Snow traverse checklist

(I wrote the italics portion of this post quite some time ago, but didn't have time to finish. The rest was added today) :

We crossed the official bounday between the desert and the Sierra portions of the trail a few days ago, at Kennedy Meadows (mile 702). Many people get lots of packages sent to Kennedy Meadows, because they switch out a lot of specialized gear for this totally different section. We aren't changing much, but here are a few specialty items we'll be carrying for the next month or so:

- Bear canisters: Since we're traveling through bear country now, we are required to store our food in these bad boys . We're each carrying a BV500 canister, which takes up most of the space in our packs and adds a decent amount of weight. Normally costing around $80, we're borrowing ours through a bear canister loan program. Because of this, I have named mine Kelty Kid after my donor. Right before bed, we put all food, hygiene products, and trash into our cans and stow them about 50 ft. from our tent. Bears can still see and smell what's inside, but they can't get into the canisters. The idea is that eventually the bears will learn that these are not a source of food, even though they may smell like it. Although cumbersome, the canister does make a nice seat and helps me rest easier at night. After a few days of travel through bear-can-required areas, we decided to head up north and sent our cans home. We'll be returning them to the loan program shortly.

- Microspikes: We used our microspikes on Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. Baden-Powell, and I'm glad to have them for this section. My microspikes (named Beebop and Rocksteady) were an incredibly useful piece of gear for snow travel. They made scaling icy inclines quite possible and helped me move faster than the speed of an achy grandma. This is one piece of gear I actually see myself using off-trail as well.

- Ice axe: Although I initially hesitated to buy an ice axe (due to its added cost, weight, and the implication that I would actually be traveling on steep snowy surfaces) I was more than ecstatic to have this piece of gear in the long run. I named mine Neve, das Eispickel. The ice axe has several useful features: the back axe-part (technical term) can be used to cut steps in hard snow. The bottom of the handle has a somewhat-sharp point to jam into the snow with each step, making a sturdy handle in case of slipping. The sharp serrated tip is used for self-arresting if you do actually begin to slide down a mountainside. Mine also came with a leash to keep it attached to my wrist. I used three of these four features. I'll let you guess which ones.

And so, laden down with The Kelty Kid, Beebop and Rocksteady, Neve das Eispickel, and R2D2 (my pack), I headed out into the mountains.