I've never hiked/camped in the mountains. But I've done Southern Ohio's hills with my wife in the winter at about daytime high of +10*F. To keep things soft, is warm weather use fallen leaves in winter use 3 to 4 inches of snow under the tent. Inside the tent the best cold weather sleeping pad is the inexpensive green military closed cell pad. I used mine in warm weather too, but my two older sons refer Therm-a-rest.
I bought Slumberjack simi-mummy bags with synthetic fill (from the late 80's: Holo Fill II).Her bag is 5.5 pounds, mine is 6.5 pounds. Hers is right hand zip, mine is left. In cold weather we always slept in Poly-Pro long johns and socks. Our tent was a "3 Man" "3 Season" Eurika dome tent that I replaced the fiber glass poles with aluminum poles. In the tent, with the two of us zipped together, at -20*F. it got very warm if the wind was calm! (In winter a seldom occurrence!) The tent was roomy enough for all our equipment to be inside with us. Warning: always keep at least one canteen of water inside you sleeping bag for coffee/tea first thing in the morning!
Without children-In the winter, in the hills, and only occasional hikers, we limited distance to 12-15 miles a day. With children (8 & 10)-in the summer we ended doing 12-15 miles because we had lighter gear but more of it!
The older of those two married a girl that is terrified of the great outdoors, but he takes his teens camping. The younger married a girl that is almost the rival of his Marine training. and their daughter love camping (but hasn't been pack hiking yet)
You don't need the latest and greatest equipment! But don't cut corners on Shoes, packs, sleeping bags, or cookstoves! The rest can be 2nd or 3rd tier.
Now that we are in our mid 60's, we camp when we can, but out of a vehicle and in a huge tent (6 person with a Queen mattress!) But low temperatures are never a deterrent! Too hot can be!
Ivan
By the way, do a search of Steelslaver's threads for his hunting camp! The Hilton of snow camping!
