Indian Peaks Icecicle Incident

“Out with the old.....

GoBlue Hiker, Ms Doolittle, TMac, Armymedic and myself all went out in the cold to Indian Peaks Wilderness on Saturday morning.

Ms Doolittle is the scribe and she's currently drafting the novella of what took place, but here's a few highlights.

GoBlue made pulks - one worked better than the other....

Armymedic and Ms Doo got a right fine introduction to CO in the winter.

Negative 15 with strong winds is dam cold.

You can kill a lot of time in a tent if you try hard.

Donuts taste good on a cold snowy morning.

Fresh powder hides big rocks really really well - right Jeff?

Snowbanks stop cars very effectivley - right Ms. Doo?

I got a few pics that I'll post later....

Oh - its fun to make snow angels no matter how big a kid you are!”

“(pulls up a chair and a beer waiting for the story)”

“Cannot wait to read this”

“(forgets all about the sand and is interested in a snow story)”

“C'mon, we're waiting....”

“NC, pass me and chili a beer, please.”

“Yeah, hurry! And what exactly is a novella anyway? I thought it was that chocolate-hazelnut spread some of you hippies eat.”

“Molson or Sleemans?”

““(pulls up a chair and a beer waiting for the story)”
Nonconformist
10:56:49 AM
1/02/08

Having beer for brunch, huh?”

“i thought yesterday was the day for hair of the dog”

“Doesn't matter to me.

Thrifty--I never stopped drinking”

“....I just shot skeet off the back deck all week.....”

“LOL!

Ya'll are going to have to wait for the fun until tonight. I just started the TR!

:p

Roam, you forgot to mention the holes that swallowed us on more than one occassion.”

“The wind was blowing about light gale force when we got to the trailhead - couldn't get loaded up and started fast enough.

The Brainerd Lake winter trailhead is about 1.75 miles back up the road from Brainerd Lake - where the wilderness trailheads are, so your committed to a road walk, a snow covered road for the most part, so its not like your tromping down the highway - just a really wide trail.

On a normal day you could see Mt. Audubon and Little Pawnee Peak, but today you could see whiteish/gray sky - and snow.

Snow fell pretty much the entire time we were out.

Temps never got above 5 degrees at the warmest - the coldest we noticed was neg 15 - and that was mid afternoon.

The wind never ceased - it was constant at around 15 mph with gusts MUCH higher.

We had a GREAT time.


Yes - on the way out with over a foot of fresh snow to deal with, tree traps took their toll on us - with the lead snow shoer (me) suddenly dropping into deep holes - one of which required me to take off the pack to dig out!

I fared better than armymedic however who suffered a cracked kneecap when he hit a hole and fell into a rock.”

“Oh, and the Tree Ents! Can't forget them. They made their presense known.”

“see, that's why your the scribe - i forget stuff....

snowball chucking tree ents - they even got GoBlue while he was taking down his tarp!”

“Can't.... handle.... the.... pressure....

That tree ent, in particular, was a nasty one. Poor GoBlue didn't know what hit him.”

“Tree ents? Are those like fire ants?”

“Roam's Tent:



ArmyMedic & TMac:
Sunday morning



Roam Around:
On the footbridge, just after hitting the trail Monday morning.



MsDoolittle & Roam:
On the road Monday



On The Road:
No parking here!



- Mike”

“lol! I like the picture of T-Mac. It looks like he's up to his waiste in snow. :D”

“Holy #&%!$! That's a road?”

“lol

Yep.”

“What's that sign say?”

“"No Parking"

We were parked. :p”

“* At extreme negative temps for several days, frost will form on the inside of a single-wall sheter.

* A tree Ent hitting your shelter with a snowball will knock down a pound of frost on everything inside, as you try to pack your sleeping bag. Ack!

* Sierra Designs Down Booties are your friends. With five pairs between us, we were a friggin' walking advertisement for 'em.

* Even when stored carefully in a cooler, beer will get "slushy" at negative double-digit temperatures.

* Sam Adams Winter Stout, when slushy, is actually kinda nasty.

And on a final little note...

* Even in the depths of winter, they don't heat the 1st Street Pub & Bar in Nederland. If you wanna eat there, bring your coat & hat... you'll want it. Brr! We were colder in there than we'd been all weekend in the woods.

- Mike
last edited: 1/02/08 12:06:01 PM”

“ Even in the depths of winter, they don't heat the 1st Street Pub & Bar in Nederland. If you wanna eat there, bring your coat & hat... you'll want it. Brr! We were colder in there than we'd been all weekend in the woods.

Egads, you aren't kidding.

They also don't have hot water in the restrooms!”

“they don't bother to close the back door all the time either.

nice pics Mike!”

“Them is perty pikters of Wyodaho and That A Ron Daks. I miss them verry much. Yall are verry welcom for sharin.”

“those pix are beautiful but i have no desire to back pack in it”

“cold weather poosey”

“brrrr! pretty pictures! was it worth it?? ;0)”

“

brittc - hellyeah it was worth it! Had a great time!”

“haha, well im glad it was you and not me! and that i get to see the pictures without having to experience the cold! you all are MUCH braver than me! :D”

“I am going to need to come out there one of these winters for some of this.”

“whenever your ready man - come on out.”

“I was wondering how GBH food frying went, the donuts look great.”

“I need some better cold weather gear first, plus a pair of snowshoes.

What degree bags were you guys using?”

“zero deg bag, with a coolmax liner. The liner is supposed to add 8 to 10 degrees of warmth. Snow shoes are rented pretty easy and cheap. If your not gonna use them regularly renting is the way to go.”

“Don't forget the kilt. ;) hehe

I had a -5* REI women's down bag with a silk liner. I also wore my 900 fill purkle down jacket and my down booties to bed. :)

When it was all said in done, I think I had about 1600 fill down around me. :D”

“purkle?

;)

yeah, i didn't take off the down booties the whole weekend!”

“kilt? maybe indoors; not out in the snow.

could you imagine falling through one of the holes in a kilt...woah shrinkage to the 10th power”

“LOL!

Roam ~ Don't be funnin' my pukle down jacket. It kept me nice and toasty all weekend. :p”

“Is that the NF jacket you had last December?”

“Sure is. Did real well this past weekend. :)

BTW, nice pics Roam. I'm certain mine didn't turn out nearly as well.”

“Brrrrr! Nice pics all.

Looks like fun. ;)”

“Nice pics, Roam! Did you get a haircut since I saw you or did it freeze and break off?”

“twas a grand time spindle :)

Noncon - i may have gotten it cut once since you were here, either that or its just all shoved up under the hat.”

“Wow, sounds like an excellent trip! A little cold for my taste, but, on the other hand, snow on your hat or jacket doesn't melt very easily, so you tend to stay dry. I guess....”

“Awesome! I had heard it snowed a little in the mountains. Thanks for checking for me...

Great pics!”

“Great trip and awesome pics!”