Originally Posted by
nsherry61
Wow. I so, disagree. Aside from, if 4-season is a minimum, what would I get that is better. . . maybe a five season? ;-)
I realize that winter tarping isn't for everyone, but done right, it works in non-mountaineering winter conditions well. And heck, no bugs to worry about in winter. Any semi-wind stable 3-season tent should be fine unless you are expecting large snow loads or are camping in wide open, unprotected areas (where a pyramid tarp would work well), which I understand are largely avoidable when camping along the AT even if you aren't using the shelters. A tarp may actually be more useful than a tent in that you could also rig it more easily as a windbreak inside shelters.
I regularly use my 20*F degree bag as my winter bag, knowing full well that I will, at times, wear some extra cloths inside or on top of my bag if it gets below 20*F and I will take an extra quilt for over the top if I expect it to be below about 10*F. Even regularly doing week long winter ski trips, I never use my expedition down bag, it's just way more than I ever need.
I find canister stoves work fairly well down to about freezing. So, if you don't expect to be much below freezing regularly, you can probably get buy with a canister stove, they just get frustratingly slow. Some people use alcohol even in winter. I have never tried that as a primary stove because I expect it is too slow for my taste melting snow for drinking. Inverted canister stoves work very well down to below 0*F as do liquid fuel. There are lots of tricks to get upright canister stoves to work in the winter if you already have one and don't mind the fiddle factor . . . probably not best for a novice.
I love my Kattula microspikes and highly recommend them any time you expect to be walking extensively on snow and/or ice especially in exposed areas where a slip could be catastrophic.
I never use boots any more, except on my skis. For winter, I generally hike/snowshoe in my Merrell Moab Ventilators (light trail shoes without waterproofing) with a thin liner sock, a vapor barrier liner, a thicker insulating sock, and then a waterproof sock cover and gators. Bread bags work for VBL and WP cover if nothing else. Shoes are so much faster and lighter and plenty warm for non-arctic hiking rigged as noted above.
Again, as suggested above, absolutely do your winter adventure, but absolutely do not head out on it without some practice winter overnights to tune your skills and gear!