I just finished skiing the sierra high route with my buddy over the last 10 days. It was the trip of a lifetime ( so far) and the things I’ve learned on this site in many ways made it possible, so I thought I’d share some notes. I’d like to do more of a trip report at some point, but I’m still processing what felt like a substantial adventure experience. I’d say going light is even more important on a trip like this to even make it possible and or enjoyable. If I ski this route again, which I’d like to, I’d try to go even lighter and cut more corners, but here is a look at the gear I used on this trip and trips like this
Backpack
GG silverback–Favorite pack to date. Great comfort at most UL weights. Just adequate enough support for the 7 mile roadwalk with skis, boots and food on day one, but def some frame sag. Good tradeoff though for overall comfort, durability and features. Much prefer the cinch + brain to a roll top at transitions. Durable fabric back pocket helps for ski carries.
Alternative–If I could get my kit even lighter, I’d consider going with a 1lb frameless pack
Sleeping pad–neo air xtherm–15– lightest/warmest pad out there. Also durable on refrozen snow.
Alternative–the wide version. Shoulders see a lot of use when ski touring all day
Shelter HMG ultamid 4. 25 Mostly bivied, but was happy to have a refuge on a couple of colder windier nights. Space is incredible for two. Ease of setup is the best thing about this tent though. I did have one night where I slept on a high lake under banner peak and woke woke up to pretty violent winds at 3am. My lashed center poles were bending significantly and the shelter was blowing all over the place, so I packed up and bivied behind a snow drift (location is everything) I’m sure extra staking could have helped, but I also think the height of this tent make it a bit less wind worthy than I’d like.
Alternative–a smaller more wind resistant mid would have been nice. It being in my pack most nights,
Sleeping bag–REI Magma 10 2lbs–I’ve been using quilts exclusively over the last few years, but I’ve been happy to use this to keep things sealed up when I’m cowboy camping. I love this bag, but the draft color sucks. Unless I cinch the hood really tight before bed, I wake up cold at some point and realize that there is no seal around my neck.
alternative–I still prefer my EE -10 degree quilt at 5oz lighter (yes negative 10 ;)
Stove- MSR reactor–snow melting beast. We tried to stay disciplined about finding water, to save on fuel, but the speed of this for snow melting makes for effient brakes when we hadn’t seen water in a while. I also used a titanium plate to surround the canister with water on colder nights.
Cloths–
OR Echo Hoody 4.5 –I love this base layer. Light and quick drying. I wore the hood everyday under a helmet for the sun protection.
Kuhl silencer zip offs–been loving Kuhls. These are made with all polyester which makes them quicker drying than spandex blends. Shorts were nice on a 10 mile boot walk in kings canyon lower down, but not useful on the snow. Cargo pockets were essential for organization and keeping batteries/water filters warm
Saax Quest 2 long leg– some of the only boxers I’ve had that don’t ride up. Fabric dried quick and didn’t stink horribly
nano air hybrid hoody 12-
Really versatile piece for cold skinning and every descent. nano air really helps to dry out sweaty baselayers from skinning uphill. The hybrid version doesn’t do quite as good a job with back sweat since its a different material, but it also makes this piece more versatile for wearing while skinning. I will never ski without a nano air because of their versatility and simplicity (less layer changes)
Salomon Air ski shorts-8 –this is an amazing and silly piece of clothing. Zip off breathable insulated shorts. I was aiming for simplicity in my layering and these helped a lot there. I brought these to play the roll of insulated camp pants, wind, and rain pants and they did great (didn’t encounter rain) My goal was to have few things in my pack that weren’t being used regularly. These were great for windy passes, snow storms and to start and end the day. Its nice to build up a little heat before before arriving at camp and after leaving in the cold morning.
Borah Gear Down vest 3.5–I kept this on the outside of my pack for stops and cold descents. I love using this as a supplementary action layer and to ad to my camp insulation. Vest helps with mobility over a full puff.
Montbell Ex light anorak 6.5. Usually my summer jacket, but did well as part of this system. Kept me warm at camp with everything on. Having lower body insulation helps you go lighter with upper body.
Alternative: I would have loved to replace the vest and jacket with an EE torrid. Synthetic would have helped deal with moisture management, and would have simplified my system even more.
Headwear–merino beenie and buff. After sundown I’d put these on under my helmet and keep them on until the heat of the next day. I had a northface running hat under my helmet for most of the day.
Handwear–OR sungloves 1 (essentail), running liner gloves 1, MB thunderpass rain gloves, EE stronghold mitts 1.5–this was light and versatile system. I would probably just bring 2 pairs of sungloves next time, since I lost mine and missed them. The EE strongholds are an incredible piece of minimalist gear. I’d like to install a zipper on these so I could keep them around my wrists for delicate tasks.
Ski Gear–
Skis–Volkl VTA Lite 88–These ski incredibly well for the weight, could maybe use a little more edging power on hard pack. Would consider blizzard 85’s for that. Would also consider scaled skis for all the mini transitions. We ended up doing a lot of what we came to call ‘fake skinning,’ which is just using a skinless ski with a loose boot, counting on the afternoon corn to get enough grip on push off. Still not convinced that a waxless base wouldn’t slow us down an long contouring descents which were vital for efficiency.
Bindings–Kreuspitze race bindings. These have held up well after a bunch of miles. Honestly, I wouldn’t consider doing this route without some sort of racy UL binding. Its just too hard.
Boots–Scarpa Alien RS–I was lucky enough to scoop these up used for $250 the week before the trip. We skiied the WRHR last year with dynafit pdg’s and these are a big step up in skiabilitity without losing any walkability. Wish I’d have had more time to use these so I could get better boot fitting ahead of time. The boa’s each broke as did the back lever. All known problems, which we had spair parts to fix/replace. I carried 5 voile ski straps and we ended up needing every one of them.
Skins–Mohair–glide is key. Skin maintenance is key, keeping the glue dry as much as possible
we split a pair of backup skins that didn’t get used.
Poles–1 BD whippet (good for snow cliimbs too) BD expedition 2–These poles have been awesome. They are lighter than Alpine carbons, but much longer. Mine go to 155, which is awesome for skate skiing and 2 poling. I’ve broken many carbon poles especially when skiing, but I’ve been happy with the durability of these over the last few years.
Camera–fuji xe3 + 16mm 1.4– I love this combo. Fuji lenses are phenomenal and light for what they are. However this was the heaviest thing in my pack. Would consider bringing a sony rx100 or just a phone if I was going super light.
Ursack–I like this system. Easier and better than bear hangs.
Socks–My go to for traverses has been a pair of swiftwick running socks as liners with ski socks over those. If your feet blister in ski boots, I’d highly recommend using a close fitting liner sock to keep your feet dry. I ended up giving these to my buddy who was having foot problems, and used a merino fitsock (massdrop) as a liner with a synthetic ski sock over top of that. Would have been nice to have a 3rd pair as I intended for washing and rotating socks. In winter I bring a pair of WP gore biking socks and those help a lot when temps get super cold
Avalanche shovel–Arva Plume 14oz–light and functional enough, but I’ve never had to use it TG
Gear Fails–
Lots of things failed. Both my boots broke in 2 ways. My bca tracker 3 stopped working completely (thanks for the stability, sierra snow gods), My buddies VTA lite ski broke, forcing an early exit for him. The ski failed at the point of a binding remount, we voile ski straps, crampon bars, and tent stakes to form a brace so he could skin the last 30 miles out to mammoth
This was the heaviest ditty bag I’ve ever carried. I tried to prepare for most gear failures by having repair gear, voile straps and even a backup toe binding
Overall, I’m really happy about the gear that I brought and there was no big surprises as I’ve gotten to test all of this over the last few years. Just thought I’d offer this as a resource in case anyone is similar in this or similar trips.
