Zion National Park Mid January Gear Help

Keith Bontrager said of bike parts: "Strong. Light. Cheap. Pick two."
So these choices are never easy….

I'll set the ball rolling with a tent that I was looking at the other day for a budget-conscious student friend,
Kelty Salida 2
http://www.kelty.com/p-497-salida-2.aspx
I have no first-hand experience with this tent in the field, but I see it won Backpacker Ed's Choice in 2011.
It's an amazing price for what you get – on sale at $130 at REI and elsewhere.
Although strictly speaking it's a 3-season tent, the free-standing crossover pole design should be good for moderate snow.
And there's heaps of room for you (assuming this is just for one) – you won't want to be cramped if you're transitioning from car camping and possibly dealing with bad weather.

Another resource for reviews is outdoorgearlab.com – not everything is bang up to date, but it's often a good starting point.

all the best

Edit: PS – I remember a reason I liked this tent was that it's quite a bit lighter than the REI Half Dome 2, which is hugely popular at that price point

Further on tent choice:

If you want to really go ultralight, the classic choice for 4 seasons would is the floorless pyramid.
Mountain Laurel Designs would be at the top of most people's list for this – great workmanship, and the SilNylon tents are pretty affordable, well within your $300 budget.
At 6 foot, you'd probably want Solomid XL
http://www.mountainlaureldesigns.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=213

But you'd need the right pole setup, and it's floorless, so you need to think through your options there.

Provided that you develop the skills and experience, this kind of tent will handle any weather you can throw at it.

I ordered a duomid on September 20th from MLD and am still waiting for it to arrive. I'd be hesitant to order from them based on the timing of your trip. They make amazing products that will last forever but you need often wait 2 months for your gear to arrive.

Alan, IMO you really need to have all your gear before choosing your pack unless you have enough experience to know the volume you will need. After you have your gear you can load it into different packs of appropriate size to estimate carrying fit and comfort. Packs and footwear are the two pieces of gear that are almost impossible to recommend beyond quality and features because what fits is so individual. A personal example, Osprey makes a lot of packs but I could not find one that felt comfortable. They all dug into my lower back and I wouldn't make it out the door with one let alone a long day BPing. This year they came out with the Exos and some subtle changes has it fitting me like a glove so there are too many variables in fit to make specific recommendations. The more you can try out the better. You will have choices in lighter weight frameless packs,light weight cottage industry packs and some lighter off the shelf mfg's like osprey.

You can get a good pack on sale this holiday season for some skinny cash. I wish I could say the same for a warm bag. If you want to "invest" in something light and warm that will serve you well into the future costs will be considerably more.

Others will be able to recommend many good tents.

jimmyb

Jon, is that delay for a Cuben tent maybe? Ron said turnaround times are really quick right now for SilNylon.

I'd go with a sil-nylon mid for Zion in Jan. I think they've seen over 20 inches of snow during the month at some points in the past so you will want to be prepared for some good snow loads. (It probably won't snow if you prepare, but if you don't you're screwed. Trust me…) Cuben is probably out of the price range you're looking at, and besides I wouldn't suggest it for anyone that isn't already sure it's the material they want.

For the pack, Osprey is a good choice. Most of their packs can handle the sort of load you'll probably be hauling much better then a lot of the lighter UL designs, and their new ventilation system looks kinda interesting. They are also priced very reasonably.

In regards to the sleeping bag, I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much help. This is the one area I've been lagging behind in when it comes to my own gear and it's only now that I'm trying to update to a better product. I was using the Kelty trail logic 35 which actually was a decent bag for it's price and weight. $200 and 1.5 pounds.

Don't forget a sleeping pad, I personally find the pad I'm using to be of more importance then the bag over top of me. That may just be me though, but the ground will suck the heat right outta you. (That's probably not the scientific explanation)

Lastly, I'm told MLD is getting their sil products out quicker, but alas I'm in the same boat as Jon probably as I ordered a cuben product. I'd check with them first though as they do make wonderfully awesome products. If you had more time I'd say it's surely worth the wait.

@Ralph – That Kelty Salida seems really good for its price and reviews. There are many good ones these days but with low reviews. I do have one question about the salida or at least tents like these in general, that is, should I worry about the fact that the fly is separate from the tent itself? I hear it is not worth buying tents that don't have flys already built in because if it rains, by the time it is up the inside is all wet. Should I be worried? And does the shape of the tent hold well for heavy snow (I know you don't own this specific tent so it is more of a generalized question)?

I do want a floored tent as I will be using this tent probably to do a lot of bugged areas in the future.

@Jon – I'm not much of a fan of floorless tents. But this site seems to have some sweet accessories.

@Jimmy – I definitely agree. I will hold off on the backpack for now.

@Matthew – Why silnylon? Can I go with polyester? Definitely forgot the sleeping pad. Will need to read up on it.

I only know so much, and to prove it, I didn't even know polyester was a fabric used in tents. When I hear that name I have flashbacks to photo's of my dad from the 70's…

I suppose I've slept in such a tent at some point, but never knew it.

Yeah – ordered a cuben duomid. MLD is probably one of the only companies I would ever happily wait 8 weeks for something.

To the OP – don't dismiss floorless so quick. If you are considering getting more into UL, you can buy a floorless shelter with an insert. Then you have the insert during bug season and when you get more comfortable you can leave it behind and save the weight.

Allan, where is the main site you mention?
You will potentially face extremely severe weather here(I'm at Zion, but in a hotel tonight) in January. You'd be facing some if you were on the North/West side of the park right now, for that matter.

Due to the time contraints, the specialty (and cost) of winter gear, I would recommend renting. The trip will be worth it.

If you do go for buying, spend money on your bag. A good bag is worth it's weight in gold and you won't be disappointed. A Western Mountaineering, Feathered Friends, or the cottage quilts are all worth their prices. A warm sleeping pad is also a necessity and probably a bigger factor in warmth/comfort when sleeping in the desert

Any popup tent, properly anchored, that has a full rain fly should serve well. Maybe heavy, maybe noisy, but you'll be fine. You can usually find an alps mountaineering or REI quarter dome used for a good price.

Until you have all your gear, a big and cheap backpack will serve you well. Won't be light, but it'll get you there. Osprey makes good packs (talon 44 is good for everything and can be loaded to 40lbs with more traditional backpacking gear). A 60L though is probably a sweet spot for getting started if you're going to have bulky gear.

Geartrade.com and the gearswap forum are great places to find used gear to get you started. Again, with backpacking getting outside is more important than going light. Always has been and always will be. Go cheap at first, then upgrade as you learn more about your style of backpacking :)

Andrew Skurka’s Ultimate Hiking Gear & Skills Clinic
NG LIVE
I highly recommend his bookThe Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide: Tools & Techniques to Hit the Trail and looking over his site and gear lists.

Seems like this is your first backpacking trip? Backpacking Light is an interesting place to post for your first trip since 1) you have to pay to post here and 2) the entire point of the website is pushing the limits of lightweight backpacking, a craft that requires a sufficient amount of experience to do safely and comfortably. Many of the posts you see here, which get into pedantic (and enjoyable) discussions of fractions of pounds, assume some inherent level of experience.

You should really look into Andrew Skurka's Gear Guide as mentioned above. There's a lot more to it than just tent/sleeping bag/backpack, especially in January in Zion. Surka basically covers almost every detail of modern gear in the book. He's also vastly (ridiculously) experienced and a professional backpacking guide.

For your trip you should call Zion National Park beforehand to get some conditions before you leave and check the forecast for the park itself. In January the average daily high is 52 degrees, and the average daily low is 29 degrees, with an average of 19 days in the month below 32 degrees. So you can expect it to be below freezing every night. You should be worried about snow, not rain. A snowstorm in Zion could push the temperature to single digits.

Would not be my first backpacking trip. I did the Zion traverse in April and there was still snow patches at that time of year. Agree on getting a realistic look at conditions.

The Zion's Traverse is not difficult at all. In spring. In the winter, it would be a grind given the snow. It would not be my first choice as a first backpacking trip either.

Lava Point had 10ft of snow in March a few years ago, and the Trans-Zion in early spring would mostly be done on snowshoes, assuming it's even possible.

As far as those "average temps for Zion" go, there is no such thing. Zion is not one place, and temps for the main canyon have nothing to do with the rest of the park. Unless the OP is just doing something like Coalpits Wash, it's going to be higher and colder whether East side or West.

With this front coming through, the weather report at the Kolob ranger station called for 26-36mph wind with wind chill as low as -35F and gusts to 60mph for last night.
Temps were 29-40F today on the East Rim when I hiked down to Stave Spring and back, and it was in the 20s with some serious wind chill when I left Northgate Peaks on the Kolob Terrace this evening. It's going to 6F up by the north end of the park tonight, and this isn't January. I did check Cedar City's temps last winter in December or January, out of curiosity about conditions on my favorite trail(love La Verkin Creek), and it was -26F.
Fortunately it was only in the 30s when I was there Friday night!