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Posted by Bill S on March 28, 2008 at 3:42:54 pm EDT
In reply to GoLite's "Forty Days and Forty Nights" AT Hike without Re-supply posted by Trailspace on March 27, 2008 at 10:46:00 am EDT

turneej asked

Quote:

What qualifies as 'resupply'? Does purifying water count as resupplying?

No, water does not count, obviously, since there is water frequently along the route. And if he were to catch fish (which would slow him down a bit), that part of the food would not count.

The basic rule is to carry all your food and everything else that you will need but cannot get on the trail itself. Most people doing thru-hikes carry no more than a week or 2 food, and for those doing the full AT/PCT/Continental Divide, they often pick up replacement boots or trail shoes, as well as food and stove fuel along the way. If the trip will involve major season changes (hike south to north late in the season, so major snow is a possibility), extra clothing may be picked up as well. The John Muir, Pacific Crest, Appalachian and other long trails have a number of places along the way that you can pre-place supplies either by going there yourself or mailing a package to each location. There are commercial outfits that will hold the packages for you (for a price, of course). Before you go on a thru-hike, though, go to one of the dedicated websites and ask about these commercial sites. Some of them try to get a bit of extra money (like one that tried to charge a friend storage fees from the date he mailed the supply box, rather than the date they received it - luckily he had carried his receipt of delivery card with him and could prove that he did not owe for the week in transit). The dedicated websites will alert you to those locations.

"Alpine style" climbs of major peaks are the same type of thing. Usually you can melt snow for water, but you carry everything else you need for the climb and only the people who are headed for the summit go. Traditional expedition style involves support people and/or multiple carries. For example, on Denali, we made double carries between most of the camps (move one load up, return to the same camp, then take the rest up to the next camp the next day, and repeat the process for 4 camps). On Vinson, it was simpler - carry everything from Vinson base to Low Camp, carry half to High Camp, followed by a couple days later moving the rest of the stuff up to High Camp, with the summit push from High Camp, so only one double carry).

The other alternative, which is used on Kilimanjaro (and on peaks like most Himalayan 8000 meter peaks) is to have a group of porters who relay the loads up the mountain successively to higher and higher camps, while the climbers who will summit carry only a day's worth of gear and food.

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