winter backpacking

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Hilltackler does triathlons ?!?!

A little known fact about yours truly, for the past 3 years I have been doing a few triathlons a year.

 waiting in the corale to jump into the Hidson River


 The sport of triathlon has been growing in recent years and it’s no doubt why. Typically as we age it gets more difficult to maintain a healthy body weight, avoid injuries and stay motivated with fewer outward results, especially for women. 

While there are triathlons in various distances ranging from sprint (easiest) to the ironman (hardest).  I have only participated in Sprint and Olympic distances but the sequence is the same for all: swim, bike and run. Yes, Consecutively! 


I’m not super competitive in these races, more like a finishers race for me, however, I have really come to love the multisport training. Typically in the past I have used running or biking  to stay in shape for the hiking season. I usually would do a few running races a year for the sole purpose of motivation to train. I’ve always been in decent shape but never terrific. And after a while boredom kicks in and I lose my ambition to run consistently. My solution to this – traithlons! 


I now spend many hours working out each week but I’m rarely bored. Varying my workout schedule with swimming, running and biking has made it fun and has greatly improved my fitness especially when It comes to hiking and backpacking.  I find I’m able to walk more miles on the trails and I am far less fatigued. My recovery time from very tough backpacking trips has decreased, less aches and pains and more energy overall. 


 

 

 

 

 

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Cold Weather Backpacking…sometimes it is about survival.

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This morning I read about a woman that unfortunately lost her life while hiking in the White Mountains. It’s a very tragic situation but also a real risk when winter hiking, especially solo.

This story reminded me of a trip report I had been working on for my blog. I never actually posted it because it was well…just another winter trip report and the trip didn’t go off as planned. The working title was “winter backpacking: plan, revise, repeat…lessons learned about surviving the COLD”. The unfinished post had been in my drafts queue waiting to be published. This morning after I read the news article about this hiker losing her life, I reflected on my recent trip to the Catskills and whether or not I should have “called the trip” because of terrible weather.

This overnight backpacking trip took place in the Catskills, New York the second to last week of January. I’ve done this particular trip every winter for the past 4 years and really like the route. The first day is 1500 ft of elevation over 3 miles or so up an old truck road that tops out at the Hunter Mountain Fire Tower. From there it’s another 4-5 miles to our campsite near the lovely Diamond Notch Falls area. The second day Is the real challenge heading up the Devils Path over Westkill Mountain (3,880′) down the other side and back to our cars. A total of 16.7 miles over 2 days with a full winter pack. However, this weekend the mountains had other plans.

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The morning temperature was zero degrees and the winds were forecasted to be up to 30-40mph. Our group was small, made up of 4 experienced four season backpackers. Heading up the jeep road towards the fire tower was hard work but doable since snowmobiles had packed down the trail. Until we reached about 3500 ft then all that lay in front of us was a foot or more of fresh powdery snow, lovely to look but not so easy to hike through with a heavy pack and snowshoes strapped to your boots. We switched to a rolling lead, 25 paces then fall out and let the next in line break trail. The rotation helps even out the workload and catch some rest as we roll the leader. With only four people this was still quite tough.

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At 11:30 am we reached the Hunter Mountain fire tower and took a minute to regroup. The wind was whipping and we needed to keep moving in order to stay warm. At this time one guy in our group mentioned that his feet were getting really cold. He was also getting fatigued from carrying his pack and was contemplating turning back.

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Knowing the route and consulting the map, I knew that further along the trail was fairly flat and there was a lean to in 2 more miles. We discussed the option of getting to the lean to, taking care of his feet and making a decision from there how we would proceed. We all agreed. We pushed on and broke trail for another two miles to the Devils acre lean to. Excited to have reached the 3 sided structure but slightly disappointed to see the floor of it with 6-8 inches of snow drifts and an umbrella, of all things!

We worked quickly to get our friend onto an insulated mat and into his -25 degree sleeping bag. Shortly later we started pumping him with snacks and hot beverages. Before long his feet began to get toasty warm. Thankfully, at no point did this guy ever exhibit signs of hypothermia. His spirits were good and his feet warm but he didn’t think he could hike any further so it was then we all decided the best thing was to stay put, set up camp and hike back out the way we came to our cars.

Setting up camp is usually a no brainer…whip out the tent and wholla! Well, in 30-40 mph winds it ain’t so easy. I have a 4 season free standing tent which I couldn’t get to stay put! Every time I got it on the ground the wind would just HOWL and flatten it out. Trying to put stakes in the ground to hold it down proved useless, the snow was a fine powder with no sticking power and the ground frozen solid. Finally, I just tied a guy line to a small tree and began hunting for large branches to weigh down the other guy lines. An hour later I finally had the tent up and pitched. It was now 2pm!

As we all sat – for hours – in the lean to we melted snow for water, ate our food, talked gear (of course) and all agreed that these conditions were really challenging. The wind was absolutely blasting, which made the temperatures plummet into the negatives, Making even the simplest tasks seem monumentally difficult.

We eventually all got our tents anchored down but the wind continued to whip it up! At one point I was in my sleeping bag and the side of my tent was touching my face because the wind was blowing with such force. We still all managed to get a great nights sleep despite the noise and awoke to a very cold but windless morning! We packed up and started 5 or so miles back to where we started. Thankfully the wind had not blown in the trail we broke out the previous day.
We made it to our cars within a few short hours, with smiles on our faces, happy that we were able to spend the night in the woods, even if it wasn’t the trip we had planned on.

As I drove home I reflected on this trip and for me it served as a reminder of how flexible I need to stay during winter hikes and overnight trips. Even though I plan a fairly detailed itinerary, bring a map and all my gear I think the most important thing I can do is to remain flexible…each trip unfolds differently.

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First winter backpacking trip of 2015…get your gear on!

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This weekend I led a beginner winter backpacking trip for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) to the Catskills. This is the second year I’ve led this particular trip and I like it because it’s a perfect trip to introduce experienced 3 season backpackers to winter.

Many hikers and backpackers think “oh winter, it’s like summer only colder” NOT! The winter presents an interesting situation in balancing staying warm but dry while sweating profusely. Hiking with winter boots, snowshoes or crampons with a 30lb backpack full of gear and I sweat just thinking about it!

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This trip has some safety nets built into it. We start out at the parking area at the end of Big Hollow Road and hike 1.25 miles with our fully loaded winter packs to the Bativa Kill Lean to area. We set up our tents and off load some gear and head off to hike over Acra point and Burnt Knob, approximately 7 miles round trip.

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The group was small this weekend so we were able to move swiftly and stop at the many view points off the Escarpment Trail. Our first nice view was at Acra point. The day was very cold and clear giving us nice views, of the valley below.

Continuing on the trail towards Burnt Knob there were some short climbs before getting to the view off Burnt Knob at 3.5 miles. Along the way we were treated to some nice views of the Blackhead Range.

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We headed back the way we came along the Escarpment Trail. The 3.5 mile walk back was uneventful. Our group was hiking well together and we all snacked and hydrated along the way. The temperatures felt like they were in the single digits and stopping for more than a few minutes would have been unpleasantly cold. Arriving at camp with our tents all set up gave us some time to gather some firewood for the evening. There were plenty of downed branches to give us a nice fire for a few hours while giving off precious heat. It was shaping up to be a cold cold night. At 5pm the temperature was at zero degrees.

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After having dinner and lots of laughs I was in my sleeping bag by 6:30. Seems like an early bed time but For me winter camping equals – catching up on sleep! I don’t generally sleep the entire time. I may even wake up for an hour or so in the night but I usually just listen to some music or on this trip chat it up with my tent mate, Mo, trail name Irish.

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Irish was waking me up periodically to make sure I wasn’t concussed. Earlier in the evening while hanging up the food, on the bear rope, the branch I was hoisting our line up broke from the tree and hit me right on the head. I was fine just more in disbelief that this fairly substantial tree branch broke off. From my vanish point it didn’t appear to be dead wood but in any case the branch was not to hold our food for the night. Not really a huge deal to sleep with food in winter. The bears are asleep however other vermin have been known to chew through a backpack or tent to get some free food. Luckily there weren’t any visitors through the night. Food secure and definitively…FROZEN!
The plan for Sunday was to get up at day break and hike up Black Dome and Thomas Cole. But that never materialized one guy had a very sore neck, one guy had to get back home and Irish, well she had a rough night…she’s discovered that the zero degree temperatures exceeded her comfort level. Enjoying the winter hiking and landscape but realizing that her threshold for winter camping may be closer to 20 degrees. As we hiked out early to the parking area we talked about her coldest night ever in the woods. And what she said summed it up pretty well “even the simplest tasks become difficult when it’s this cold”

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