Winter UL New Ideas

[Kelham Stephenson]

Hey Everyone,
First post, so very new so please take it easy on my (no knowledge).
I've done some winter hiking/camping over the past few years, used an
EMS Alpin2 Tent (7.8lbs) and an
EMS Boreal 0 degree synthetic bag (4.1lbs)
BMW Torso Light Sleeping Pad (10oz)
Synthetic Midweight Shirt and Pant (6oz)
Mountain Hardwear Monkey Man Fleece (1.2lb)
EMS Boundry 200wt Fleece Pants (14oz)
Mountain Hardwear Argon Shell (1.3lb)
Mountain Hardwear Pinnacle Stretch Gaiters (9oz)
Dakine Gore-tex Mittens – (7oz)
Mountain Hardwear Argon Ice Shell Pants (15oz)
Smartwool Socks x3 – (?oz)
Smartwool Beanie (?oz)
Deuter Futura Pro 40 Pack (3.3lbs)
Keen Growler Boots (1.5lbs)
MSR Denali Evo Ascent Snowshoes (4lbs) Only if really needed???
Stove, Food, Knife, Water etc ( about 3.8lbs)

Any ideas on losing some weight?
Like I said I'm new so any advice will help
Regards
Kelham Stephenson

[Kelham Stephenson]

This comes out about 25lbs roughly
I would like to get down to 15-18
I need to find a safe way to drop weight in the tent and sleeping bag I believe?

[nanook ofthenorth]

Depending where you are you could either use a tarp hung low, a BD Megalite or BD Highlite tent. Depending on your choice that's most of your weight savings there.

I've been using a WM SMF Puma sleeping bag for the past few years – great and only 3lb 7oz ish – I think the Versalite is only 2lbs, not sure what they have at the 0F range.

Then your into clothing – replace the heavy fleeces with a BPL hoody and pants and you might be down to close to 15lbs, and over a grand lighter! :P

have fun!

[Mike Clelland]

QUESTIONS:
=======

Where are you hiking?

What's the weather?

How many days?

Solo, or in a team?

This will help a lot. I do a lot of winter camping on skis in the northern rockies, and the list you noted wouldn't work very well in January at 10,000 feet.

[Kelham Stephenson]

Hey, hiking is usually up in new hampshire and vermont, so no higher than 3-4000 feet. Normally two people hiking, my girlfriend and I. Weather is east coast, so varies quite a bit,

[Kelham Stephenson]

Rob, thanks for the suggestions, ill look into those tarps, ive always stayed away from them in winter because I heard of draftyness and snow buildup under the edges even if its low slung? Any thoughts? I have used tarps in the spring and early fall and they work great for the rain protection, never had an ungodly amount of wind, but ive never used one in winter, always the tents because of the safety?

[Frank Deland]

In winter I like tarps that can be totally enclosed to block wind and retain warmth. (Tarptents or tarps with beaks, Granite gear has one, check Owareusa and Gossamer Gear.) I also like to tie the ends to trees instead of hiking poles if possible. Warm bag and bivy is the best combo. I like the Golite pryamid tarp and I just leave the door open to help with ventilation. It is supposed to be for three, but that would be a tight fit. Cannot remember its name. It comes with an optional floor, but I do not use it. It weighs about 3 lbs. Your name reminds me of Warmlite.com in Guilford, NH Their tents are light, but $$$. I, too, hike in NH/ME.

[Kelham Stephenson]

Hey Frank thanks for the tips, ill check those companies out. What do you use as a floor instead of the tarp, im guessing a just your bivy, sleeping pad and warm bag?> or do you take a smaller tarp for the waterproofing on the snow?

[nanook ofthenorth]

What we used was a low slung tarp and another one as a floor, then we just doggie piled in together. The trick is to do it in the trees (Northern Ontario) and to keep the tarp low so it conserves heat. You can also build snow walls around it to stop wind/conserve heat.
Pyramid tarps work well, and they are much better the higher and more exposed you get, but they do have their limits. Still if your in the trees w/ good wind-breaks a flat tarp should do you good.
Best of luck and go out there and try!

[t.darrah]

The MSR Twin Sisters (used to be Twin Peaks) is a very winter worthy shelter. Its twin pole set up is strong allowing this shelter to stand up well to falling snow and high wind. the snow skirt help reduce drafts and heat loss and the shelter is peak vented. The Twin Sisters is very roomy for one and can accommodate two. At 1 lb 12 oz it is not a UL shelter but it is reasonably priced, well made and durable.

[Jon Rhoderick]

You can even nix the groundsheet with a full length pad and drying your bag out, even your torso lite with your backpack will stop most of the moisture of snow getting at you, and often work hardened floors freeze which i think helps. Good shelters are ones like the Black Diamond Megalight and Betalight, along with the Oware mids and Alphamid, and the Golite Shangri La shelters, which are heavier for the people capacity but roomier. For clothing figure out ways to have your clothing be catered for moving and then big puffies, like the patagonia DAS, 2 micropuffs, or feathered friends volant/frontpoint, there are many ways to do it, I've used two gearlists in particular to mold my gear lists:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=10403&disable_pagination=1
and
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/4768/index.html

It all really depends on the conditions in New Hampshire, are you doing stuff (or would you like to) like Presidential Traverses where the winds and temps are horrendous or below the treeline, eitherway the New England winters bring a bunch of moisture into the equation that the Western powder hunters don't have to experiance.

[Philip Werner]

You can drop 2 lbs if you replace your snowshoes with northern Lites. My pair of backcountry snowshoes weigh 43 oz. I just used them in the whites last weekend and they were great.

[Michael Davis]

My daughter and I were also snowshoeing in the Whites this past weekend. The top of the snow had crusted over from the recent warm days and cold night cycles. In places it was really slick which made the weight of MSR Lightnings feel worthwhile with their extra traction.

Don't get me wrong; I love the lightweight of Northern Lites but IMO, it's nice to have the right tool for the right job.

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