North Easterners, please report on your frigid winter camping

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Those of you "lucky" enough to live in the northeastern US are having a truly frigid winter. MOST EXCELLENT conditions for winter camping. I hope you haven't wasted this opportunity to test your winter gear.

Tell us your stories.

[John Higgins]

unfortunately i haven't been out much cause i also work in snow removal, i did get out for a short trip to the green mountains in VT. made an attempt at a 40 mile hike with a wilderness section got about 15 miles in and back hiked out i wasn't making the expected mileage and had a 50/50 chance i was going to run out of fuel. the blow down was bad and time consuming. my usual 10 miles in winter snowshoeing wasn't being met. i made the decision the night before and feasted on as much as i could to lighten the pack weight. when i got back to the car i looked at my maps and slack packed a 6 mile section the blow down was terrible about half way threw, like a jungle Jim for about a foot ball field length. if i had a full pack on i might have turned back, but I'm always up for a challenge. after making it past the blow down the rest of the trail was quite pleasant. after making it back to the car i spent the night there. waking up in the morning i search for more trail head parking along the AT to relatively no avail and rewarded myself at the long trail brewery with a nice stout and plate of fries talking to the locals. learned that the green mountains can get upwards of 10 feet of snow (witch they may have by now this was before Christmas 2-4 ft then) and the mud can shut down the roads after the snow melts and is worse then the snow. might go back before the mud season to make another attempt but only to deal with the snow melt swollen streams to forge and the blow down may turn me south bound to where i left off in Harpers ferry WV. all in all i like to get out at least once during every season to enjoy it and was glade i was able to do so the north east weather can change very drastically very quickly all year round in the elevation. not many people out on multi day hikes in the winter. just out and back day hikes

[Stephen M]

You jealous Eric?

[Tipi Walter]

Unfortunately this thread probably won't get many posts because a great percentage of BPL members are indoors talking about the Gatewood cape or esbit fuel tabs and NOT actually out backpacking and camping in the cold and snow. Who's gonna file a 10 day ultralight backpacking trip report to Mt Washington and the White Mountains??

Nope, no one. But you may get a slew of Dayhiking reports with guys testing their skis or snowshoes—and then rushing back home once the hike is over.

The only cure for this is BACKYARD CAMPING—ya can't drive to the trailhead but you can sleep in the backyard every night and get your bag nights and keep your winter chops honed. It's a great technique to use between trips—You get home after a long backpacking trip, dry your gear and prepare the food for your next trip, and sleep out every night in the yard or on the deck or porch to keep your head in the game, especially important when temps dip to -10F with high bitter winds.

In fact I just came in from an outside yard camp and it feels good to use my little Akto—

[Bob Moulder]

I have done a few trips this winter, mostly one-nighters to test gear and a couple of 2-nighters, one to the Adirondacks and one to the Catskills. Fortunately the snow right over the river in Harriman State Park has been marvelous and I have done several 1-nighters and a few dayhikes there.

My most convenient trail head parking area at Harriman has been closed, which forced me to find a new access point for quick trips, and it actually worked out great. We live in a condo and I don't have a backyard like Tipi, so this has become my backyard. I can snowshoe in to this location is about 45 minutes, and out in 35 minutes, so I can drive over late in the day, and pop in for a quick overnight gear test.

Some of us might go up the Whites in early March, but that is not decided yet… I've got a lot of stuff happening on the home front.

Most of my trips have been focused upon dialing in and lightening my winter kit. I'm getting very comfortable with the Duomid, so much so that I'm thinking about getting the Cuben version. I know… I should've gotten that one right off the bat! I've now got all the kinks worked out with my canister stove setup and am quite comfortable using the JB MiniMo as my winter stove. The sleep pad system(Neoair trekker short/wide + Ridgerest Solite) is coming along (28.7 oz – ouch! – but it'll be good to at least -20, I think). Tried the polycryo ground sheet and didn't like how slippery it was on snow. Tyvek's kinda heavy so probably gonna end up with cuben there, as well.

My new backyard at Harriman!

Chillin' (literally chillin', lol) with cigar, coffee and best friend.

Edit to remove repetitious redundancy

[BlackHatGuy]

"I've now got all the kinks worked out with my canister stove setup and am quite comfortable using the JB MiniMo as my winter stove."

What have you done to dial this in, and down to what temps?

[Bob Moulder]

What have you done to dial this in, and down to what temps?

Doug, I started thread on this: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/98947/index.html

At this point, you can read the very first and the last few posts in the thread and have all the info needed.

Lowest tested thus far is -6F, but I would be totally comfortable taking out for a -20 trip. Probably fine down to -40 but I don't want to get too cocky.

JB MiniMo chugging hard at +3F in the Daks

[Bob Moulder]

Hey, Eric, some other stuff that's new (to me!) this winter that I've been really happy with, all in the second photo:

1) Thanks to your recommendation, the EB StormDown hooded jacket which, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been putting through the wringer as winter has proceeded and remain quite impressed with its performance. I was very skeptical about the potential benefits of DWR treated down, but no more!

2) The Northern Lites Elite QTR (25") snowshoes that I picked up here through GearSwap. I've got about 70-80 miles (very conservatively) or so on them and could not be happier. I can see how they might not work for some conditions, such as side-hilling on crusty stuff, but they've done well around here.

3) REI Mistral pants. Great fit and just the right amount of stretch and they shed snow and ice amazingly well. Paired with some light or medium long johns they work in a huge temperature range, block wind very nicely and breathe well. Only problem is the belt loops are way too large so the belt slides way above the waistband, even when not wearing a pack. Fixed that with a little hand sewing, but you gotta wonder what the hell they were thinking with regards to that detail.

[Michael Wainfeld]

Two trips so far; a two nighter in the 'Daks Super Bowl Weekend, with an attempted, and ultimately unsuccessful, bushwack up a drainage to Giant Mt. I was very comfortable using the Soulo, and a WM Puma bag with a hotwater bottle in the foot. Exped Synmat UL-7, and a Thermarest Z-lite. Temps were -5 overnight. Deep snow in the woods. A bit of frost in the tent and on the bag, which sublimated by the time we returned. The second night was a bit better with the vent open.
Then this Wed-Thurs a quick trip to Hairyman SP. Bob is right-beautiful snow, 2-3 ft. We went in at Elk Pen, over to the Squeezer and up the AT for a bit. Microspikes up to the Squeezer, then snowshoes. Found a nice place to camp, dug out a kitchen, and spent the night. Not really too cold; I was fine with the same setup. Minimal frost in the tent this time. Some pics from Harriman:

[Bob Moulder]

Michael, looks like you guys had great weather!

I'll be there tomorrow and Sunday as our lucky streak continues. Very nice to have your info from Elk Pen as that is my start point. Doing a loop, length dependent upon trail conditions.

[Gary Pikovsky]

I'll be doing the Presidential Trail this weekend and camping below treeline around Mt. Washington. Will post the camp shots later on.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

GREAT STORIES AND GREAT PHOTOS. Just what I was hoping for.

Yes, I AM jealous of you guys. Fun Hogs!

But it's snowed a bit (12 inches) in my Spring Mountains and more is falling today and tomorrow. I'll likely go up this week for at least one night. If so I'll post photos. For one or two nights I can get by with my Osprey EXOS 58 pack. I'll use my TD Sidewinder stove W/ Inferno insert and wood so I can melt snow for water.

I'll be using my tele skis and skins. Snowshoeing is SO slow.

[Bob Moulder]

Eric, another brief report here: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=100548&skip_to_post=851648#851648

I've done a few 2-nighters and a bunch of 1-nighters… really getting the winter kit tuned. This is my first full winter of UL tweaking and I'm getting there. Used the Arc Blast and had room to spare, but fortunately it wasn't a gear-intensive effort requiring ice axe, full crampons, several days of food, fuel, etc. I don't think the Arc Blast would've sufficed for all that. Glad to hear Zpacks has been working on a heavy hauler, but in the meantime I'm fairly happy with the REI Flash 62 (32oz) which really is not too bad.

Glad to hear you're getting a chance to enjoy winter in your neck of the woods. I've tried the wood stove (Sidewinder/Inferno) in winter and it was good enough, but just barely… need some serious BTUs for melting snow when no running water is available.

I'm sure skis can be faster in many places, but around here we have a lot of little brutish ups and downs and ice cover ranging from soft powder to ice, punctuated by patches of blowdown and rock and nasty, zig-zaggy chutes and an incredible amount of postholing by ignorant asshats. When I was going out of the woods this morning there was a guy skiing in and he didn't appear to be having an easy time of it.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Bob M. I hear you about snowshoes in rough terrain. I'm originally for Erie, PA and our mountains are much like New York state.

I've used both backcountry skis (& skins) and snowshoes there depending if I was on trails (skis) or going cross country ('shoes).

[JP]

–

[Bob Moulder]

Hi, SI: Was reading about the Altai Hoks last night after getting back from our trip, arriving home yesterday afternoon.

Those look really cool for tight woods! Even so, we did a hike a couple of days ago to Mt. Moriah that had an incredible number of steep little- to mid-sized ups and downs, as well as numerous trail blockages. The above-average amount snow this year felled quite a few trees. Anyway, snowshoes still would have been our gear of choice. We did a whole bunch of calf-smoking front pointing. Was reminded yet again that there's a whole lot the topos don't tell us!

I'll edit later with a link for a brief TRIP Report/Photos.

edit to add link for trip report

[Bob Moulder]

I can't do any more winter hikes because the clock has run out for this year!

But there is one last hike I did with my longtime friend John, which can be found Here

[Author]

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