Stealthy camping in winter

[Moondog55]

I will need to keep a much lower profile during the 2016 winter camp so I do not upset the very few who objected to my last fixed camp and vandalised it.
The blue of the tent fly is quite a striking colour against the snow and I'm wondering how much effort I need to go to to make it fade into the background at a few hundred meters.
Anybody here from the military who want to give me a few pointers on winter camouflage?
Summer I can hide so you wouldn't see me with the naked eye from 5 meters but I haven't had the need to hide in winter before even tho I do own a set of overwhites
I'm actually debating making a camo net and a secondary frame to hide the conical profile of the main tent body

[Strider]

Cover it with tyvek?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[drewmac]

Hey MD,

Was watching an iview (ABC iview) program just yesterday on camouflage.
A lot was actually about ships, the painting of them with stripes etc.
The various armies were using artists to paint designs and trick the eye.
May give you some ideas.

[Moondog55]

I saw that program drew, very interesting
Having done some time in the CMF I am familiar with the basics but never seen much point in researching winter camouflage until this year
Strider that would be a good idea with a third skin [ and add a lot to the warmth] but I don't think I can afford that much [ if any] Tyvek

[north-north-west]

You obviously need the grandmother of all snowcaves.

[Tortoise]

With a chimney.

[vicrev]

I think I'd be leaving me Grandmam home...... ....

[Lophophaps]

This is the stove in my small tent, may be helpful.

Camping stove.jpg (9.27 KiB) Viewed 42166 times

[Moondog55]

See my post about winterising my big tent I'm making a new stove for this season

[walkerchris77]

You can buy very cheap and light weight camo netting on ebay . Its the plastic type stuff that i have used before. It does the job and is very light.

When i was in the army we were taught , shape, shadow, silhouette, shine, spacing and movement. All parts of camouflage and concealment.

[Moondog55]

I was looking at that Chris [ by the way you forgot Scent; Slow & Silent as part of the 7 "Esses"] but in the mean time I realise I can make my own camo nets for free using some old polyester net curtains destined for recycling.
My main concern is what distance I should be looking at for concealment from casual view.
Lets face it very few people actually look and only a few of those actually look and see.
Is it reasonable to be concealed from a casual view at 200 meters of should I perhaps aim for 100m or is it going to be good enough to be part of the background at 300m

[DarrenM]

I will need to keep a much lower profile during the 2016 winter camp so I do not upset the very few who objected to my last fixed camp and vandalised it.

Too late....I dare say that advertising your intentions here was the biggest factor. Heaps of backcountry folk knew what your plans were and are next season.

IMO....Go smaller, further, quieter.....and move occasionally.

Just sayin...

[Moondog55]

The Lycra clad yuppie crown don't read this forum and it's my visual profile I need to keep down, once I hit the slopes at FC every-one will know Moondog's back

[vicrev]

Does the stove come with the umbrella accessory ?.....

[Moondog55]

Does the stove come with the umbrella accessory ?.....

Only in the Northern hemispheric unfortunately

[Mark F]

Moondog, I think I can see a solution to a number of your problems in the photo of your back yard. The Hills hoist fits naturally into the Australian landscape providing some camouflage. If the hoist arms fold down you could collapse it during the day to make it even less observable. The strong central pole will withstand blizzards. It is hollow so with a bit of adaptation it can form the chimney for your wood burner. Making a shell to fit over it to form the tent is pretty simple.

[drewmac]

Mark...

Hilarious....

[Lophophaps]

Moondog, I think I can see a solution to a number of your problems in the photo of your back yard. The Hills hoist fits naturally into the Australian landscape providing some camouflage. If the hoist arms fold down you could collapse it during the day to make it even less observable. The strong central pole will withstand blizzards. It is hollow so with a bit of adaptation it can form the chimney for your wood burner. Making a shell to fit over it to form the tent is pretty simple.

You maniac, I think I've broken something laughing. Ouchies! At 10 pm on your next trip I'm going to take out all your tent pegs. Laugh at that!

[Moondog55]

Stop laughing
I'm at the junk shop now looking for a goood strong clothes hoist

[slparker]

As has already been mentioned your silhouette is probably the hardest thing to obscure. Otherwise you could just chuck an off white tarp with some verticals and blotches spraypainted on in brown and dark green - to mimic snow gums. This might work to hide from casual passers by.
For increasing security or paranoia a net is probably the easiest setup.
The army cam nets are just brown nets with plastic strips sewn to them, you could achieve the same effect with a net and strips of off white plastic mixed with some leaf and snowgum colours. you can buy cam nets from disposal shops and you could mix a lot of white in with the foliage colours. You'll also need some very long poles to get the net over and around your tent (or suspend from the tree canopy) - again, draping the tent will just accentuate the silhouette.

It's a lot of drama though....getting the catastrophe to stay up was hard enough, in my experience, in the bush in summer let alone the mountains in winter.
selecting the right site might be the best option, behind some snowgums, over a crest....

[ofuros]

Your wood smoke drifting on the breeze may give your position away too...

Sent from my X550 using Tapatalk

[Moondog55]

The dome tent will probably be much easier to keep up than the catastrophe
Having taken all the comments on board I don't think the casual day-tripping skier will have anything to complain about this coming season
No-body made any negative comments the season before when I had the huge red tipi erected for 7+ weeks
Yes wood smoke is a dead give-away but I won't be the only one using a fire there and a rocket stove should not give out too much smoke anyway
I'm not worried about the readers of this forum knowing where we will all be [ after all there are a few of the members joining me from time to time and the invite is open to all ] I just need to keep it a little subdued

[+dj_hansen+]

How attached to the tent are you? You could always rattle can camo the tent once its setup should be lighter to carry rather than 20kg of camo netting.

Not sure what affect it would have on the fly material though, perhaps a water based paint rather than oil, or look for some fabric paints?

[Moondog55]

Well it's a $100- 3rd hand tent but I've just spent a lot of time making new wands for it and making it stronger to handle the high winds but I have never found paint to harm the fabric used in these flys
I guess it's a disposable; if it gets trashed I set up my Plateau or PaddyMade inside the other shelter fly but these tents are really quite strong once the wand issue is fixed
I haven't yet reproofed or DWR'd the fly, I see that there are now coloured silicons and I had the thought that using yellow or white may cut the bright blue down a bit
The advantage to camouflage netting is in the extra tie-down strength it may give the tent, although it may not be much as I doubt the home assembled net weighs more than 8kg, being made from old semi-sheer polyester curtain fabrics

[Moondog55]

Today I spent some time with the old mesh and the curtains bound for the tip
Remember these don't have to be perfect they just have to not scream "This is a TENT" and these should work from 200 metres away, maybe even 100
for the normal casual glance
Actually with a light dusting of snow they may be better than that

dj I did use some spray paint as well, mainly white and black but some old cream house paint and a touch of the old Brunswick Green too
White rattle cans on sale at the green shed were $1.55 each so I splurged and got 2 and the cream house paint was a mis-tint sample pot and cost me a whole dollar
I also spent a couple of dollars [ literally] on some old poly cotton bedsheets to throw over as well if needed

[sim1oz]

md, hidden amongst the trees or behind the hill with some camo sounds good (and closer to the toilet). Our red tent might gives things away...

Photo brought back memories. No kids this year

[Moondog55]

In a way it's a shame the kids won't be there as the Widget is coming up for a week-end with Vicki.
Blue and Silver must be the cheapest fabrics available for these budget tents/ I'd be happy to pay a little more for something more subdued.
As for my intentions being out in the open? I don't think the Lycra clad, carbon fibre fixed, yuppie skating crowd read this forum.
Lower profile not actually hidden will be fine and if the Army adventure training group are there again this year I may actually get some expert advice too

[Giddy_up]

Looking good MD. That should lower your profile quite a bit and let's hope that you don't have to put up with your camp being thrashed by miscreants this year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GPSGuided]

This thread is hilarious. People would come and vandalise your tent all because of the colour?

[Moondog55]

This thread is hilarious. People would come and vandalise your tent all because of the colour?

Actually no
It was because some people were not aware that camping is allowed and I was far too visible [ long long story ]
So there was a very small minority of people who objected to my camping and not spending accommodation money in the village and some-one in that crowd vandalised the tent and camp cutting my guy-ropes opening up the propane tank and a couple of other little things like drinking my coffee and spilling the sugar all over; leaving dirty cups and spoons
nasty small minded people

To avoid that this season Is why I am making large efforts to be as discrete as possible, the camouflage is so I won't be obvious from the CC ski tracks which passes the camp site on the hill on two sides about 200 meters away