I was tweaking my gear lists, and was wondering how other folks stack up when comparing their summer weight to their winter weight for their gear?

Let's not look at consumables, but let's do look at pack base weight + clothes worn.

My summer list comes to 15.05#
My winter list comes to 24.20#

So it's taking me 60.8% more weight to get out the door prepped for winter weather... for the purposes here, let's assume winter weather that stays above zero degrees fahrenheit.

Or if your winter gear list is optimized for a different temp range, please mention it in your post.

I go from 15.7lbs (base+wear) which is designed for a 60f day peak and a 30f low, to a 22lb (base+wear) designed for me to be comfortable with 25f day active, and 0f cozy in my sleeping bag (excluding snow specific items). If I add in snow tools like full shovel, snowshoes, ice axe, etc then I am hitting 25lb mark.

--Mark

Interesting idea. I just took a look at my gear lists and it really depends on if I am pushing it or not.

Minimal:
Summer: 3.87 lbs
Winter: 14.7 lbs
380% increase

Luxury:
Summer: 7.89 lbs
Winter: 21.45 lbs
271% increase

Wow, maybe I have to revisit my gear selections. ;)

Mine might go up 4-5 lbs tops but I live in the SE.

I'd figure it's about a 30-40% increase.

Edited by simplespirit on 11/10/2009 07:25:20 MST.

I don't do much winter hiking so this is pretty loosely put together, but it seems like most of my additional weight is stuff I wear.

In the summer I'm wearing/carrying about 3lbs. In the winter I would add roughly:

- Winter Boots (+ 2 lbs)
- Much Warmer Down Jkt (+ 2 lbs)
- Snow Pants with ankle Gators (+ 1 lbs)
- Hat/Gloves (+ 1 lbs)
TOTAL: + 6 lbs

For my gear, it wouldn't change too much but I would add:

- Closed cell pad under my NeoAir (+ 1 lbs)
- Warmer Sleeping bag (+ 1 lbs)
- 3 Layer Shell instead of Rain jkt (+ 1.5 lbs)
- Fleece Pants (0.5 lbs)
TOTAL: + 4 lbs

So that's a boost from 8-10lbs up to 12-14lbs in my base weight (40-50%), an additional 6 lbs of worn gear (+ 200%) and I would pack more food (+ 25-50%) since you burn more calories.

Tim, Great question...my summer base weight is about 4.5 lbs and in winter it is about 6.5 lbs. I'm in SE so I really dont do much in summer so the 4.5 lb weight is really late spring/early fall which is 45+ dgrees. Winter to me is typically 20+ degrees.

At 4.5 lbs I don't carry any insulating gear beyond my JRB stealth quilt.

At the 6.5 lb weight I increase the sleeping quilt by maybe 6-7 oz, I add 8 oz insulated jacket, add fleece cap and gloves, use warmer socks, and typically add rain pants.

Jamie

How much bigger pack do you need to be able to be out in 10 degree weather. fleece adds lots of bulk and I am having trouble staying with a 3500 cu in pack.

What size packs are you all using?

I don't go in the Summer because I live in the South and I like ice more than I like bugs. My base weight for down to the teens is 12 pounds and single digits down to zero is 15 pounds. You wouldn't think we would see weather that cold in the South, but I actually had zero in the Smokies in January a couple of years ago at elevation. On that trip we had a 48 hour stretch where our high temp. was 12.