Jens Peter Aarnaes: Ski season has started with early POWDER in Colorado...

... and very light crowds for a holiday weekend!

Backcountry stuff

The TEN ESSENTIALS for any back country travel:

1. Water and food

2. First Aid Kit

 Moleskin or other blister pad

 Bandages

 Antiseptic pads

 Neosporin

 Analgesic - Aspirin or Advil or?

 Pepto bismol chewable

 Duct tape - Great for almost any emergency (roll a small amount onto anything handy in your kit)

 Toilet paper

3. Sunglasses

4. Map and Compass

5. Sunscreen and/or Mosquito repellant and lip stuff

6. Xtra Clothing

 Hat

 Sweater/fleece

 Foul weather gear

 Emergency blanket or trash can liner

7. Pocket knife

8. Flashlight

9. Fire starter

 Lighter and/or water proof matches AND fuel (a candle or chemical fuel for starting a fire with wet wood)

10. Signal device. IE, whistle or mirror

WINTER HUT TRIP ESSENTIALS:

THE TEN ESSENTIALS-MANDATORY

1. Map and compass
2. Extra food and water
3. Fire starter – matches, lighter, etc.
4. Repair kit - duct tape is a great place to start.

 Ski pole splint (2x) – I carry these and you don’t have to.

 Bailing wire

 Sewing kit

 Parachute cord

5. Sunglasses and goggles
6. Pocket knife or multi-tool
7. Flashlight or headlamp (headlamps are great in the marginally lit huts)
8. Extra clothing, IE:
1. Hat
2. Sweater
3. Foul weather gear
4. Emergency blanket or trashcan liner – yes it can rain and otherwise get wet in the winter.
9. Signal device – whistle and/or mirror

10. Personal FIRST AID KIT
Suggestions – My kit contains all the below and yours can be limited to just those items you need for your personal comfort.

a. Adhesive tape

b. Alcohol prep. Pads

c. Steri pads

d. Gauze pads

e. Assorted bandages

f. Neosporin

g. Moleskin or other blister protection

h. Ace bandage

i. SAM splint or wire mesh splint

j. Plastic gloves

k. First Aid book

l. Drugs, ie: Aspirin, Ibuprofin, Antacids, Antihistamine, Multi-symptom cold capsules, Anti-diarrheal, Laxatives

Clothes - NO COTTON if possible except for under clothes

Gore Tex or other weather "proof" outer wear - pants and jacket

Gators if needed with snowshoes. Most ski pants have these built in

Under clothes – poly if possible

Poly long underwear - medium weight

Two pair socks

Fleece or wool sweater

Fleece or wool hat

Balaclava or neck gator

Warm and light gloves for varying conditions

Weatherproof outer gloves – not absolutely necessary but nice to have in bad weather

Hut slippers - For hut and occasional outdoor (privy) use

Shorts - It can get hot in the hut if the fire stokers get too enthusiastic.

Ball cap

Sleeping bag (20 degree F minimum)

Personal pillowcase

Daypack - you can use your emptied backpack for this in a pinch

Earplugs - sometimes your hut mates can snore

Food - Remember, you are on your own for lunch and we will share dinner and breakfast food

Water bottle - I use a camelback for its convenience and I carry another bottle inside my clothes in case the camelback water tube freezes.

Toiletries – Be sure to include sunscreen, Chap Stick and lotion

Sleeping pad - Ensolite or other

Bivy sack or equivalent - I have used a tarp or pole-less tent

(The above two items are carried in the unlikely event we need to spend a night outside)

Equipment

Ski(metal edged) and/or snowshoe equipment - If on skis, bring SKINS or wax kit (scraper, cork, glide wax, grip waxes and Klister).

Sturdy boots

Metal touring poles (those that convert to probe poles are especially good)

OPTIONAL ITEMS

Binoculars

Camera with LOTS of memory or film.

Games like playing cards, backgammon or Liars Dice.

Stove/fuel with a pot for snow melting – I carry these so everyone doesn’t have to.

Beer ;-)

Avalanche Gear - We won't be traveling in avalanche country so this is just FYI

Inclinometer.

Magnifying glass.

Avalanche Transceiver.

Snow shovel with a metal scoop- this is useful to dig an emergency snow cave and for avalanche rescues.

Probe pole - many ski poles are made with these incorporated into them.

Skier TAU:

You are a "SKIER" when:
It's not something to do when it's winter ,but_
It's something you Need to do and can't wait till it's winter!!
You await the lst storm of the Fall
You are at a memorial day bar-b-que and wishing it were winter already.
You check the stills and webcams every 2 hours
You are checking for white stuff in the air and on the ground
You own your own gear
You have rock skis and use them early as possible
Your ski's are waxed and ready - ALL summer.

Stand on your skis. Let them run. Ride the power of potential energy becoming kinetic. Stand on the impulse flowing through the conduit from high to low... BE THE SKIER

With thanks to Rachmaninoff and apologies for altering a saying of his to suit one of my favorite activities:
Skiing is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for skiing.

As for backpacking, I am often asked WHY I do it. For me the time between 8PM and 8AM is why I go to the trouble of packing all the gear needed for an overnight stay. There are few experiences more compelling to me than the evening to morning hour in the back country.

This poem pretty much sums it up:
The Mountains Call written by Walter A. Starr Jr., a pioneer climber in the Sierra, shortly before his death in the California Sierra's Minarets in 1933.

God's wilderness is calling me
To shining summits, bright and cool;
The mountain trails from snow are free,
The flashing trout are in the pool.

All winter long, the lure and spell
Of glittering lakes and towering trees,
Of rushing streams and pine-tree smell
And flowering meadows haunted me.

Of all the peace on earth there's none
Like evening in my campfires gleam,
No shrine like God's own starlit dome
Nor wine like water from my stream.

What song but sylvan solitude
Stirred softly by the snow-kissed breeze,
Or water-ouzel's sweet note tuned
To swirling stream's glad melodies?

Lure of Sierra, wild and free,
Jewels deep set in shining skies,
Defiant mountains beckon me
To glory and dream in their paradise.

Jens Peter Aarnaes

Monday, November 29, 2010

Ski season has started with early POWDER in Colorado...

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