Surviving a Brutal Arctic Winter of Van Life in Extreme Cold & Snow Storm – Cozy Camping #vanlife

Surviving a Brutal Arctic Winter of Van Life in Extreme Cold & Snow Storm – Cozy Camping #vanlife

That’s the lowest temperature I’ve ever  measured. got a big concern with my battery. Snow storm My most extreme cold experience Surviving my second winter of extreme Vanlife The 2024 Arctic tour January 15th well good morning. it is 10:00. it’s getting  colder. it’s – 12.5 right now. had a good  

Night’s sleep. had to get up in the middle  of night and switch propane bottles. that’s   always fun. expecting it to get much colder  now over the coming few days. thin sprinkling   of new snow on the van this morning, and that  always makes me happy. time for morning coffee.

Cheers. it’s getting colder and colder.  was supposed to be around – 9°c. Heading north to cross the majestic Dovrefjell mountains. I’m in Oppdal. going to drive in  and see if my camp is still here. A   camp I used last year that I really  liked. it’s getting really cold now  

It’s -17° C. let’s see how how cold it  gets. it’s very calm now and no wind,   so could get very cold. so this is where I like to  stay. let’s see if I can get in through this snow here.

All good. I wonder what direction I should  face. I’m going to check if there’s going to   be aurora borealis, northern lights, tonight  before I choose my direction. oh it’s cold,   getting very cold now. I said minus 17°  but but it’s – 19.3° now. keeps dropping  

Fast. it’s like it drops one degree  every minute now. it’s not even 16:00 yet. so while this extreme cold is going on  outside it’s time to make dinner.I got   some chicken today and I’m going  to make some chicken burritos with avocado.

Well this is the coldest so far this year. it’s-  23°c now. I fear it could get down to – 30°c.   time for some food here. gonna get this burrito  going. it’s been a while since I ate chicken.

Nice! love it. they never seem to be able to get  get the cold forecast right. when the forecast is   cold it always gets colder than what day forecast.  it’s freezing on the inside of the windows now.   that’s quite rare. okay it’s uh 18:30ish and  the temperature just dropped to – 27°. minus

27.3° few minutes ago, and now it’s fluctuating  back and forth. we’re at 10° colder than the   forecast said, so I need to start making sure  that I’m alert and might have to restart my   van a few times through the night now  if this is the way it’s going. we might  

Be reaching minus 30°c if it keeps going  like this, and it’s kind of weird with the   forecast it only said minus 17°. that happens  a lot of the times when it’s a cold forecast.   it sometimes get much colder than the forecast  says. so I’m going to restart my van now. it’s  

Been 3 hours since I parked. going to restart  it and let it run so that I keep the engine warm. so I need to show you something here. so the  instrument panel says minus 15. that’s always like  

10° off and here I have this sensor outside, and  it says minus 25. so usually the instrument panel   on my van is 10° too warm, which is kind of a  bummer because there’s really no way to tell  

When you’re out driving how cold it really is.  no problem starting now after 3 hours parked. so   I’m going to let it run now for a little bit  then I’ll just keep restarting it every few hours. it is crazy cold. I’m going to open the  

Hood and add some insulation so  that the heat stays inside the engine. it’s 9 in the evening and we got minus 28°c outside. still the lowest that we got, and  the heater is going really hard. I am nice  

And warm inside here but I’m probably using  a lot of propane now, which is actually fine   because it’s not that expensive. really  excited to see how low it gets through   the night. okay we had minus 29°c. it is time  to start the engine again. it’s 11. it’s been 3 hours.

Still no problem there. going to let it run for   half an hour or so. it’s minus 29.3 now.  it’s quite incredible how cold it got here. okay it’s a little  bit past 2 in the morning.   it’s time to start the end again see how it

Goes. well no problem there going to let it run  for half an hour now. going to put the alarm on   so that I don’t fall asleep. it is 6:00 in the  morning and it’s time to start the engine

Again. so no trouble at all getting it  to start. well good morning it is 9:30   and it’s – 20° outside. it got down to minus  29.3 that is mighty cold what a spectacular morning. well I better head inside again  before I let out all the warmth. well it’s  

Not that warm inside it’s 7° now. but warming it up. that was a pretty cold night. – 29.3 de C is  around – 21 degrees fahrenheit and it’s the coldest   I’ve had it in the van. and it worked fine  with getting up through the night and

Starting the engine. so I was able to stay warm  and I was able to keep my van alive. I do not   have a engine block heater, so I need to take  these measures so that uh I can get the van  

Started without straining the engine too much. I  also got a NOCO battery starter or jump starter   that I got um this Christmas, and uh I have that  for backup. but I’d rather not use it. I’d rather  

Run the engine every now and then. so made my  coffee. going to do some work here and I’m just   going to look at weather forecasts and uh I’m  going to see what it’s going to be like here  

And what it’s going to be like further north. I  might be moving North now so we’ll see. cheers my friends. you can’t beat the the light  you get when it is this cold, and the quiet. So quiet! okay it’s time to get out of here.  it’s uh nearly 13:00 and it’s going to  

Stay cold like this for few more days. (Then it will get colder). so I’m just going to drive   north. I’m very happy how my van performed in  this extreme cold. um it’s good to know that  

I can keep the engine warm uh through a day  of this or more. so now it’s uh running like a Clockwork. oh good morning. we got a fresh dusting  of snow. it’s quite beautiful and it   insulates the van a little bit  better. I just have to check that  

The sunroof with the ventilation  is cleared. that is the one over there. I’m actually planning to do  a little stunt here to clear that   area of snow. I’m going to use  the Drone. let’s see how that goes. no that didn’t really work. I was hoping  that uh wind generated by the propeller  

Would clear the snow around the sunroof over  there. but it didn’t work. so well well, nice try. got my morning coffee and  it’s it’s snowing outside. a   light uh dusting. it’s beautiful. I just  love waking up to mornings when it’s

Snowing. I have driven uh a bit further north.  I’m uh just between Snåsa and Grong now.   and I’m uh making my way up towards  uh Lofoten. going to see if I can make   a stop on the big mountain plateau called Saltfjellet or Salt mountain. it’s a very exposed and  

Harsh area. so right now the mountain is closed. uh  it’s also minus 30° up there so I don’t   want to go up quite yet. I’m hoping to  stay up there in a few days. absolutely crazy. and then um I’ll drive down to Bodø and  take the ferry over to Lofoten. that’s the plan  

So far. plans change with the weather so I  just take it day by day and see where I end up. it’s a beautiful cold day. it’s going  to be a beautiful drive today going north .very ice roads here  but it’s cold so it’s dry ice.

Here’s the sand truck. guessing it is too cold  for salt, so they’re putting on sand now, which I prefer. there’s some mad shaking on these roads. it’s all  the ice that has been cut up and   creates this washboard road. so it’s just shaking and shaking. this is one of  those situations where  

You should definitely have less pressure in the tires. this is quite a beautiful spot, but it’s  going to get super cold here so I might   want to go a little bit further and see if I  can uh find a different spot. there’s a spot  

Down the road here where it’s going to be 5°  warmer. it’s always difficult to decide on these   things because sometimes it get much colder  than it’s forecasted, and sometimes it gets warmer. but this is spectacular. it  gets dark in half an hour so won’t  

Be seeing much of it anyway. but that’s a cool place no doubt about that. so this seems to be working very well. I’m  able to keep my temperature up inside, and it’s holding. good morning didn’t expect it to get this cold. minus 23. that’s just a little bit below what  

I had hoped for. uh but hopefully my van will  start. well anyway. beautiful clear morning up   here now going to start the van and let it run  for a little bit. as soon as it gets below minus  

20 I am getting a little bit concerned about  uh starting the van. so going to get it running now. it started no problem there. a little  bit slower than it usually is but nothing   to be concerned about. so I’m just going to  let it run until it’s uh getting warm. start  

Making coffee and get this day started.  so now you can see my lithium battery   is uh below freezing so it’s not uh charging  right now. you can see the current and power   is at zero but uh this should start the heat  system inside the lithium battery so it should  

Be heating up now, and it should soon start  charging, as soon as it gets uh above freezing. so I have this little uh kind of uh wellness  hack that I use uh when I’m out here planning   stuff, and I’m feeling tired in the morning.  I always have this rule that I will not  

Plan anything or make any decisions until  I’ve had my first cup of coffee. I know that   after the first cup of coffee my mind changes,  and I get much more inspired and energized to   get started with planning and stuff like  that. so I just leave everything out and  

I just uh wait until I’ve had that cup of  coffee, so the most important meal of the day. didn’t expect it to get this cold.  it’s as usual 5° colder than uh it is on   the forecast. stay frosty. okay uh a little  bit of a change of plans. I’m going to do  

A little detour into Sweden. going to head  up over the mountains to Hemavan and then I’m   going to circle back to Norway and uh uh  go up on Saltfjellet, salt mountain. it’s mighty   cold around here now so I don’t know where  I’m going to end up camping for the night,  

But the plan is to be up on the mountain uh  between Norway and Sweden, so that should be exciting. wow what a scenery. look at those  mountains up here. that’s just beautiful and   this river it’s smoking. that means that  the river is warmer than the air.

Pure ice up here in the mountains. it’s dry  ice so it’s not super bad, but got to be careful. it’s so cold.   so this valley is called Hattfjelldalen,   hat mountain valley. I wonder  where it got its name from. wow what an incredible scenery up here.  high up under the border with Sweden.  

Going to keep climbing up into the mountains  and then cross the border and then go over to Hemavan. just incredible up here. I’m now only like  100 km south of the Arctic Circle. uh 60   miles south of the Arctic Circle. uh not  going across uh the Arctic Circle today,  

But uh that’s the plan to do that  tomorrow. uh crossing the salt mountain. it’s um pretty far north now of  course, so it’s 14:30 now and the sun is   going down. I would love to have  a little bit more daylight so I could see  

More up here, but uh this light here like  a constant sunset and sunrise is just spectacular. so we got uh minus 30° C again. I got a warning  on my drone saying that it was too cold and it  

Was going to land, so I got it down just in time. that is a new experience to me, but uh I was always   curious how low it would go before it failed. so I can only imagine  how cold it must have been. I guess I was  

20 m above ground uh so and it’s moving fast as  well, so probably 35 minus 35° C up there. I’m going   to be late getting into Hamavan. uh going to do some  shopping there. it’s always cheaper to get good  

Stuff in Sweden than in Norway. Norwegian food is the worst! and also the diesel  is cheaper here. got about 30 more kilometers to go   until I’m in Hemavan, so that’s like 16 miles. but I’m going to continue back towards  

Norway because it’s just too cold up here. is not a  good temperature to to be camping in the van. and minus   30 is too much. I can do it like I did in oppdal 5  days ago. but it’s it’s not comfortable really when  

You have to get up in the night and restart the  van. anyway. it’s beautiful here   up on the mountain on the borderlands between  Norway and Sweden. just south of the Arctic Circle. well that’s cold. that’s a new record for me actually. I put the sensor  outside to see how cold it really

Is. no wonder my drone said stop -33.5° c that’s it’s the lowest temperature  I’ve uh ever measured in my van. I’m in Hemavan. got some shopping done. it’s  officially too cold here now. I can feel my   transmission fluid is starting to get uh frozen.  it’s really hard to do the clutch and

The transmission. so I’m going to head back into  Norway now. I filled up with cheap diesel and some   better food, and I’m just going to head over  to a little bit warmer climate. this is just too  

Much for being being in a van. you could feel  things starting to to go wrong if you stay here   too long. so I’m going to head over the mountains  towards the ocean side. the sun has gone down and  

It might be a beautiful drive. I’m hoping I get  to see some, that it doesn’t get too dark. what a scenery. you can see why this is named the blue road. you’re basically driving towards the blue. so that was bit much for the battery. doesn’t  look like it’s been taking any charge today,  

And uh when I stopped the temperature was down  to -4°c. it’s supposed to have built in heat,   so don’t know what’s happening here. it’s been  extremely cold. now that I stopped it’s up to  

0°, and I can see went up from 13.36 to 13.38 V now. so I’ll let the engine run for a little bit. it   should do better than this with that heat built  in. or maybe it’s just too cold. when it’s nearly  

Minus 35. maybe that’s just too much. it’s sitting  on the floor, so it’s extremely cold down there.  that was an extremely beautiful drive, and the most  cold thing I’ve ever done – 33.7° C .  that’s just crazy. I’m going to set up camp here  and the forecast is changing. it’s getting super  

Cold really fast now. so let’s talk a little  bit about safety. I know a lot of you are   interested in that, and how I solve my safety   issues. I have several layers of redundancies.

First thing is the van of course uh with the  heating system. number two is of course the uh   heating system in the car part of the van that could be  used if you can start the van. I have my cell  

Phone. there’s really good service everywhere in  Sweden and Norway, so it’s very rare to not have   cell service. so you can always call someone.  you can call the tow truck, which is usually   through the insurance company, which is doing a  really good job. another layer I have of safety  

Redundancy is my backpacking and  camping gear .I have two tents with me. two winter   tents. and I have two sleeping bags. one of the  sleeping bags is rated at minus 35° C comfort   and that’s a Western Mountaineering uh sleeping  bag. I have all my winter gear with me  

Here, so that includes two stoves. one that runs  on gasoline and one that runs on propane. I also   have winter sleeping pads. I got five blankets and  uh one winter comforter. Woolen sweaters, uh winter   pants, base layers. all that kind of stuff. I got  two pairs of skis uh with boots.I could pretty  

Much be self sufficient out here in winter land  for several weeks. probably I’ve got freeze dried   food and and food for being in the back country  as well. so all in all I think that I would be able  

To survive out here in almost any conditions.  so that’s my kind of safety net that I always   bring with me in winter out here. if one layer  of safety should fail. I have another one waiting- good morning. it started snowing through night, so  it’s warmed up considerably. it’s – 7° outside now

And it is snowing. got a big concern with  my battery here. it is still not showing anything. it shows that  it’s using power now, but   it’s still at 85%. same that it  was at when I went to bed. and

I don’t know what’s going on here. I’m hoping  it’s just the app that’s not working. I’m going   to see if I can get the temperature up again. but  now it’s minus 1, and that’s too cold for charging.  

Yesterday it went up to 3° and it was still  not charging. so I don’t know what’s going on   here. so I’m guessing I have to use my backup  power source for the computer and stuff like   that. I have an Ecoflow power station. not  going to use much of the van´s battery for heavy  

Purposes, so that I can at least run the heater.  so we’ll see I’m going to go somewhere with   internet. I have no internet here and I’m going  to uh check on the Skanbatt support page and  

See if I can get any answers there. well look  here it’s been so cold that the water that was   left left in my kettle has frozen to solid ice.  huh, it was sitting in a cupboard at the bottom

Here and this is also frozen. wow. pretty  stuff. there was a lot of traffic here yesterday with   these cars coming and parking to go to their  cabins. most of them were bringing or renting snowmobiles. kind of concerned about that battery.  I’m not very happy about it not showing any  

Numbers that make sense. let’s hope it starts  working properly as soon as it gets warm again.   it has been extremely cold on the floor level of  the van, so that might have caused it. of course  that caused it. but I did expect it to survive  with the built-in heat and everything. with all  

This stuff uh frozen. my vinegar and my coffee  kettle and uh everything that was sitting uh   on the lower shelves of the cupboard. it’s kind  of uh the reason why I do not have any water in  

The tanks inside my van. even though I never  let it below freezing. I always keep heat in   here. uh stuff freezes uh along the walls and  along the floors. you could see with the   battery as well. so you know, if you’re going  to be out here for some time and know that  

The weather is going to be harsh. your water  is going to freeze in the tanks. the only thing   that doesn’t freeze is the toilet, the cassette  toilet, because that’s basically inside the toilet   compartment or the bathroom. and the bathroom is the one place that stays the warmest.

This is the mining town of “Mo I Rana”, just below the Arctic Circle here I am taking the van inside while changing propane bottles Gonna pay for a campsite with electricity to try and make my battery charge again.

This is awesome. so I got power here. I can try to make the  batteries work again. if I don’t snow in. but this   is beautiful. absolutely stunning. so got power  over here. probably going to be alone here now. okay since I now got electricity, I can run uh this  

Uh space heater here, and uh just  warm up the battery as much as possible, so that will start accepting charge again. okay yes so that worked. now you can see  the temperature of the battery is 5°, and um  

It’s charging. 231 wats, and 16.8 ampere. so  it’s gone up from 84% to 85, and uh it’s going   to take 1 hour 28 minutes to charge. so that’s  very good. now I feel relieved here. there’s the  

First time for everything and this is the first  time my battery got so cold, even though it’s got   heat built in, that it would not take any charge.  there’s uh some uh heating built in that should  

Warm up the battery enough for it to take charge.  but I guess it’s just been too cold. but now I’m   uh connected to electricity so I’m able to use  this uh heater on electricity, that warms up the  

Battery and now it looks like it’s all good. I  was just one degree below uh where it’s taking   charge. I was kind of worried that I would have  to go to the shop or abort my adventure here, but  

Um now everything’s good. so very relieved now.  it’s always good to make new experiences, but   um I had higher hopes for those batteries, but I  did not expect to be in -34°c. it’s a good   adventure so far. and I’m super happy with this  spot here- and it’s uh really affordable place  

To camp. it’s a 230 Norwegian kroner with  electricit,y. that is uh $20 €20 that’s   not bad at all. it’s really cool to be right by  the ocean here. very happy that that problem was   solved. it’s one of those things that you  really uh need to have in order. your batteries. it’s a

Marina. no open service buildings but uh  I still think this is an excellent deal.   I’m going to put it on my my YouTube  members map that I post for um those   of you are signed up as members on my channel  and also on my patreon page for those who are  

Signed up there. so that you can find. it it’s just  outside of “Mo I Rana” and it’s basically just on   water here and it’s a 230 k roner including  electricity. but no other services now in winter. this is my temperature sensor  that I keep outside when I’m parked.

A snow storm is building to add to the past days of excitement. A special thanks to my Patreons and channel members! You can sign up for maps & exclusive content at Patreon.com/NorwegianXplorer (link in description) or become a member of this channel by using the “join” button.

Surviving a Brutal Winter of Extreme Van Life in Blizzard, Cozy Winter Camping in Snow Storm & Freezing Temperatures. I share some thoughts and preparations on survival redundancy and equipment and what I am learning this winter. I learn a lot!
Extreme Cold! ❄️ This was the coldest weather I have ever experienced and I get some cold related trouble. I head towards the Arctic and take a detour across the border to experience the coldest temperatures I have ever measured. I end up in a snow storm before I go across the Arctic circle and experience a crazy extreme blizzard in next episode. Survival mode in this video.
This was quite the incredible experience and I was lucky to capture the cozy feeling of the extreme cold and snow storm in HDR. I bring my new DJI mini4 pro drone for the amazing arctic winter shots.
Part 3 of my 2024 Arctic tour. Blizzard, Snow Storm Camping & Freezing Cold. Cozy Van Life Winter Camping in Snow Storm, blizzard, surviving extreme weather & temperatures #vanlife #wintervanlife #snowstorm

My van is a Fiat Ducato, FWD with Nokian Winter Tires. This is the same as a Ram Promaster in the USA and Canada.

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Enjoy camping and van life friends from around the world!

Check out this other winter van life video in the series: https://youtu.be/r7vagLligPs
Surviving my first Winter of Extreme Van Life, Blizzard, Snow Storm Camping & Freezing Cold which includes:
This is my complete first winter of Winter Van Life in extreme conditions in the North, living in a van during freezing temperatures. Starting in January I go through the whole winter season of snowy winter adventures from January to April, with snow storms, blizzards, extreme cold, extreme snowfall, slippery roads and some amazing winter beauty as well.
I also show you what I learned from my first winter in the van.

About me: I am a Norwegian adventurer and wilderness explorer. My youtube channel focus on outdoor wilderness adventures and exploration, backpacking, hiking, canyoneering, skiing, climbing and mountaineering. Nights spent in a tent, alone or with friends. From the snow covered mountains and misty fjords of Norway and Scandinavia to the remote plateaus of Yellowstone and the debts of the red canyons of Utah to the summit of Mt Whitney and the heart of Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park. I love the Wilderness! Email is under “For business inquiries”, for general questions please comment on a video, I try to answer everyone.

#wintercamping #vanlife #camping #snowstorm #storm #van #snow #wintervanlife #extremecold