Snow Camping 101

The Diamond on Longs Peak

All week Josh, Keith and I had been planning to do a winter acsent of Longs Peak. We had set our focus on the well known Cables Route. Unfortunately, Keith is still recovering from a 2 week battle with the flu and by the weekend he still wasn't feeling up to the climb. Josh and I decided that we were still game so we head out for Longs Peak around 3pm on Saturday. Our plan was to head up the trail about 3.5 miles and camp just below tree line. The next morning we would wake early and climb all day. We knew ahead of time that their was high avalanche danger and that the weather may not cooperate but we figured we'd still have a great time and get in some great views. To top it all off...this was to be my first snow camping experience! We started up the well traveled trail and followed it for about a quarter of a mile before it abrubtly ended. We're not sure if we somehow lost the main trail or if it had just been covered by a recent storm but we spent the remainder of the afternoon breaking trail through waist deep snow. Josh was telling me all about breaking trail as he trudged uphill and then asked if I'd like to try. Knowing me, I was optomistic that I could manage what he had and that it would be good practice. Well, skinning up steep terrain in a heavy backpack while breaking trail for the first time ended up not being as easy as I had originally thought. It was through this exercise that Lesson #1 was learned: when breaking trail keep a wide stance with your feet otherwise it is very easy to tip over.
Please see exhibit A below:


Exhibit A

We continued on until dusk when we decided to set up camp. Being that we knew we were already off schedule and anticipated it taking quite some time to continue breaking trail up to the base of Longs we decided that summiting was not probable and to just sleep in the next morning. We'd wake in the morning and head up in hopes of gaining some good view of the diamond. At camp Josh took the time to teach me all about setting up a tent in the snow with the most important being Lesson #2 of the trip:
When snow camping put your gear to use. Poles and skis make excellent stakes for your tent fly. Just be carefull not to stab yourself by falling on upside down poles. Luckily there is no exhibit to accompany this lesson.


Camp.

The next morning I was immediately introduced to Lesson #3: sleeping with a thermos of warm water in your sleeping bag not only keeps you warm but enables you to drink tea in the morning without boiling water. Please see exibit B.


Exhibit B

After breakfast, we continued breaking trail until we finally found ourselves back on the main trail. We were able to skin up beyond tree line where the wind grew considerably stronger. We set our sights on Mt. Lady Washington as we knew there would be incredible views of both the Diamond and Chasm Lake from it's ridge line.


Josh skinning up ahead of me.

In order to get to this viewpoint meant scrambing around large boulders in a constant 25 mph wind with occasional 70mph gusts. Lesson #4: Winds this strong are capable of making Melanie airborne. We spent only a few minutes to take pictures at our destination before heading back to tree line. Please see exhibit C for "summit" photo.


Exhibit C

The winds grew stronger as the day progressed and we were both happy to be below tree line once we were back at camp. We rested for a few minutes mainly exhausted from our long battle with the wind and then headed back to the car. The final lesson of the trip may have actually been the first lesson I learned but I decided to save it for last. Lesson#5: When backpacking with someone much larger than you, ALWAYS make sure the weight of your packs are porportional to your size BEFORE you reach the trail head. Otherwise, the smaller person may end up carrying an equal amount of weight despite your efforts to make them comprable.