Winterg(h)eddon 2012 debrief?

[drewder]

Anyone want to post one this year? I have only a few pics, as my batteries died on my camera and when I went to look in my pack, there weren't any in there. Found them on the floor when I got home.

DOH!

[Braxton]

Tag for pics.

[drewder]

Mike and Mike dropping a standing dead


Around the fire on Sunday....the Warm Day


In the process of packing up the tent


GS brought the porta-loo (one of the many awesome things this trip)


Better view of camp. Not as many people this year, but it was still a great time and a lot of laughs were had.


My Take:
Drove in on Friday while it was in the 20's. The snow was coming down pretty hard. Once we got to camp, everyone got to work pitching tents and gathering wood to start a fire. Sadly, the fire didn't give two grinning sh!ts about us and didn't really keep us that much warmer. Water was pulled from the spring pretty quickly. Mikey and I were trying to take out a massive chunk of a tree that was felled in between two other trees. While Israel gave up on it and gathered some wood that was chopped off the top, Mikey and I didn't give up so easily. Once he was tired of trying to saw through it, he hopped out....and fell about 5-7 feet and landed on his back. All was well, but the jokes came quickly. Especially after I tried to jump about 2 foot off the ground, lost footing while doing so, and chest-slammed into the tree only to leave me on my ass. Stayed up late with Will just joking and being dumb while temps easily dropped into the teens. The moon and stars were beautiful that night.

Woke up Saturday toasty and warm. Ate breakfast with everyone around a New and Improved fire. O and his son hiked in for the day with Kyle and his family. Went with Ogami to the spring to fill up as much water as we could and Crypto had a plan on dragging the water up the steep hill with a pretty good sized rope attached to a sled. It didn't really pan out the way we had hoped, but we still got water to the camp. We observe O digging some sort of trench. I won't go too much into explaining it, but basically, he built a campsized Mount Doom to sit right next to his sleeping bag. It was awesome to see us all sitting around a pretty good fire, while O was sitting by a fire he built producing much less smoke that we were sucking in our lungs. Hey, I was warm, so I am not going to complain. Then later that night, something awesome happened. Joe (or now known as MuffinJoe) came up with a really interesting way of making some of the best/moist muffins that were incredible and warm and filled with f#ck-yeah. They were the size of footballs. He first came over with a blueberry one and shared it with everyone. After we all sampled some, he let us know he was making a chocolate chip one next. I about fell through my own ass at that point. The night was filled with jokes and camp comradery.

Sunday, woke up warmer than Saturday as temps hit around 45f. Everyone packed up camp and headed to the local Denny's to properly destroy the bathrooms. Our server has been the same one for the last 3 years. Poor woman.

Kind of a bland breakdown, but I am sure many will add more to it.

[grailseeker]

I worked half day Friday so got there in the afternoon. I had just enough time to setup and grab a breather before dark set in. I used bivy bag, black bag, fleece liner and foam pad for sleeping. I was pretty cold Friday night but not so much Saturday. Either adding the patrol bag or some kind of foot warmer would have made a big difference.
My Saturday project was bringing in and setting up the porta-loo. Shower-tent, 5 gallon bucket, snap-on seat and trash bags for liners and there's your packable latrine. The only thing I forgot was the porno mags. Maybe next time.



My setup. I went minimal this time not expecting rain or heavy snow.


Saturday sunrise.


Saturday breakfast.


More breakfast.

[grailseeker]

Tried to embed a short vid of (mini)Mount Doom. Didn't work. ???
Here's the link instead: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58175893@N02/6726896681/

[jamoni]

Since it doesn't look like anyone else has started one, I'm starting an after action review/pics thread for Chapter 001's Wintergeddon 2012 trip.
I didn't get to spend the whole weekend. I had my son with me, and between the colder than expected temps and the lack of anyone to play with, he decided to bail on Saturday afternoon.
However, up to that point, we had a pretty decent time.

Here's pics to prove it:
I think I might have packed too much....

Fire good!

My kid missing his Playstation.

Dan wins a bag of Slim Jims for "Most Macho Campsite".

Breakfast Saturday morning.

My kid enjoys a tasty beverage.

wool socks, long johns, wool sleeping bag liner, 10* bag, AND a comforter thrown over the top. This kid was cozy.

Wokka! Wokka! Wokka!


Lessons learned:
1. Pack light: I had to carry half of my kid's gear and all of mine. I brought WAY too much extra clothing, and my HUGE car camping mess kit, and a bunch of other junk I didn't need. If I had planned better, I could have cut my load almost in half. As it was, the hike in and out was pretty miserable.
2. Test your gear: I bought a game-hauling pack frame off of Craigslist a day or two before the hike, because my existing frame pack was too small for all the crap I thought I needed. Long story short, it was garbage. It was missing the stiffening rods, the hip belt sagged, and the shoulder straps where razor thin. I've remedied that, but had to deal with it during the trip.
3. Teaching your kid how to use an axe is the scariest thing you will do in your life.
4. Bringing the proper sleeping bags and blankets will save your fucking life.
5. I now know why lumberjacks love chainsaws. Axes take forever.
6. Always read the "Tiger Clause".
7. My friends are awesome badasses who are not PG13 under any circumstances.
8. My 8 year old is more hardcore than 99% of the American public.

I had fun, wish I could have stayed another night.

Who's next?

From my AAR thread
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=89175&hilit=+2012
that you all ignored, which I hope you know is just going to reinforce my antisocial behavior, thank you very much.

[jamoni]

Tried to embed a short vid of (mini)Mount Doom. Didn't work. ???
Here's the link instead: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58175893@N02/6726896681/

You know the Rangers are like "I wonder WTF they built THIS year?"

[drewder]

Since it doesn't look like anyone else has started one, I'm starting an after action review/pics thread for Chapter 001's Wintergeddon 2012 trip.
I didn't get to spend the whole weekend. I had my son with me, and between the colder than expected temps and the lack of anyone to play with, he decided to bail on Saturday afternoon.
However, up to that point, we had a pretty decent time.

Here's pics to prove it:
I think I might have packed too much....

Fire good!

My kid missing his Playstation.

Dan wins a bag of Slim Jims for "Most Macho Campsite".

Breakfast Saturday morning.

My kid enjoys a tasty beverage.

wool socks, long johns, wool sleeping bag liner, 10* bag, AND a comforter thrown over the top. This kid was cozy.

Wokka! Wokka! Wokka!


Lessons learned:
1. Pack light: I had to carry half of my kid's gear and all of mine. I brought WAY too much extra clothing, and my HUGE car camping mess kit, and a bunch of other junk I didn't need. If I had planned better, I could have cut my load almost in half. As it was, the hike in and out was pretty miserable.
2. Test your gear: I bought a game-hauling pack frame off of Craigslist a day or two before the hike, because my existing frame pack was too small for all the crap I thought I needed. Long story short, it was garbage. It was missing the stiffening rods, the hip belt sagged, and the shoulder straps where razor thin. I've remedied that, but had to deal with it during the trip.
3. Teaching your kid how to use an axe is the scariest thing you will do in your life.
4. Bringing the proper sleeping bags and blankets will save your fucking life.
5. I now know why lumberjacks love chainsaws. Axes take forever.
6. Always read the "Tiger Clause".
7. My friends are awesome badasses who are not PG13 under any circumstances.
8. My 8 year old is more hardcore than 99% of the American public.

I had fun, wish I could have stayed another night.

Who's next?

From my AAR thread
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=89175&hilit=+2012
that you all ignored, which I hope you know is just going to reinforce my antisocial behavior, thank you very much.

That's because you think we actually travel outside of our ZSC:001 safe zone and post stuff... HA.

[Braxton]

Please tell me that someone got pics of ( the device ) attached to Izzys pack.

[crypto]

Tried to embed a short vid of (mini)Mount Doom. Didn't work. ???
Here's the link instead: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58175893@N02/6726896681/

You know the Rangers are like "I wonder WTF they built THIS year?"

If I were analyzing it I'd determine it was a stone latrine with a headstone on it.

[Ogami the Undead]

Hope this works.

[jamoni]

I'm not surprised that Drewder would wear a tutu if it was available, but who the hell brought a tutu?

[Israel]

I'm not surprised that Drewder would wear a tutu if it was available, but who the hell brought a tutu?

That was all Drewder. Braxton paid for his breakfast for wearing it to Denny,s.

[jamoni]

I thought we agreed to stop encouraging him?