not ultralight, my tires are heavier than some people's kit, but a test setup for a long winter road ride. i retreated after about 10 miles. headwind, feeling really off, and generally out of breath and out of shape from the holidaze.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8218/8...ae4c548b_b.jpg
fargo, waterfront, with revelate bags and salsa anything cages. by mbeganyi, on Flickr

everything except the sleeping bag you can do pretty light for winter.

the smallest (emergency, but quite nice spacious and solid) winter shelter i've got packs to about the size of a 24 ounce water bottle. it needs to be suspended as it is meant to be used big-wall and alpine climbing, or slept in like a bivy sack if you can't hang it.

A BD betamid light is one of the better winter shelters out there that packs super small, but it needs poles. bivys are just fine, but like sleeping in a cocoon in winter.

i may try to pull off a combination bike/ski overnighter, if the weather & road conditions look to cooperate.

I've already got the ski carry system figured out, but it's not quite ultralite.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=292527



UL would simply be strapping them to the top tube and riding with them.

Here's a little bike/ski video I made this week, to give some inspiration.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz01_...618yig&index=1

i can snag a lightly used black diamond tripod bivy for reasonable coin... what do you think about those?
heavier than my contrail, but would work better in the snow i think.
of course, the contrail could work - it would just need me to setup under trees or something in case there was chance of heavy overnight snow.
but i don't know how that bivy would perform with a big dump of snow either.

i have a 30d bag, and a Big Agnes insulated air core pad, rated to 15d. i've used that to sleep in a lean to down into the 20s with minimal extra clothing, and nothing over my bag to block any wind. pretty sure i could go colder. guess i could test out in the backyard.

should i snag that bivy? it would create a micro climate around me. but with a down bag, not so sure that is a good thing.

i've had similar thoughts on ski / snowshoe trips. almost took the shoes out on the pugsley last week. want to do similar with skis.
not sure they'd ride well strapped to the downtube. will have to try it.

the tripod bivy, you could read a book in, but it will still wet out the down unless you use a vapor barrier liner inside the bag. When the Tripod bivy came out I was working at Marmot Marmot Works so had a chance to check the BD tripod system out pretty thoroughly.

I think bivies have a place in a climbers groveling arsenal for overnight blitzes in any weather, above treeline. Although it can be used in a lot of milder conditions, the tripod bivy is a pretty specialized shelter in my opinion.

If you see yourself going in that direction, though - fast, high and light, by all means you should get it. it's an excellent bivy, but a little heavy. i like the standard Bibler bivy myself, and used one for many years.

I really like Todd-Tex BTW, i think it is a very good bivy material. The tripod design was a little heavy and bulky for the limited extra room it provided.

but it would be doable for a night maybe two or more if you really worked on airing and drying your bag out in the sun on the nice days. I've used down for over a week in the winter, but used a VBL and took extreme care.

I'd go for a black diamond betalite, or a similar circus tent, pyramid or half pyramid shelter. the integral designs Sildome is another winner in the UL winter category. WAY better single wall shelters, you can dig into the snow and have standup room underneath, for about the same weight as a bivy.

I'm a big fan of Oware out of Washington state, he makes up a wicked, light half pyramid shelter. check them out.


Integral designs used to make the Svarksy sil-tarp, but have since discontinued it. that one was the bomb, but it needs to be strung up as it is not freestanding.

Looks like fun. I did one ski camping trip while I was in high school- a three day avalanche/S&R seminar. Had a ball! Then put my skis away for several years, had another spree of (day trip only) backcountry skiing for a while in the mid 90s, and haven`t touched any of my winter gear since.

Going OT here, but you guys might know. Last month I thought about donating or selling my dusty ski gear. I`m sure the skis are still fine, but the best of the lot is (was?) a pair of lace up leather telemark boots and the leather has gotten super stiff after sitting in my shed for at least 10 years. Are they now toast, or would they come back to life after being worn again a few times? Does anybody still use 3-pin stuff anyway, or has that all gone the way of 5-speed flat tooth freewheels??

i'm using 3pin stuff... new skis that will arrive tomorrow will have 3pin cable bindings on them.

current skis:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8358/8...0649aa15_b.jpg
long and skinny by mbeganyi, on Flickr

those are rotefella super telemark 3 pin bindings, and a synthetic / leather boot.

i couldn't stand the NNN-BC stuff. got tired of unjamming the damned things.

re bindings, Ive used bog standard Salomon stuff with the pins, step in ones, for about 20 years, and you know Ive only had problems with them a few times. Those times were from going through some actual wet areas where water got into the binding. Its pretty darn rare for me to ski or walk through wet stuff, so Id have to say the click in stuff has been very reliable.
Are the three pin stuff still sold for this reason, less gunking up of the binding? I ask that but then I recall times where wet snow has accumulated in 3 binding stuff and it being hard or impossible to clip them down. And wouldnt water turning to ice in boot "holes" be more of a pain to clear than the relatively easily accessible pin area (you know, using a pole end tip)?

I guess it comes down to boot construction, but the fact that 3 pin stuff is still sold means that it does the job for people.

3 pin is still the way to travel in the backcountry, although Rotefella and Salomon have been trying to take the BC market away from the duckbills for 20 years now. I was looking at the new NNN-BC equipment, man, how ungraceful. they looked like a Brannock device on top of the skis, the bindings are so huge.

Most of my heavy duty backcountry gear is still 3 pin. love it. everything from wood skis to 1980's era Mountain Noodles into the modern shaped boards, i've run 3 pin or 3 pin with cables since i started linking telemark turns in the 1970's.

When Steve Barnett and I (Steve's the author of Cross-Country Downhill and one of the main players in the modern telemark ski era- people used to telemark on wood skis in the 1970s) skied up and over Washington's Glacier Peak in 2000, he tackled that volcano traverse on NNN-BC equipment instead of 3-pin.

Steve was, remains a STRONG proponent of lightweight gear in even serious backcountry. I'd sometimes run into him in the spring off the North Cascades highway on some of the choice terrain, masterfully shredding couloirs on NNN-BC gear with commensurate grace.

I'm still a fan of 3 pin, but since i was riding my bike to the trailhead, went with lighter SNS boots and bindings. I will certainly take that bike with 3 pins once we see a good powder dump.

sell the gear you're not using. buy gear you will. That reminds me, I'm going to go do that today! Going to try and trade in old boots for NOS Deore LX derailleur and a spare for the new rackless touring 29er I'm building.

Thanks, guys. So, the heavy duty 3-pin stuff is still sought after. My light duty stuff was pretty cheap even when it was new, so I`ll probably try to find somewhere to donate it and hopefully whoever fits the (presumeably obsolete) shoes will find the skis along with them. Any guesses on whether stiff old leather uppers on boots can be rejuvenated?

anti ice tape on the binding works really well according to what i've read and from what friends say...

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=292665

I've got some on order with some new kit coming today. Haven't used it on my existing skis, but I will likely add it there as well.

yes, just heat em and grease em before selling them. put them in the warm sun till they heat up, then neatsfoot oil if they are really dry, otherwise just slop them with mink oil or better yet sno-seal, leave them in the sun until that soaks in, wipe off the excess, and they'll look like a million bucks. well, maybe 25 on trade-in.

Got it. Thank you.

I used anti ice tape on my Mount Rainier patrol skis and thought it took care of a lot of the icing issues, but would still anti-glop them with skin spray occasionally. people would use everything from Pam to chapstick in an effort to fight the icing underfoot.

skiing down a challenging run with snow clumping up underfoot is no fun.

Most people in our patrol also use 3-pin gear (a little OT). However, the versatile sil- nylon tarp is relevant. This 8' x 10' weighs about 1.3 pounds. It is hard to go ultra light in the winter.

+1 for Snowseal. I also used it on my brooks saddle.

Last weekend, playing in the snow.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y.../Bivy_tarp.jpg

nice. hadn't thought about skis for staking out a tarp or bivy.

those guides?
buddy has those.
i just got a set of what used to be the 10th mountains.
little narrower and lighter.

For obsessed, self-propelled minimalists like Bmike, myself, or any of the rest of the posters interested in pushing the UL riding into the winter can learn things from the Iditabike culture.

I found a historical gem, an article written by Charlie Kelly in Cycling magazine about the first idatibike with excellent pictures of some of the first bike rigs to head out in the wintertime.

article on first ever iditabikehttp://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=292813

waterbottle parkas on front fork - check!
rack and panniers ? check!

winter clothes and sleeping systems are bulky, no real way to escape this.

I've got all my winter shelters and tents set up to take skis if needed, but a significant problem with using skis, poles, etc, to rig up the shelter in the winter is - crucial now - you CAN'T take your gear out for a quick sunset, moonlit, or morning jaunt without compromising the integrity of the shelter.

It's a good system when you need to save weight, but limits the fun significantly. bring stakes, or use natural deadfall, etc. to rig your shelter in the winter.

Yeah, same reason I don't use my bike to hold up one end of a tarp or tent....

You are absolutely right. We were running around collecting dead branches for deadmen. I have not had a chance to try them yet, but we have some anchors that look like little parachutes. They are light and are supposed to be good in sand or snow. I'll try them this weekend. I think digging them up in the morning after the snow has set will be a challenge.

Nope XCD- They are skinnier than the guides and 10th mtn.

Here's the new bike build. Just polished it up tonight, and just in time for winter to hit hard, unfortunately.

29x2.0 in the back, 29x2.1 in the front. XT/Deore components, barcons. Revelate framebag fits in the diamond frame with enough room for water bottles.

With the nice weather, had a chance to take it for a ride today in the thaw. Rides like a dream..

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=293291

All I have to do is sew the bug skirt on the tarp, and i will be READY for spring ultralite touring.

that is a sharp looking ride!
you going with a front bag on there too?

I'm going to rig up a couple of climbers' chalkbags as feedbags off the stem. Not sure about a bag in front.

I ran interruptor levers because I've always hated technical downhills on drop handlebars, and the cabling in front is pretty busy. I had thought of using a simple banana bag, but it looks like it's going to get in the way. I need to rig up something though, maybe try the Revelate type system with foam spacers to move the bag away from the bars.

Hope to ride it camping sometime soon, but the weather and my schedule is soon to conspire against me. I was happy to have weather conducive enough to build up the MONSTERCROSS rig.

I like it, a true monstercross, ditches the suspension.

Bags should be enough for summer trips, i use
an aerobar to keep my bivy roll off the handlebar, might be the only thing that works with two sets of brake levers.

Would love to see how you're planing to modify your tarp. Had been thinking about that as well. I use a bugnet bivy in the summer. It's an asymmetrical. Bug net sewn to a ground cloth.