[pct-l] Ride to the ADZPCTKO from the trail.

[J M]

Lisa, 

Let me start by saying The Snow Skills Class was great albeit incredibly 
physically challenging for me. The fact that 2 1/2 months prior to last weekend 
I was a couch potato that smoked up to a pack a day was my undoing. Add to that 
it was at 8000 feet of elevation and on snowshoes just sealed the deal. The only 
issue I had was with my own cardio fitness. I have to say that the crew at 
Mountain Education and the group I was with was awesome. I hit a wall about a 
1/2 a mile from camp and they accommodated how long it took me to make it that 
last bit. 
 
The distance is not bad - about 8 miles round trip. You just have to prepare for 
winter 'recess' which means snow shoes, boots, 3 season tent, warm sleeping bag, 
snow pants, shell, appropriate glasses / goggles, ski gloves (+extra pairs), 
long underwear and other thermals. Last weekend was pretty warm  during the day 
but we were interacting with the snow most of the time so - yeah - cold weather 
everything. ( I have a video of me learning how to self arrest, to give you an 
idea) Your feet will be in the snow the whole trip so whatever will work for you 
to keep your feet warm and dry. I have Lowe Gortex boots I used and they were 
awesome until the last few hours of the last day. 

The conditions in March will be different and I would check with Ned but you are 
taking a Snow Skills Course so my assumption would be to plan to spend a weekend 
in the snow. Snow  = colder, brighter, wetter. I ended up renting a 3 season 
tent to take because my tent is a Contrail Tarptent and not suitable for snow 
camping. I definitely packed differently for this trip than I will for my hike 
but I did take a bunch of my gear for a test run. One of the things I found is 
that my sleeping bag will need to be replaced. It did an OK job keeping me warm 
but that is just not going to be good enough for me on the trail. The first 
night the temperature dropped to about 20 the 2nd night it was warmer (about 30) 
but we had high winds that caused the tents to be a bit more interactive than we 
wanted. None of the tents failed but mine would periodically hit me in the face 
and wake me up. 

I probably carried an additional 15 lbs of gear I will not be carrying on most 
of the PCT. I also had an ice axe and shovel. I was excited to learn how to use 
the ice axe for self arrest and I wanted to build the snow cave to sleep in on 
Saturday night. We did complete one but there was only enough room for one 
person. (It's very cool - btw). 

I have snow camped before so the gear was not a surprise to me. Doing this 
within the context of planning for the PCT was a great experience and was very 
informative. It reminded me to start slow and how important regulating body 
temperature is on the trail. It's easy to forget how miserable it is to spend a 
night just this side of warm. 

I highly recommend the class. Ned was a fantastic teacher and I learned a ton 
from him. He is a self proclaimed 'camper' as opposed to an ultralight hiker so 
his course is about safety, snow skills and navigation not how to go as fast and 
light as possible. His goal is to impart the necessary skills for people enjoy 
nature in all seasons. I learned a ton. 

Plan to play in the snow and have a great time! 

Joyce


"Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." 
www.explorationmonkey.blogspot.com
 




________________________________
From: Lisa Freathy <rainorshinecamper at yahoo.com>
To: J M <evilempress2003 at yahoo.com>
Cc: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wed, February 9, 2011 1:44:06 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Ride to the ADZPCTKO from the trail.


Hi Joyce,
 
I would love to hear more about the Snow Skills course if you have time to 
share!!
 
I am going next month and have no idea what to expect. They say you can "test 
run" all of your PCT gear but most of my PCT gear is intended for spring/summer 
hiking/camping, not winter! For example, I'll be using mesh covered trail 
runners on the PCT, would you suggest these at the snow skills course? I don't 
want to have to buy special waterproof shoes just for this course so my only 
other option would be to use my snowboarding boots which are bulky and not great 
for hiking. I used these trail runners while snowshoeing last month but that was 
a quick day trip without much elevation gain. My feet got wet but stayed warm 
w/wool socks so it was no biggie. Not sure which option would be best, the trail 
runners or waterproof snowboarding boots. Also, I imagine I will want some 
additional warm layers in early March that I don't necessarily plan on using 
while on the PCT. Did you pack as you plan to on your thru  hike or did you 
prepare for this course differently? 

 
What did you find most challenging? Was it the distance hiked in snow, the 
elevation, the conditions that particular weekend, a combo or something else 
entirely?
 
Thanks for sharing if you can!
 Lisa 


"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb 
a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
~ John Muir 




________________________________
 From: J M <evilempress2003 at yahoo.com>
To: Amanda L Silvestri <aslive at sbcglobal.net>; pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Wed, February 9, 2011 12:48:06 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Ride to the ADZPCTKO from the trail.

Shepherd, 

Thank you so much for your reply. I feel confident enough with the response to 
reserve my space at the Kick Off. I was in Ned's Snow Skills class this weekend 
and he asked me if I was going to kick off. I told him that I wasn't planning on 

it because I might be too far to get a ride. He told me to get on the PCT-L list 

to find out about getting a ride to and from. The community around this list is 
great!  

As for my hiking speed - I'm planning on slow and easy to start. I pushed myself 

to almost failing this weekend during the the Snow Skills class. Granted, I was 
hiking at over 8000 feet with a full pack on snow shoes but it definitely let me 

know my current physical limitations. I'm not running a race. I'm excited to be 
outside and on the trail, whatever that ends up meaning to me. I'm very grateful 

to Mountain Education for allowing me an opportunity to get my eyes opened prior 

to starting. Apparently I have some training to do - LOL. 

Joyce

"Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." 
www.explorationmonkey.blogspot.com