Snowcamping w/Sierra Club

[Scott S]

The first week of January, a bit late to the game, deadline wise, I remembered reading here about the snowcamping trips the Sierra Club does. I still applied, which I think was technically too late but they accepted me anyway.

The first trip (a single overnight) was to Andesite Ridge near Castle Peak. It was nice. Dinner in camp was what I would probably describe as “slightly uncontrolled chaos.” Honestly, it was a bit much for me. Our group size was something like 25 people which got pretty overwhelming by then.

I slept in my Locus Gear mid. Don’t laugh at the crooked pole! I didn’t have the DTPE with me and kept bumping into the pole.

I think it got down into the low 20s at night. There was some wind forecast but things were calm all night. After breakfast in the morning we did a shelter tour and packed up to hike out. As we headed out, a number of people slipped and fell down the slope. I was happy to have some aggressive cleats on my snowshoes (Northern Lights Backcountry).

I wound up skipping the second trip. It was interesting seeing/learning some things about snow shelters but I don’t ever plan on doing much with that. And yeah, the whole 20-30 people thing…for three days…

Regardless, I had a lot of fun.

Some gear that worked well:

• Atom Packs Mo 60L (was my first trip with it and I LOVE IT!!!)
• Feathered Friends Raven 10 sleeping bag
• Feathered Friends Helios down jacket (AMAZING, almost too warm for even 20F in camp)
• Feathered Friends Helios down pants (amazing)
• MSR Reactor stove (I was melting snow many times faster than anyone else)
• The Khufu pyramid. Easy as hell to pitch, looks good

Gear that didn’t work well:

• Feathered Friends down booties – these are really comfy, but honestly my feet weren’t ever very cold. the shell w/tread on the sole is nice, but I still slipped and fell on a VERY slight portion of the platform I’d made for my shelter
• I need to put my own (longer) lines on the shelter guyout points. They were long enough to anchor under the snow but I couldn’t use a hitch. So that meant I had to dig the anchors out of the snow in the morning

I was really happy with the platform I’d tamped down. It was really flat and smooth (save the one corner LOL). I spent a good 30-40min making it.

On the way home while getting gas I stupidly went in to buy something while the pump was going. I came back out, got in the car and drove off…with the pump. Ugh. I filled out a form at the gas station w/my info but it’s been over a month so I think I’m off the hook, phew.

Then later that night at home here in SF I got into a fight with the driver of a car who ran a red light and almost hit me. So I got to spend the rest of the night in the ER getting my lip stitched up. Fun!

[Yuri R]

Thanks for the report.

 

Please don’t get into fights – just know of so many incidents when this leads to permanent damage or loss of life, just not worth it escaping being hit by a car only to be damaged by the person.

[Author]

Posts