know I'm just teaching myself along the way nobody's born with this you just have to you have to teach yourself you have to learn and practice and practice and practice and maybe I need to practice a bit more in the snow or winds and all what I got and if you guys can see that try to reflect it in the temp we are 20 nearly 22 degrees so about 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the tent for this little stove because it's such a small tent that's how warm it is in here the Rays not freezing on my camera we're on the lens you probably can't see it cameras that the camera stuff starts to freeze with this rain just pack up time top top the stove all the way up to the first stove pipe is all cold where it's been out in the wind but the stove itself is still warm so plan is to take the top of the stove pipes off first because they're cold take the stove out carry it out put it in it in the snow so it cools down and then while I'm doing up the tent packing away the tent and the stove we'll have enough time to cool down and I can carry it and head on out of here he's the original paracord strap that I had have it as a carry handle now stick it on the bottom the bag [Music]

got stayed right man battle gear I'm chatter guys it's been a it's pretty tough three days it's been lovely though it's been enjoyable it's nice to actually have snow in the South of England person for a change but thanks so much for watching I really appreciate it

he's sticking by guys that's massive for me it really helps my videos if you watch them all the way through that's sort of the way the YouTube sort of YouTube algorithm once at the moment is if wants you to kind of watch them all the way through so if you have watch this all the way through that's really how it's my channel I really appreciate it you're not subscribed please do hit the subscribe button and click the little Bell notification so you can get emails of whenever I upload a video I hope you've enjoyed it thanks very much for joining me on the adventure and I'll see you soon on the next one you

you