Initial SHT gear test complete

This weekend, I attended training for the Boy Scout winter camp I work at central Minnesota. The Saturday high was approximately +10F, the official low was -4F. It wind also blew consistently throughout the weekend, with gusts no more than 10 or 15 mph. There was about an inch of snow on the ground, just enough to hide the leaves, but the snow disappeared when we walked through the forest - out feet left clear paths through the trees.

I took all of the clothing with me that I will be taking in January, and the weather is about what I expected -the averages in Grand Marais in January are +10 to -5F. Thus, the weekend was a meaningful test for what I expect. As for the gear, this was the inaugural voyage for many items - as usual, I learned much from my experienced.

The biggest winner was the Vapor Barrier clothing. I wore the jacket all day over a thin base layer and under my softshell jacket. In the evening, I threw on my down coat over everything. To my surprise, the VB shirt was warm and dry inside, even after extensive hiking. I wore the pants at night while I slept, and in the morning under my insulating pants. The socks were slightly less successful. When I took my socks off at 10:30 p.m. (after having them on for about 11 hours), there was a little bit of visible condensation on the inside of the VBL socks. However, my wicking socks were dry and of course, my mukluks and warmth socks were also dry.

Like I said, I wore my softshell jacket the entire day, including during the periods of flurries Saturday and Sunday. I am now more convinced (but not entirely) that softshell clothing is the way to go in winter. Flurries just bounced off my jacket, and only accumulated on my shoulders. Some of these melted, but my body heat dried the fabric out. My pants never accumulated any falling snow and any snow that got on my mukluks bounced off or melted away.

My opinion is somewhat qualified, though, and it applies only when the weather is cold enough to prevent instant melting-on-contact. The flakes this weekend were also small and bounced more effectively; they were not thick flakes that were full of moisture. That said, I am going to bring my hardshell with me up to the border and make it as a game-day decision. To support this decision, I am going to sew a hood-like piece of clothing out of some spare Epic fabric. My softshell jacket does not have a hood, and it needs one in order to function like a true shell. I imagine it will take a few hours to get the pattern right, and it will be very easy to sew.

The MK1 XL performed exceptionally. I slept alone inside, and there was minimal condensation on the fabric when I woke up Sunday morning. There was also minimal condensation on the poles. I left the door closed and the vents opened. The tent was, however, hard to set up in the cold. Placing the poles was not the difficult part. Strapping the poles in, however, did present some difficulty. With gloves on, it was hard to separate the pieces of Velcro and one of the poles were oddly reluctant to move into place. That said, I held the tent down with sticks at the corners that were set down over the corner loops. I placed my snow stakes in the loops and set the vertically - this locked the sticks in place.

In addition, my balaclava did not cover my neck completely, and resulted in drafts at times. To solve this, I purchased a neck gaiter earlier today.

Looking at the system as a whole, it is obviously designed for constant, strenuous movement. Winter camp is less moving around and more standing/sitting around. All in all, I probably need more insulating clothes when camp really starts. This will probably be comprised of a fleece vest or jacket, and fleece pants, and those will only be necessary on really cold weekends. For the trip, I can use my sleeping bag as extra insulation around camp (like a quilt), and its Dryloft shell will keep out the precipitation.

I did not get to test out my snowshoes this weekend - there just was not enough snow. When we finally get some snow, I am going to do some winter walking around some local farm fields.

Tentative SHT Winter '09 gear list

Here's my working gear list, and it is subject to change.

Pack	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Granite Gear Vapor Trail	36.90
Shelter	Carried	Worn	Consumable
MK1 XL	77.00
SMC Sno Stake x4	4.23
Sleeping	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Granite Gear Compression Sack (XL)	3.84
Blue foamer (57")	7.65
Ridgerest (57")	8.08
Marmot Col, -20 (long)	74.00
Clothes worn	Carried	Worn	Consumable
OR Sonic Balaclava		2.36
NW Hat (100 weight fleece)		1.02
Stephenson's VBL shirt		8.47
Base layer bottom (Theramar)		6.24
Marmot Scree		15.17
BD Jetstream gloves		2.36
Glasses		0.67
Goggles
Footwear	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Steger Mukluks, Arctic		41.02
MSR Lightning Ascents (25")		60.04
Integral Designs VBL socks		2.19
Smartwool Mountaineer socks		4.62
Fox River X-Static socks		0.85
Clothes carried	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Fox River X-Static socks	0.85
Smartwool Mountaineer socks	4.62
TNF Nupste	24.83
Rab Drillium	14.11
Stephensons VBL Pants	4.69
Montbell UL Thermawrap pants (3/4 zip)	9.77
REI Ridgecrest Mitts		7.30
S2S stuff sack	1.16
Kitchen	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Dragonfly, screen, reflector, repair kit, bag	15.77
33 oz fuel bottle /w pump	2.29
REI 1.3L Ti Pot	4.97
Hot Spark (on ribbon)	0.35
Lexan Fork	0.39
Hydration	Carried	Worn	Consumable
1L Nalgene (x2)	6.38	6.38
Chlorine Dioxide tabs, 4x day (20 tabs)			X
Bottle Parka (x2)	3.28	3.28
Emergency	Carried	Worn	Consumable
FAK; repair kit	3.70
ACR Microfix		10
Fire Kit: Lint, wax'd matches, 1 oz alcohol
Misc	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Headlamp /w lithium batteries		2.75
BD Spires		20.74
Knife		0.67
Cell phone		3.92
$20 Cash; ID; 2x key; Credit; Ins		0.39
Camera		6.56
Toiletries	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Toothbrush	0.42
Toothpaste (baking soda)			X
TP (4x day, 5 days), in sandwich ziplock	0.07		X
Wet Wipes (1xday, 5 day), in sandwich ziplock	0.07		X
Handsanitizer (1 oz)			X
Sandwich bag (toiletries)	0.07
Navigation	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Map(s), average		0.99
Silva Polaris compass		1.06
Aloksak for phone		0.32
Aloksak for maps		0.42
Consumables, trailhead max	Carried	Worn	Consumable
Food, 5 days			149.13
Fuel, 30 oz			21.59
Water, 2 L			35.20
BASE	Carried	Worn	Consumable
OZ	309.52	209.80	205.92
LB	19.35	13.11	12.87
TOTALS	BASE	SKIN OUT	TRAILHEAD
Totals	19.35	32.46	32.21

The base weight is about where I anticipated it to be and about 4 lbs more than I hoped it would be. Also, as anticipated, the bulk (about half) of the weight is in the shelter and sleep systems. My lightest option for a shelter would be a lightweight Duomid from MLD. That would cut about 55 ounces off the above system (3.5 lbs!). As I said before, I really can't justify another shelter or returning the MK1. So I'll keep it.

The other area to cut weight would be the sleep system - the old Col is quite heavy by current standards - but it is what I have and I am in no position to change it. The pads are worth their weight, although I could probably cut 4 oz if I cut the blue foamer in half. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that.

As for the hydration, I have two 1L Nalgenes and two bottle parkas listed. One will be attached to my pack, the other around my neck on a lanyard for accessibility. Although I have looked, I cannot find a decent method of using a single Nalgene canteen. I asked Skurka about it and he said keep it close to your body, of course, but I would rather not put it in my pack's hydration sleeve of put it in my pack insulated by my down coat. If the thing burst, it would be a disaster and wet down would be impossible to dry or otherwise deal with. So I'm going with what I know works.

Finally, there is room to cut weight in the stove. My DragonFly is listed, but a friend and I have been working on modifying a Brunton Stove stand to create a winter canister stove with my PocketRocket. The end result will be a stove that weighs approximately 10 oz less than my DragonFly before one adds the weight of fuel bottles. Either way, the issue is how much fuel to carry - two 8 oz canisters weigh approximately as much as one 30 oz white gas bottle, except I can dispose of empty canisters. The end result is a stove that is more efficient and has a lower initial carry weight than the DragonFly, hopefully. For more on stove efficiencies and comparative carry weights, see this fantastic article series on BPL: Part 1 and Part 2.

(In a later post after I have done some testing on my own, I intend to put these numbers to the test in winter conditions to evaluate what stove I should take).

As stated, I'll probably amend, especially with respect to the consumable stuff and other things not listed above.