Winter Camping_ 5 Shelters for Bushcraft & Camping _ TARP.

Winters here in Britain are often cold, wet and pretty miserable. Most winters will see temperatures of around minus 10 to minus 11 degrees celsius in northern areas of England. Some areas of Scotland get down to minus 15 degrees celsius fairly regularly. The coldest temperature last year was nearly minus 19 degrees celsius in Scotland. And the coldest temperature ever recorded in the UK was of course in Scotland in the winter of 1982 where temperatures reached minus 27 degrees celsius. Sleeping under a tarp is a common thing to do here in the UK as winters in general will consist of cold wet rain and strong winds. With that in mind here are five of my favourite winter bushcraft and camping tarp setups for the UK. First up is the This tarp setup derives from the three-sided log shelters that were popularised in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. These shelters were developed as a convenient place to camp for fishing and hunting groups. You can manipulate a tarp to form an Adirondack style shelter which will protect you from the elements from three sides. It will have plenty of space inside for you and your gear as well as help you to retain the heat from a nearby campfire. To set the shelter up I tie a ridgeline between two trees. To do this I tie a loop in one end of the ridgeline and I pass this loop around the tree and then put the remaining end of the cordage through this loop and put a stick through it. Now I can cinch down tight on the paracord and the stick will hold the loop in place and stop it from slipping. Then I walk the ridgeline across to the opposite tree and wrap it around. I then loop underneath the ridgeline and back around the other way of the tree. This will help to put even more tension on the ridgeline. I then make a small u-shape and pass another small loop through this loop and pull it away from the tree to tighten it. Then I put my hand through this loop and grab the remaining paracord and pull it through to form a second loop which I can then put a small stick through to stop it slipping. Now I secure some small loops of paracord to the ridgeline which will help tension the tarp. These are called prusik loops. To tie these I wrap the cordage over the ridgeline and back through the loop twice which creates a sort of fist shape. This knot allows me to slide it back and forth across the ridgeline if I hold it by the knot itself but if I pull from the lower end of the loop it locks on itself and grips to the ridgeline. For the Adirondack Shelter I tie two of these prusik loops to the ridgeline. Next I fold one corner of the tarp over the ridgeline. I then find the tie-out point that is two away from the corner tie-out point and secure this to the prusik loop on the ridgeline. To do that I put the knot of the prusik loop through the tarp tie-out point and then place a stick between this and now I can pull the prusik loop away from the tarp and it will cinch down on the knot. Then I do the exact same thing to the opposite side of the tarp. Now I need to peg down the bottom of the tarp. To do that I try to make a square shape. So I find the tie-out point that is opposite the one on the ridgeline and peg that corner down. I tuck in any excess tarp and do the same to the opposite side. You can see that I'm doing this in less than ideal conditions with a strong southwesterly wind coming through the woods. Notice that I am making the shelter so that the back is facing the wind. With the back tied down now I need to peg out the corner tie-out points at an angle. This is where the adirondack shape comes into play. As we already have the back of our shelter we just need to make the sides. Once I've pegged out one corner I will do the exact same thing to the opposite side. To create the roof I just place a stick through the corner tie-out point making sure it has a slight downward slope to shed any rain. Then I peg this guy line to the ground. I like to make an adjustable knot on this tie-up point as generally in winter the winds will be strong and you need to tighten your guy lines regularly. To make an adjustable guy line hitch I wrap the paracord around the peg and then wrap it over and inside itself twice. Then I form a small loop and pass the tag end through this loop. This is a quick release loop which will make undoing it much easier. Now to tighten the guy line I just pull the knot towards the top and to loosen it I pull the knot towards the peg in the ground. You can stow away the remaining paracord by wrapping it up and tucking it in the loop of the guy line hitch and that's how I make a basic Adirondack style shelter which has plenty of room inside for gear and to sleep in. However you can make even more space by tying out the middle point of the tarp. You'll notice that I have some cordage already tied onto the back loop of the tarp. This is so that whenever I make this type of shelter I just unravel the cordage, wrap it around the stick a few times and then peg this to the ground. Now there is even more room inside the tarp for me and my gear and if the weather really turns nasty with heavy rain I just loosen the guy line of the roof and then peg it down straight to the ground. This creates a more enclosed shelter and protects me from the elements. Tarps are a highly versatile piece of kit. This particular tarp is only 2.9 by 3 meters wide and it's so lightweight that I keep it in my kit all the time. But what if you don't have two trees close together? How can you use a tarp as a shelter? Well you can actually make a totally freestanding tarp shelter without the need for any ridgeline. To do this first lay your tarp out in a flat square on the ground. You can peg out each of the four corners to pull it tight. Then peg out the two tie-out points that are right next to the corner tie-out points. As each peg goes in I pull each tie-out point out diagonally so that the tarp keeps its tension. I then take out the corner pegs and tuck this piece of material underneath the tarp. This is going to be the back of the shelter so make sure this section is facing the wind. I only do this to the two back corners of the tarp. Now I go to the front of the tarp. I take the very corner tie-out point and unpeg it. Then I find the next tie-out point and add about six inches. Then I flip the corner tie-out point to here and peg it in. I do the same thing to the other side. Find the tie-out point next to the corner one, unpeg the corner, add around six inches and peg the corner tie-out point in. This will form the front of the shelter. Then I cut a branch about the thickness of my wrist. I use my knife to bevel one end of the stick to make it as smooth as possible as this is going to push up against the inside of the tarp. I then put this stick underneath the centre of the tarp making sure it is as straight as possible. You can add a cut out tennis ball or a sock to the top of the stick to prevent it from causing any wear against the tarp. I then tie a guy line to the next tie-out point that is adjacent to the front corner of the shelter. I fold this part of the tarp back on itself and tie this off to the back corner peg using an adjustable guy line hitch. I do the same to the opposite side. To finish the shelter off I add another guy line to the front centre point of the tarp to tie out the entrance and help to shed the rain away from the shelter. Now I have a low profile tarp tent that is very well protected from the elements. It works really well in strong winds as it has so many angles to it which deflect the wind. The entrance to the shelter is small but it keeps you from being exposed to the elements. There is still room enough inside for me and my gear. This tent can be even easier to make if you use an adjustable hiking pole for the centre instead of a stick. That way you have an easier way to keep the shelter taut. But what about hammock campers? What's the best tarp set up for winter hammock camping? Well my personal favourite is a diamond fly. This offers best protection against the elements in particularly heavy rain as it has a sharp angle to shed the water. There are different ways of tying this tarp formation. Some with a ridge line, some without. For this example I am not going to use a ridge line. Instead I have guy lines tied to each of the four corners of the tarp. I tie one corner of the tarp to a tree just above head height. There are a number of knots you can use but I use a Siberian hitch. If you want to learn how to tie it I recommend watching my tarp set ups video below. Once you have tied off that corner tie off the opposite diagonal corner to the other tree. Note that the tarp is tied out so that it is in a diagonal fashion. This is where the diamond shape will be made. Once you have tied out those two ends you should have just two remaining guy lines. Grab these and peg the tarp out as vertical as possible. That way water will not sit on the tarp and make it sag. It also helps to prevent the wind from ripping through underneath the tarp. Then do the same to the opposite side. And that's it. A simple diamond fly tarp set up. Great for hammock camping in adverse weather conditions. All you need to do now is string your hammock between the trees. The great thing about this set up is that if the weather conditions allow it you can quickly adapt it to get much more space underneath. All you need to do is undo one of the side guy lines and take it further out to the side and tie it to the nearest tree around head height. The other side should be the one that is protecting you from the wind. Now you have an open view of the forest as well as the space to have a fire nearby and still stay dry. If there is little to no wind you can even open up the shelter to get a full 360 degree view. If the wind or rain picks up again just peg the corners back in the ground and hunker down. The next shelter is in my opinion the fastest tarp shelter that you can set up. And for those of you thinking well these tarp setups are great and all but what if the wind changes? Isn't it going to be a faff having to undo them and move them around? Well that is where the plow point shelter comes in. You can be even more prepared for this setup by having your tarp stuffed into the side pouch of your backpack. Then when I need to deploy a shelter quickly all I need to do is pull the tarp out of the side pocket of the pack, secure one corner of it to the tree just above head height. Then I pull my backpack away from the tree and peg out the remaining tie-out points. You'll notice that I haven't needed to use any guy lines. When all the tie-out points are pegged out I just take the last corner piece of the tarp out of my pack, pull the tarp tight and peg it down. And that's it. I have an instant shelter that is set up in a matter of minutes and if the wind changes to a different direction then no problem. I just unpeg the tie-out points, rotate the tarp around the tree so that the back of the shelter is facing the wind and then re-peg it out. This shelter has plenty of space inside for sleeping and gear and if I want to increase the space inside the shelter I can do what I did with the Adirondack shelter at the beginning of the video and tie this off to a nearby tree. The one thing to be aware of when setting up this style of shelter, especially in windy conditions, is if there are any dead branches in the tree above your head. Try to avoid setting this shelter up under trees with precarious looking branches. If you are more of a ground sleeper and you like to sleep next to an open fire then one of the best shelters to keep warm is a low profile stealth shelter. For this I tie three prusik loops to the ridgeline. Then I lay my tarp out flat on the ground with the front of it just underneath the ridgeline and I find the middle tie-out point at the front and secure this to the middle prusik loop above it. I do the same thing to the next two loops either side of the middle tie-out point securing them to the wood toggles so that the tension of the tarp can be adjusted easily. Then I peg down the last two front tie-out points to the ground which finishes off the opening of my shelter. There is now lots of wasted tarp at the back of the shelter which I tuck underneath itself to be used as a ground sheet to keep me dry from the damp forest floor. Then I peg down the three tie-out points which are opposite the prusik loops of the ridgeline. I'll then peg out the next two tie-out points to the side of these and I will finish it off by pegging out any remaining tie-out points making sure that the tarp is pulled tight. Now we have a low profile stealth tarp shelter which has its own built-in ground sheet. This type of shelter is great for strong winds as it is low to the ground and only has a small footprint. However it can be pretty restrictive in terms of space but if you have a fire just in front of it you can get the shelter really warm as it traps the heat very efficiently. And those are five of my favorite tarp shelter setups for winter bushcraft and camping. If you enjoyed this video feel free to subscribe and be sure to check out my wilderness survival and bushcraft skills playlist for many more videos on this type of topic. Cheers for watching and I'll see you in the next one.