2015 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open

Well my boss just ok'd the time off request so I just bought a ticket. I can't wait. Time to get in shape and plan a route.

If anyone is thinking of car pooling I'm flying into Kalispell on Friday in the afternoon. I'll be leaving on the 28th (VERY early in the morning).

I've read the book and keep meaning to suggest that chapter to Dave, but keep forgetting. I find it mildly amusing that Delta Force came up with this first, although travelling a bit slower, a month later and quite a bit heavier. If you know the area, you can actually deduce their route.

The theme of that chapter, to set aside preconceived ideas and defer to the man on the ground/SME, is one I wish more leaders understood.

Flight booked. Flying out of Columbus, GA and arriving in Missoula late in the evening on Wednesday, May 20th and departing from Missoula early in the morning on Thursday, May 28th. I have a cousin who lives in Missoula, so hopefully he'll be available to drop me off at Holland Lake and pick me up at my end point, if necessary.

If there are any folks participating in this year's BMWO who live in the SE, I plan to do a bit of training in the North Georgia mountains prior to the event.

By the way, 6-8 others I have been in contact with have stated their intentions to go.

Great stuff! It's gonna be awesome.

I'm sure someone has peeked at possible routes :) the shortest route I've found (save a flying machine) looks to be about 85 miles, a couple in the 90-ish range and several much longer (but possibly quicker????)- is this in the ball park of what others are seeing?

Also it appears to a non-rafter, that rafting on this year's Open (SW->NE) appears to be pretty limited-again not a rafter, so I might be out to lunch :)

Also very early to predict, but thus far we've be been having an above average snow year and I think the Flathead has experienced similar weather

I was gung ho to try my raft but now I'm pretty sure I'll leave it at home even if I don't go with a non rafting partner. I can probably raft a bit faster then I can walk but I will have to stop to inflate the raft, carry the raft through the snow and deadfall, and stop rafting if I get too cold. All these things make me think rafting would be a toss up as far as speed goes. Also there are places in the Bob I'd rather not raft at flood stage.
I have not fixed on a specific route yet but I will try to us the long valley's to my advantage, avoid areas with lots of snow and cross the headwaters of the Middle Fork as high as possible to avoid swimming.
My brother may or may not go and we've discussed bringing PFD's and wetsuits and being rather aggressive about swimming rivers. It would be lighter then carrying rafts but it might open up some route options.

85? Wow, and I thought the 93-mile route I plotted on Alltrails.com was short, in comparison to other options I looked at. Some of the longer alternatives do look more appealing though.

I'm in my first week of BMWO-specific training. 100 miles of walking (30%) and running (70%). After a March marathon, that ratio will probably shift to 50/50, but total mileage will remain constant, or increase a bit.

…still trying to figure out how I'm going to squeeze everything into my UD 20L Fastpack.

the shortest I've found, but depending on snow, might not be doable????

peeked at snow pack for the Flathead and the Sun, both currently at 125% above normal- long ways to go though

^ sounds like some serious training! I've been getting a lot of snowshoe running recently, not by choice (well I could run on a treadmill, but unless it's below 0 I won't), just too much snow on the trails to run- that could change soon as we're supposed to get a bit of warmup

I'm old, fat, and drink too much, so I need the extra training, which would be much better if I could only find a way to get to some snow this winter/spring.

I wouldn't get too excited about extrapolating snow levels until the end of March. Late winter storms and early spring heat (or lack thereof) makes the difference. There will be snow above 6k, and there won't be any below 4k. How much exists between those two levels is what makes a big difference.

I don't see routes much shorter than the mid 90's unless you're drawing a route on Google Earth rather than using the trail distances on the Cairn maps, or if you're using a few off-trail bits. I could be missing something though.

I found a couple shorter than 90 using the Cairn maps; I ordered both maps only to find out I had already purchased the South map a couple of years ago- now I have a spare :)

What are you all planning on doing for footwear? I've never even been to that part of the country but I'm assuming it's mixed snow and wet conditions. Normally I change into a dry pair of socks and my goretex socks when I get into snow.

can speak for anyone else, but I'll wear my normal trail runners- depending on the weather outlook, may have them "studded"; I'll wear heavy wool socks, if it gets very soggy I plan on having some neoprene socks and some really light wool liners in the pack

Justin,

Here's a good article by Mr. BMWO, Dave Chenault: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/fast_light_shoulder_season_footwear_tips.html#.VL7YjBoo7bU

I plan to wear Salomon Speedcross 3s with the same sock options as Mike, based on other recommendations.

Derek

In the 2012 BMWO I think someone used studded shoes and had a negative outcome. I don't remember where I heard/read that, or the specifics, but the experience might give pause to the idea.

hmm- I wonder what it was? if you get the screws too long there are obvious problems (I made that mistake w/ my first pair- also dependent on where you put them on the sole), I've run w/ studded (sheet metal screws) for the last three fall/winter/springs- if you have any icy conditions they are going to be helpful; they'll also help w/ footing when fording- on dry or rocky ground I don't even notice them being there

I have used Ice Spikes with great success. They are much sharper than a regular screw.

http://www.icespike.com

^ yeah those look good :) LaSportiva makes some that look pretty good too

http://www.sportiva.com/products/footwear/accessories/at-hobnail-kit

I checked out the Ice Spike website, but once I saw the testimonial from the infamous Dane R, I almost spit out my coffee.

I looked it up and the shoes in 2012 were the Salomon Spikecross. The problem manifested on harder ground. Dave might know the specifics.

I took screws one year, but didn't encounter any snow. The transition putting them in (even with pre-punched holes) would have been horrible, but they were cheap insurance if I had misjudged conditions.

It's official! Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning we have six more weeks of winter. Time to start thinking about snowshoes.

I would be very wary of shoes with integral spikes. The Inov8 Orocs I had a while ago worked well, but the spikes created pressure points after 20 miles on anything but super soft ground.

In the last month we've had no snow in the Flathead, and warm temperatures. Anything can happen in the next few months, but the low and mid elevation snowpack took a major hit.

Dave- we've lost a lot of our low to mid-level snow here as well (although it's snowing as I type this) My wife went to Eureka to visit her Mom via Seeley/Swan route and said they still have a lot of snow, even low. They rerouted the Race to the Sky up to Seeley because of lack of snow around Lincoln. Of course lots can change in 3 months :)

regarding studs, I just use plain sheet metal screws (don't get them too long!) about 8/shoe- I haven't had any unpleasant issues yet (several runs in the 20-25 mile range and lots and lots of shorter runs)

Good to see there has been a great on-going discussion regarding this years BMWO. Unfortunately, I only found it this afternoon. I am really looking forward to this years event; I will be there, ready to go. Dan and I have been mulling over a number of options including rafting and skiing for this years event. However, I think it's still a little early in the season to get much of a handle on the snow and/or water conditons we will be facing in a few months. I can say that at 9000CFS, the Flathead is a river to be respected, and yes, we froze our butts off after 5 1/2 hours in the water back in '13. ( Funny thing, an alpaca raft will deflate in relatively short time when in water that cold. I had to stop on gravel bars at least twice to reinflate as Dan I took off down the south fork of the White river before I had time to temper the raft–I knew better too– adds to the cold I'll tell you!) Looking forward to doing it all over again.