is it possible? Is it dumb?
yes,yes
Please confirm if I will die or not
I bet you would be warmer in a snow hole in some parts.
Why?
Surely a youth hostel isn't that much?
Camping will be much warmer
People sleep in tents in Norway in the winter so why not cars. Just take the appropriate equipment.
Very very dumb if you up north in Norway dude spent a lot of years working there and read many story's of people trapped in there cars who died of exposure so please just don't risk it. Take a proper camper van with heating or winter tent and proper Arctic winter bag and roll mat as you car will rip your body heat away quickly as its metal
It's a metal tent. Have you got the necessary equipment for camping in the temperatures you might experience while you're there?
Though saying all that 2 years working in Greenland was colder and got trapped in upernarvic for 3 weeks once.
Are you a yeti, penguin or polar bear?
Are you Mr freeze from Batman?
Are you madder than mad jock mcmad (or whatever the right blackadder reference is) ?
If you answer yes to any of the above then why not give it a go.
If not may I suggest a hotel, hostel or other more sensible accommodation in order to avoid hypothermia or death.
It would be near Lillehammer,not super super north. I live in Sweden and good snowboarding in Norway is around 4 hours drive away. Would rather not pay for the accommodation
Drink some antifreeze and you'll be fine down to minus 25
DO NOT try to sleep in your car! It's not a 'metal tent'. It conducts cold far better than canvas or nylon. Get a tent and proper winter gear, or even learn how to build a quonset. Or yes, you will die.
I can confirm that it gets cold in a car in the UK in the winter. Proper cold. Glass is shit insulation.
Ah so put the tent over the car?
Ok so a tent is an option. Normal tent? I guess with 'snow pegs' if such a thing exists? Lots of insulation from the ground? multiple sleeping bags? Car nearby In case of bears?
Just get a cheap hotel, no? I know it's Norway but surely there must be cheap hotels
So you say it's not a metal tent, then describe the disadvantages of metal tents.
It's a metal tent.
When you're camping, most of your heat leaves through the floor. It would take some pretty nifty sleeping mat to insulate better then a load of car upholstery.
OP: don't take this lightly. Don't die.
Consider joining stf (if you aren't a member already) as you can get reciprocal offers when staying in huts over the border. Plenty of huts to stay in run by DNT (edit - better check that this is till the case). Don't stay in a car, even down south. Tents better, snowholes better still, but neither as roomy or comfortable as a hut.
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I thought I was going to freeze to death fully clothed inside two.2 season bags on a camp bed in my van on the North Yorkshire Moors in a snowy Feb.Never mind Norway
I'm not taking it lightly honestly just genuinely interested in people's views and the challenge of it.
I paid £15 quid for a pint of Newcastle Brown last time I was there so I'm presuming there are no cheap hotels, but it perhaps warrants more investigation if camping is madness
run a hose from the exhaust into the cabin and itll gently blow warm air all night.
seriously tho try couchsurfers or something cos your idea is monumentally stupid
£34 with brekkie in the hostel in Lillehammer isn`t bad is it?
These are great suggestions thanks and will investigate. Lillehammer is approx. 1hr from where I would snowboard so not perfect , but many thanks. Will check out SFA also . Vibe seems to be no car sleeping ...!
OP - there are huts in the Lillehammer and Trysil area if that's where you are planning on being, and several in the Jotunheimen if you're going that way touring. Assume you're familiar with them but if not basically vary from being like good bothies up to more or less fjällstation type affairs. From more or less as cheap as is possible in Norway to STF hostel prices (ish). Look at [url= http://ut.no/?utm_campaign=Hytter_og_ruter-14&utm_source=kampanje&utm_medium=kampanjeknapp ]ut.no[/url] for options. All more comfortable and way less hassle than winter camping if you're on holiday.
Enough layers you will be fine.
I once slept rough for three nights in Switzerland one Christmas to save money when travelling.
After spending time with someone who only stayed in hostels when he needed to use there facilities and slept rough more often than not.
Bajsyckel thanks for that. Nice username BTW 🙂 yes would be Hafjell , perhaps up to Hemsedal too. Do you just turn up? How cheap is cheap?
I spent a while 'car camping' when working away a few years ago - I had a big sheet of foam in the boot (estate) and a heavy canvas tarpaulin that went over the car at night
without the tarpaulin it was ****ing freezing!
In Aviemore, in winter, back of the car, 2 3 season sleeping bags and in a proper bivvy bag would have been better outside and takes ages to scrape the ice from the inside of the car.
slighlty pisched and not read the posts above properly, but they;re talking shite.
If you've got decent sleeppoing bag it'll be fine. I;ve spelpt in minus 19 in the VCoolvo no bother.
The kids slept in minus nine in the pip top on the camper o Carimnngrom no bother at the age of 5.
Drying your kit out after a day on the hill is anothe rmatte though
damn that was an awesome curry.
mmm beers
-18 C not -19 c
Volvo
pop top (obviously)
Cairngorm
matter
cheers
Mates of mine came out to visit me in various ski resorts and always slept in their Mondeo estate. How they got it up the various snowbound passes defies logic but just goes to show how good driving and an unwavering belief that you will do it goes a long way!
Got buried under 2m of snow in Andorra and took 2 days to dig the car out
-15 or so in Italy one year and they were just fine. Good bags, plenty of karrimat and an extra duvet from local supermarket.
If its truly cold (-10 or below) probably best not to drink too much booze (not that it stopped them...)
I boarded just north of Lillehammmer once... it was so cold that day that my toe strap got so cold and brittle it snapped !
Gotta say it wasn't much fun... so cold you wanted to get down the hill quick, but was scared of bailing as the cold had my body all tight and any fall would double hurt.
Jacuzzis with Norwegian twins helped warm me up at the end of the day!
Thought l'd gone to heaven... so yes you may die
Seems to be fairly standard to stay in Lillehammer and ski at Hafjell (I've only ever been there to XC ski, and got bus from there to Nordseter or Sjusjoen as it's far cheaper to stay in Lillehammer - I suspect the same might apply to Hafjell).
We've camped in our van at -7 or -8 and it wasn't overly warm but surprisingly ok.
750g bags
base layers & hats
some insulation to van
polyflute/corflute window blinds
Had to heat some water in the stove to clear the windscreen tho.
I'm off to find those twins...
I've slept in my car quite a lot, at best it's dry, but it's rarely warmer than outside the car. If I'm not being too cheeky I usualy take a pop up tent and just camp at the side of the road.
Planning on doing it next weekend infact, but in Northampton not Norway! Just bought some foil backed bubblewrap to make blinds from.
I've also done a fair bit of car kipping in Scotland and in a camper at Val Thoren without a working heater. With a reasonable quality synthetic sleeping bag you'll be okay, either double up with lots of space inside or get 5 season bag.
Don't park up too far off the beaten track, check what the local law allows and be aware of the weather conditions. A few beers inside and a fresh dump outside could leave you very short on oxygen.
As above, you will not be able to dry gear and warm boots, you can keep the inners in the bottom of your bag. Bear in mind that you will be in the car for a fairly long time so weigh up the cost of food, drink, warmth and company (delete as appropriate) at an apres bar compared to what you can sort out at a hostel taking some drink and food with you.
On your own? How are you going to stagger the candle watch?
It depends on where in Norway you are looking at. -40deg? Nope. You'll want an arctic bag, thermarest and [url= http://www.anchorsupplies.com/limited-stock-british-army-5-man-arctic-ridge-tent-super-grade-1.html ]Tent[/url]
Are you [url= http://metro.co.uk/2012/02/13/swiss-man-replaces-cars-broken-heater-with-a-fully-functioning-wood-burning-stove-316854/ ]this man?[/url]
If not, yes you will die.
I did a naval exercise in a Norwegian Winter a few years ago. I've done plenty of climbing in atrocious weather in Scotland and this was in a different league. -40 including wind chill and the only environment where it's really struck me that without the proper equipment and training you would be in serious trouble.
As a fellow skin flint I'm no stranger to sleeping in cars but there is absolutely no way I'd do it in Norway.
Travelling by car to Norway? Luxury 😉
http://www.therevcounter.co.uk/threads/90768-So-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-Hell-by-C90
Go for it. Can I have your bike if for some reason you never return?
Oh hold on, what colour is your bike? Is it red? I hope it's red. Never mind, I can get it repainted if it's not.
These boys did it ( sort of)
Banff Film festival winner 2013
It didn't do Roxette any harm
Thanks for all the replies. It's interesting that a fair few think it would be fine with lots of layers and so on, whereas most think it's foolhardy including a dude from the Navy who is clearly tougher than me.
Is a tent a valid option then? I'd be really up for that. I'd be like the English madman who drives up from Sweden and camps. Haha! I like the idea of on a Friday after work seeing that there has been lots of snow and the weather looks good for the weekend and just driving up, no booking of hotels etc.
In terms of drying stuff there are places to leave boots and so on and there are showers at the base of one of the gondolas.
Thanks!
If you pull it off and party hard - getting to know loads of the locals/ visitors ....then yes you'll be the cool Englishman.
If you are doing it to tick a box, spend a miserable few days and even less on the slopes because you are wet and cold, and don't mingle because you have believed your own hype more than reality...then no one will care less, and you'll just return home feeling like a sad loner.
I've done both
The locker room at the gondola base station in Hafjell has showers and loos (and gently heated lockers for your gear to dry out in), but it would be pretty duff to kip in the car park. It may not get as cold as you fear - we go in Feb half term most years and have had a range in town from about -15 or colder some years to hovering around 0 this year. It's only about a 20 minute drive from Lillehammer, and there's definitely at least one cheap place to stay there, but I can't remember what it's called.
There are bound to be DNT hunts around but they'll be up in the mountains. Great for long distance cross-country tours, but rubbish for snowboarding 🙂
I'd suggest bringing your own booze (even Sweden is much cheaper than Norway) and using the savings to pay for the hostel in Lillehammer. You'd spend more on the down sleeping bag to keep you alive than you would on the hostel...
including a dude from the Navy who is clearly tougher than me.
I'm afraid not, my cabin was heated.
slightly insulated van you could get away with it. But then my mate used to sleep in his in the alps and his water bottle would freeze.
Trouble is cars have a lot of windows and you would need some silver screens and other stuff.
Personally, I'd rather cripple myself financially then sleep in the cold. Hate it. Wake up far too often.
you won't die... i've slept in a car mid winter (ok, an Essex winter, but there was a light dusting of snow on the ground in the morning), but i was 17 and drunk. never repeated it after that.
i'd be more concerned about drying my kit after a day on the slopes. and what motor is it? Volvo estate or Ford Ka?
snow camping is pretty fun - much easier if you've got somewhere to dry boots, shower and poo. and a bar to hang out in till you want go to bed - actually, it's just occured to me that that aspect might turn it into quite an expensive option.
You're off the slopes, at 5 ?), what are you going to do until you want to go to sleep? You might not want to go and sit in your tent, and the bar's just there...
At least you shouldn't be seeing these kinds of tracks in the morning: [img] 
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more tips on snow camping, some relevant to you, some not: http://splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9278&sid=e0a33b3daa3e6036fb23bee430ab2e5f Lots in there about boot drying, but skip to page 3 for some tips on snow camping in general.
Also think about where you're going to your charge phone, camera batteries. Amd take some audio books/podcasts etc - reading books/kindles means having your shoulders, arms and hands out of the sleeping bag: you'll lose heat, and turning pages is tricky wearing mittens!