Philmont Adult Advisor Gear List Example – 11.5 pound base weight

[David Y]

Oops, my typo on Mt Phillips elevation, 11,742 feet.

[Brad P]

The temps can really vary and it’s impossible today to know what you’ll get on your trek. You could have a cool, wet trek or a mild, less wet (very unlikely to have no rain) trek. You also need to factor in if you’re a cold, warm or average sleeper.

For those reasons, it’s safer to go with the 20 degree bag, particularly if that is a survival rating rather than comfort rating.

I’ve told every crew member to have a lightweight puffy jacket. They should have that and their rain gear in the tent with them at night. So if they get cold, add layers.

[David Y]

We usually have full crews of 12 so we use white gas stoves to boil water for supper for the full crew (Philmont style) more quickly (we do not eat individually). We like the MSR Dragonflies because they better support a 6 or 8-quart pot and are flame thrower stoves.

We carry three 11-ounce MSR fuel bottles, two with pumps installed and wrapped with windscreens held by rubber bands and the third just capped. With three 11-ounce bottles we can spread the weight around and don’t have all our eggs in one basket. We never remove a pump from a fuel bottle unless its empty or to refill it, too much chance of spillage or loss.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

[Brad P]

After seeing some of our scouts almost set a table on fire, I switched us from white gas to remote canister stoves. Much safer and no maintenance compared to white gas. You can’t spill canister fuel and there’s no maintenance. And our remote canister stoves are lighter.

We don’t use them in winter and no problems at elevation.

[David Y]

 

@ Brad P, Good point

All stove operation should be the adult supervision (ASMs are expendable) but white gas is inherently more dangerous.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Brad

“The temps can really vary and it’s impossible today to know what you’ll get on your trek. You could have a cool, wet trek or a mild, less wet (very unlikely to have no rain) trek. You also need to factor in if you’re a cold, warm or average sleeper.”

I am not sure these factors are any different from any other 7 day or longer backpacking trip that would be planned for the mountain West.  There are weather forecasts that would be good for the first week or so.  But by mid to late summer, at the highest camps in can get down to the mid 30s, while at many of the lower camps it might barely get down to the mid to high 50s. So if your itinerary includes one or two of the highest camps, you need to take a total sleep system to keep you warm for the expected lower temperatures.

I slept just fine under a tarptent inside a 30 degree Marmot bag on Mt Phillips during an ice storm with a down sweater and clean dry base layer, sleeping on top of 2  pads with combined R value > 4.   But for most of the rest of the trek where we camped at lower elevations, I slept on top of the bag most of the time.

I think the key is for the adult leaders (if not all members of the crews ) to know the limits of their sleeping systems before they get to Philmont.  This is a Backpacking Light forum after all. We are supposed to be learning and teaching how to take just enough to be safe while staying light.

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