Companion forum thread to:

Out of Your Comfort Zone: Through the Beartooth Mountains with Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking III Program

Ultralight Gear and Techniques on the Edge of Winter with Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking III Program

Edited by bugbomb on 02/13/2008 07:05:27 MST.

This looks like it was a assume trip. I have spent a little bit of time backpacking in the beartooths, and climbed Granite peak a few years ago. It is a amazing place. I have never been there at that time of year though. This is a excellent write up. I have spent the past hour or so looking at google earth and some maps I have trying to figure out were you guys started from and were you were trying to get to. I cant imagine trying to get two the finish without a good map or no map at all, or no prior knowledge of the area, especially in those conditions. From what I can make of it did you start around Long Lake? and were you trying to make it to the town of beartooth? or do you still not know? Or is to be kept secret?

One of these day's I'd love to be competent enough (and have enough free time and money) to do something like this. For now I just live vicariously through trip reports like these. I'm starting to get really tired of it though.
Great pics and report, I can't wait for the next installment. I just love gear talk :D.

Adam

Great article, thanks Don

Do you guys have individual gear lists compiled somewhere for us to peruse?

Gear lists and more complete gear discussion - is COMING SOON!

Any chance that you could make the map on this page "zoomable" (I'm sure that's not a real word)?

Some responses:

1. We will provide more details in the next installment on our Navigation - but yes, I believe we started right at Long Lake. We didn't have any information at the time, ansd it wasn't until part way into the trip that I even knew we were in the Beartooth Range. The names I use in the article are not the actual names, but are the ones we used while hiking. For example, the lake I refer to as Finger Lake, is actually Fossil Lake. Sorry for any confusion, but I wanted to represent this as it happened. Part of the fun was naming landmarks as we went.

2. In Part 2 we will publish the complete gear lists of everyone on the trip. We will also discuss everyone's feedback on gear performance. These were superb conditions for gear testing, and we all learned some new things.

3. We can't publish a high resolution version of the map at this time - but we may provide some more detail when we discuss navigation in part 2. I hope to show you our actual route on the map, as plotted by the GPS carried by the course facilitators. Then, you'll see how we moved slowly on Day 2, and how our progress aligned with our navigation strategy.

Don

This is a great article. I could read this type of stuff for hours and hours. I can't wait to see your gear lists.

I'm so glad this wasn't posted as a podcast either....

Hey Don,
I really enjoyed reading your article! Your descriptive writing along with the photos almost made me feel like I was there.

This was an especially useful and enjoyable article and turned out, whether it was intended or not, it seemed to me, to be a classic application of the principles and skills exalted in this forum. Look forward to the follow-up regarding gear performance, e.g. daytime clothing, shelter, stoves, etc. The annotated slide show was outstanding. Thanks!

waiting for more details

you've all been added to my heroes of the world list

Edited by gmatthews on 12/13/2007 18:50:44 MST.

Hi John -

It was defenitely intentional that this course advocates and exercises the gear, techniques and philosophy that engages us here at Backpacking Light. The Wilderness Trekking education series to be adopted by BPL next year will serve the purpose of helping people at all levels of experience take theses ideas and develop them in the field. Sharing that learning experience with others is powerful and fun.

Don

Edited by don on 12/14/2007 12:02:35 MST.

Don -

This article proved to be one of the most interesting reads for me in quite some time. I sincerely thank you and look forward to more in the future.

- Sam

Don, Check out Macromedia FlashPaper for the purpose, someone may have a copy at BPL.

Here's an example:
http://www.skiheavenly.com/mountain/trail_map/i_trailmap.php
LINK

GREAT ARTICLE!!! Can't wait for the next installment and the 2008 schedule for the Wilderness Treking School.

Don's new article about the course, Ultralight Gear and Techniques on the Edge of Winter with Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking III Program, is online this week. It describes the gear and gear strategies used by the participants in this course. Great read!

The BEST article on this site! Informative and inspiring. I will refer to it often.

Hi There,

I wanna add a little bit about my sleeping system.

During my years climbing in the Tetons, I have done plenty of mountain bivies, with just about nothing. Shivering all night with my feet in my pack was simply the norm. And, once you realize that you won't die - it isn't that bad. Plus, you will get up nice & early, always a good thing in the mountains.

That said - Going into this 4 day expedition, I figured: "Heck, I can deal with just about anything for 3 nights."

So, I went pretty dern'd sparse with my sleep system.

* Cocoon 60 quilt
* cute synthetic half bag for my legs
* Vapr bivy
* BPL torso-lite inflat-o-pad
* thin yellow evazote pad sized for my legs
* Synthetic clothes (minimal) including a cocoon 60 balaclava

It as a really good experiment. Alas, I added Abdominal Crunches to my sleep system.

And, (Don is a fine journalist with an eye for facts) I did, in fact, spill water all over myself on our coldest night. I truly think the mountain fairies knew of my smarty-pants thin-quilt experiment, and they used magic dust to unscrew my hot water bottle during the night. They did this partially because they are mean, and partially to teach me a REAL lesson.

I ended up with about 1/2 liter sloshing around the bottom of my bivy-sack. And, here's what I learned from the mountain fairies. I actually did fine, I managed to get a good night sleep (after pouring out the water from the bivy-sack). In a way, I'm indebted to those little bastards, they've taught me a good lesson.

I will state here - for the record - that I did NOT pee on myself during the night. I got a suspicious email (hinting that MAYBE it wasn't just water that I spilled) from a certain team member who will remain unmentioned, except that he lives in Sweden.

peace out light-weight comrades,
M!

well now you HAVE to tell us about Ryan's new 240XP quilt ; )