Tahoe Rim Trail early October

[Adam Criswell]

Glad you made it back safely. Sounds like challenging conditions but a great opportunity to really test your gear and yourself. I am sure you learned alot and that in itself makes for a succesful trip whether or not the mileage goal was met. As Tony said, it will still be there next year.

Take care

[Jim MacDiarmid]

If I had gone a week earlier or a week later, I'd have had great weather. I looked across the lake as the shuttle carried me to Reno Airport last Tuesday morning and could see that the snow on Dick's Peak was melted. I just managed to catch a storm that planted itself over the region for 5 days and dropped a lot of precipitation.

Dug, that's a good tip on the alcohol stove. I brought the canister stove because of the cold temperatures, because I thought it would stand up to high winds better, and because when I estimated fuel needs over 9 days, the weight came out slightly higher for alcohol; 1oz alcohol x 7 mornings and 6 dinners=13oz vs 4oz of isopropane for the whole trip. Granted,at the end of the trip, when I would've been carrying mostly empty containers, the alcohol container would weigh .5oz and the MSR canister would weigh 4oz, but I was willing to carry the extra ounces for better efficiency.

It's good to hear the NeoAir holding up to extended use, but on my 2nd night, I proved to myself why I was best taking the CCF instead. I sent up my tarp about 6:15pm at Susie Lake as the wind kicked up and the sleet started to fall. I boiled my dinner water and dumped it into my Mountain House and sat down to wait. I glanced over at my tarp and saw water gathering under the head of my bivy. I wouldn't call it a stream, but a seep of water was flowing a few feet down a slight decline and right under my campsite. I hadn't noticed a potential issue when I set up. I had about 15 minutes of daylight left to find a new site. I found one about 30 feet away and got re-set up. However, I noticed during the night a stick poking through the 1/8" ccf under my feet. It didn't put a hole in my bivy, but I shudder to think what it could have done to my NeoAir, leaving me to spend a 32* night sleeping on the ground.

The conditions also pointed up the advantage of a cuben (or spinnaker) tarp over a silnylon tarp, despite the far higher cost; I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to re-tension a sagging tarp despite the cold and constant rain, snow, sleet and hail.

I was taking a chance by going out with some gear (the tarp, in particular) that I'd never used in those types of conditions, but I came through okay. There's definitely something frightening and thrilling about being under a tarp, high in the mountains, as thunder crashes and lightning flashes and hail beats down inches from your head.

To learn, you gotta practice, and I got some practice. I just wish I could've practiced on a few overnighter's rather than a multi-nighter.

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