I am assuming she had a similar set-up to yours and that means she had to descend from the trail to the lake. It sounds easy, but I believe Montagnette Lake is the only nearby source of water (if she stayed on trail). She would have needed enough to go up to Sauvegard and then either back down to the trailhead or onward to the refuge. If she was using the "tie string
Is there water at the refuge? I'm very curious. I'm hoping someone knows. And whether people were melting snow for water before going onward.
Thank you so much for explaining the point about the air scoop (and what it does to the weight of the back). Personally, there's no way I could pee with anything but a lightweight pack. Esther had the yoga skills, so maybe 25 pounds wouldn't be too much for her.
How much water do you think she would have carried if her goal was the refuge that night?
I'm still confused about her two trips up that same, relatively accessible mountain when I thought her original plan was rather different.
In national park (US) research, going off trail to take a picture is one of the leading accident-causers for women. Sauvegarde does have a lot of picture-worthy spots along the trail.
A few questions. Let's give this a whirl. Your quotes in italics.
I am assuming she had a similar set-up to yours and that means she had to descend from the trail to the lake. It sounds easy, but I believe Montagnette Lake is the only nearby source of water (if she stayed on trail). She would have needed enough to go up to Sauvegard and then either back down to the trailhead or onward to the refuge. If she was using the "tie string
The "tie-string" jury-rig possibility raises my anxiety meter. But she might have tried it. I've tried it just once and soon got a clue. Picture this. You get a GREAT idea to get cleaner water from a lake by casting your bottle, on a string, to a nice deep, clear, section. Ha! The bottle floats! So, then what are you going to do? Frustrated and committed to that lip-smacking freshness, you do all kinds of things with your body, flap around, reach, break branches, wave your poles, magical incantations; you might even wade in.... just to get that bottle to sink so you can fill it with water and haul it to shore.
And if it's a squeezable bottle and not a hard plastic bottle, bwaahaha! You will look very funny indeed, 'cos it won't magically open itself and fill with water!
Personally, there's no way I could pee with anything but a lightweight pack. Esther had the yoga skills, so maybe 25 pounds wouldn't be too much for her.
No yoga skills required. Necessity is the mother of invention.
How much water do you think she would have carried if her goal was the refuge that night?
ED carries a Camelbak (or similar). As is likely, she has an Osprey Exos 58. This will fit a bladder of 3L.
Most women can only carry 2L in a bladder, because their backs are too short for a 3L bladder to fit in their packs.
For folks who aren't familiar, keep in mind, that water weighs approx. 2 lbs per liter.
If I were on ED's hike, I'd look ahead at where I'd be re-supplying water. If I'm going 3 hours, I might take just 2L. I'd also take a Gatorade (or some such) if it was a hot day. If I had a 3L capacity (I can't because my back is too short), I'd definitely take all 3 liters.
However, I would do all that keeping in mind my next re-supply. It sounds like for re-supply she'd have (1) back to town (2) to the refuge or (3) potentially a lake.
To me, it's alarming she tried to bum food off someone. This may indicate she was out of water or had just hear no water was available at the refuge. She might have tried to get some from a natural source.
While I'm answering this kind of question.....
Sometimes, folks assume you'd carry a lot of clothes to change into on a backpack trip. That would be VERY unwise. You would be unduly weighing yourself down for no purpose.
Consider this: You're wearing a set of very effective hiking clothes. Totally appropriate. You hike for a day, and they get stinky. But heck, you've brought another set. So you change into your other set. At the end of day two (more likely just an hour into the day 2 hike), whatcha got? 2 pairs of stinky clothes!
So, you generally take supplementary clothes, not more sets of the same thing (except for socks and one non-cotton under pants). The key is that you should be able to wear everything at the same time. In other words, you go for safety, not aroma.
De rigueur would be long underwear (top and bottom); raingear (top and bottom); a spare synthetic shirt you can put under or over your hiking synthetic shirt; an insulated jacket (like down). And a light fleece. In ED's case, she would have had to have taken extra insulation for her legs (lycra tights are frigid) for safety.
That valley would be cold in the shadows.
