Snow camping near a Sierra Nevada mountain summit with Marines and Malamutes. Members from Bay Area Expeditions, Prometheus Design Werx, Exploro.co, and Mummert Knives assembled the team. The malamutes, Luna and Symba had never been to the snow before and took to it enthusiastically.
We were fortunate to have some of the best equipment available on the market compiled between us. I ran Northern Lites 30″ snowshoes for extra floatation with the loaded pack weight. I used to outfit clients northern lites snowshoes because they are about 50% lighter than other snowshoes on the market. They also have a soft flexible bindings that are very comfortable.
Well Equipped
A few miles of trekking and we set up camp in the evening at around 10,000 feet. The team used Kifaru ‘EMR’ packs designed to haul large and heavy loads in comfort. Sheltering in a Kifaru tipi and backpack-able wood burning stove is a luxury. The stove only weighs a few pounds and packs down to the size of a binder. The heated shelter really improves winter camping dynamics. Tent or bivy camping in the cold with proper equipment works well enough and is standard practice above the tree line and in mountaineering. In those scenarios the body has to generate heat to warm clothing and sleeping bag. The heat from the stove helps me feel recharged, and gives my metabolism and thermoregulation a rest from fighting the cold.
When I was an outdoors instructor with Bay Area Expeditions, I had slept in dug-out snow cave ‘torpedo tubes’ as practice survival shelters. I’d often be half asleep wondering if I was going to die from an embankment collapse. I also spent countless nights learning the hard way how far my sleeping bags would go until they stopped being warm. Sometimes I’d give mine away to a client who had lost or forgotten theirs. Time stands still while clenched in fetal position bracing against the cold and sleep seems impossible despite exhaustion. When sleep would finally come, I’d awake hoping it was almost dawn but typically only a minutes had passed. Not great hardship, hypothermia, frost bite or anything serious, but those experiences heightened my appreciation of the heated shelter concept.
The tipi also offers a morale boost effect by turning a group ‘toughing it’ out separately in tents into a group bonding experience in a warm tipi sharing dinner and stories with your team.
My Gransfor Bruks hatchet and Busse ‘Steel Heart’ fixed blade knife were deployed on wood splitting duty and large folding saws from Corona and Gerber cut pieces to length.
The floor-less design of the tipi that allows for the wood stove also allows other benefits. No floor makes for a safer space for canister stove cooking as well. The option to keep shoes on in winter going in and out of the shelter is also preferable. The standing space for chores like wood cutting and changing clothes is very welcome. Access to the ground gives the ability to dig and level flat bedding platforms draining channels inside the tipi. It seems counter intuitive at first but it’s a better way to go. Not having a wet or muddy floor to pack away is a huge bonus, and it saves pounds of weight. For a shelter that can sleep 12 people the tipi would be 1lb per person of pack weight.
PSA: Always research wood stove laws, wood gathering, and restricted burn times in your area.
Camera Operations
My 5D MkIII suffered some tearing on the weather sealing rubber cover on the joystick selector and got packed with snow. It didn’t take much to break it and I was operating it normally. After drying it continued to function for years despite not being sealed.
I did have several Canon L series lenses that were having internal fogging issues from the wet and cold to warm transitions but they would clear rapidly.
Lighting conditions in winter overcast in snow can offer amazing shots any time of day with diffused and dispersed lighting providing soft highlights and shadows. That’s the technical stuff and the back story, the images tell the rest.
Click here to view my photo expedition to the Imperial Sand Dunes near the US Mexico border with Tactical Outfitters, Trail Team, Exploro.co and Prometheus Design Werx.
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