Trip Report: 2010 Teton Crest Expedition

"Doug, did you notice the spelling of your last name in the introduction??? LOL!"

I did! ;-) I've already razzed poor Damien about it.

I did not take a tarp. I was planning on sleeping in the tent, but on the first night decided to try just sleeping out in the bivy since it was so nice out (I had never done so). Liked it so much I did it every night!

"I will not subject my dog (or worse yet, my bank account!) to being boarded in a kennel so I can hike there."

I'm with you there. I pay someone to stay at my house when I'm away on adventures with instructions that Casey is allowed to sleep on the bed!

Reading that and watching the video was superb. Well done to all who did the trip and thanks for writing the trip report and making that fantastic video.

Awesome trip report! I had previously seen the video and had been wondering when we might hear more about this trip. The scenery looks stunning and the off-trail navigation with the minimal map would be a fun challenge with the right group.

Glad you guys put this together and decided to share it with the rest of us.

very well done gents, thanks for sharing!

It was a great trip and it was great to hike with all of you. I have to repeat Doug's comments and say that Pat wrote this trip report, all we did was some reviewing and editing. Pat, you did a great job on the report! So when are we going again…….

Eric

Damien-
What kind of video camera did you use on this little trek.
Beautiful stuff.
-Mark

Mark,

Thanks, glad you like it! I used a GoPro HD Hero.

Now that was a righteous ramble scramble through some gorgeous terrain! I loved both the video work and the music. Congratulations to one and all on one helluva trip.

Damien, thanks for clueing me in. If you don't mind, I'm also curious of the age of the participants. I am 47, 150 lbs, and pretty healthy and have thought of going lighter using Trail Runners. I'm hesitant, but want to learn. If I can get out six times per season, that's good. In the end, I'm wondering how they might work for me. Are they mostly similar to a boot but just low-topped? Thanks for your help and consideration. Awesome multi-media piece.

Warren-

Think running shoe with more aggressive tread, and possibly a more durable upper.

Warren,

In terms of the ages of the participants, I will let you know how old I am, the others can chime in with their ages if they want. I am 38 years old.

I think that light-weight trail runners can work for pretty much anyone. If you are coming from stiffer boots however, you will have to build-up to it as your foot and ankle muscles won't have the strength they need right off-the-bat. I would spend a lot of time doing increasingly longer day hikes and building up your foot strength before jumping in to a backpacking trip. Also, wearing light-weight, minimalist shoes and going barefoot in your daily life will help to condition the feet as well.

Warren, I'm 52 (was when I did the trip, 53 this year!), was about 175 when I did the trip. Fairly healthy (except, perhaps, for my sense of humor…..).

Don't be hesitant. And, really, there's nothing to learn. I was 50, and a tad lighter, I think, when I went from Scarpa Kailash boots to Asics trail runners. Just did it. No break in period, no building up period, just boots one day and trail runners the next. In fact I think I went out for a 27-mile dayhike the first time I used the trail runners, they were brand new. Haven't had any blisters at all since going to trail runners (had some nasty ones in the Scarpas after changing out the insoles once).

I've never had any problems at all (perhaps I'm just built from hardy stock). I will say my feet were a tad sore, but just a tad, when I did the 85-mile Susquehannock Trail in 3 days wearing New Balance MT-100s (very minimal shoe). But the soreness was gone by the next morning after the hike.

So plunge in! Your feet will thank you.

Warren, Doug is right on the trail runner adjustment, just make sure your load is pretty light first. I'm 54, 165 lbs and switched to trail runners years ago once the rest of my load lightened up. I already had strong ankles and am very fit, but I believe trail runners are actually safer than something that stiffens up you ankle. They give you more flexibility and confidence. I even use them off trail, above tree line, peak bagging. I still use something heavier when conditions warrant. But for 3 1/2 season hiking, backpacking and light mountaineering, trail runners are hard to beat.

Dan

Great trip guys. The walk on that rocky ridge looked very cool. Excellent video and tunes Damien. That GoPro HD Hero is a pretty nifty piece of gear, perfect for those times I'm too busy to stop and take pics.

Damien and other trip reporters, and Chris, thanks for the encouragement and sharing your personal info. Gives me a better idea of what I'm contemplating. Based on that, I think I'll give em' a try. My main avenue here is to go to REI and see what they have (they do have a ton of new shoes here in their new store). I know Innov8 is talked about all the time. Guess I could use any helpful tips and brand comments that any of you would like to add. Also, saw that Doug wore wool socks. Whats the typical set up? Lightweight sock or midweight sock (for cushion)? How about fit, over size to fit a medium sock? Thanks again for the helpful comments. -And of course, I'll check the articles archive.

I'm 54, 5'11' and weighed 178 prior to the trip. My skin out weight was 11.5 pounds (7.5 in the pack and 4.0 worn/carried). 11 pounds of food plus some group gear and water brought my pack up to about 24 pounds on the first day. So the total weight on my feet the first day was about 206 pounds and about 195 on the last day. Trail shoes are fine for this type of load. I wore Salomon 3D XA-Pro trail runners with CEP/Medi(http://www.mediusa.com/sports.html)compression trekking socks and compression shorts to improve endurance and reduce fatigue. Feather-weight ankle gaiters (www.dirtygirlgaiters.com) help keep small pebbles and duff out of the low-cut trail shoes. After the trip I replaced the Salomons with Inov-8 RocLite 295's with "grippier" tread. I have done a few weekend trips with them, but haven't had them in a long distance off-trail situation.

Patrick, thanks. Dan, your comments are much appreciated too. Patrick, I will definitely take a look at the shoes-n-socks you so kindly pointed out. Thank you all for allowing the thread to get off the beaten path. I do appreciate it. And I do very much appreciate these trip reports. They allow me to get out even more and learn from such a large community.

Doug, thanks for sharing your gear list. Very informative.

Another place added to my long list of places to go. Sigh… Thanks for the report, guys!

I didn't realize until the end of the report that it was one of the BPL WT class groups. Is that right? I hope there are a lot more of those courses in the future. And more reports from them. Good times!

This was an optional trip, put together by the students in an online planning course. The trip itself was not part of the actual course.

Damien – great video, really capturing the joy of the trip.

A question: can you post the names of the songs you used? The groups are mentioned in the credits, but it would be nice to know the titles/albums, too. Excellent choices.

"This was an optional trip, put together by the students in an online planning course. The trip itself was not part of the actual course."

This was very clear to all of us from the beginning. We simply enjoyed the planning process so much that we all decided to follow through with our plan on our own. Very glad we did!

Ah, okay. Well, it's still a darn good end to the course, even if it was optional. The more the merrier!

Steven,

Glad you enjoyed the music! It turns out that I got one of the artist names wrong in the credits… actually I had originally used the one listed there (Metric), but decided to swap-out the song and forgot to change it. Here are the names of the artists and songs (listed in the order they are played):

– Brandi Carlile – Gone
– Afro Celt Sound System – Seed
– Sigur Ros – Saeglopur
– Filter – Take a Picture

So I have to ask…why does Ryan have the largest (heaviest?) pack?? Never thought I'd see that.
Tom

Ryan carried a CiloGear NWD 60L pack which is 3.5 lbs before any stripping. Knowing Ryan, it was probably 2 lbs or so after his work on it.