Zachary Winters
One drawback: The tent is so tall with our dug-out kitchen that there’s only one method to close the upper vents. The Glacier Bay Circus!
“I wonder if I should be doing something… I don’t know. Man, I’m bored.”
As we idle through our tenth tentbound day, Louie isn’t the only one having such profound realizations. But thanks to our extravagant basecamp setup, boredom is among the worst of our worries despite the intensity of the storm raging outside.
The foundation of our glacier castle is the burly and cavernous Pantheon Dome from First Ascent. This 49 pound behemoth is an octagonal dome tent with a 15 foot diameter and 8 foot tall ceiling (approximate dimensions). We have bisected its 170 square feet of area into a sleeping quarters and a kitchen area (ideal for spending about half of our storm time sleeping and the other half perfecting our backcountry culinary visions).
Entering from the east side, three stairs descend into the dugout kitchen area and across to the snow couches. A couple of my favorite touches are the overhead boot liner/sock/climbing skin drying lines and the storage cavities we have dug under the stove and sleeping area (we have dubbed these the “sub-neve gear portals”). To keep things private and relatively comfortable in the storm, our most recent addition is the “shigloo”, a small wind protected igloo privy. Please enjoy this two-dimensional tour of our dwellings, where we’ve now spent more time hunkering down, playing cards, crafting a glacial ice whiskey luge, and binging on bacon and Jelly Bellies than skiing.
The floor plan of our glacial castle. Here’s the key: 1: Sleeping quarters. 2: Kitchen 3: Sub-neve gear portals 4: Stairs 5: Snow couches 6: Glacial ice whiskey luge (homemade) 7: Wind wall fortifications 8: the ‘Shigloo’ 9: duffel/extra food storage
Hanging out outside during one of the rare and fleeting breaks in the storm.
Our setup from the inside. Glacial luxury!
Jason suited up to battle the elements on the way to the shigloo.
Caption: Jason suited up to battle the elements on the way to the shigloo.
Counting down the days until the next high-pressure with card games.
Outfit your next camp kitchen here.
(WildSnow.com guest blogger Zachary Winters is an avid coffee drinker, splitboarder, photographer, and rock climber who calls the North Cascades home. Living in the small town of Mazama, Washington, you could encounter him on the trail working as a Wilderness Ranger in the summer months, and the rest of the year he is chasing good snow, working on his photography, and looking for wolverines. Check out his outstanding photos.)
Beyond our regular guest bloggers who have their own profiles, some of our one-timers end up being categorized under this generic profile. Once they do a few posts, we build a category. In any case, we sure appreciate ALL the WildSnow guest bloggers!
