Trekking pole shelter in deep snow

[Jennifer Mitol]

how do you pitch a trekking pole shelter (in this case the lunar solo) in deep/soft mountain snow?

headed out on the three sisters loop in central OR in 2 weeks but looks like there is still going be to tons of snow. I’m good with spikes, navigating, etc – but need to figure out how to pitch on snow just in case.

can I modify regular stakes? How do I keep the main trekking support from sinking?  Anything else I need to consider? (Also will bring winter mat just in case I’m sleeping directly on snow)

[Todd T]

It depends a little on how dry/wet/heavy the snow is, but…stomp down a flat spot and bury the stakes, packing the snow on them as much as necessary.  The hardest part is digging the stakes out when you leave.

The snow was a couple feet deep here and medium heavy:

Edit:  In this case, the snow was well enough packed where I stomped it flat that my trekking poles didn’t sink any more than a couple inches.

[Mike B]

I like to bury sticks as dead men and have lengthened my tie downs so as to go down and around the dead man stick. This gets your knot above the snow and you don’t have to dig for stakes, stuff sacks full of snow, or anything else. Untie, pull hard to beak loose from the ice and move on.

 

As far as the center pole use a bowl or pan lid to enlarge the surface area if the snow is so dry it won’t pack. This time of year it should be plenty consolidated and May freeze over depending on night time temps.

[Jennifer Mitol]

Oh it’s pretty slushy right now, and probably only going to be more so in 2 weeks.  Love the ideas, thanks guys!

[Todd T]

I like to bury sticks as dead men

Problem with that is that when snow is deep, most of the sticks are covered.  It’s not always easy to find 4 or 6 for the job.  I guess it depends on where you are.

[BlackHatGuy]

Here’s another idea

[Bruce Tolley]

In reference to the stakes,  if you do not expect to find sticks near the campsite, alternatives are

1) Look for some sticks when you start the hike and put them in your pack. They need to be about as thick and long as an old fashioned No 2 pencil

2) re-purpose gear you own.  I have had good luck with aluminum V or Y stakes that do not have an anodized finish. The latter seems to make it harder for the snow to sinter to the stake.  You need to tie a very secure timber hitch to the stake and then tie the guy to the shelter or you risk losing the stake and leaving behind trash

3) take some of the chopsticks that come with take out food. Two chop sticks bound together with duck tape make a good deadman

4) buy a couple of commercial deadmen. SMCgear.com makes excellent snow stakes in three sizes. I think I recall that Lawson equipment has had snow stakes in the past.

[Logan K]

Consider using plastic grocery bags filled with snow and buried. Girth hitch them and allow the snow to settle and you are good to go. Just remember to pack them all out!

[Adam G]

I stomp out a platform including where the tent stakes will be. I use MSR Toughstakes which are absurdly heavy. However, I want to get my tent pitched quickly when it’s dumping snow, and parachute style anchors are quite finnicky. Where I hike, you can’t reliably find sticks as they are all buried under the snow. The key is to smash down the stake and them pull the steel cable to get them to set. If you don’t pull it, it won’t set.  I just put the trekking pole snow basket side down into snow. That will hold it up well, but it will sink an inch or after a few hours, so you do need to adjust it later.

For spring snow, I just use regular stakes.  Spring snow is as hard as dirt. Worst case scenario, turn the stakes sideways and throw some heavy rocks on them.

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