[at-l] winter hiking/alcohol stove and fuel

[sloetoe at yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Crampons: katoohla's!!! EXCELLENT. Reviews on the web.
Tempermental website available. $100+/-, light enough to wear on
running shoes, durable enough to go to Maine. (Come to think of
it, I've got to order my own pair, before this winter's
Christmas hike.)

Lee I. Joe wroted:
> It would also be a good idea to practice doing certain things
with gloves on,
### And how.

> Ditch the Pepsi can stove and take a white gas stove instead.
### No need for this. Been there, froze that, go light.

> Carry extra fuel and extra food, lots of emphasis on hot soups
and energy dense foodstuffs.
### I would take this advice and add the phrase "a bit" or
"slight" as appropriate. If you're backpacking in the winter,
you do not need extra food for heat -- you're generating a
boatload by hiking. You need to focus on no-cook breakfasts and
dinners that you can down mess-less-ly from your sleeping bag
with minimal exposure to the elements. Leave the hot meal to a
carbo-rich Lipton bomb at lunch (the heat of the day, when
standing still won't mean freezing your fanny -- so much).
Fat-heavy diet will leave you lethargic and mean. (i.e., been
there, suffered that.) And a over-fooded pack will be heavy, and
leave you tired, lethargic and mean. Unless you eat all that
extra food. Which will leave you fat, lethargic, and mean.

> A winter shell with capacious chest pockets to stash candy
bars and a bottle of water where they won't freeze is essential.
### Or get some mesh and start customizing your gear. VERY handy
thing, this capacious pocket thing deal action stuff.

> Learn to cook without getting out of your sleeping bag. Don't
forget shorts and t-shirts though. I have seen it seventy
degrees up there in December!
### And then you'll be *hot*, fat, lethargic, and mean. EEEssh.

### So: Anybody want to do Fontana->Southbound this Christmas?
New Years Eve on Springer? Eh? Eh?

signed,
Santa bin Hikin'

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

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