Gear List

Probably staying every night between 10,000'-11,500', and current conditions are for overnight lows in the low 30s at those elevations, day time highs in the 50s and 60s. Too far out to know about the possibility of precipitation.

My main quandry is with my shelter and sleep system, whether to go tarp+synthetic quilt(32.8oz)or down/bivy combo(29.5oz), Or fully-enclosed mid and down quilt(minus bivy)(28.5 oz).

A fully enclosed shelter would be nicest if the weather turns, but I've spent the night out in a hailstorm in the tarp/down/bivy combo okay.

Any thoughts on this or the rest of the list.

I just did that loop a few weeks ago. I had my Spinn Twinn and a Western Mountaineering Summerlite (down). The first night I had rain at about 3:00 am to 6:30 am. It rained real hard. Due to poor set up, since I set it up after dark when I saw lighting strikes from the east, I had to sleep a bit off center due to the BIG ROCK I had set up on! Because of that I had a bit of spray and condensation. I packed my wet tarp and damp bag and headed out. I was able to dry it out later that day while I stopped to eat lunch in Dusy Basin.

I was planning on going over Muir that day until I hit rain at Little Pete Meadow and then rain and hail at Big Pete Meadow. I decided to stay there and not chance it up at Muir. That way I got a good camping spot, enjoyed the rain under my shelter, and was able to fish a bit. I was glad I did since the next day I saw a ton of people that had a real wet cold experience going over Muir the day before. As I was hiking up nice and dry most of them were barely rolling out of their tents as I headed up to Muir. I was glad I didn't continue on the day before. I was able to dry my stuff out at lunch that day in Colby Meadow and then I headed down to Muir Trail Ranch for some hot springing.

After that it was dry. All in all, I am always leary of taking down during wet conditions, however, it is so rare there is not a bit of time to dry things out in the Sierra I don't really worry about it. Also, I really don't have a good synthetic I could even take.

Those passing, middle of the night rainstorms are what make me reluctant to camp sans-shelter, using my tarp, ala Mike C! as a pillow. I make end up bringing the down quilt since I do have my synthetic BPL cocoon hoody as a safety layer if my down got completely drenched, which is unlike anyways. It would be survival level-safety, and I wouldn't likely sleep, but I wouldn't die either.

The first two nights of my trip, according the the 7 day weather.gov forecast, are looking clear with a low of 34 and 37, respectively, perfect for sleeping out under a tarp. My BPL Nano is only slightly smaller than the SpinnTwinn, (9" at the ridgline, 8" head, 15" foot) and I did okay in rain and hail, probably didn't even need the bivy, which in fact probably caused more condensation wet-out than I would've gotten from spray each night, though it does scare me to leave the bivy behind when bringing the Nano, which would make the Solomid/Nunatak combo the lightest by about a 1/4 lb, but the Nano/Nunatak/bivy combo has the life-style appeal of sleeping out/open views. Probably I'll pack both and then leave one combo in the car based on a more timely weather forecast.