Have you considered your winter backpacking gear? With the pandemic going on and limited indoor options for entertainment, hundreds of thousands of Americans have taken to the outdoors. Now that winter is coming, are all the new comers going to head indoors, or continue to explore nature? I hope they pick the latter, so I’ve written this post to help them start putting together a complete winter backpacking gear list.
A Winter Backpacking Gear List must fit your style
Your winter backpacking gear list is going to highly depend on where you plan to explore and how long you plan to spend outdoors. My gear list is designed for the North Eastern United States, where we can feet of snow one day and inches of rain the next day. Around here, heading outdoors in the winter means being prepared for anything. My gear list is designed for dealing with cold, damp conditions during one or two night trips into the backcountry.
My Gear 2020 Winter Backpacking Gear List
Packing
- Hyperlight Mountain Gear Porter 4400
- 4 x Hyperlight Mountain Gear Pods
- 1 X Hyperlight Mountain Gear Shoulder Strap Pocket
- 1 X ULA Shoulder Strap Pocket
- Ozark Trails Fanny Pack
Shelter
Sleep System
- Enlightened Equipment Revelation 0 Quilt
- Mountain Laurel Designs Superlight Bivy (optional)
- Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XTherm
- 6 Panel Therm-A-Rest ZLite Pad
Hydration
- 2 x 1 liter Nalgene bottles
- 2 x 1 liter Outdoor Research Water Bottle Parkas
- 3 liter platypus bladder
- Aqua Mira Drops
Cooking/Eating/Food Storage
- Kovea Spider Remote Canister Stove
- Modified AntiGravityGear Classic Windscreen
- GSI Halulite Kettle
- Reusable Plastic Star Bucks Cup
- Long Handled Bamboo Spoon
- Ursack Ursa Major Bear Bag
Clothing – Carried
- Base Layer
- several spare pairs of wool glove liners
- Extra Insulation
- 2 x 1/4 zip micro-fleece
- two spare pairs of Darn Tough Socks
- Fleece Neck Gaiter
- Shell
- Accessories
Clothing – Worn
- Base Layer
- Insulating Layer
- Lightheart Gear Hooded Grid Fleece
- Wool BSA Bennie
- Shell
- Baffin Borealis Boots
- Mountain Hardwear Softshell Pants
- Patagonia Houdini Zip Hooded Wind Shirt
- Outdoor Resarch Men’s Transit Radar Cap
- Outdoor Research Gore-Tex Gaiters
Clothing – Just for Camp
- Thin merino wool base layer top and bottoms.
- Old Navy Hooded Grid Fleece
- Mountain Hardware Phantom Down Parka
- Enlightened Equipment Torid Apex Pants
- Western Mountaineering Expedition down Booties
Accessories
- Traction & Stability
- Navigation, Visibility, & Communication
- LuminAID Solar-Powered Inflatable Light
- Garmin Inreach Explorer
- Simple base-plate compass
- Local trail maps
- Emergencies
- Fire kit
- First-aid kit
- Repairs kit
- 2-3 packs of chemical hand warmers
- Bushcraft
- Ontario Knife Company RAT 7
- Silky Saw Gomboy 240
- Ruko 3 inch folding blade
- Aluminum Sport Utility Shovel
- Health & Comfort
- Natural Ice Chapstick
- Toiletry kit
- Purell Hand Sanitizer
- Cotton Bandana
- HMG Covid Mask
