I just finished the AMC book on winter hiking and backpacking, AMC Guide to Winter Hiking & Camping by Yemaya Maurer and Lucas St. Clair. A goal of mine this year was to do at least one winter backpack trip in the mountains of New Hampshire. Coincidentally, I just met someone who was an experienced mountaineer and my excitement got the best of me – I asked him to help me out and we planned our first trip together.
I packed up with everything I knew I’d need from reading my book and from my prior 3-season backpacking experience: 55L pack, closed-cell foam sleeping pad, 0º sleeping bag, JetBoil and fuel, my famous Stove Top stuffing with TVP, many energy bars, 2 2L water bottles, one 2L Platypus (Camelbak), dry bag with wool socks, extra leggings, extra synthetic top, a first-aid kit, snowshoes, micro-spikes, hiking poles, rope, and a headlamp. To wear the day of: wicking under-layer leggings and short-sleeved top, thermal leggings, a long sleeved thermal top, my winter jacket, wool socks, and Oboz boots, gloves, and a hat. I also packed a day pack in case I could go back to the car in the morning and just use that to get to the top of the mountain.
We arrived at the trailhead at 6:30PM and it was getting dark and snowing. My friend, Andy, was training for Mt. Rainier so he brought absolutely everything he could pack (which ended up being a good thing later on for me). We set off with our headlamps blazing and the snow silently falling onto us until we were at least a quarter mile from the trailhead. Then we went off-trail to stealth-camp. It ended up being a steep uphill trek for quite a while until we found flat-ish ground.
Andy and I packed down the area the tent would be in and this is where mistake #1 of the night decided to greet us. We had never set up this tent before! After about half an hour of just winging-it with the poles, Andy exclaimed, “Oh, the orange poles go in the orange sleeves, and the black poles go in the black sleeves!”. Once we figured that out it was easy sailing, we set up the dead-mans anchors around the tent and put our sleeping things inside.
It was late, around 9PM, when we started cooking. Andy made some dehydrated food that looked like a Michelin Star meal compared to my StoveTop and Textured Vegetable Protein mix. We laughed at our tent mistake and went in to sleep afterward.
Here comes mistake #2. I casually glanced at the sleeping section of the Winter Backpacking book by AMC. I figured that if I had a sweet 0 sleeping bag, I would be fine in the 10-20 degree weather. Wrong!
Though closed-cell foam pads are fine for 3-season camping, they do not work in the snow. At least not alone. In the book (now that I’ve carefully re-read the sleeping section) it is suggested to use a foam pad as the base pad and putting an air filled pad (think Therm-a-Rest) on top, then your sleeping bag on top of that. There was no way I could get warm; I could feel the snow directly beneath me on all of the pressure points as I lay there. It was now 11PM.
Uncontrollably shivering, I sighed loudly voicing discomfort. Andy said, “Are you okay, are you warm?”. I replied that I wasn’t and he piled his winter coat on top of me as well as his extra fleece layers. About half an hour later I was uncontrollably shivering again. Andy found a space blanket and put that on top of me. Another half hour later I was shivering and my teeth were now chattering, keeping us both awake. Andy decided that my sleeping pad was to blame and that it would be best if we switched pads because his sleeping bag was much warmer. That did the trick! I could finally sleep. Except…now I had to pee. I shimmied out of my sleeping bag and mountain of gear piled on top and wandered outside to do the deed. I came back in and settled.
I slept from 2 to 3 AM. The rest of the time I just could not get any shuteye. I checked my watch hourly until it was 6AM – start time.
I got out of the sleeping bag and made some coffee. I munched on a frozen energy bar until Andy woke up. We made breakfast and headed our way back to the car so I could get my day-pack. There was no way I could get up the mountain on one hour of sleep and who knows how many pounds I was carrying.
Once we re-suited up, we made our way back and decided to change plans. We weren’t shooting for the top anymore, even though we had plenty of time. Instead we went to Champney Falls to see the ice wall and waterfall.
I had a great time listening to ice climbing how-to’s and stories. And I took plenty of pictures.
Overall, I had a great time. I learned a lot of things from Andy about winter backpacking. I also learned a lot about myself. Most importantly, if something is bothering you, you’re too cold for example, please speak up to your leader(s). They are here for you and will help out the best they can. The worst thing I did was not speak up and instead relied on Andy’s intuition to help me out.
What are your first time backpacking stories? What did you learn? 3-season or winter it doesn’t matter. Leave a story in the comments.
