My Winter Pack Weight

“Do I want to know what bacpac needs a tampon for?”

“On an average winter trip, what's the temp? What's your cut off temperature for camping? If you know it's going to be 5* are you still going?"
Sassafras
12:33:15 AM
11/01/02

I like it best when it's just below zero. That's cold enough to make it easy to get around; good snow shoeing, the sled pulls easily, the ice is thick. you don't have to worry much about getting wet. At -15 or so, plastic things start breaking and tearing. I don't really have the eqpt. for lower than that although I'd love to try it. Some people I hiked with do a -40 trip every winter and have invited me along.

My pack dosen't get too much heavier in the winter, at least with gear. I exchange the tent for the tarp, gain some clothes, leave the filter home but bring more fuel. I have to have 2 pads, ensolite and a ridgerest. Where I get heavier is food. I eat constantly, literally.

I snowshoed with a pack the first time while my brother pulled a sled. I remember falling over in 6' of snow with a 40# pack and having a hard time getting up. A sled is far easier.

My sleds are just long kid's plastic ones, with 15' of rope clipped to a military pistol belt. I buy a 10' stick of 3/8 pvc tubing, cut it in half, and run the rope thru before clipping it on. This helps keep the sled from running you over on downhills.
I've seen more elaborate rigging but my sleds aren't really very heavy and this works well enough.”

“-25 is about my cut off temperature. My bag is rated at -15 and I stayed warm in it to -13, but I'm not sure I'd want to push it below -25.”

“All these minus temps, for cryin out loud, those are much higher latiturd temps or clipper temps here in the uppermost states.”

“I mean, c'mon now, are you REEEAAALLLLy going out backpacking in these temps? Fess up guyz!”

“I used to do some when I was in AK, troll. Not so much here in NM.”

“I've gone on many trips when the night time temp was below zero. As long as you have the right gear it's not a problem. My coldest trip in 1995, the daytime high was -2. The last few years we've had mild winters and really didn't see many very cold winters. Last year was one of the warmest on record.”

“wolfeyes answered the exped down air mattress questions, I'll just add my experience.

It took a little practice getting used to inflating it, but it wasn't too bad. Longer than a thermarest, but worth the trouble for me. The deflation time is almost instantaneous, using both valves.

It was warm enough at 40F that I just used my sleeping bag as a cover most of the night. With a silk or flannel cover, that would be nice.”

“but know better than to ask.



Yeah, I was wondering that too LyndyS. But I've gotten past it.”

“Last night I was getting my pack ready for the weekend, and decided I had better take my 0 degree bag instead of my 30 degree bag. I guess I forgot how much more space the thing takes up in the backpack. My pack looks like an oversized sherpa pack now. I even had to attach the sleeping pad and tent to the outside of the pack, which I absolutely hate doing. The extra stuff on the outside of my pack tends to upset the delicate balance of my balance. I guess this is the price I pay for bping when the weather is cold, but I still totally enjoy it!!”

“5 degrees is fine Sass. I worry more about it being too warm. When everything is frozen you don't need to worry about getting wet. The coldest trip I was on it got to -12 inside the tent. I was never more than a little chilled. I guess if it were forecast to be less than -20, I'd start thinking of bailing. That's pretty rare around here.”

“Since all it is ,is a wad of cotton on a string ala soap on a rope they have many uses... the string can be used for flossing and the cotton makes great ear plugs. add a little vasilene and they would make great fire starters.”

“Sorry Stumprider, no pics of my sled....maybe I'll take a pic of me winter camping this year...I'll make sure my sled's in it.

If you can find AmyG's thread...or photos at webshot...she has a shot of her sled.”

“After having many a chance to pull AmyG's sled, I can say that it worked great. The only change we are planning to make is a better way to hook up to it. We were able to haul in much more fire wood and other thing normally left at home. The only downside to having it is being careful going down steep hills. The sled did try to pass me a few times. AMyG thought I was running out of excitement, but honestly I was just trying not to get run over.”

“could you let the sled go first on the downhills?”

“Yes, I think you could let the sled go downhill first. Just tie a rope to the "end" of the sled and when you foresee a downhill that you are not comfortable going down, stop and attach yourself to the "end" of the sled and let it go first. That way, it is in front of you versus behind you.”

“Of course to each trheir own, I made a couple changes to my sled last year that I though I'd pass along...

First, spent a couple extra bucks & replaced the standard $8.00 kid's sled with on ethat has two rails (runners) on either side. I found this helps a lot with preventing the sled from slipping side-to side whenever hiking acroos a slope.

Second, extended my PVC tubing length from my back to the sled to 6 feet. I found this longer length provided a little more stability.”

“oh now i get it. i thought you were just tying a rope to it and going.
i don't have to worry about a sled. we don't get enough snow around here for that.”

“Sorry about all the typo's, for some reason my keyboard is periodically locking up... I hate these intermittent problems!”

“stanlee - well, you got half the post about AmyG and me right. I just took a peak and I'm pretty sure I'm a HE, not a SHE. ;o)
Also, I did not have a sled last year. I'm not sure who had the one with the chain.

Anywho, we've been talking about sleds over on the Maine Winter Trip thread, and I built one last week. I based it on one I saw on www.mountkatahdin.net

Here's some pics of mine if anyone is interested:

Sled pic 1
Sled pic 2
Sled pic 3

I used 3/4 pvc versus steel and tested it out this weekend. It's still a experiment in the making, and the test was done on a grassy hill with 1" of wet snow. So far everything is working out well with this set-up. It didn't chase me down the hill and didn't swerve to the sides. My only concern is the durability of the pvc when it gets very cold.

For a harness, I tried 2 methods. One, I made a belt out of 2" webbing and riveted a few daisy chain loops of 1" webbing on each side of the belt. I then just clipped into the loops and off I went. I did not have any problems with this, expect for the lousy job I did of rivetting the webbing. This was a rush test.

The other harness worked better for me. I got a thick 2" leather belt from work and punched a 1/4" hole on each side. I removed the eyebolts and clips from the sled poles and simply bolted the belt to the poles, making the belt a part of the sled. This worked great and I'll probably use this one.

Another way would be to just clip onto the sides of my backpack but most likely, the bp will be on the sled.

I'm also going to build one using steel and compare the 2. I'm also wondering if a separate thread for gear sleds is in order with winter coming and with the recent interests in this?”

“Oops Pennsy...it's hard to keep track of who's a she or a he.

Those pics you posted of that sled looks really stable...with that pipe going across the sled, I don't think it's going to tip over.

Does anybody use runners on the bottom of their sled? Right now I'm just KISS. If I plan to use runners...I'm going to screw in a pair of used skis. I suppose there's less friction if runners are used.

Thanks Pathman for posting Pennsy's pics of AmyG's sled and their adventure.”