The Winds Sept. 5-9 questions

[Matthew Norris]

My girlfriend and I are going to the Winds Sept. 5-9.  This will be my 4th and her 1st time there.  I have done a lot of backpacking, and she did a little when she was younger.  I have a concern about how cold it will be and our sleep system.

I bought a Feathered Friends Flickr YF Wide 20 degree quilt.  I have Klymit pads that are R value 1.3 and weight 11 oz each that I usually take.  I am worried about being cold.  I hate being cold when I sleep.  So, I was going to buy 2 Thermarest Neoair Xlites, but that’s $400+, and I just bought $1,600 in new gear (including the quilt) so kinda don’t want to spend that much more right now.  I already have so much damn gear!!  So, I bought a Klymit 2-person pad with R value of 4.4 that weighs 54oz for $110 on Amazon.  But this thing is HUGE when packed!!  Like the size of 4 of the single person pads.  My question is whether or not I’ll be fine with the lighter pads and the 20 degree quilt.  Maybe I’m overthinking this, but I’ve learned it’s better to overthink than not when it comes to the wilderness.  Thank you for any input.

Also, if anyone has any ideas for a route, I’m still trying to decide.  Thanks!

[John B]

Just came back from a trip to the Winds (8-16 to 8-22)–experienced one night of probably 36-37 degrees at 10,000.  I suspect you won’t be happy if you take your R 1.3 pad.

[obx hiker]

WRT 10k campsites. Over 26 nights I’ve camped twice below 10K.

The Flicker would likely be OK but I’d bring a warm pad. YMMV.

[Jenny A]

The short answer is probably no, you won’t be OK with the lighter weight pads.  You won’t die, but you won’t sleep well.

Quilts kind of demand that you have a pad with a fairly high R-value underneath, and those don’t come cheap.  If you are willing to spend a wee bit more $ and carry slightly more weight, REI has the self-inflating Trailbreak for $70 and 2.5 lbs.  Yes, it’s heavier, but it’s fairly cheap for the 5.3 R-value.  You could get 2 of those and strap them together in the tent.

I can almost guarantee that if your GF is cold, she will think twice about going backpacking again with you.  (And you already know you don’t like to be cold, she won’t like it either).

[DWR D]

Winds could be cold and/or stormy in Sept…

[Matthew Norris]

Thank y’all for the replies.  Bought a couple of Xlites this weekend.  :)

[John Vance]

That’s probably a prudent purchase.  I am in the Winds that time of the often, I guess more than 35 times is often.   Last year on labor day night the temps dropped to 13f  near 11k but that was a very unusual storm.  The next day never got above 25f followed by another cold night.
Typical nighttime temps above 10,500 the first half of September are in the 30 – 40f range but the coldest I’ve experienced was 9f and the warmest on the low 50’s.   I leave this Friday for 12 days wandering them mostly off trail along the divide.  So far the weather looks pretty typical and I am taking a lighter quilt but sleep on an xtherm pretty much year round.

[obx hiker]

So far your weather looks pretty good but that could and most likely will change though could be for the better! Euro shows chilly morning the 8th and a faint chance of light precip evening of the 7th. Maybe you’ll get a dusting of snow for your morning coffee! Frosting on the peaks.

You ever try the Windy app? Good graphics. I’d look at the NAM model as close to departure as my last good signal but it only goes out 60 hours. Then switch to the Euro for the remaining days. You can peg your exact expected routes/campsites and get a reasonable extrapolation. Also panning back out get a good idea if there are any large systems that could possibly change course a little and impact.

But right now it looks pretty darn good! Have a great hike!

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