Snow Camping in the Sierra
Although I've camped in cold weather without snow, and in relatively mild weather on glaciers, this was my first experience snow camping. It was also only my second trip on snowshoes. It was Julie's first time for both.

We asked the staff at our local REI store for advice, and followed their suggestion to make our first trip a weekend trip to Donner Summit, along Interstate 80 just north of Lake Tahoe. We chose this because it was easy to drive to, gave us flexibility of how far to hike in, was relatively flat compared to some other mountain trails we had considered, and was a beautiful area.

We arrived in a snowstorm after a three or four hour drive.

Julie in backpack and snowshoes, standing among snow-covered trees Tim and Julie ready to snowshoe
Assembling all our gear and getting the snowshoes on took another hour or so.We then headed up the trail. The winter had seen quite heavy snows, and more had fallen recently.
Julie and D. snowshoing through open forest Julie, Tim, and D. on the trail This gave the trail, which wound through pine forests, a fairyland quality; snow-draped pine trees, some only a few feet above the snow-level, lined our path.
Julie sitting in snow, eating lunch
After a couple hours of walking, we stepped off the trail and sat down in the snow for a rest and lunch.
Julie cresting an open ridge on snowshoes Continuing, we made our way up a rather steep section of trail, to arrive at a saddle from which we could see the route we had traveled so far, and the route ahead.
D. just after cresting open ridge D. in open forest before campsite search
From this vantage pint, we could also see that the weather was not getting any better. Since it was already 3 PM, we decided to search for a campsite shielded from the wind.
D. snowshoing down hillside in search of campsite Half an hour of searching led us to a site in a small grove of trees, perhaps a hundred feet below the saddle.
Julie shoveling snow for edges of tent platform Julie sitting in tent door at our campsite We had to build a snow platform for the tent, which was quite a bit of work since the site was not level. We eventually got the platform built, let it solidify for half an hour or so, then set up the tent and unpacked.
D. digging a snow cave
David decided to try sleeping in a snow cave instead of a tent. He reports that they are quite warm, but I can attest that they're a lot of work to build; it took two of us two hours of digging to make a snow cave for one person.
Julie sitting in our campsite "kitchen" (a snow shelf) Since we had plenty of construction material (snow), we built a small shelf to use for cooking, and set our stove up on it. As the sun set, the wind blew and the snow fell in large flakes. We cooked our dinner of soup and hot chocolate, then cleaned up.
D. warming his hands over campstove
After a few minutes warming our hands over the campstove, Julie and I retired to the tent for the night.

 
Julie inside tent, dressed to go outside Sleeping in a tent in winter is a strange experience. The air is quite cold, and the sleeping bag is warm. Our heads and faces were most affected by this; they were almost always very cold, no matter how warm our bodies were.

In addition, moisture from our breath froze on the tent walls and sleeping bag at night, producing a thin frost that coated the inside of the tent by the time we awoke.

Julie in morning, bundled up in sleeping bag
We awoke the next morning to a new coating of four to six inches of snow, and snow still falling. If heavy snow had fallen during the night and piled up on the tent, it would have been important to wake up occasionally and knock the snow off the tent.
Julie (snow-covered) holding our breakfast of hot chocolate
After a breakfast of hot chocolate and granola bars, we took down camp and made our way back to the car, through forests that had been redecorated since our passing this way just the day before.
Julie and D. snowshoing in snowstorm Snow fell quite heavily all the way back, and the wind picked up, letting us know that another storm was coming.

After getting back home, we learned that our timing had been excellent; the storm had intensified after we left, closing the road for quite a few hours.
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