Vail Pass: Surviving a Night in a Snow Shelter

So last night at about 10:30PM I finally lied down to go to sleep in my snow cave but I just laid there most of the night. It has happened before, I can’t fall asleep at high elevations. It’s a symptom of altitude sickness. Maybe I did doze off a couple of times for a very short period of time, but for the most part I was just laying there with my eyes closed waiting for morning to arrive.

As I laid there I was glad that I wasn’t feeling as sick I did last October camping at Rocky Mountain National Park. I guess I have gotten a bit more acclimated since then. Moving to Colorado from Illinois and going camping at 10,000+ feet in elevation back then made me really sick. I was so nauseous and had such a bad headache the night of camping and most of the next day too.

I can’t say that tonight I was toasty warm in my two sleeping bags (one +15 degree bag and one +40 degree bag) and the bivy. But I wasn’t really cold either. The first two hours I was comfortable but as the temps kept dropping outside my toes started to get cold. My toes are always cold when I’m camping. Finally I decided to get two of the hand warming packets opened. I wanted to put them inside my socks around the toe area. That wasn’t easy to do since I wanted to do this without unzipping my two sleeping bags and the bivy. My one sleeping bag is very fitted, it took me 15 minutes of wiggling around inside my sleeping before I managed to insert the heating packets inside my socks. But once that was done, it was wonderful. The warmth radiated all over my toes. The package said the heat would last up to 7 hours, unfortunately, it didn’t. After about 2 hours the warmth was gone and an hour after that my toes were back to being cold. I had two more heating packets handy but I didn’t want to go through the trouble of getting those inside my socks again. Morning was just around the corner, wasn’t it?



Very low ceiling inside my snow shelter (looking in the direction of my feet)

My head was totally inside the bivy and one of the sleeping bags, at times I had to unfold the sleeping bag and bivy and open up a small hole to get some fresh air inside. At those times I couldn’t help to look out of my snow shelter’s entrance and gaze at the sky above, glistening with stars. Toward the morning the sky was no longer navy blue and I could no longer see the starts. It was kind of grayish-whitish, I couldn’t tell if it was clouds or fog or just the color of the sky. Unfortunately I left my altimeter clipped to my backpack, and had no way of reaching it. So I couldn’t check the time or the temperature. But I was sure morning was near, with the sky so pale.



The view from my snow shelter in the early morning

The morning did came soon enough. I heard Mary packing up, she told us last night she had to leave early in the morning. It was about 6AM when I crawled out of my snow cave. At first I felt OK, even a bit warm. I had to take my jacket shell off because I was having some kind of hot flash. By the time I walked back from the clump of trees I designated as “my bathroom” I was freezing and nauseous. I was getting a headache too. I should have taken some Excedrin last night before attempting to sleep but I forgot so I immediate took some this morning and ate some crackers to settle my stomach.



The guys having breakfast in the "kitchen"



Collapsing the snow shelters, this roof went quick



This snow shelter roof held up pretty well

The sun was still hiding behind the mountains. Now that I‘ve been up for a few minutes it felt as if it was getting colder. I had all my layers back on now and my down mittens. I forgot to check the temp when I got up but at 6:40AM my altimeter was displaying 13 degrees. When the others got up they said that their thermometer was reading 0 degrees when they woke up. I’m thinking that during the night the temp probably fell below 0. They also said they had a hard time sleeping as well.

Mary got packed and left at around 6:30AM. It was just Tom, John and Mike now. They were making breakfast, I got some hot water from them to make some white tea. The warm tea felt so good on a cold morning like today. It warmed me right up, settled my stomach too. I was a bit worried that my headache would keep getting worst like it did back in October, and I’d have to pack up camp and backpack to the car feeling like crap, but after 30 minutes the Excedrin kicked in, maybe the hot tea and crackers helped also, my headache was going away. And then finally the sun came up from behind the mountain peak and started to shine upon us with glorious warmth. It was early in the day still but the sun felt so warm.

The guys were already packing up, but before leaving, they wanted to collapse the snow shelters so no one would fall in to them by accident. I didn’t really get to see the snow “palace” John and Mike had built for themselves since it was a bit further away from the other snow shelters. They claimed it was about 40 degrees inside all night. I believe it. The thing was huge, it had an elevated sleeping platform inside and as you came in to their snow shelter, you entered through a “foyer” and then behind the wall, that’s were the sleeping quarters were. This design helps to keep the cold outside air out. They did say that they had a bit of condensation problem this morning, maybe their shelter needed a vent. Just a few steps on top of the roof of this enormous shelter, and the roof collapsed.



Enjoying the view this morning

Mary was already gone, but her snow shelter was still intact. We were all surprised how sturdy her roof was. She did pack it down a lot while she was building her mound. It took John and Mike a few tries and lots of jumping on top of the roof, before it finally gave in and collapsed.

By the time the guys got packed I was feeling a lot better. They were ready to head back to the cars, I was planning on staying a bit longer. I had a lot of condensation in between my bivy and my second sleeping bag, I wanted to dry those out in the sun before packing them up. I also wanted to relax and enjoy the surroundings some more.



My sleeping pad, bivy with two sleeping bags inside



Ice in between the bivy and the second sleeping bag



When the ice melted, my sleeping bag was all wet, as was the inside of the bivy



Drying everything out in the sun before packing it up

The temperature were starting to rise already and I started to take my layers off. Two hours later I was only wearing my turtle neck and a fleece. Then I realized what I forgot to bring - my sun screen lotion. I put some on yesterday before heading out but I didn’t bring any more. Here in Colorado especially in the winter time, while surrounded by so much white and reflective snow, a sun tan comes very easily. I’ve had a slight tan all winter from snowshoeing but today especially at these high elevations I was feeling like I was getting a sunburn. When my bivy and sleeping bag were dry, I packed everything up, but I could not collapse the roof of my snow shelter so I had to fill in the hole with snow using my shovel. The backpack felt heavier today, probably since I didn’t sleep much last night. I snowshoed back to the parking lot, arriving at my car by 12:30PM. The traffic was kind of heavy getting back in to Denver, I made no stops and I finally made it to Fort Collins after 4PM.



My snow shelter is no more

Reflecting on this weekend, I have to say I had a lot of fun and learned a lot of things. It’s trips like these that really make me appreciate the simple things in life, like sleeping on a bed inside a warm room. Things that I probably never think about and take for granted most of the time.

I think I was pretty well prepared for this excursion. I got by not having anything to put on the floor of my shelter. Next time I do this I’d like to have something that is light and thin, maybe one of those cheap emergency blankets would work well. Placing my gaiters on the ground to step on with my socks worked pretty good, while I was getting in to my sleeping bag.

Besides forgetting the sun screen, I also forgot my silk glove liners, which was a bummer. They really do add a lot of warm. And I realized there are two things I really needed to get and not just for winter camping since it’s cold at night in the mountains even in the summer time. Those two things are a goose down jacket and goose down tent booties, or camp shoes. Everyone except for Mary and I, had a goose down jacket and I think everyone had goose down tent booties. These two items weigh practically nothing and don’t take up very much space, but are very warm and can make camping in cold weather very comfortable.

I do have to admit to two silly and needless mistakes I made. I was actually told about these two things, since they were very important things, but I got busy with other things and I forgot and had to suffer the consequences.

In my Winter Backcountry Essential’s clinic a few weeks ago I learned that in the winter time, when temps are below freezing, you should leave your water bottle upside down since the water freezes from top to bottom. That way you will always have some water to drink.

I had planned on doing that before I went to sleep, I had even planned on bringing my water bottle in to the shelter with me to make sure my drinking water didn’t freeze overnight. But with all the problems I had getting in to my sleeping bags and in to my shelter I forgot to do this. By the time I remembered I was already tucked in and far away from my backpack and water bottle. I knew that by morning the rest of the water in my Platypus would be frozen and now my water bottle too because I forgot to leave it upside down.



Those two extra plastic shopping bags came in handy this morning - I used them inside my frozen boots

The other very important thing I was warned about was not to leave my boots outside over night. I guess if boots are left outside, the moisture inside freezes and in the morning you have a pair of frozen boots. I wanted to put my boots inside the snow shelter, but there was no space. So I decided to put them in some plastic shopping bags brought with and inside my pack but I forgot. In the morning my boots were very frozen inside and so very, very cold.

I’m looking forward to building my next snow shelter. I hope Tom organizes another outing like this next March.

Snowshoeing: Vail Pass Winter Rec Area

This weekend I was snowshoeing, backpacking and camping in the mountains. Camping without a tent, in a snow shelter that I have to build! The early spring time is the best time to do a winter camping trip here in the Rockies. The days are longer now, so there is more daylight. And there is still a lot of snow in the mountains to build a snow shelters. Because this winter was one of the driest on the record we had to go kind of far to find a lot of snow.

I met the group in the morning west of Denver off of I-70 and we drove west toward Vail Pass. We took the 190 exit for the Vail Pass Winter Recreational Area. We each paid $6 and parked our vehicles in the lot and acquired a backcountry camping permit. This area is very popular for snowmobiles, the parking lot was full of them. We gathered our gear and walked across I-70 to the trail.



To get to Vail Pass from Fort Collins is 160 miles and just under 3 hours

There was 5 of us. I was new to the group and had only met Tom the organizer once before on a snowshoe outing. The others were Mary, Mike and John. Neither of us has ever slept in a snow shelter and we were all very excited to be building one today.



Parking lot at Vail Pass Winter Rec Area, everyone brought a snowmobile here



This is where we paid our $6 each and got our camping permit



Signs at Vail Pass



We crossed I-70 and got our snowshoes on

The sun was out and it was already pretty warm. I had two of my layers already stowed in my backpack, which was filled to capacity now. My pack was so heavy that I had a hard time getting it in to and out of the car, but once on my back it didn’t feel that bad. After going across I-70 we put our snowshoes on and started climbing the trail. We were not planning on snowshoeing very far, just far enough to get away from the buzz of the interstate, and off the trail and away from people. We continued on the trail for about a mile until it reached an open area. The trail continued straight ahead and down but we stepped off the trail and went to the right. After another half a mile or more we came upon a really pretty area. We went down a bit to a spot that leveled off for a while before sloping downward again and decided to make this our camping area. He views were great here.



Heading out to find our perfect backcountry camping spot



Off the trail now exploring the area



We spotted a good place to camp



All these pics have some thing, probably dirt, on the lens



Tom took this one of me, why is my pack crooked?



Going further off the trail



Down this hill is our perfect camping spot



Mary fell in to a hole in the snow, Tom is going to pull her out

We established the areas where we were going to build our snow shelters and started the process of shoveling snow. But more on that actual building of the snow shelters later in a separate post. Lets just say it took many hours to built our snow shelters, which also included a lunch break.



This clearing will be our camping spot, what a view



A self photo with the mountains to the east behind me

By the afternoon we were done building our snow shelters and ready to explore this area. Since we arrived here in the late morning, we have seen anyone else, although someone did cross country ski though our backcountry camp site while we were busy building our snow shelters. There was a long ski track left behind, which disappeared far away in to the trees. Maybe this skier saw our snowshoes tracks and thought this was a trail.



Fresh snow and amazing views



Looking behind me at all the tracks I've made



Closer to the mountains now, this is where I turned around, the snow was getting very deep here with snow drifts



Looking back at my snowshoe prints again



Now I'm not too far from the campsite

By now we were too tired from shoveling snow to do a long snowshoe trek like we had hoped to do, so we just decided to each do an individual short snowshoe excursion by ourselves and meet up at the camp site around dinner time. But first we all collected some wood to make a fire later on.



Hanging out in the "kitchen"

I headed east on my snowshoes from the camp. I saw the others heading in other directions. I was breaking my trail in some deep snow, at times running in to very deep snowdrifts. There were some amazing looking mountains ahead of me. This landscape just makes you forget about everything. The mountains and hills are so beautiful covered in snow. The snow shimmers here like diamonds in the bright sun. The sky perfectly blue and clear, almost navy at these high elevations. Not sure how far I snowshoed, it was an amazing sight to kept turning around and seeing my lonely snowshoe prints in the snow. I was in an open area now and the wind was blowing hard at times. I could feel the temperatures falling already as the sun started to hover low over the mountains. It was 55 degrees earlier today. All I was wearing was my wicking insulated turtleneck and I was warm at times while shoveling snow. Now it was probably in the low 40’s. I had my turtle neck on, my fleece pull over and my shell, but I could feel the chill of the wind. I headed back to our campsite to put some more layers on before I became cold. The sun was gone now, the others were coming back to the campsite also.



This is where I'll be sleeping tonight, my snow shelter (more on that in the next post)



I love this picture - as the night falls, boots and gloves up on trekking poles being dried by the warmth of the fire

Tom had built a kitchen area, which was centrally located to our snow shelters. This is where we would be hanging out. After we started the fire, we all prepared our dinners. Mine was already prepared. I had one peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and now I was having the other for dinner with my white tea which was still warm in my thermos. I had all my warm layers on now except for my fleece leggings, since I didn’t feel like taking off my boots, gaiters and pants to put those on. I was planning to put them on before I went to bed.



It was 0 degrees overnight, 7 when we finally went to bed, but we were warm sitting by the fire

It was warm sitting by the fire, according to my thermometer it was low 30’s by the fire. When I walked back to my snow shelter and got back to the fire, my thermometer displayed 16 degrees. Sitting by the fire was definitely nice and a lot warmer. I can’t imagine sitting here without the fire, it would be miserable and cold. Too bad so many places out here in Colorado don’t allow camp fires. We sat and talked for a few hours by the fire. The sun had set, the starts were coming out. There was quite a bit of them in the sky by the time we called it a day. We buried our camp fire in the snow until the last flame was out and made sure that everyone knew to get help if they were not warm enough in their snow shelters during the night.

After 10PM I made it back to my snow shelter. I had already put my big Agnes sleeping pad in to my snow shelter, now I needed to get my two sleeping bags out of their stuff sacks, and get my bivy out as well. I put my fleece leggings on under my pants and over my other leggings. I had my second pair of wool socks on too. And I was tucked inside my snow shelter as best as I could with my two sleeping bags and bivi. Even though it was now only 7 degrees outside, I felt that it was definitely warmer inside my snowshelter, I’d say at least 15 - 20 degrees.

(See my previous post for my packing list ).

Backpacking Day Two: Colorado River Trail

After a very cold and sleepless night I got up figuring if I moved around I‘d warm up some. The temperature this morning was in the low 30’s and the sun wasn’t out yet but it was on the way, it wasn’t dark anymore.

I was still not feeling well. My head was still hurting, I still had nausea and now I could feel the spider bite on my check and half of my face was swollen. I walked down to the river and back to the campsite but I cold not warm up. The question was still unanswered. Was I feeling like crap because of possible altitude sickness, or the spider bite or both?



The spider bite red and swollen on my right cheek

Mike got up and made some hot cocoa and some hot cereal. The sun started to peak over the top of the mountain now so I went to sit in the direct sun to try and warm up, the sun felt warm but I still could not warm up. I felt like I had a fever, I had constant chills.

The thought of having to hike 4.5 miles back to the car while feeling like this was not sitting well with me, but what choice did I have. We decided to hike back via the Little Yellowstone Trail, which met up with the Colorado River Trail further down. The distance was probably about the same and at east for a little bit we would have some new scenery.





Starting out on the Little Yellowstone Trail

We had our Katadyn hiker Pro water purification system with, so when we needed water we just stopped at a river or a creek to get more. With all the warm layers we were carrying there really wasn’t much room for large quantities of water.



This guy wanted my granola bar



The pack was so much lighter when we headed out this morning, since I was wearing all my clothes. It took two hours for me to warm up and feel comfortable. Three hours before I was warm enough to remove some layers. Today was not as warm as yesterday, maybe high 50’s, also the winds were stronger today.



In the afternoon on the Colorado River Trail



Rocky section of the Colorado River Trail



Colorado River

The hike back to the car seemed take forever, at least we were heading down in elevation. After two brief breaks and one granola bar and many hours of hiking, we made it to the car in the early afternoon. I was so happy to be done hiking, I just wanted to lie down in my bed. I slept all the way to the house and when we got home I ate something and went to bed.



Colorado River Trailhead to Stage Road and back: our hike was approx. 9 miles round trip

The Colorado River Trail was great. I had a good time on our first backpacking backcountry camping trip (minus the headache and spider bite) to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We did about 9 miles in two days, which seemed just right. The trail wasn’t too long or strenuous, but it was long enough to feel like we’ve actually hiked somewhere far away from everything.

RMNP - Colorado River Trail to Stage Road

Today we were going to do our first backpacking trip in to the Rocky Mountains. After a breakfast of hot cereal and some warming up and relaxing by the fire - it was a chilly morning - we packed up our campsite at Moraine Park, packed our backpacks for the hike and headed to the other side of the Rocky Mountain National Park.



Sun coming up over the mountains in Moraine Park Campground, not many tents here



Our camp site the Moraine Park Campground



Breakfast near a campfire

We picked up our backcountry permits yesterday and paid the $20 fee. All we had to do this morning was to drive from Moraine Park to the Colorado River Trailhead, located on the northwest side of the park. We wanted to check out the west side of the park before they closed the Trail Ridge Road (US34) in a week or two. Once the road was closed for the season it would stay closed until the snow would melt in June of next year. This was probably our last opportunity to hike the west side of the park this year.



Fall colors on Trail Ridge Road



Trail Ridge Road above the tree line



Higher still there is more snow

By the time we arrived the Colorado River Trailhead and got all our stuff together, it was already close to 11AM. We made some peanut butter sandwiches and ate them right there since it was almost four hour since we had breakfast and we weren’t planning on stopping for lunch any time soon. We left the car in the parking lot displaying the backcountry camping tag. It was still very chilly, only in the upper 40’s but as we started to hike it was getting warmer and warmer. We stopped a few times to get some layers off.





Above pictures - Mike and I near the begining of the Colorado River Trail

The Colorado River Trail climbs some 470 feet by the time it gets to Stage Road, our backcountry campsite. The trail was about 4.5 miles long but and the climb was gradual one so it wasn’t very tiring. Most of the trail was easy, some was moderate and there were only a few steep and rocky sections. It was perfect for that first long backcountry backpacking trip.

The first mile went by really quick and I barely felt the pack on my back. The second mile was still OK, but now there was definitely a pack on my back. The third mile I started to slow down a bit, some sections were becoming difficult and it was hard to say if it were the sections themselves or was I just getting tired? The last mile and half I just wanted to get there already. Funny how we had planned on setting up camp at Stage Road and still do a hike afterwards. We actually wanted to hike to Thunder Pass, but half way through the hike to the campsite we realized that was probably not going to happen, so we decided on hiking to the Little Yellowstone instead, which was closer to our campsite.



The Colorado River trail and the Colorado River





But I’m jumping way ahead. Just past Lulu City we stopped for our one and only break. Not much left of Lulu City, if you look around there are some cabin remnants there. We hiked straight through and I didn’t really see much from the trail. Hard to believe that at one point there might have been 500 people living here. Lulu City used to be a mining town. It was founded around 1879 and was named after the founders favorite daughter. People came here form all over to mine silver and gold here.



Little Dutch Creek north of Lulu City



Crystal clear waters of the Little Dutch Creek

Past Lulu City there was a fork in the trail, we went left and arrived at the Little Dutch Creek where we decided to have lunch, a small can of tuna fish and crackers. We only had another mile and a half left so this was a nice spot to relax for a little. We were getting tired and we were hungry. The sun was shining and it had warmed up in to the mid 60‘s. The day was breezy, but most of the trail traveled through the forest so we didn’t feel the wind, we just heard the tops of the trees moving and some of the dead trees creaking, like they might collapse at any moment.
We passed a few people hiking the first two miles but the last two plus miles we saw no one. I’m sure on a weekend there would have been more people here, and that’s why we wanted to come here during the week.



After 4.5 miles of hiking we arrived at the Stage Road backcountry camp site

We arrived at Stage Road backcountry campsite at around 4:00PM. We would be the only people camping here. Even though the sun would not be setting for another two and half hours, this campsite was nestled in between mountains and with all the trees above us, we only had an hour and a half before the sun slid behind the mountains.



Stage Road backcountry camp site at Rocky Mountain National Park

We set the tent up but we were too tired to do any hiking and there wasn’t enough sun left anyway. From our campsite we could hear water running and we could see a river below us so we decided to hike down there and check it out. This was either the Lulu Creek or the Colorado River. I can’t tell which from the map, both are near by.



A simple bridge near Stage Road



A river or creek near Stage Road

Before we lost all our daylight, we decided to have some dinner. We split one of those freeze dried meals where you only have to add some water. This was our second time using our Jet Boil, it was great. Boiling water was fast. The dinner, not very good. I had a granola bar instead and only ate some of the chicken and rice that Mike couldn’t finish.



Our bear-proof water-proof sacks with all our food hanging in the tree

There were no camp fires allowed here, so after Mike hung our food on a tree branch, so that bears and other animals couldn’t get to it, we just sat around waiting for the darkness.
I was tired and a bit sore, but I was also not feeling too good now. I was very cold and my face felt hot, and I thought I was getting a headache. Having had elevation sickness before, I was a bit worried that I might be experiencing some of that. Then Mike pointed out to me that it looked like I had some kind of a bite on my check. I didn’t have a mirror so Mike took a close up picture of the bite so I could see it. There was a black hole in my check, and the rest of it was swollen and red. I touched it and I couldn’t feel it, the whole cheek area was numb but felt warm to the touch.



The black dot on my cheek is possibly a spider bite

Then I remembered leaving the spot where we had lunch, I thought I had a hair on my face, I brushed it away a few times but something still kept tickling me. I figured the hair was stuck to my sunglasses, so I took them off brushed my hand on them to remove any stray hairs, put them back on and no more hair tickling my check. The thought of it gave me the creeps. This looked like a spider bite and if a spider did bite me, I’m so glad I didn’t see it. I don’t like spiders.

Night came quick and by 8PM it was pitch black and we were getting ready to go to bed. I had my new +15 degree sleeping bag, my sleeping bag liner, extra pair of wool socks plus all the layers I had on last night. Mike wasn’t using his thick fleece jacket liner so I put it on. The only piece of clothing I didn’t have on was my Marmot jacket. The night had barely started and I was so cold and it was supposed to be in the low 30’s overnight. Stage Road was located at 9,530 feet in elevation, that‘s 1,380 feet higher than our campsite last night. Tonight would be much colder than last night. Would I be warm enough? At this point I couldn’t tell if it was really that cold already or was I just feeling cold. Mike wasn’t even cold enough to use his fleece liner.

I didn’t sleep very well. The sleeping bag kept me barely warm enough for the first 4 or so hours, then I started to feel the cold creep through all the insulation. But I wasn’t just cold, I was having the chills. And my headache kept getting worst. At around 3AM I turned on my headlamp. Now I was freezing, I had a huge headache and I felt nausea. I drank some water and started to look for my Excedrin which was in the tent somewhere. I also felt like I had a fever. Was this altitude sickens or the spider bite, or both? Whatever it was I was feeling like crap.