Cold Weather / Snow Conditions Hiking list

This is list is especially applicable to :
New Zealand, Tasmania.... at any time of year. NZ has been rated "the hardest western country to hike"  by many USA thru-hikers who have done the PCT etc. 

In some countries/areas, you can be hit by snow or windchill at any time of year... especially alpine regions.

If you dont have enough insulating layers, life can get quite unpleasant and even dangerous, especially if your hands and feet get really cold while hiking.  Which can affect your judgement, navigation and lead to dangerous choices.

Examples: 

Kosciusko NP, (1900m) Australian Alps in January:  60km/h winds ,  windchill : zero degrees... I had to go down with the chairlift, buy a pair of gloves, back up, hike, setup camp.



New Zealand:

I've also been hit by wet snow (worse than dry snow as it gets you wetter) in NZ in January.... on the Rees pass at 1400m....
boots held out for a while, and then the freezing water got through... cold and wet feet, slogging towards the Dart hut, where I dried my clothes above the stove.  

That is where I decided to buy the goretex overmitts (no insulation), as these dont wet out like normal gloves. Also they come off in a second, for eating or adjusting gear. 

If hands are not wet/ exposed to wind, they stay warm in these wintry but not arctic conditions. 


Tasmania examples:


Tasmania (1200m) , 2nd week of Nov 2019:  Walls of Jerusalem NP, with unusually snowy conditions.  Base camped a wild dog creek for 5 nights.  Days of continuous snow/sleet (wet snow).  Days of sun with snow flurries. 
Mild Hypothermia at the end of a 20km circuit with 5 river crossings (impaired judgement, blood sugar raised with a muesli bar from 1st aid kit). 

Typical Gear Used: 

GOOGLES
For snowy and windy conditions (snow melts on large surface, snow doesn't come in sideways, fogging avoided to some degree.) can use the "low light lens" suited for fog etc in most hiking situations. 

Goretex OVERMITTS 
(not insulated, thin shell,  eg 100$AU from ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk) 
Very light, dry quickly, don't wet out, easy to put on and off when faffing with gear or food. 

BELAY JACKET
For base camp and lunch stops during hikes. 
Or to wear in a dry snow blizzard. 
Synthetic in my case - dries quickly when soaked (unlike down), affordable. 
(Down also works, as long it doesn't get too wet. Is lighter weight.).
 Preferably with a hood... avoids having to have a big bonnet, and cuts sidewinds when in blizzard, goes over helmet when climbing. 

SYNTHETIC TROUSERS
for base camp. (not essential but nice).
These can also be used in the sleeping bag too beef up insulation , as can the Belay jacket in extreme cold.
I use the same trousers when ski touring/Mountaineering , at the end of the day. They have full side zips, and I just pull them over my goretex ski bib. 

1 or 2 litre MSR WATER BLADDER
(Dromlite in my case):  At the end of day,  filled with almost boiling water and used as hot water bottle within the sleeping bag. 

 I used my one 4l bladder, but next time I will bring that for water storage, Plus a small 1 or 2 litre bladder dedicated to hot water bottle, to make life simpler, so I can have a water bladder while I warm up with a hot bladder. 
(130g for 2L  dromlite.  )

BUFF for neck - regular nylon. keeps wind of neck. Can be used as hat in strong winds. 

Thin Merino WOOL BONNET
For everyday hiking: Light, easy to put away, doesnt overheat your head. 
LOL.... this what you look like when fighting cold on a hike... 

Regular or legionnaire SUNHAT 
- for those sunny days with lots of high altitude sun and reflection from the snow. 


SOCKS:

Example:  Wilderness Wear -   Men's Merino Fleece socks. 
83% Australian Merino 
15% Nylon 
2% Spandex

Do not use cotton socks... they will get soaked and take forever to dry and retain zero heat. 

From summer to winter, you can use WOOL socks.
in Summer - can use a thinner one (eg the very high quality NZ  "icebreaker" thin wool socks).

In Tasmania and many alpine areas, I would use THICK wool socks,  eg "wilderness wear".

Number of socks:  2 for hiking .   1 for base camp only.

I try to wash 1 pair a day, and dry it on my pack or in the sleeping bag.  Thus I interchange 2 pairs. 
The third pair is my "virgin" pair, to avoid getting it wet, I put on under my sandals at the end of the day.  This pair can be superthick.  


Mats and clothes-drying system:

Z rest SOL foam mat for day hiking - lunch stops , or if I get injured and need to lie/sit.
Advantages:  doesn't puncture so can use on ground. 
100$ AU
R 2.6
400g   / 14 ounces

For sleeping:

Zrest foam mat  +
2nd mat on top:  can be foam or self-inflating.






in my case: sea to summit "Ultralight Insulated".  
170$ Australia:

R 3.3
weight  470 g   small size.   (168 cm x 55cm)
520g  Regular   183cm
(includes stuff sac which doubles as an inflating bag).


(I use small at my height of 181cm, as I use with a long mat underneath. And my pillow rests outside the ultralight mat. )

The R value goes from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest insulating value.  

advantages of this mat: 
Easy to deflate due to special double valve. Doesn't crinkle when you sleep on it. Packs down small.  fairly light. 

Gives a total of:
R 2.6 + 3.3 =  5.9

As long the total R value is around 5, you can sleep on snow etc without getting that cold back/ thigh feeling. 

Total weight is 400 + 480 = 880g.

For me, its worth having at least one foam mat, as it will NEVER get a puncture, and I can use it on day hikes. 

2 mats also means you can place wet jackets/ trousers etc between the 2 mats and "Iron dry" them while sleeping. 

If you have a synthetic sleeping bag,  you can place these straight under the bag, as it will dry out quickly, unlike down. 

Cosy in my bag after a long day's hike.
feet heating up with hot water bladder between them.

Gas cooker setup so I can cook in the tent (silicone pot rest, MSR green plate to put gas burner on while cooking, for a stable base.  continous observation while flame on, with no sudden movements. Tipping a live flame in a tent is a recipe for disaster.  I always have the fly a bit open to evacuate Carbon Monoxide. 

Soup/ Hot chocolate to warm body up. 
some small wet clothes in bag to dry (thermals, socks).
The rest between 2 mats

Wintry "Scottish conditions", with snow on track, snow flurries

Relaxing at base camp with Rab synthetic (Photon X) Belay Jacket (670g EU 54, UK Large), 
and Rab synthetic insulated Trousers (Photon Pants).  530g in large.  

Waking up and having to pack up the tent in the snow... 
result: can't feel my hands and have to sit on mat, heat up water and pour warm water over them.   

Hiking back down with a blanket of snow on the track and tree branches.  

For full blog post: 

click here 




Addendums: 
Big warm Jackets


Article on "Belay" jackets concept: 

https://rab.equipment/uk/basecamp/behind-the-scenes/photon-x-review/

Photon X belay jacket:
(if you get a belay jacket, get it nice and oversize so you can layer it on top of a goretex jacket etc) .
Mine is "Large".
440 $  at bogong equipment in Melbourne. 

http://www.bogong.com.au/rab-photon-x-primaloft-jacket-29602.html


Very similar product from Mont:
350$ AU

https://www.mont.com.au/collections/mens-insulation/products/guide-hoodie-primaloft-men


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Overmitts (thin uninsulated goretex-like mitts)
Mine are silver 3 layer (more  durable than 2 layer). 
Made by XTM (Australian company).

one possibility:

https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/equipment-c3/socks-gloves-mitts-hats-c151/mitts-c153/tuff-bags-gore-tex-paclite-overmitts-p878

Basic multi-day Hiking lists

There are  a lot of good resources on youtube, especially from "thru-Hikers" in the USA, who have done 3 month stints on the Appalachian Trail or the PCT in the west which goes from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border. 

Some are called "triple crowners" as they done the AT, the PCT and the CDT which is quite rough and goes up the spine of the rockies towards Canada. 

The guy above  is a triple crowner, and has a good gear list.  Not "utra-light" - the kind of guys who have a tarpaulin, and cut their toothbrush in half. But a gear list that can handle Alpine cold, winds. 
Hence the 2 man tent (a light one)  which is designed to stand up to high winds, and also a good jetboil sol cooker

He has decided to take a thermarest neoair (the rolls royce of self-inflating mats) , as this gives excellent insulation from the ground , even on snow. And is very comfortable.

One could also use, as i do , a Zrest foam mattress, which is basically a better more comfy foam mat. 
Its a lot cheaper, and you can use it to have a snooze on sharp rocks in the middle of the day .

some take both, or have a cut down version of the zrest for their butt when lunching. 

Z rest Mattress

Above: big agnes copper spur  and the MSR Hubba Hubba, both very roomy and good in winds. 

Copper spur:
trail weight 1.53 kg
Good for 3 seasons, and high winds on mountains at a pinch:

http://loomisadventures.com/gear/big-agnes-copper-spur-ul2-tent-review

The inaugural trip for our Copper Spur UL2 was a rough one, but is passed with flying colors. We used it on Mount Adams at about 8,600 feet in elevation in 30 to 40 mile per hour winds. Setup in the windy conditions was not as bad as I had anticipated.
One thing to note is the Copper Spur UL2 is not a quiet tent in the wind. The lightweight fabric creaks and moans as it is bombarded by gusting wind. It's not to the point of being too loud to sleep, but it is audible. the Copper Spur is a 3 season tent and the conditions we had on Mount Adams were more akin to using a 4 season or mountaineering tent. Through the night we had snow/sleet/hail/rain, but the Copper Spur stood it's ground and kept us cozy and dry inside. The temperature dipped below freezing, but we did not have any condensation issues.


another very popular tent, which is lighter and still has good space inside - the Big Agnes Fly Creek UL (utralight).  saw a lot of these in NZ.

weight: 1.07  KG

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/reviews/camping-and-hiking/backpacking-tent/big-agnes-fly-creek-hv-ul2


The Fly Creek HV UL2 tent is Big Agnes's attempt at making this classically lightweight and tight-on-space tent roomier. It is a lightweight performance double-wall tent that is still the lightest tent in this review, weighing a scant 37.4 ounces including stakes. It performs well in a wide variety of conditions, but its weak point is that high cross winds can collapse its single ridge pole.




If you do a lot of camping on hilltops or ridges, the copper spur is a better choice. 

All of these tents are available at:

https://www.wildearth.com.au




Note about gas cookers:

There is a big advantage in having a all in one cooker set with a screw on cylinder pot...
compared to a basic gas cooker , it does not need much of a windshield, it saves fuel because much less heat gets lost tp wind (hence saves weight there).  And as much cooking is done in the tent (not windy, not rainy ) with the fly partly open for aeration (v important), it is way less unstable and dangerous than a basic stove with a pot balanced on it.

I use a MSR plastic plate, or sometimes a thin wooden board to cook on, to avoid tipping , which would be disastrous in a tent.  The advantage of a board is also that once you poor the hot water out, you can place the cylinder pot on the board (and not burn your tent floor).


Myself I use the MSR windburner (best bought in the USA, as it is 330$ in aus... about 200AU $ in the USA) .  I have used the "jetboil flash" in the USA - and got quite frustraqted with the boil times. I realised this was because of altitude ... many Parks such as Yellowstone and Bryce, yoy find yourself at 2000m or so altitude... and the basic jetboil does not have a valve that compensates for altitude or cold.  Because there is less oxygen and pressure, a good cooker opens the valve to compensate.  

The windburner is amazing in that it has a huge surface area cooker, is hardly affected by wind (less than jetboil) and has a pressure compensator. This also means you get the same top power on the last few grams of gas (compared to others which basically cannot function on very low gas). This saves money and means less fuel to carry. 

I do believe the latest jetboils have pressure compensators. 









Above:  jetboil Sol










Above:  MSR Windburner