Books to educate and inspire a love of wilderness and winter.

In the early days, before the internet, books we found inspired, taught, and most of all introduced us to new ideas and activities.  In the Snowwalking and winter camping world there are two classics:  “Paradise Below Zero” by Clavin Runstrum, and “A Snow Walker’s Companion” by Garret and Alexandra Conover.  A chance discovery of “A Snow Walker’s Companion” in Duluth Minnesota started Duane down the path of founding Empire Canvas Works and Snowtrekker Tents.  We had for many years already spent summers wilderness tripping in Canada, and as a family were starting to explore the possibilities of winter camping and hot tents.  We still believe that these books are incredibly useful for those of us going out into the field with canvas tents and wood stoves.  As far as more recent books we have on our shelf and refer to Kevin Callan wrote a great book “Complete Guide to Winter Camping” it is worth a spot on your shelf as well.  Ray Mears and Lars Fält’s book “Out On The Land Bushcraft Skills from the Northern Forest” is also a really great reference for travel in the Boreal north in all seasons including our favorite season winter! Winter camping is still decidedly a niche activity, but as the popularity has grown, the resources have as well.  Of course there is a wealth of digital knowledge available online, but we do appreciate sitting down in the evening with a physical book!

What about books that inspire us to go outdoors?  Like many of you I am sure we enjoy reading tales of time spent in the snow and cold. We like to divide them into two camps, fiction and non-fiction.  Both have their place in our libraries and serve to fire the imagination and desire to get out and explore wild places ourselves.  

One of the classic true stories of survival we have read many, many  times is "Mawson's Will” by Lennard Bickel.  It is a harrowing story of the will to survive and refuse to give up. We highly recommend tracking a copy down and reading it for yourself.  “North to the Pole” by Will Steger is another classic tale of expedition travel and overcoming difficulties to do something incredible; the first unsupported dogsled trip to the North Pole. “Polar Exposure: An All-Women's Expedition to the North Pole” by Felicity Aston is yet another favorite. It is a gripping tale of a group of women with varying levels of skill from all over the world who skied to the North Pole in extremely challenging conditions.  “A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador” by Mina Hubbard. It is mostly about a canoe trip, but also includes some travel in harsh winter conditions.  There are, of course, many more books about trips and expeditions than we could possibly ever list and while they may not all involve hot tents, reading about other people's expeditions and how they deal with problems as they arise on trail makes you realize that with proper planning and preparation our little adventures in comparison are very doable.  Books like these really do reinforce the idea that we are far more capable than we give ourselves credit for.

And Finally, novels!  Everyone appreciates a good story; we are no different.  People of all ages enjoy reading novels of adventures in the outdoors.  And while some may be based on true stories and events and some straight from the author's imagination reading a book about adventures in the great outdoors can spark the desire to get outside and see what you can find yourself around the next bend.  A few of our family favorites are, “My Side of The Mountain” by Jean Craighead George, “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, “Lost in the Barrens” by Farley Mowat, and “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. A good novel is a great way to spend an evening and spark your imagination to go have adventures of your own.  And while you may not run away to the mountains and train your own falcon, or survive a plane crash with nothing but a hatchet, stories of adventures whether true or not have always inspired a bit of wanderlust and a desire to see over the horizon.

This is not an exhaustive list of every book about camping, winter trekking, expeditions, survival, and just getting outside to explore that we have read or have been written. There are so many books, both fiction and non fiction that exist in the sphere of a love for winter and existing in a harsh and unforgiving climate, that we could not possibly list them all.  But that is the beauty of the written word, there are always undiscovered stories, books about skills that may not be as widely known now as when they were written, tales of expeditions half forgotten that exist.  Some may still be in print, some long out of print that you need to track down.  That for us is also part of the fun, the search for a book you have heard rumours of, or the chance to find in a bookshop.  These moments can have a ripple effect years later, much like stumbling across the Conover’s book had for the Lottig Family. 

What are your favorite books about the outdoors? Do you prefer fiction, non fiction, practical guides or all of the above?  We are interested to find out what you like and maybe add a few new titles to the stack to be read!