Snowshoeing Yosemite Point (Film)

[Ryan Jordan]

Companion forum thread to: Snowshoeing Yosemite Point (Film)

On March 1, we’ll release the film “Snowshoeing Yosemite Point (According to Chris)” by Backpacking Light Member and filmmaker Chris Smead.

[Patrick Podenski]

Nice. As to running out of fuel, maybe only melt snow for 1 liter and grab some water from stream shown in video. An MSR WindBurner would use less fuel than the WindPro, but maybe not as good below 15F.

 

[chris smead]

Heya Patrick,

Yep the wind burner seems to have great reviews.  I’ve been tempted to pick one up, but was worried about performance of a vertical canister in sub freezing temps.  I was thinking of using one of those heat exchangers I saw on an old BPL thread where a piece of copper contacts the flame and warms the canister.

And yep I tried getting close to the water but was worried about the ice collapsing and blowing me over the falls.  In hindsight I could have lowered a stuff sack off the bridge with paracord to scoop up some water.   Oh well.

 

[Andy Duncan]

Another great film Chris! I relate to so much from your film; the winter gear (northern lites, micro spikes, trail runners, 40 below overboots), the love of the backcountry in winter and the many fond memories from years past in Yosemite. Thanks for the details on the Chainsen Lights, I’ve been lugging around old school micro spikes and in search of a lighter option.

If you are interested I’ve had a good experience using Suluk 46 snow anchors, they are slightly lighter (0.5 oz) and in stock. There is a lot of information (and many opinions) about winter stoves here on BPL. After trying several options I finally settled on a Trail Designs Ti Tri cone and .8 liter ti pot with a lightweight invertible canister stove with insulated base to melt snow.

BTW, I appreciate all of the work that you put into your videos. They have just the right balance of beautiful scenery, gear info, cool homemade music, videography, photography, humor and humility. . .that all capture the fun and adventure of the trip.

Looking forward to the next trip, Andy.

[chris smead]

Thanks so much Andy!  Glad ya liked it.   I’m still learning, so every project takes a significant amount of time.  The editing and soundtrack took perhaps 150-200 hours.   Nice to see other people enjoying the end result.  Though I admit my main intention is to leave these for my kids.

Interesting about your Tri ti cone setup.  Probably much more efficient than my aluminum windscreen. Which invertible canister stove are you using?   The Kovea spider?

 

[Dave B]

Chris,

Your JMT film and this short are both excellent.  You really have some impressive talent as a film maker.  Thanks for both your films — very inspiring and entertaining!

[chris smead]

Thanks a bunch Dave!  It’s the best I could do with those tiny cameras.  I just got a new Sony A7rii, and WOW!   You can expect a HUGE jump in quality on the next project  :)

I’m now trying to go SUL to make up for the 7lbs of additional camera gear.

 

[Andy Duncan]

The weight of all that high quality video and photo gear really adds up. . .but the results are beautiful!

I created an invertable remote canister ‘frankenstove’ by combining the lightest titanium parts of the Fire-Maple 116, 117 and 118 models. At 3.5 ozs I haven’t found anything lighter (commercially available). With the cone, pot, lid, stove and homemade reflectix insulator (at the bottom) the whole setup is just over 6 ozs.

I hope that is helpful:) The Sierra is amazing in the snow. Thanks again for the reminder.

[Shewie]

Stunning vid Chris, really appreciate the time and effort that goes into the editing

So much to see in the US, one day

[Simon Kenton]

I really liked your video, a great thing to watch on a Saturday morning. It’s so beautiful there!

 

Thanks for sharing with us!

[chris smead]

<b>Andy</b>:  Wow a 6oz winter setup sounds amazing!  I’d love to see pics of your “frankenstove”.

Shewie and Simon:  Thanks so much for the kind words!

[Diane Pinkers]

That was fun! Thanks Chris, I’m looking into some winter backpacking, and that was cool to see.

On your footwear: you didn’t size up your trail runners to accommodate more sock? Just the overboot was the only change for winter footwear?

How about the snowshoes? The bindings didn’t press and dig into your foot?

[Mike M]

Great video- very much enjoyed it!

hmmm- my Windpro is actually fairly efficient melting snow (I always insure there is at least some water in the pot), possible defect in the stove?  might be worth a call into MSR- their warranty is the best in the business

shelter and sleep system?  don’t recognize the tent.

thanks

 

 

[chris smead]

Hey Diane,  Glad ya liked it!  I didn’t size up the trail runners.  Just loosened the laces a little and it was fine.  The overboots add a fair amount of warmth and protection, so I didn’t feel the snowshoe bindings at all.  :)  40 Below overboots are seriously life changing for me.  I used to use Merrel Moab’s w/ Outdoor research gaiters, but my feet were always cold, wet and heavy in that setup.

Mike, yeah it was weird.  I’m wondering if it’s defective.  The last time I was in those temps I used a Kovea Spider, and that didn’t fair well either.   I started a thread here on BPL a while back on that.

Sleep system:  My winter bag is a Western Mountaineering Versatile.  2lbs, and super warm.

Shelter:  I used my Big Agnes Copper spur.   2lbs for the 1 person version.  Great tent.  Looking back I probably should have used my hexamid, along w/ the snow anchors.  Would have been nice to save a pound.   But don’t tell the Big Agnes guys that.  Despite being a large company, they’re actually super responsive and nice.  They even helped plug the trailer for this film.  So hats off to them for keepin’ it real.  :)

[chris smead]

Actually, Mike, question for ya:  Did you invert your fuel canister?  I should probably reach out to that hikin Jim guy, but I think inverting like I did it drastically reduced its efficiency.  But it did keep the flame alive in the cold/wind.  So I guess theres not much choice anywho.

[Mike M]

I do invert it in cold temps (below 20-ish), I’ve run it into the single digits this way (I do everything I can to avoid camping in below 0 stuff :) )

[chris smead]

Interesting.  I’m guessing I got 6L of melted snow out of a big 230g canister…I think.  Maybe 5L.  Hard to remember now.  Is that far off from your results?

[Mike M]

that seems a little low, going on memory (which at times can be fuzzy :))- I seem to remember using a large canister for a 3 day/2 night winter outing and still having a little fuel left over at the end of the trip

I’ll pay closer attention next outing :)

[Bruce Tolley]

Chris. Very nice film. Motivates me to get a trip to Yosemite in before spring.

I agree that an 8 oz canister should have gotten you more than 5 or 6 liters of water.

If you already practice these steps, just ignore my post. There are some techniques to speed up the melting of snow to create water for cooking and drinking. 1) stomp an area of clean powder with your snow shoes to create a snow quarry 2) let the stomped powder sinter up so you have chunks of icy snow to put into the pot, not gobs of unconsolidated powder. This gives you more mass in the pot which yields more water and it is more effective if not more efficient to melt icy snow vs powder 3) always add an inch or two of melted “starter water” to the pot. The addition of water a) lowers the temperature of the icy snow and b) helps the process of conduction to transfer the heat from the bottom of the pot to the snow.  And always use a lid on the pot.

[chris smead]

Heya,

I do most of those things, except the stomped ice pieces.  I’ll have to try that next time.  I also only put a little water, perhaps 1/2″ in my pot.  I’ll try more next time.  Thanks for the tips!

[Andy Duncan]

Hi Chris, this is my current winter stove setup. Everything ‘nests’ inside the pot and a small Zpacks cuben stuff sack.

The stove is made up of the invertible attachment section, tube and lower section from a Fire Maple 118 and the stem and upper section of an old 116.

I was able to boil enough snow for a two day/one night snowshoe trip a few weekends ago with a 110 gram canister, with some leftover at the end of the weekend.

I hope this helps. See you in the backcountry:)

[chris smead]

Nice!  Thanks Andy!  I think I might try some of your ideas.  Especially the caldera cone part.  I wonder how the Kovea spider stacks up to your frankenstove.

[Mike M]

That is a nifty little cook setup!

I paid a little closer attention this weekend- I had 3.1 oz of fuel remaining in a 8 oz canister (I bought another 8 oz canister, just in case!).  I was able to get 3 liters (along with two boils) of snow melt out of the canister.  There was still a little fuel in the canister, but so little the performance was really dropping off.  Temps were about 30 in the evening and 20 in the morning.  If I was just melting snow (and no boils) I’m sure I could have gotten another liter or two.

[Andy Duncan]

Thanks Chris and Mike. I’ve been on a winter trip with a few guys who were using Kovea Spiders and they seemed similar (speed to melt snow, cook etc). For comparison a MSR Windpro will fit in the Ti-Tri cone, but the pot doesn’t sit all the way into the cone.

[Mike M]

I’m not overly wild about the windscreen that comes with the Windpro- something like the Caldera Cone would likely be more efficient AND lighter- for winter trips I like the larger 2 liter pot so would need to fit it as well

 

Maybe they could make something up????

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