Alaska Archives will chronicle a spring spent ski touring out of an RV around south central Alaska.
Item 1: Arrival and Thompson Pass Item 2: Gone Skiing Item 3: A Full RV Item 4: Alyeska Bound Item 5: Harvest is the Season to Behold
Words and photos courtesy of Zach Paley. See more on his blog.
When traveling on a budget in an rv, modern conveniences have a tendency to be left at home. Even though the sun was out frequently this April to help keep us warm, it got pretty cold on Thompson Pass. Heat would be shortly turned on in the mornings, though it didn’t prevent getting out of sleeping bags from being a battle. Afternoons and evenings, our down gear came through when we needed it to and kept us warm enough.
"Does this jacket make me look fat?"
Making the most of a sunny afternoon
Late May, down booties still necessary
Drying gear, a critical step to staying warm, was difficult at best. Boot liners, shirts, socks, etc. were slow to dry with the help of the sun and simply didn’t dry at night when temperatures would drop well below freezing. As a guy who gets sweaty feet, I worked a few different systems. A combination of newspaper in boot liners, leaving them in the late day sun, liners in the sleeping bag, and putting them under the heat vents in the morning successfully gave me dry boots about three times in April (all after multiple down days). Wet, numb feet became part of the morning program. It’s a system that will be thoroughly reworked this summer.
Hanging things to dry
From the opposite end
Spreading everything outside the rv worked when the snow melted
Admittedly, we were and still are new at motorhome living. One of the biggest conversation topics of the trip is what to do differently next time we make a trip to Thompson Pass.
The reliable liquid blanket: It's not cold if you don't remember it
Fuck it had to stink like dirty ball sack in that motorhome.
You could say that. We just did a tally – we took 11 showers in 10 weeks.
*And no puss too
Invest in boot dryer and dry out your boots and gloves every night. Although if you are broke or stupid or both and don’t have a generator or 120V AC available, that would not happen.
Well… unfortunately I’m broke, stupid, and don’t have a generator
I have really sweaty feet too and I got one of these this winter:
http://www.dryguy.net/DG00301.html
It’s a portable AC/DC boot / glover dryer that works fairly darn well.
I’ve got one like that. I think crank powered may be the answer. Or possibly solar. Whiskey snowmonster has the ultimate solution of not being broke.
Or stupid…