“Come out to the coast, she says; it’ll be fun, she says…” How to extend your adventuring season and avoid a total suckfest.

Winter gear list! Mostly the same as my 3-season kit, except for a few clothing additions/swaps, cooking stuff, and an additional sleeping pad. (Okay, also an additional sleeping BAG. …Okay, also Hot Hands, whiskey, down booties. Winter is not for cutting weight.) I check the weather reports obsessively before the trip and make last-minute modifications based on conditions.

Also, I need less as the winter goes on and my body gets used to the cold, so my sleeping clothes in December might include thick fleece pants but by March, at the same temperatures/in the same conditions, I’ve usually downgraded comfortably to my 3-season merino baselayers.

ULA Circuit pack, 41oz, can hold up to 68L but compresses to carry much smaller loads comfortably, max load 35lbs. CK rocks the Granite Gear Crown 2 60

Nylofume pack liner

Nemo Hornet 2p (1lb 15oz, packed size 19.5″ x 5.5″) or for the two of us humans plus or minus dogs, the Marmot Force 3p (3lb 10oz, packed size 21.5″ x 6.7″)

~20’ of xtra guyline, currently Kelty Triptease

8 beefy stakes, just cheap plastic ones from Farm ‘n Fleet—they make way better deadman anchors (i.e, orient them parallel to the ground & bury ‘em) in snow/sand than thin metal stakes. (Even better, tie off to trees or rocks if you can.)

Hammock Gear Econ Burrow 20 degree down quilt, short/wide, in Sea to Summit eVent compression drysack 10L. CK uses the same quilt except the tall guy version, in a Granite Gear ultrasil compression stuff sack, which can be easier to tetris into a pack because it’s square-sided. Whoa technology.

For temps below freezing, I nest the HG quilt and sleeping pads inside my Big Agnes Kings Canyon synthetic quilt (aka my summer quilt, 15oz, fits inside 10L drysack along with the HG quilt), which is lashed around the underside of the quilts/pads with included shock cord. (Note: the new version has full-length snaps to make it into a mummy bag, so that’s kinda cool). For family camping, we nest our down quilts inside the synthetic Sierra Designs Frontcountry Duo.

In a pinch, I’ve also nested this entire operation inside a “lawn & leaf” (extra long and thicker) trash bag as a poor man’s vapor barrior. I woke up with some condensation inside the trash bag, but both quilts are treated to be water-resistant and I stayed warm and dry all night.

A new splurge for us this year are Sea to Summit Aeros inflatable pillows, a large for CK and a regular for me. Just a couple of ounces and omg so comfortable. Never going back to using my damp, stinky, wadded-up hiking clothes for a pillow!

Thermarest ZLite Sol sleeping pad, doubles as a sit pad during hiking breaks and around camp

Klymit Insulated Ultralight inflatable pad, 15.9oz; 20″ X 72″ X 2. 5″; packed size 2. 5″ X 6. 5″. I love Klymit pads, I find the v-shaped chambers super comfortable. I’m mostly a side sleeper but I move around a lot even at home in a regular bed, and this pad is comfy in all positions and doesn’t lose air even with my thrashing around. (This is basically what CK and I use for backpacking together too, just the doublewide model. Not ultralight obvi (about 40oz) but it’s worth it to us for a solid bedtime setup.)

Worn/carried:

• Synthetic long-sleeved t-shirt
• Fleece hoodie
• Sometimes a thick, cozy wool/acrylic blend sweater, depending on temps
• Merino or fleece baselayer pants
• Darn Tough socks
• Altra Lone Peak or other trail running shoes (if not much snow & I think my feet won’t get wet) or Kamik waterproof insulated boots
• Black Diamond Dawn Patrol softshell jacket
• Columbia Rebel Roamer rain pants (if it won’t get below freezing), or Arctix snowpants–cheap and work great
• Cotopaxi Fuego down puffy coat (not worn while hiking, but I keep it handy in the top of my pack for rest stops and at night)
• Generic acrylic beanie
• Decathlon brand fleece gloves and water-resistant, windproof overmitts or thicker Carhartt mittens depending on temps

Sleeping clothes:

• Generic L/S thin fleece shirt. I love these shirts! They’re like sweatshirts but way thinner and are the perfect weight for sleeping in all seasons. I also usually wear it to hike out on the last day.
• Icebreaker 200 merino baselayer pants or thicker cheap fleece ones, depending on temps
• Sleeping socks
• Baffin booties, which I never take off during the winter in my house–insanely warm and cuddly, and the grippy nylon soles are hardy enough to take the trash out or hang out around the campsite (just avoid wet spots/sinking in snow because they’re not waterproof! the soles are water-resistant and fine on packed, dry/frozen surfaces or very brief exposures to dewy grass etc)

• Gallon freezer ziplock for food, Smelly Proof bags or loksak opsaks for trash
• Titanium pot
• Spork
• Stove, fuel canister

Sawyer Squeeze water filter (keep in jacket/sleeping bag to prevent freezing–it can break the filter), 1L Smartwater bottle with sport cap for backflushing the filter, Nalgene bottle for coffee, lemonade etc (flavor pouches pour into wide mouth easier, and these old-skool type Nalgenes can handle boiling water for hot drinks and for cuddling with a hot water bottle at night), 2L cnoc water bladder with Sawyer adapter if I need to carry more water

Ziplock bag with ID, health insurance card, a little cash, permits

Quart-size ziplock with first aid kit and toiletries:

• Glasses in bubble wrap, secured with a hairtie
• Contact lens case
• Travel size saline (~2oz) with a few feet of leukotape wrapped around the bottle (doubles as duct tape for gear repair etc, including fixing my eyeglasses when the frame snapped–not cute, but it worked)
• Travel size toothbrush and paste
• Chapstick
• Tiny baggie with ~10 ibuprofen, 4 acetaminophen, 4 benadryl, 4 immodium
• (2) 3×3″ gauze pads
• (2) triple antibiotic cream single use packets
• (2) safety pins
• (5) butterfly bandaids
• 1-2 tampons (o.b.-style without applicators). These do double-duty for wound care as part of the first aid kit.
• Zpacks sewing kit
• Mini Bic lighter
• Firestarters, 1 per planned fire (dryer lint with vaseline/hand sanitizer, or Lightnin Bugs work great (lil nugs of wax and wood shavings). Note that if you have dogs, it’s advised to beg dryer lint from friends who do not have dogs, as your fire will smell like burning fur and also not burn well)
• Hot Hands for inside mittens or boots. For extra cold nights, I secure one against my sternum in the band of my bra.

Gerber knife

Petzl e+ headlamp, (2) spare lithium batteries

My beloved 15-year-old Silva Ranger compass and paper map(s)

iPhone with CalTopo, Guthook, Avenza apps plus weather apps

Anker PowerBank 10000mAh, cables, in ziplock sandwich bag. I can charge my iphone about 4x with this (keeping it in airplane mode, only used for photos and gps/maps). I keep this and my phone in an inner jacket pocket during the day and in the foot of my sleeping bag at night so they stay warm)

Bandanna

Hand sanitizer

Winter adventures, like other really satisfying things in life, will usually stretch you beyond what you thought were your limits. The payoffs are huge: confidence, resilience, FUN, and a totally different kind of tranquility.