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Hot tenting — which, just in case you don’t know, means having a source of heat inside your tent — beats cold camping, hands down.

I remember sleeping in my four-season tent at the end of a long and cold February day of snowshoeing through deep snow in Algonquin Park.

It was -27 C when I crawled out of my tent in the morning.

The bindings of my snowshoes and my boots were covered with a thick layer of ice that I had to chisel off before I could get anywhere. With frozen fingers and toes, I made slow progress to my car parked at the access point.

The next year I splurged and bought a wood stove and a hot tent. Now it can be a bitter -30 C outside the tent but a balmy 20 C inside.

Early mornings when you’re sitting by the stove, sipping hot coffee and munching on baked biscuits, are absolute bliss. Being able to pull on warm and dry boots sure gets the day started on the right foot.

A hot tent is made of canvas, and canvas breathes.

That’s the beauty of it. A large amount of water vapour forms inside the tent from your breath and your gear hanging to dry.

The canvas allows the moisture to escape.

When you light up the wood stove inside the tent, the heat literally pushes the moisture out through the canvas walls keeping you dry as well as warm.

Back in the day when I first tried hot tenting the majority of tents, including mine, weighed well over 27 kilograms.

Now, hot tents are made of a much lighter canvas. Esker tents, made and sold in Canada, can weigh under nine kilograms.

Hot tenting is perfect when you want to be more comfortable in the winter woods. You can stay out for a serious stretch when you have a heat source to escape to.

To me, winter camping is special, you get to relish the silence of the winter woods away from the crowds.

Top three winter camping bedtime tips:

Condensation will quickly form from your breathing, and the stove needs air.

Moisture from your breath will get trapped and dampen your bag. Instead, wear a hat with a balaclava or wrap a scarf around your face.

A full bladder robs the body of more heat than an empty one, and who wants to crawl out into the cold night air to relieve themselves at two in the morning? Women can use a device called a Pee-Mate or Wiz-Easy for assistance.

Also, create a shallow trough for your body to reduce rolling back and forth through the night.

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