Kitchen night life at twenty below.

Winter camping. It’s cold, but at least it’s dark. The wind’s blowing, but at least it’s snowing. Everything’s harder, but at least we have numb hands to do it with.

This is positive pessimism. It has gotten climbers through the mighty slog up Aconcagua. It has buoyed spirits on the 15th tent-bound day in Patagonia. And it is a potent remedy against winter nights in the backcountry. That and 11 hours of sleep in a warm sleeping bag, plus as much butter, bacon, Spam, gravy and biscuits as a human digestive tract can handle.

Last week ten friends and I participated in Outward Bound’s Rocky Mountain Region Winter Skills Training. On Friday morning, after a day of classroom “sit and get,” we loaded 4 pulks and enough gear to siege Denali into a Ford F-150 and headed out for a frigid night under the stars. As we pulled pack after pack and sled after sled out of the truck, I could hardly believe we were only spending one night two miles in. Fact: winter camping requires about the same amount of clothes, gadgets and general stuff as flying to the moon.