Thursday, January 29, 2015

2015 Winter Section Hike Gear Breakdown

*Update 02/02/2015: I have since come back from my section hike with the gear described below.  I will add some additional notes such to this post and give some additional thoughts below.

In the past I have done several gear list breakdowns by season, and I have been itching to do another one for this winter's kit.  However it has been a warmer winter than usual, plus I was forced to push back my January section hike to the end of the month, so I had not finalized my gear until recently.  Early spring is often nearly or just as cold as winter here--especially further up north, where I will be continuing my E1 hike--so this set up should still get put to good use in spite of the warm start of the year.  

As usual, I will note that this gear list (as well as any other gear list of mine) is not static or set in stone.  I always keep a keen eye on weather reports, which of course can have a big impact on what I may or may not take with me.  This particular section hike the estimated low temperatures were supposed to be around -6 to -8 C (21 to 17 F), but this of course can change significantly (and did!).  In the end the lows only got down to around -3C, most of the time temps hovered around 0C, and rather than one day of snow flurries and two days of sun there was steady snowfall nearly the entire trip.  There was at least 50cm more snow by the time we left than when we started the trip.

Please note that I have rounded to the nearest 5 grams to make math easier and have nice, round numbers--just a personal preference now after creating so many gear lists.

First, here is all the base gear all packed up in my pack of choice, a Zpacks Arc Blast 52 with two hip belt pockets.