New Skis ... Sort Of

I got this pair of Trak Cortina cross country skis from a friend of mine this week (thanks bro!) . They are one of the original fish scale skis from the '70s. I'll be going up to Badger to test them out.

I'm starting to rough out the winter gear checklist. In the winter the environment is everything ...so protection from the short term and long term effects is the project. I've been reading books like Steve House's Beyond the Mountain and Beck Weather's book Left for Dead, which detail equipment carried into extreme alpine environments. The 7 lb pack that Steve house carried for his solo of K7 didn't have a lot of excesses; expediency and weight saving are the real lessons from that. Beck Weather's dramatic events on Everest weren't really the result of his gear.

When Reinhold Messner summited Everest solo , he abandoned his pack. He did insist on 2 pairs of sunglasses though. You probably won't get home if you're snow blind.

SO here's the first whack at my list:

Base Layer, Patagonia Capilene and or smartwool micro wool, 2 each; Sock Liners
Smartwool Wool Neck Gaiter
Hat, wool or Polartec, like the Mountain Hardware Dome Perignon or Windstopper.
Glasses, Sunglasses, Magnifiers
Compass (Silva Ranger)
GPS
Water Bottle
Map
Skis, Snowshoes, Boots, Gaiters, Wax (for the skis)
Smartwool Wool socks (2 Pair)
Gloves (current choice ... Black Mountain Glissade 0 degree)
Spare gloves
Wool pants and Wool Shirt.
Northface Polargard Jacket
Northface Summit Shell
Marmot Rain pant
Food -- gu packets, one meal ready to eat.
Water bottle
Duct Tape.
Mini First aid kit (see duct tape above)
Poles
Avalance Probe
Snow Shovel
Dermatone lip stuff.
Sunscreen
Garbage Bag
Hand Warmers
Extra hat

For the truck:
Sleeping Bag and Pad
Chains
Come-along
Tow Strap
Tent
MSR Whisperlite Stove, fuel and pot
Meal (dehydrated ... Chili Mac anyone?)
Extra Blanket

For Camp:
Tent
Stove, pot, and fuel
French Press coffee maker and coffee
Pad
Sleeping bag
Blanket
Spoon
Foot Soaking tub
Pillow

Trail Cooking Trial

Many people don't understand the need to test your gear before going afield. With a remarkable boil time of 3.75 minutes the MSR Whisperlite™ is truly a great stove and came highly recommended by the elder brother. The 2 cup sized stainless cup is great, because you can cook in it and drink from it and eat from it and it's fairly light and easy to clean. My friend Jim gave it to me ...

Does anyone notice a problem in the above picture?

Just a note [Edited]: This was a dry run. I didn't actually light the gas stove in my house. It produces a basketball sized fireball, which is probably normal. I'd recommend never lighting a gas camping stove inside a house. Please don't light your house on fire testing out your stove.