We filled up the car's tank, got some canned and dehydrated foods, filled up some jugs of water, and the sleeping bags and alky stoves are standby.

Went to the grocery store...place was a sh*tshow....people really love their bread.

Stay safe everyone!

I'm jealous! We're only going to get a dusting. I want at least a foot of snow! If I'm going to get furloughed I want some snow to play in!

I did pick up the last 4 Primus 230g gas cans in the local store and stocked up on Belgian Beer, and there is a foot of snow outside the back door :-)

Edited by stephenm on 02/07/2013 20:52:02 MST.

awwww crap, forgot the craft beer!

Doug, estimates are ranging from 18 to 38inches for Beantown--hoping to send some of that your way :)

I will post you some of mine Konrad but you have to pay the PayPal fees ;-)

I'm getting what you guys are gonna get, but we're only topping out at 6-8 inches.

I took tomorrow off work to go cross country skiing, its also my birthday this weekend so my wife is buying me a new EE quilt once Tim has the Dwr down in stock, yippee :-)

Stephen, your wife is awesome.




Can I have her number?





Wait! I'm married too! Now this just got weird...

Your fine Travis, we Irish and Scottish are very liberal ;-)

Yeah, on the west coast we're gonna hit temps in the 50's....again! Went to the store to get a long sleeve shirt and a pair of socks. This sucks...

all jokes aside...be safe

Couch

Its 28f and snowing heavily here, last Saturday we where on an overnight cross country ski trip and it got down to -13f, I snapped a couple of pegs trying to get them out of the ground.

Stephen, may I ask how you tried to get the pegs out? And what pegs were they?

Hi Travis,

They where Hilleberg Alu V stakes, my buddy and I where pulling them out and he first 2 snapped so we dug he rest out.

We had some heavy duty snow stakes and snow anchors with us but the snow was not deep enough to us them.

wow, they snapped by pulling on them? I broke an MSR Groundhog in winter by hitting it with a rock once at a funky angle, but never by just pulling on them. In fact, to get frozen stakes out of the ground, I pound them in a tad more, which brakes the ice bond.


"We had some heavy duty snow stakes and snow anchors with us but the snow was not deep enough to us them."
That's the tough thing about this area. The ground can be frozen solid, but little or no snow.

That's a good idea about pounding them in a bit more.

I am wondering how deep the snow would have to be to deploy the snow stakes, when pitching the tent I broke an Msr Snow anchor trying to get it in the ground, luckily enough the Alu ones she narrow enough to get in.

There's about 14 inches of snow outside now, I am hoping we will get some more so I can get some practice pitches in :-)

Stephen,
You may want to give deadmen a try. I haven't used stakes in winter in years. Even with a couple inches of snow, you can pile up enough and stomp it down to hold pretty solidly. Within 10 minutes, it is almost impossible to get the sticks out. If snow is scant and powdery, sprinkle a little water on it and let it set up for 5 minutes.


Tied with a slippery trucker's hitch

In the morning, just untie the hitch and pull the guyline free, leaving the sticks buried.

Hi Ike,

We tried using a dead man on one side of the tent but the snow was not deep enough to hold, piling up snow and sprinkling water is definitely a good idea and would of saved my pegs, nice one :-)

Cheers,

Stephen

Edited by stephenm on 02/08/2013 09:03:32 MST.

Good post by Ike on deadmen anchors. His photo shows it perfectly, but he wasn't explicit:

You need to tie it in a way that you can untie your guy line and pull it out without removing the stick. That stick may not come out till spring. His setup keeps the knot above the snow, and once untied will leave only a unknotted line to pull out.

I get a little anal about the end of my nylon line and cords, but I try hard to have a slight taper, not a bulge at the heat-sealed end. So it doesn't snag in a case like this and so it is easier to push through a shoelace hole, etc. So I do a lot of cuts at one time, set up a candle or propane torch, put on an old pair of leather gloves and make nice ends on all my lengths of cordage.

David, I use a damp rag for my cord fusing, it seems to "set" the melted material faster in a smooth longer taper. With the leather glove you have much better feel and control though.