- 1 Emergency Beer in Cozie
- 1 ROS 9 Plus bicycle (stock)
- 1 Defiant Zipperless Framebag
- 1 Defiant McClure Front Harness and Bag
- 1 Defiant Ski Carry
- 1 Chimera Unicorn Chaser Splitboard with Spark R&D binders
- 1 Set of Dogwood Designs Pogies
- 1 Set of Scott X’Plore Collapsible Poles
- 1 Set G3 Splitboard Climbing Skins
- 1 Set of Mr Chomps Cramp Ons
- 1 Pair Burton SL10 Boots
- 1 pair ski socks
- 1 First Lite Base Layer Pant
- 1 First Lite Base Layer Shirt
- 1 Stoic Dry Bag
- 1 Mountain Hardware Crazy Legs Sleeping bag
- 1 ThermaRest Pillow
- 1 OR Underwear
- 1 Pearl Izumi Bibshort
- 1 Pair Burton Glove Liner
- 1 Pair Stoic Leather Ski Glove
- 1 Pair of Fucking Crocs!! (Explained later)
- 1 Go Pro Hero4
- 1 iPhone 6
- 1 Cannon EOS camera
- 1 Contour Roam3
- 4 Noka Organics squeezy food
- 2 Clif Bars
- 1 Gore-Tex Bib Pant
- Toothbrush & Toothpaste
- 1 iPhone tripod (didn’t use)
- Wallet
- 1 Pieps Avalanche Beacon
- 1 Avalung
- 1 Camelbak Phantom 20 Hydration Pack
- 1 Black Diamond 3-part shovel
- 1 Black Diamond Collapsible Probe
- 1 Pandana
- 1 Lezyne Pump
- 1 29” Innertube
- 2 Voile Straps
- 1 Pair Oakley Sunglasses
- 1 Pair Goggles
- 1 Ski Helmet
- 1 Oakley Gore-Tex Shell
- 1 Oakley Fleece Mid Layer
- 1 Snap Back
I have always been one to try and bring it all in a single trip. Ever willing to struggle at half the speed with an armload of groceries destined for the kitchen from the car, eager to hang things from my handlebars to get them home or straining every digit to grasp more than the hand was meant to transport. Maybe I should have been a waiter, but ironically a serving dish feels as foreign an object in my care as [x]. Loading my bike with everything needed for an overnight in the backcountry was a challenge I was born to accept.
In order to be truly self-sufficient I’d need to carry my snowboard in an efficient manner, bring my sleeping bag, hydration and food, my avy tools and some personal items all on the bike. I would need to choose my layers wisely, wearing everything I could and carrying no duplicate layers. Truthfully I didn’t even bring a second set of socks which in hindsight was a bit extreme, mostly for my touring partners.
The approach was pretty straightforward. The adventure was to start at Smiley Creek Lodge, ride approximately 1 mile north on the highway to the turn on an unmaintained road, then ride another 6 miles to Wintertux. Truthfully, Wintertux is not just some shabby lean-to out in the woods, it’s a finely crafted cabin with most of the luxuries of home but completely off-grid. If you’re picturing me hunting down winter foul with a pocket knife and sleeping in a tent… It’s not that kind of adventure. I knew I was going to a place with facilities.
From Wintertux the real adventure would begin for me, the bike leg of this trip was just the approach into paradise. For me the grand prize was the Cirque I’d spied a couple years back when it hadn’t enough snow to really get involved with. I had been to the Tux previously and used a snowmachine to get in. It was actually on the prior trip that my bike approach plan was hatched. I had looked at the amount of snowmobile traffic on the road in and the resulting “grooming” the road received and theorized I didn’t need to buy a snowmobile to get back to the Tux if only I had a fat bike.
My Kit