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  1. #111
    Senior Member MedicineMan's Avatar
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    The most intense one yet :)

    As you will hear Wisenber say Roan delivers. I thought my fingers had frostbite before I got out of the parking lot. It was 12:30am before we made the hang site, 2:30 before getting into the hammock. Poof and I dug a snow pit to ground and used the WindPro for the 'Cousin' while Spammy was getting into his hammock-every one else had been in their rigs for several hours. I didn't sleep at all. I was way warm and cozy but the sound of the zephyrs was just too loud and the gusts jerking the trees kept jerking my whole hammock up and down.
    Next morning was still windy, as windy as the first RHK hang was.
    I won't mention what happened to Wisenber and almost Poof-up to them if they want to tell that part of the saga.
    Here is the vid-best I could come up with considering fingers needed to operate vid or photo:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHR6q...ature=youtu.be

    Now here is the sad part.....as our group for one reason or many decided to call it a day Neutron was making his way to Overmountain with not only what you see in the pic but also a box of Duraflames. I'll always feel regret over this.

    If any can imbed the vid thanks, wouldn't this time for me.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #112
    Senior Member hangnout's Avatar
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  3. #113
    Senior Member wisenber's Avatar
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    I'll fess up to my part.
    The lowest forecasts were calling for temps in the mid twenties for RHK Friday night. Based upon that, I packed for about ten degrees lower than the lowest forecasted low.

    When Roche, Hangout and I stopped by Medicineman's JC headquarters en route, the local forecast for JC (about 5000' lower than RHK) was calling for lows of about 24. A quick calculation in my head told me that 24 in Johnson City does NOT spell mid twenties for RHK, yet the forecasts for RHK remained the same.

    Roche, Hangnout and I dined at Bob's Dairyland prior to making the drive up to Carver's Gap. The temperature leaving Bob's was in the low forties. Thirteen miles and a few thousand feet of elevation gain later, the temperature in the parking lot at Carver's Gap was at 29* F with winds that would slide your hiking poles across the parking lot. From the driver's seat of my vehicle, I could see the spruce tree just ahead of my bumper being whipped about violently.

    After a seeming eternity of changing layers and rigging packs, we finally get underway on foot. At around 6:30 Friday evening, we were standing in a cloud with winds strong enough not to hear one another from a few feet away. With headlamps, visibility was perhaps 30 feet.

    The three of us completed our 700' ascent over 1.7 miles of snow covered AT. The snow depths probably got as high as 14", but most of the trail was in the 8-10 inch range. Few tracks were visible on the trail ahead of us. We next hung a left to go up the blue blaze trail to the RHK shelter. I reached the shelter a few minutes ahead of the other two, as they were placing a marker for Spamburglar to find the blue blaze. Upon reaching the shelter, we discovered that six other hikers were already set up in the shelter. We introduced ourselves and then proceeded to find a good location with less wind exposure. The snow between my trees was about a foot deep. I spent about ten minutes walking back and forth with my overboots between the trees to compress the snow there. I then put my space blanket down as a groundcloth and pitched by WB sock, Traveller and Speer Peapod under my Gargoyle diamond tarp. Hangout was well underway with getting his rig set up when I continued to notice that Roche was not around. A few minutes later, Roche comes up the snow path to let us know that while we were setting up our gear, TWELVE more people showed up to stay in the shelter comprised of a Boy Scout troop. EIGHTEEN people were going to sleep in an 800 square foot shelter.

    Eighteen people sharing 800 square feet sounds horrible...and it is. The part that got our group was that with eighteen folks piled in the shelter, we would not have enough room to take the occasional break and get out of the wind and cold. Essentially, we would be exposed to the cold and gale force winds for the entire time that we were not in our hammocks.

    Just before 9:30 Friday night, I had withstood about as much as I could waiting on the rest of our party. The low was only supposed to be in the twenties or possibly the high teens. However, my perceived onset of frostbit on the tip of my nose told me that it was quite a bit cooler than that already , and it was getting colder.

    So I hopped in my hammock for the night. The 20* Peapod, summer TQ and JRB pad should have been enough to get me to about 10* fine. I did not take into account the fact that we had been standing around in the high winds and freezing temps for a couple of hours after arriving which had already compromised my ability to stay warm.
    Crawling into the did offer quite abit of boost to my warmth feeling, but I never acquired that "toasty" feeling that I am so used to feeling when getting in the down. The winds would whip into my tarp and sock for the entire night. The trees that suspended me were getting whipped along with the winds resulting in a feeling of sleeping on a boat with constant swells. I was never uncomfortably cold over the course of the night, but I was never comfortable either. I did get up once around 3 in the morning to tighten down my tarp and loosen up my pod...and answer a nature call. I was feeling quite chilly, but a swig of water (kept in the hammock) and a Little Debbie's Nutty Bar calmed the growling in my stomach and added some warmth to my furnace.

    Around 7:30, I heard some stirrings around my hammock....which I chose to ignore in favor of staying out of the cold a bit longer. I finally get up about fifteen minutes later. I put my socked feet inside of my insulated Neos overboots and bundled up a bit to commence visiting. I see that Medicineman, Poof and Spamburglar had indeed arrived and was told that the temp was about 15* when they arrived at the trailhead and the current temperature was ELEVEN. This was an eleven degrees after a good bit od direct sunlight had made its way to us. The low had obviously been lower than that. In the mean time, my toes were getting chilly.

    After a bit of visiting and a few group photos, I decide that I need to go put on either my hiking shoes or Wiggy's boot lines inside my overboots. I also notice that my fingers that were merely chilly a few minutes prior were rapidly becoming useless. I then make my way by Roches abode and mumble something about feeling feint and nauseous before heading to my hammock again. Mere minutes later, I was getting quite cold and discovered that my fingers lacked enough dexterity to light my Zippo hand warmer. I then kick off my boot and climb into my hammock and wrap up as best I can to stay warm. My hands were too far gone to even attack the velcro on my pod. I was now shivering uncontrollably. Minutes later, several of the crew come to check on me and readily identified that I was not in a good state at all. My speech was becoming slurred at this point as well. (All of this was happening within twenty minutes!) Roche and Hangout grapped their TQ's and put one on top of me and one under my Peapod. I could feel that my downward slide had halted, but I still was not producing enough heat to get better. Spamburglar then comes to the rescue by bring lighting my Zippo (He had to go in the shelter to make that happen.). He then heated some water in a Nalgene for me. Medicineman dropped a couple of much needed chemical warmers in with me as well. More visits were made over the next few minutes, but I really do not recall them. After drinking more water and eating another nutty bar, I finally started moving back up the scale. Within 30 minutes, I was able to get up and go to the shelter (which was now void of the 12 member Boy Scout Troop) and sit down out of the wind. Spamburglar then comes to the rescue further by bringing me a steaming hot bottle of hot chocolate! After drinking that and eating a bit more, I started to feel better.
    Last edited by wisenber; 02-10-2013 at 17:27.

  4. #114
    Senior Member hangnout's Avatar
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    Some people will do anything to get a bottle of hot chocolate

  5. #115
    Senior Member wisenber's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hangnout View Post
    Some people will do anything to get a bottle of hot chocolate
    Freezing fingers, slurred speech and violent shivering are a small price to pay for a personally delivered hot chocolate.

    After comparing the Smokies to RHK, I think the message someone is trying to send me is to carry more and hiker fewer miles in the Winter. Normally I would have carried an extra layer and an extra quilt. Saving weight and bulk can come at a cost.

  6. #116
    Senior Member spamburglar's Avatar
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    Speaking of hot chocolate, lets talk about my bill. Lets see...two packets of hot chocolate, water, fuel to heat said water, nalgene and drinking vessel rental, plus my physical exertion running back and forth to accomplish these tasks......hmmmmm...your first born sound fair?
    "Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here"~Jack Nicholson/As Good As It Gets

  7. #117
    Senior Member Roche's Avatar
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    Right now we are between Spamburglar and MedicineMan's birthdays, so Happy Birthday boys. Another great video MedicineMan, thanks for taking the time to put this together. We should also post what worked / what we'd modify from this trip.

    Wisenber and I had discussed Doctari's recent Mt Roger's hang and my focus was on wet weather, there was a potential in the forecast but it did not come, nor did the forecasted temps. During set-up I snuck into the shelter to add a base layer. As I exited, I saw headlamps coming up the trail - Boy Scouts. How many of you? A bunch was the reply. Soon a leader came, there would be 4 leaders and 12 Boy Scouts. I told them the shelter already had six occupants with another six fools hanging from the trees. It was decided that anyone who had a tent would stay outside (two tents). The six in the shelter (a great bunch of guys from Raleigh on their annual winter trip) moved up to the loft so the boys could have the lower floor.

    I broke the news to 'Ber and Hangnout. So much for having the shelter to change, get warm, cook. 'Ber and HGO helped dial me in (thanks for the loan of the LeighLo UQ to supplement my Phoenix 20, 2QZQ UQP, and CCF pad). A bit later 'Ber climbed into his hammock so HGO and I decided to go into the shelter to warm up. We could squeeze just inside the door, sharing a 2' square piece of real estate. Stoves, sleeping bags, bodies, disarray. One kid was cooking a hot dog over sterno. HGO and I locked eyes and exited. We hit the rack. The best I can describe it was hanging in an unheated aircraft during turbulence.

    The next morning we awoke. About 40 minutes later the Ber is leaning against my trees; I thought he had food poisoning, he looked as sick as a dog. I kept an eye on him, he became a bit short tempered (very un-ber like). I passed the word on the MM, HGO and Spam - the Ber doesn't look well so we all kept an eye on him. He climbed into his hammock and we noticed his shivering, big time shivering. We grabbed quilts, heaters, and hot water, zipped his sock to block the wind. I'm sure we all were formulating plan B. Fortunately he was not getting any worse, and his sense of humor was coming back. I knew he was out of the woods once we could start exchanging insults to one another.

    Wisenber would have been the last guy I thought who would need help. His Ber-fur alone should spot him 5 degrees. But it was his turn. RHK is not a place to try your first winter hang, unless your doing it during the summer. Non stop wind, 700' feet of elevation on snow pack to reach the campsite at 6,280', a thirteen mile drive up a narrow mountain road that you pray is clear of ice. Be prepared.
    Last edited by Roche; 02-12-2013 at 21:18.

  8. #118
    Senior Member Roche's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spamburglar View Post
    Speaking of hot chocolate, lets talk about my bill. Lets see...two packets of hot chocolate, water, fuel to heat said water, nalgene and drinking vessel rental, plus my physical exertion running back and forth to accomplish these tasks......hmmmmm...your first born sound fair?
    Hey, that was my nalgie. I already have kids - cash is king; what's the going rate to lease a Nalgene?

  9. #119
    Senior Member spamburglar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roche View Post
    Hey, that was my nalgie. I already have kids - cash is king; what's the going rate to lease a Nalgene?
    You are right! But my fuel and drinking vessel....hmmmmm....we need to have a conference to discuss fees and billing options.....you did say Wisenber collected gear, right? Anything you are in need of?
    "Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here"~Jack Nicholson/As Good As It Gets

  10. #120
    Senior Member emcee's Avatar
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    Glad you're all back safely! Now to go back and watch the video, couldn't stop reading the report. Note to self: at 32* or less, stay below 1000 ft.

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