Gear Question: Backpack, Snowshoes, Hydration

Snowshoes suck. Posthole or buy skins+trekkers for now and go splitboard later (if you want to expand your bc activities to the riding side of things).

I like the design and construction of Gregory brand packs, www.gregorypacks.com. I have one of their hydration packs from many years ago, and use it a lot MTB, but not skiing. In cold weather you have to consider that the fluids or the exposed tubing may freeze.

However, you don't need a special hydration pack to use hydration gear. For example, the famous Nalgene bottles have accessories to replace the usual tethered lid with a lid with a hose fitting and drinking hose, and so you just carry the bottle upside down in any pack and you have an instant hydration system. This is especially good for outdoor winter activities in that you can wrap the bottle inside some extra clothing and maybe prevent freezing.

They also sell only the bladders and hoses, (example), and even accessories such as insulation for the exposed tube, but I think the insulation is meant for summer heat rather than winter cold.

I always see pictures of cross-country skiers/skaters with very cool aero-dymanically-looking hydration packs on their backs, but often wondered how they manage the cold temps from affecting the fluids.

It might be difficult to find a pack large enough to hold your ski boots and not be way larger than you want.

Elk made some good points. Check out Gregory's Advent and Ekko, or some Granite Gear packs. If you want to get fancy look at Arc'Teryx and Dana Designs. You can add a hydration system to most of these backpacks (just buy a bladder for about $25 and slip it into the sleeve in the backpack). Winter isn't that big a deal.. the pack itself is a great insulator, and you keep the water in the tube from freezing simply by blowing air back into it when you're done drinking. Tube insulation doesn't hurt but isn't necessary.

Snowshoeing up a mountain and skiing down sounds like way more gear than you need to have. This is why tele, AT, and splitboard exist.

I missed this in previous post. Camelback made (note, past tense) a nice product for this. It was called a Sling Shot, scroll to bottom of this web page for a pic. You can easily stuff the whole thing in a bigger pack, and pull out just the tube, and when needed it will fit easily under a big parka. I don't see it on their website anymore, but likely you can find it by searching or maybe call their customer service line.

IMO it's more than worth it to buy a simple inexpensive hydration-only backpack to use separately. Combined packs leave much to be desired on both fronts.

Most Dakine packs will do what you are looking for. The poacher and blade are good examples.
As far as slowshoes go. They really suck. Get an AT setup or a splitboard setup. Carrying that stuff on your back really sucks, especially in high winds.
If you are going to get just one setup, get the one that you prefer to do the most. Wait till later for the other.

You don't need snowshoes for Tuckermans Ravine. You wear your hiking boots up the approximately 3-mile trail to the lodge (Hojo's) just below the ravine itself, where you change into your ski boots and boot pack it up the final 1/2 mile from there. Once you are above the headwall you may want snowshoes or skins to go even higher and ski the snowfield.

I found a great deal on leftover '04 Freeride AT bindings on the web, so you may want to start looking after this season. AT gear/skins are the way to go if, like me, you want to remain an alpine skier and not learn to telemark.

I got a Stash BC pack this Christmas. It is perfect for day trips, well designed, seperate shovel compartment etc. enough room for all you avi gear. The hydration system is great, will not freeze in tube. Fits well, snug while skiing. Excellent ski attachment system, perfect for back country yo-yo-ing. Made by BCA about $140 cdn.

A tip for the hydration. After sucking blow into the tube to clear it of water. First time out mine froze up!

They would be pretty useless. I wouldn't know about Alta, but I seriously doubt Snowbird requires you to wear your ski's when hiking. There are some places with AT gear or not you just have to boot it.

No one wears their skis at Snowbird when hiking Baldys. Think about the snowboarders.

Most folks do keep them on for the traverse off of Road to Provo.

What sort of CRAP is that!!!!!!: First off if you are in the backcountry you are in the backcountry. Patrol has no say in how you approach. Second, saying you could ski out in an AVALANCHE! Sure, that is really likely to happen. If this is inbounds riding then they should control the area and an avalanche should not be a very large concern if any.
Also, if you are climbing uphill on ski's and an avy rips, chances are it's going to pull the rug right out from underneath you. Your ski's are going be an anchor until they rip off. If anything hike with your skis on your pack with the waist and chest buckles undone if you think there is danger. That statement from your buddy sounds like BS or a patroller stepping way outside of his bounds.

Dakine Heli Pro II

I use a non-insulated bladder all the time in winter. No problem, as long as you don't forget to drink often and blow air into the tube after every sip.

There is something wrong, wrong with this entire thread. Bill wants to hike to the backcountry for freshies, and we are giving him advice on packs, treckers and hydration units??

Bill -- stick a water bottle in your pack for hydration. The first thing you buy is a transceiver so we can locate your body. Better yet, get a transceiver, probe, shovel, some avi training and a more knowledgeable partner. THEN start your backcountry ski career!

I was waiting for someone else to bring that up. I'm getting sicke of giving the usual bs speel over going into the backcountry. Hopefully, Bill is smart enough to rent/borrow the gear he needs and go with someone who knows the area. One thing is for sure. Accessing BC from the resort can get you very lost. I also know of some BC gates in Colorado that I would consider milk runs. The Avy danger is next to nil and bringing a beacon, shovel, so forth would be overkill. You definitely want a partner as you are in the trees the whole time and a collision with one is your biggest worry.

what guest1 said!

When I was getting into backcountry I first did a couple classes with AMC. I picked up quite a bit there. I would highly recommend your first couple trips be with in a class type environement or with some guide who will provide a first timers program. There is a lot to safe backcountry travel, and most of it has nothing to do with skiing itself.
Also buy some books and read up, while they are not a substitute to being out there with experienced people they provide another source of info. Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book is a good intro book, and get Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills that is an outstanding book on all things backcountry and mountaineering related.

Be safe have fun.

M.

Billd:

As guest1 and others have said, either you've got a whole lot more avalanche experience that you're letting on or you need to back down your expectations a notch or two. I wish we had a head-scratching emoticon that I could add here.

Yes, you can often hike out the westbound gate at the top of Gad II and end up in the White Pine drainage (or Scottie's Bowl). There is no frickin' way, however, that you should do that without avalanche gear and training and partner(s) with the same stuff. Especially if the forecasted snowstorm materializes.

Skiing into White Pine from Snowbird mostly involves big, steep, open, exposed slopes. The reason they're open is that they avalanche regularly. Even when you get down into the trees in the lower part of the drainage, you're still traversing across avalanche tracks to get back to the highway. There are some archived photos on this Wasatch Avalanche Forecast site that show several places in White Pine that slid big in early January:

http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/photos...ine%201-17-05/

These photos won't mean much to you unless you've skied White Pine regularly. If you have, they'll mean a lot.

Enthusiasm and stoke are wonderful things, but it sure doesn't sound like you have the background or the training to be doing something like White Pine yet.

If challenge and steeps are what you're seeking, try some of the suggestions below. All are avalanche-controlled and accessible whenever the patrol feels it's safe enough. The areas feel very much like backcountry skiing in many ways.

You can do some exciting, highly variable skiing by taking the moderately short hike partway up Baldy from Snowbird (assuming the track is open). That hike and traverse will put you into a wild mix of chutes, glades, and gullies that all eventually funnel back down into the Peruvian Gulch area of Snowbird. There's enough skiing and enough challenge there to keep *any* skier busy for days.

You can also often do some hiking out from the extreme skier's right Bookends traverse in Mineral Basin. There's lots of fun, steep stuff over there that will bring you back to the MB chair.

Last of all, the area from the Gad Chutes through Nirvana all the way around to Lone Pine have rocks and ledges and chokepoints and chutes galore. Just drop left through the gate off the Cirque Traverse and start exlporing.

There's just too much great inbounds (or inside the control area) skiing at Snowbird to need to take your life in your hands by going into White Pine if you don't know where you're going or what you're doing.

Bob

BTW - again as guest1 said, water bottles do work just fine for a "hydration system". Not nearly as high-tech but pretty functional and foolproof.