Winter backpacking

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cp2000

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Ashland NH
Just curious. What is so desirable about backpacking in the winter. I love to hike no matter what season it is. I also love to backpack in the spring, summer,and fall but it seems rather undersirable to hike out into the woods just so you can sit in your tent. One of the whole reasons I pack in is so I can sit in front of the fire without having to listen to cars, other people and technological nuisances while watching the sun go down, and just enjoying life until the wee hours of the night.
 
Snow shoes

I winter hike because I love to snow shoe. I winter back pack to a base camp that's accessible to interesting terrain , mountains, remote valleys, for day hiking with light packs. Activities are usually limited to hiking/snowshoeing , eating, sleeping and snowshoeing. After dinner we consume our favorite potato meal and go for a short snowshoe to warm up before sleeping. No fires, to much effort, and the heat melts the snow and gets thing wet. Good equipment is a must. Spring summer and fall I'd be at that fire with you, crooning probably. Buddy
 
It's not that winter is all that great to camp in.

It's just that the skiing is so wretched in Spring, Summer and Fall.


In all seriousness, I find winter hiking to be pretty dull. It does have a certain logistical appeal of managing the risks and temps and above treeline is cool in the winter. But ski camping!! Now that is something all together different.

Winter opens up terrain you would never want to venture into during the warmer months. Long flat boring trails along rivers turn into fast avenues of travel. Buggy bogs freeze over and become open winter spots in the sun. Really marvelous stuff.
 
I guess you just have to experience hiking up a frozen river, on top of 10feet of snow to understand the appeal of winter hiking.
The trails, views and challenge of each mountain changes with the winter. When you stand on 10 feet of snow you usually do not have much obstructing your view.
 
2 visual pictures for you...

Camped down around the Flowed Lands. Up at 4am to start melting snow for water and breakfast. Out across the frozen lake about an hour before sunup. The snow is crunching, the headlamps are off 'cause its easy to see on the lake. There are a million stars up above, and you can make out the shape of the peaks rising above as their bulk cuts out a pattern from the starfield. Just as you think it couldn't get any better, here comes a meteorite , streaking down Lake Colden and Flowed Lands, bright, and breaking up into smaller ones. Then the streaks of light flash past, and you just look at each other, knowing "did you just see that"?

Another night. Packed all the way into the Sewards, up on Calkins Brook. Deep snow. Back when Calkins Brook wasn't known as the trade route up the Seward Range. The tent sitting on 6' of snow, right on the brook at around 3,500'. Peaceful sleep, lulled by the water flowing under the snow, under the ice. Get up to answer nature's call around 2am. Again, the sky lit with uncounted stars. Full Moon shining on the snow and no sound, no breeze. Calkins Brook falls away below, looking like a silver staircase in the moonlight.
Go back to sleep, content knowing that the weather and location assures a great day of peakbagging beginning in a few hours.
 
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Yeah, ditto what Peakbagr just said. Note that to get there, to be a part of those scenes he painted there's a lot of work to be done.
There's a big diff. between winter camping with a nice big fire to dry your stuff out and winter peakbagging with no fire, usually (in the ADK's) staying at a LT. Blending the 2 would be the best of both worlds.
 
Ahmen to peakbagr. I couldnt have said it better.
Traveling on snowshoes can be much easier at times , because you are traveling over or on top of all the stuff you normally trip on.
And you havent lived till your deep in the woods and its so quiet you can actually hear the snow flakes coming down
 
No bugs, no crowds, no rain, no rocks or roots sticking in your back at night...
I do tend to spend more time in my tent in the winter, but that's the price you pay for being able to camp out year round!
 
cp2000 said:
...but it seems rather undersirable to hike out into the woods just so you can sit in your tent...

You do have to plan your afternoon/evening. I've gotten to camp early, especially solo, and did a little more "sitting around" then I had planned on.
 
KevCon223 said:
I like the cold, can't stand the Summer heat!! And most important of all, NO BUGS!!!!

I second this. Reaching the top of a mountain in winter is more rewarding as well. Along with this, the crowds are smaller and the views are more magnificent.
 
Skiing. Less crowds. Always a place to pitch a tent. No bugs. No mud. No sweat.
 
The hardest thing about winter backpacking, besides the effort, are the loooooong nights. Away from locations where snowdepth, temperatures, practicality, or environmental concerns preclude a fire, you get into sleeping bags around 6pm or 7pm. You better really like your tentmate(s), 'cause you're going to hear lots of stories and talk for a while....Some nights, you fall asleep at 8pm, and you after what seems like a night's sleep, you look at your watch and its 11pm, then 12pm, then 2am, 3am, you get the picture.
 
it's the ski across the lake with mountains over your shoulder

306265804ZXQEcE_ph.jpg


the gaze towards a distant view that may not be there in any other season

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looking into a pass from the middle of an awesome lake

306267040GYbdeN_ph.jpg


to bright idea of duck tape olympics at 10:00pm after some wine and a great day

306269051eumULW_ph.jpg


the anticipation of views ahead

306273603BoWDEC_ph.jpg


your bestest girl to enjoy the experience with you!!

306275424fKbzZl_ph.jpg


those are just some of my reasons!!
 
Rick said:
... Yukon Jack...

You mis-spelled "Wild Turkey".

I dunno why you all are complaining about the long nights. Man, with kids and work and commutes and other things, I live my day to day life on too little sleep and too much espresso. One or two nights with 12 hours of sleep and no kids jumping on my head or projects to manage? Man, that's just luxury.
 
Winter Backpacking(and camping) Rocks!!
Actually,I never could see the point of going into the woods,and coming back out the same day.
It's all about staying "in" for the night. The night sky description by Peakbagr was right on the point.
Good gear makes all the difference. I can't imagine a cold miserable night in.
I find it funny that when you mention winter camping,the first thing people say is " aren't you cold?" If I was,would I keep doing this for fun? :confused:
What's not to like? No bugs,no crowds(usually),and anyplace can become a nice level tentsite with a short "snowshoe dance". Water? No problem.Got plenty. Campfire? Got mine in a stainless hip flask-the correct spelling is actually "Apricot Brandy".
The night can be long,if you don't plan. We usually end up setting up at dusk,so it's not bad. I have a "9 o'clock rule".
Can't go to sleep till 9. That way you're not waking up at 3am-now what do I do till morning?
Best of all,Mrs KD,the love of my life,likes to do this craziness too!I don't have to "borrow" time to get out,so I'm a lucky guy.
So...tell me again why I wanna carry a 40lb pack up a trail on a hot,sweaty,bugbitten day in summer? :confused: :D
 
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I also love winter camping, and am envious of those who have found significant others who also like to do so.

Camping in the other 3 seasons is good, with fall being my favorite, but there is something about the winter that adds a special element to the mix. Maybe it's the hiking in at night without needing a light, the stillness of the woods, or the extraordinary clarity of the views. The meals seem to taste better, the spiced cider with Captain Morgan's is particularly good, and I sleep better. The key is to have good equipment though, KayakDan is right, it could be miserable without it.
 
CP2000,
The interesting thing about winter backpacking is that you can do it in a variety of styles. Associating winter camping with peakbagging can be pretty hardcore.

One way is to ski or snowshoe across a lake, find a nice marshy area with lots of standing, dead wood and find a protected spot back in the trees. This can be a short jaunt from your vehicle. Then you spend several hours cutting and hauling wood and shovelling down to the ground a big circle where your fire will go and where you will sit. You can set up your tent off to one side or build a little lean-to out of saplings and a tarp and make a soft bed of balsam boughs. Once those chores are taken care of you head back to the lake and cut a water hole. Now you're set to head out each day and roam the woods knowing you'll be coming home to a very comfortable campsite and a warm fire. This is how me and a buddy gradually evolved into doing it for nearly 30 years in Canada. We only go to regions where there's no problems with using the forest as a "poor man's overcoat" (ie. cutting and burning wood, using saplings and boughs etc.) I'll never forget one night, 5 miles from the railway that got us there. It was neg 40 and there wasn't a cloud, we left our fire and went for a stroll across a small lake and up a hill to a vantage point. Not only did the full moon turn the lake into a white sheet of millions of jewels but the northern lights were multi-coloured and danced wildly across the sky. The cold drove us back to the fire and we chucked a bunch of wood on it feeling deeply contented and satisfied in way that can't be described, only lived.

OTOH you can have no fires. In this manner you are either moving or in your bag. Cooking and eating is done out of your sleeping bag unless it's fairly mild. (ie. above 20 deg). Wet clothing freezes, or is dried out in your bag which entraps the moisture. You can put your wet clothes and boots in a plastic bag inside your sleeping bag and put them on wet the next day just prior to hiking. Camping this way frees up lots of time for hiking and bagging peaks and I see it as more of a means to an end than the first example. In the Eastern High Peaks Region of the ADK's it's pretty well the only way available due to high use and the fire restrictions.
 
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