Winter Gear list for WoJ and Overland

[philm]

Planning a trip from Overland Track starting at Cradle Mountain through to Walls of Jerusalem in August / September.

I am experienced and have completed the walk in April and March so have all the essential gear for the weather at these times of the year.

I was interested in others opinions about the extra gear I need for winter.

I have a Hilliberg Allak tent,OnePlaent Zepher sleeping bag (rated -4C), Exped Downmat 7.

In terms of clothing I am interested in what people recommend in relation to:

1. Gloves ?
2. Need for ice micro spikes for shoes - I think these will be required but what type?
3. Snow shoes - not sure I will need these interested in people's views
4. Clothing layers - during the day I wear marino base, shirt and I have a MacPac Hollyford jacket - normally this keeps me warm enough whilst on the move.
5. At night I have poly base layer top and bottom, marino 280 top and fleece bottom.

Any recommendations greatly appreciated.

[Strider]

You will definitely need gloves. Waterproof ones if possible.

When you say shoes, you mean boots I hope?

[philm]

Yes I have hiking boots - I was more referring to whether I need snow shoes to wear on the boots for deep snow.

[icefest]

1. Gloves ?

Yes.
Preferably with liners than can be taken out then you can wring them out at night and have not as wet ones in the morning

2. Need for ice micro spikes for shoes - I think these will be required but what type?

I had katoola microspikes.
they work well on frozen rock and duckboard
they get caught in duckboard wire

3. Snow shoes - not sure I will need these interested in people's views

I had MSR lightnings, would not recommend
Any plastic decked MSR show will be fine
Heel lifter/ televator will help hugely
If you are walking north to south and the forecast/webcam has no snow, do not bring them (unless you want to climb ossa/pelion/acropolis etc

4. Clothing layers - during the day I wear marino base, shirt and I have a MacPac Hollyford jacket - normally this keeps me warm enough whilst on the move.

Works fine, I have an almost identical set-up. merino will not dry out during the hike

5. At night I have poly base layer top and bottom, marino 280 top and fleece bottom.

[nickthetasmaniac]

I've done a handful of winter OT's with a fair bit of weather variety so here goes...

- I have a Hilliberg Allak tent,OnePlaent Zepher sleeping bag (rated -4C), Exped Downmat 7. - Should be fine. If you're planing to use the tent most nights (as oppose to the huts) I'd suggest a thermal liner for the sleeping bag. The coldest I've had up there was around -12C.

1. Gloves ? - I use possum wool inners, fleece mittens (if its reeeeally cold) and then a waterproof shell. Works well and gives you layers to work with.
2. Need for ice micro spikes for shoes - I think these will be required but what type? - I've never used them and never felt the need for them...
3. Snow shoes - not sure I will need these interested in people's views - As above

You didn't mention what stove you'll use but I'd strongly recommend against metho

[icefest]

I forgot to mention that I did some off track walking and camped on Olympus, so my gear was probably a bit overkill for a normal winter OLT hike.

[philm]

The stove I have is an MSR whisper lite - which runs on shellite. -

[tigercat]

candles and fire lighters for the huts

[sthughes]

Forecasts are pretty good these days, like Icefest said if there is no real snow on the snow cam, and none forecast I'd forget the snow shoes.

Micro-spikes (or whatever) can be handy, not so much necessary, but certainly makes things much easier in icy conditions.

I usually carry 4 pairs of gloves in winter. Possum wool for camp then poly-pro liners, insulative ones, and a waterproof shell mitten. Rarely need the 3 at once, usually just the poly pro ad add the mitts if it's quite we and cold.

Clothing sounds fine. I usually carry a fairly light fleece in winter to add under my shell when it is very cold as the merino and shirt don't cut it.

The stove I have is an MSR whisper lite - which runs on shellite. -

Hope you use it outside the huts, or know how not to fill the hut with shellite fumes

[philm]

Yes, Shellite in inexperienced hands is not good. I've had the stove for a while now and have mastered it. I've seen some shockers with shellite all over the tables in the huts before the lighter comes out and BANG!
I really like the stove and its so efficient - we used less than 500mls of fuel with 2 of us for 7 days - using it morning and evening.

[nickthetasmaniac]

Sounds like you're pretty sorted. There'd be some awesome high-camps you could do over winter methinks

[icefest]

Sounds like you're pretty sorted. There'd be some awesome high-camps you could do over winter methinks

Depends on the weather.

I'll show you the photos of mount Olympus when I get back to my computer on Sunday.

[nickthetasmaniac]

I'd like to see that

[tigercat]

I definitely prefer polypro to merino, dries faster, and lighter.

[Overlandman]

+ 1 for Candles & Fire lighters.
Also Parks may let the hut gas run out as they have in the past.
Is Marino a brand or are we talking Merino?
There are some good topics on Snowshoes, on the equipment forum.
All your gear looks good, take a small radio & listen to ABC fm around 7:30am for weather updates
And if you are like me, Bald on top invest in a Merino or Possum / Merino Beannie,
Definitely carry a plb.
Enjoy the walk, take plenty of photos.
Regards Overlandman

[philm]

I have some macpac merino base layer 150 weight and also a merino top 280 that I wear at the end of the day.

Interested in the comment on the poly being better. I have always found the merino base layer tends to regulate temperature better. When we walked in April a few year ago it was wet everyday and although the merino was slightly damp in the mornings it soon dried off once you put it one and started walking. Day temperatures we about 3-8 degrees I recall.

You mentioned fire starters for the huts - I thought most of the huts now had gas? I know Kia Ora still has coal and Windy Ridge has wood.

Thanks for the feedback.

[north-north-west]

Interested in the comment on the poly being better. I have always found the merino base layer tends to regulate temperature better.

It's purely a matter of personal preference. I can't wear for poly for more than an hour at most before it starts to irritate my skin. And merino does seem to me to work better in a wider range of temperatures.
Go with what works for you.

[Overlandman]

Once you go Merino you never go back

[tigercat]

Once you go Merino you never go back

Merino is better in night clubs!

[Nuts]

W.R has gas, not sure about Kia Ora to date?
We have to camp so use -9c sleeping bags and/or down clothing etc..

[tigercat]

Kia-Ora has briquettes, quite toasty.

[DaveNoble]

You will definitely need gloves. Waterproof ones if possible.

When you say shoes, you mean boots I hope?

What is wrong with shoes? I wore shoes on a winter trip - without any problem.

Dave

[DaveNoble]

Gloves - yes
Snowshoes - depends. You could find them really useful, or not use them at all. I would look at weather forecasts and also weather observations and see how much snow is around. If no snow - then I would not take them
Microspikes - we did not take them on a winter trips a few years back, but none of us had them then. I have a set now - they are very small and light and fit on very quickly - on shoes or boots. I don't think you would use them on the track - but if you wanted to go off track - e.g. climb Ossa, then they could be really useful if it was a bit icy. We got to Pelion Gap in icy conditions and climbed Pelion East intend of Ossa because we did not have axes or crampons. But I think you could have climbed Ossa in microspikes and trekking poles.
Trekking Poles - we took them and used them a lot. Very good on icy duckboard and rocks to help with balance.
Clothing Layers - depends on the weather. If cold/wet - thermal bottoms and over pants. Fleece pants and down jackets for sitting around in the huts (except in Kia Ora, where we ddl not need much inside the hut with the coal stove chugging along nicely)
Take fire starters (e.g. bits of bike inner tube) to start the pot belly stoves in the southern huts.

Dave

[corvus]

+ 1 for Candles & Fire lighters.
Also Parks may let the hut gas run out as they have in the past.
Is Marino a brand or are we talking Merino?
There are some good topics on Snowshoes, on the equipment forum.
All your gear looks good, take a small radio & listen to ABC fm around 7:30am for weather updates
And if you are like me, Bald on top invest in a Merino or Possum / Merino Beannie,
Definitely carry an Epirb.
Enjoy the walk, take plenty of photos.
Regards Overlandman

You mean a PLB Overlandman, Epirbs are for marine use now only I am led to believe
corvus

[icefest]

I'd like to see that

Mt Olympus: (Click on images for big copies)

The weather looked good in the morning so we decided that we'd spend a night on the summit.



While climbing up, some bad weather started to come in:



We pushed on, even when potholing hip deep with snowshoes. I had to lift my walk-mate out of this hole:



After climbing up through the white, upon the snowy scree, we reached the top, to be delighted by stunning views:



We set up camp here and did not see the sky again until three days later.

[philm]

Great pictures and looks like an interesting trip. Thanks for sharing these.

[Miyata610]

Here's a pic taken just a few metres from the OT.

It felt worse than it looks lol.

[philm]

Good one - did you need snow shoes?
Where was this at pelion gap?

[Miyata610]

Good one - did you need snow shoes?
Where was this at pelion gap?

Yeah we had snow shoes, and a lot of other snow/ice gear. I think on the day it would have been impossible to proceed without snow shoes. We actually went out looking for bad conditions, so maybe it's not relevant to this thread. It's on Cradle Plateau. Yes we had permission to camp there.

[icefest]

Good one - did you need snow shoes?
Where was this at pelion gap?

Yeah we had snow shoes, and a lot of other snow/ice gear. I think on the day it would have been impossible to proceed without snow shoes. We actually went out looking for bad conditions, so maybe it's not relevant to this thread. It's on Cradle Plateau. Yes we had permission to camp there.

Gee.

Looks awful, especially that wet snow..