When Sub-Zero Camping Goes Wrong - Winter Backpacking in the White Mountains
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Join us for some frigid winter camping and backpacking along King Ravine in the White Mountains. http://www.sintax77.com For this overnight backpacking trip we'll be heading up towards Mt Adams, along the Presidential Range in New Hampshire's White Mountain National Forest in early February. This trip was done almost a year to the day after our High Winds Hiking trip during the previous season. Only instead of temperatures in the 20's to 30's, we had a dramatically different temperature range the low teens at it's warmest, down to roughly 20° below zero at night. Ouch. Luckily, we didn't have the extreme winds that we encountered on that last February trip. One or the other is one thing. Both together, now that's what you don't want. Link to Full Blog Post: http://www.sintax77.com/when-sub-zero-camping-goes-wrong-winter-backpacking-in-the-white-mountains/ As you'll see in the video though, things still didn't go - how should I say - well, as planned. Thankfully, we were able to make the best of it and play things by ear. While I certainly would have like things to have gone a bit closer to our anticipated itinerary, I think it still ended up be a quite memorable trip. When things go as planned, that's a vacation. When things go awry and you have to react and adapt, that's an adventure. And that, after all, is what we're truly after. As long as know one get hurt, or suffers too much mental trauma, I'll chalk it up as a win. Below is a list of trails used, in order, as well parking info and other logistical items. Unfortunately, due to the sub-zero temps, there was no full gps track recorded for this trip. After ripping through two sets of Ultimate Lithiums in my Garmin Oregon 650 GPS on day one, I made the call to reserve my remaining rechargeable batteries for emergency route fining only. On my last winter trip to the Dolly Sods, with temps in the low 20's, I was able to go the entire 3 day trip on one set of lithium with juice to spare. My performance was quite different at 15 or so below zero, though. Once it warms up a bit, we'll get back to recording full track data as usual. Parking Location: Appalachia Trailhead 44.371470, -71.289391 (Not too far from the intersection of US Rt 2 and Dolly Copp Rd, in Gorham NH) Trails Used: Airline Trail to intersection with Upper Bruin Trail, just above treeline in the Alpine Zone Planned Campsite: Valley Way Tentsite or nearby vicinity, via Valley Way Trail Actual Campsite: Back below treeline, along the Airline Trail. Our plan was to summit Mt Adams the following day and return cheerfully to our previous night's campsite, base camp style. As seen in the video, things got a bit more complicated, due to extreme snow drifting along King Ravine's Alpine Zone, heading towards Madison Hut and the intersection with the Appalachian Trail towards Mt. Adams. The plan was to save Adams for day two and to use Upper Bruin Trail to head back below treeline to establish a base camp, after getting some brief views in the ravine above treeline. Despite having been to this area twice before in milder weather, the high snow drifts and unbroken trail made navigation, umm, complicated, to say the least. Add Mike's little ordeal to the mix, and you've got yourself a very interesting little winter camping trip. But I'll let you find out how all that goes in the actual video... A quick overview of some of the gear used: Big Agnes 6p tent (yes, is a car camping tent.) Split three ways. EMS Longtrail 70 Backpack MSR Denali Ascent Snowshoes Kahtoolah MICROspikes (the plan was to feel things out while ascending Mt Adams, and turn back if it felt like crampons were more acceptable) CAMP Snow Shovel MSR Rapidfire Stove (Inverted canister stove, no longer produced) *Mike carried an MSR Whisperlight Universal, rigged for white gas, which we ended up using at night due to the colder temps. Big Agnes Q-Core SL Sleeping Pad Hammock Gear Burrow 0 Top Quilt GSI Halulite Tea Kettle, 32 oz, for snow melting Vargo 450ml titanium cup Sea to Summit Alpha Light cutlery set (knife, fork, spoon) Camera Gear Used: Sony Handycam HDR-cx380, primary cam GoPro Hero 3, Black edition, secondary cam. RavPower 10,000 mAH usb battery pack recharger
Comments
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looks like the three stooges. I'd be eating a 1lb prime rib and suck down a keg of beer after that trip not a fucken burger.
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I thought your friends were gonna kill you.
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Must have been great adventure to be remembered.
Magnificent scenery ... beautiful nature.
Thanks for sharing.
Paul -
Wimps. Quitting over a little water; boooooo hoooo hoo. Why didn't you build a fire and dry it out? Three pussies.
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Did you end up getting the fire made and being able to cook your steak and potatoes???
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:)
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Your whole trip is what we used to call a Mongolian cluster f#$k. But I'll bet you still had a good time with your friends, and within a week were talking about the next trip.
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With all due respect, you guys are fucking crazy and very bad assed. A 19 pound tent?? Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you. The scenery was awesome. But really.. after what you went through, he was concerned about bedbugs?
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55 lbs a heavy pack? I wore a 65 lb pack (I am 5' 5" and weigh 145 lbs) when my group was bouldering in New Mexico (requiring both hands and feet to climb car size boulders) and the pack didn't seem that heavy hahah I always thought 70 to 80 lbs was normal winter weight
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site camp father lots of fire wood get two fires going tent and up and keep the fire going stay lower then going higher.
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For multi day trip like that, do you use down isolated jacket or synthetic?
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That mistake could have been fatal how easy this can happen always have to be thinking worst case and hope for the best
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just letting all the warm air out man. being safe in more important than footage. love your videos guys
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Major props, man. That's a fairly rugged outing. Takes guts to head uphill on a sub zero day with packs knowing your intentions are to camp near treeline. Even more props for documenting it. (See below)
Good hint for the future: next time (god forbid) that your water bottle (or any other wet source) soaks your sleeping bag and pads, immediately take it out of the tent and plunge the wettest parts into the dry fluffy snow. Keep fluffing the wet parts in fresh (unused) snow, even as the remaining moisture freezes. Keep fluffing the bag to ensure the return of maximum air-entrapment in the bag insulation. The super-cold snow will absorb an amazing amount of liquid out of the bag, and the freezing process will release yet more moisture into the air. Yes, I know it's counter-intuitive, but it is an amazing drying secret in the cold.
The Presidential range is 90 minutes out of my back yard. Done a lot of winter hikes on the high peaks, summited Mt. Washington every New Year's Day in the past 22 years - except one day(!). Of note, two buddies and I did a Presidential traverse in '96 ( a very snowy winter) starting at your trailhead, then up Valley Way and Watson's path to gain the AT on the ridgeline. What we intentionally did not bring was a tent (did bring a light-weight pyramid tarp for emergencies), instead counting on our ability to construct igloos along the way in the hard-pack snow above treeline. Our three nights were nowhere as cold as yours, coldest maybe was -10, but we had wind. In that respect, an igloo (or snow cave) is an unimaginably comfortable and quiet sanctuary in astonishing conditions: it warms up inside to within 10 degrees of freezing on the coldest nights, no tent flapping, no ice crystals dumping into your face, and soooo quiet inside. Snow is an amazing insulator. The trick of course is that you have to know how to reliably build an igloo and then find the right snow to do so. We had contingency escape plans in the event that we failed to secure good shelter in bad conditions, but found good snow where needed. We had occasional scary moments during the walk when we became disoriented in white-outs above treeline in turbulent wind conditions, but with patience it sorted out. We exited down the Webster Cliff trail into Crawford notch. Three nights, four days.
Aside from the short daylight, the Presidential winter traverse could easily be done in two or three days end-to-end by a fit team in good weather. I think winter hiking above tree line is FAR easier than summer hiking. The wind-blown hard-pack snow in winter smooths out what is otherwise very rocky and cautious trail walking.
Thanks again for your video. Safe travels. -
The lens on the camera made the inside of the tent look like an entire small village!
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broke back mountain ×3
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why not use a sled?
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Blah blah car camping blah blah vinyl trousers blah blah snow camping blah blah zero degrees. CHECKS F to C CONVERSION, whooooooAAAAAAaaaaa, in real money that's -20 to -30 degrees C... total respect lads!! That's proper cold. Proper cold.
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Eat uncooked bacon before going to bed. I do this here in Norway and Iceland, it keeps your metabolism on overdrive so you'll be extra warm.
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