Winter backpacking gear advice

[Jtb.kfd]

Three more things came to mind but these aren’t specific to your hunt but are necessities for me in the backcountry.
- battery pack (I have a fairly small one)
- Solar charger for each group.
- Flextail mattress pump. I use this to pump up my mattress daily when we move locations but also use the light on the end in our hot tent. I have a small string attached to it and tie it to the center pole. It lasts for days and is recharged by the battery pack or solar charger during the day while we are out. Nights come early in November and you are sitting in your tent for a while. You can see it hanging in one of the photos.

 

[NILowe]

Three more things came to mind but these aren’t specific to your hunt but are necessities for me in the backcountry.
- battery pack (I have a fairly small one)
- Solar charger for each group.
- Flextail mattress pump. I use this to pump up my mattress daily when we move locations but also use the light on the end in our hot tent. I have a small string attached to it and tie it to the center pole. It lasts for days and is recharged by the battery pack or solar charger during the day while we are out. Nights come early in November and you are sitting in your tent for a while. You can see it hanging in one of the photos.

Man this is extremely helpful but costly lol. I was on the fence about the graksaw boot dryer, spikes and flextail. My thought was to bring to two battery packs cause I can’t get myself to trust a solar charger. Obviously you have had good luck with them it sounds like so maybe I need to look into it more. Just trying to find a good balance of necessities and weight. Not wanting to pack 70 pounds around up there. Appreciate your response though this was exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

Man this is extremely helpful but costly lol. I was on the fence about the graksaw boot dryer, spikes and flextail. My thought was to bring to two battery packs cause I can’t get myself to trust a solar charger. Obviously you have had good luck with them it sounds like so maybe I need to look into it more. Just trying to find a good balance of necessities and weight. Not wanting to pack 70 pounds around up there. Appreciate your response though this was exactly what I was looking for.

I hear you on costs. My first trip into the Frank we were not very prepared. We spiked out on a knife ridge one night with 30mph winds ripping through our one man 3 season tents. I had on my clothes on and cracked three of the large 18 hour hot hands and was still cold. I asked my brother if he was cold and his response was “I just hope I wake up in the morning”. That was a long time ago so I can laugh about it now. It wasn’t that bad but we were uncomfortable most of the trip but survived that one and every trip since. None of the things I listed are necessities, more nice items to have. I also agree with you on weight, I have really good gear now and my pack weight for 3-4 days is around the 35lb mark and fits in an EXO 3600 bag. It is also super expensive stuff I have accumulated over a lot of years. I hunted just fine without it when I was younger.
I won’t delve into the good old days when you could do that hunt as a non resident every year and also count on buying leftover deer tags so we each had two on every trip.

 

[Matt5266]

It goes without saying make sure you have emergency communication and tourniquet. Take atleast a in reach, zoleo etc.

It may help if you give us your list of what your are taking.... just a thought but up to you.

 

[NILowe]

it’s definitely nice having all the resources to figure this stuff out these days but I wish I would’ve done this hunt 15 years ago i bet that place was something special.

 

[NILowe]

It goes without saying make sure you have emergency communication and tourniquet. Take atleast a in reach, zoleo etc.

It may help if you give us your list of what your are taking.... just a thought but up to you.

I do have a inreach and tourniquet. I will see if I can put a list together later this evening. I feel like I have all the essentials. Just wanting to fine tune it.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

it’s definitely nice having all the resources to figure this stuff out these days but I wish I would’ve done this hunt 15 years ago i bet that place was something special.

It was something special back then but it still will be on your hunt too. I did that late deer hunt from 1998-2014 but still bear hunt in the region each year. Deer numbers are down but you will have an amazing time. Spending time in the Frank is right at the top of my favorite places to hunt.

 

[NILowe]

Here’s an attempt at my gear list
Exo 7200 pack
Seek cimmaron an large stove
Thermarest persac 0 degree bag
Big agnes qcore pad
Ground sheet tyvek
Jetboil w 2 small canisters
Hydro flask water filter and two 2 liter bags
Sitka puffy coat black ovis puffy pants
2 extra underwear and socks
Trekking poles
Vortex 85mm spotter
Vortex 15x binoculars
Sig rangefinder and extra battery
Dark energy poseiden power pack
Garmin inreach mini
iPhone w onx
Sitka dewpoint rain gear
10x8 tarp
Black ovis game bags
Tikka 300wm
Sitka goretex gloves
Toiletries
Small folding saw
2 knives and a sharpener
2 lighters and fire starter (open to suggestions)
Tripod
Glassing pad
Small med kit with tourniquet
I’ll have extra clothes and food at basecamp
Planning on adding
Titanium pot
Water purification tablets
Graksaw boot dryer
Either one more battery pack or solar charger
Micro spikes
I won’t necessarily be carrying this myself but will be split between everyone in camp
Im sure im forgetting something but that’s about it

 

[NILowe]

It was something special back then but it still will be on your hunt too. I did that late deer hunt from 1998-2014 but still bear hunt in the region each year. Deer numbers are down but you will have an amazing time. Spending time in the Frank is right at the top of my favorite places to hunt.

Looking forward to it! Hopefully i have some great photos to share here in a few months

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Three more things came to mind but these aren’t specific to your hunt but are necessities for me in the backcountry.
- battery pack (I have a fairly small one)
- Solar charger for each group.
- Flextail mattress pump. I use this to pump up my mattress daily when we move locations but also use the light on the end in our hot tent. I have a small string attached to it and tie it to the center pole. It lasts for days and is recharged by the battery pack or solar charger during the day while we are out. Nights come early in November and you are sitting in your tent for a while. You can see it hanging in one of the photos.

You're not worried about those trees in the first pic coming down?

 

[Jtb.kfd]

You're not worried about those trees in the first pic coming down?

I wasn’t on that hunt no. I try to avoid areas like that to camp but some places are so steep its hard finding a flat enough area for that tent. We usually bivy in that location but due to rain being expected on that trip we took the hot tent/stove. Thats the reason I used the full liner also. Its in WA and the moisture can be obnoxious.

 

[Matt5266]

If your only means of boiling water/food drinks is the jetboil, more fuel .

Throw some wraps of duct tape and electrical tape on your tracking poles.

Mole skin for your feet

Tenacious tape in case anything gets a hole

Fire starter, I like is cotton balls with vaseline in a old pill bottle. Lightweight and easy to carry.

Fero rods are light and cheap. I keep one as a backup in case the lighter gets wet.

 

[tttoadman]

Why the 85 spotter and 15 binos? seams like you shed the 15x for a lighter pair of binos??

I assume the ti pot will be a spare left at base camp. The jet boil should be all you need. I always leave my pot over night and during the day purched under the corner of my tarp to collect water. It can be a free 1/2 liter every day.

We spiked about 6 miles out from the air strip. We dropped 5 or 6 days of food and some water and hung in a tree about 2 miles up. Trims some pack weight and saves a few restock miles. We could easily hump down and restock and make it back up for a couple hrs sleep. I hate missing out on hunting hrs.

 

[NILowe]

Why the 85 spotter and 15 binos? seams like you shed the 15x for a lighter pair of binos??

I assume the ti pot will be a spare left at base camp. The jet boil should be all you need. I always leave my pot over night and during the day purched under the corner of my tarp to collect water. It can be a free 1/2 liter every day.

We spiked about 6 miles out from the air strip. We dropped 5 or 6 days of food and some water and hung in a tree about 2 miles up. Trims some pack weight and saves a few restock miles. We could easily hump down and restock and make it back up for a couple hrs sleep. I hate missing out on hunting hrs.

If anything I would prefer a lighter spotter I’ve just had great luck finding game with that combo. Just personal preference i guess but definitely heavy. The pot would be brought with us as a backup and to use for melting snow or boiling water at camp

 

[dwhite0622]

These were all things I invested in when planning the trip. And im planning on getting out and testing them early this spring. Slept in a teepee several times but never needed the stove so will be interesting putting it to use and working out all the kinks

Sounds like you’re dialed. I think it will go great. Keep us posted on the trip!

 

[Indian Summer]

Think heat. Warm means dry. It means sleep. I’d suggest a bigger saw than a little folding one. For firestarter just go to a Home Depot or Lowe’s and get the fireplace logs. They come in the small ones that snap off into candy bar sized ones. A small chunk will do. And remember no matter where you are. If you look around, you will see a dead pine tree with red needles on it. Those are full of pine pitch and priceless for starting a fire, even if they are not completely dry. I know you’re trying to watch your weight, but there are some items that you do not compromise with. Those would be a good sleeping pad with a high R value and the best sleeping bag you can afford. For a trip like that my bag would be a 30 below model.

 

[tttoadman]

my first trip in to an airstrip in November i had a nice pad and a "0" deg bag. I froze my ass off the whole time. the second i got home, I bought a new pair of Lowas and a -20 expedition quality bag. I learned a little about how bags are rated.

 

[NILowe]

my first trip in to an airstrip in November i had a nice pad and a "0" deg bag. I froze my ass off the whole time. the second i got home, I bought a new pair of Lowas and a -20 expedition quality bag. I learned a little about how bags are rated.

Must’ve been some cold weather!

 

[Jtb.kfd]

my first trip in to an airstrip in November i had a nice pad and a "0" deg bag. I froze my ass off the whole time. the second i got home, I bought a new pair of Lowas and a -20 expedition quality bag. I learned a little about how bags are rated.

This is funny to me as it was my first trip experience as well. My brother and I bought what we thought were top of the line North Face 0 degree bags. This was in the late 90’s when North Face was still somewhat reputable in mountaineering gear. We also froze our asses off. Now I have really good goose down bags and quilts that I have to pay attention to bringing the right one so I am not too hot at night. I learned a lot about boots on that first trip too.

 

[Lawnboi]

Here’s an attempt at my gear list
Exo 7200 pack
Seek cimmaron an large stove
Thermarest persac 0 degree bag
Big agnes qcore pad
Ground sheet tyvek
Jetboil w 2 small canisters
Hydro flask water filter and two 2 liter bags
Sitka puffy coat black ovis puffy pants
2 extra underwear and socks
Trekking poles
Vortex 85mm spotter
Vortex 15x binoculars
Sig rangefinder and extra battery
Dark energy poseiden power pack
Garmin inreach mini
iPhone w onx
Sitka dewpoint rain gear
10x8 tarp
Black ovis game bags
Tikka 300wm
Sitka goretex gloves
Toiletries
Small folding saw
2 knives and a sharpener
2 lighters and fire starter (open to suggestions)
Tripod
Glassing pad
Small med kit with tourniquet
I’ll have extra clothes and food at basecamp
Planning on adding
Titanium pot
Water purification tablets
Graksaw boot dryer
Either one more battery pack or solar charger
Micro spikes
I won’t necessarily be carrying this myself but will be split between everyone in camp
Im sure im forgetting something but that’s about it

I havnt stayed in the frank church in November but have some winter backpacking experience. I can poke some holes in your setup.

-Cimmaron, I would be going with a liner in November. The possibility for real condensation issues increases as temperatures drop. Add a stove and some wind and it’s a recipe for being rained on by condensation all night.

-Sleeping bag. Because of above, I use a Ul bivy during colder months. If really cold temps are expected a vapor barrier in your bag is another option to keep your down from wetting out over the course of the week. Your bag wetting from condensation on an extended sub freezing trip can become an issue quick if you’re not prepared to mitigate it. Personally I’d be considering more bag/ additional top quilt.

-Sleeping pad. In trips where I couldn’t justify sleeping on bare ground I don’t count on an inflatable mattress. Foam pad plus air mattress if I’m expecting sub freezing. Even mild camping with a down bag… your mattress pops your not sleeping. Been there, it sucks. I wouldn’t trust that q core for a second either. You can’t patch a delam on them.

-I’d rethink the jet boil and consider something that will reliably melt snow if required. You will be unable to keep water from freezing if you see single/negative digits. Melting it quickly becomes the only option.

-Water storage/filter. Filter can’t freeze, you’re going to be babysitting it. Personally I’d just use a coffee filter and drops, or melt snow. Flexible water storage dosnt handle freezing well, I’d carry atleast one or two Nalgene bottles as back up. When it’s winter conditions I run solely Nalgene bottles for this reason.

-I’d build and know how to use a serious emergency kit. November in the mountains can quickly go from a hunt to a survival situation. Be prepared to make a lot of fire, be it on your stove or not.

-Good to have, but don’t be reliant on rechargeable batteries if you’re going to see seriously cold temps.

I’ll also agree with a lot of the above. If you havnt spent any time camping in temperatures that don’t go over single digits, now is the time to learn.