I snuck out for a snowshoeing and snow-camping trip last night. Leave the house at 3, snag some ramen and cookies, leave the car by 4, make camp around 630, fire by 7, in the bag by 830, asleep by 930, awake the first time a little after 5 (too cold! back to sleep), awake for real around 7, on shoes by 730, back to the car by 9, home before 10. A very welcome break from the routine and a chance to tweak and test things, as I intend to do plenty of snow camping this winter.

Lolo Pass up on the Idaho border is proving to still be a snow trap; the above picture was taken at ~6500′. At that elevation just outside town we barely have any snow. Snowshoes were certainly mandatory, though I found out the hard way trying to go directly over Mount Fuji that the alders are not at all covered, and that ‘schwaking in ‘shoes adds a whole new level of fun to a given route. There were nordic tracks to be found, but we’ll need several more feet to begin to make touring for turns worthwhile. I’ll take it now, this time last year we had no snow at all up there.

It got pretty close to freezing, and the Western Mountaineering Antelope proved it’s worth once again. Dead on 5 degree temp rating wearing only a heavy baselayer. I slept very well, except for the time, right as I was drifting off, that a big snow wad cut loose from a spruce and nailed the tarp right above my head.
I want to establish a snowcave out there once things fill in and visit it regularly.