I just finished my first Bob Marshall Wilderness Open, this year a 77 mile test of endurance across the Rockies in late May. You can read my account here. I finished with no lasting injuries, made few mistakes, and managed to surprise myself by moving faster than everyone except for Dan Durston, the almost perpetual fastest man in The Bob.  For reference, here is my complete gear list:

This is a discussion of some of my specific gear choices, and in some cases, the gear I chose not to bring. This gear list would also be appropriate for many fringe-season fast and light trips in the Pacific Northwest, and could be generalized to other trips easily. This isn’t a complete list (see above for that), but focuses on some of the more open-ended categories in order to guide others who might come after. 

Boat: I wanted to packraft during the Bob Open. It would allow me to spend some time off my feet, move a bit faster, and just have a bit more fun than hiking the whole way. I boated 5 miles of the Middle Fork Flathead (Cox Creek to Schafer Creek), 11 miles of the Spotted Bear River (Whitcomb Creek to confluence), and 7 miles of the South Fork of the Flathead (Spotted Bear to Soldier Creek). The most difficult stretch was the Spotted Bear, which was pushy Class II along the stretch I floated, except for a waterfall that I portaged. I own a Curiak and a Yak with a Cruiser deck, no cargo fly. The obvious choice between these two is the Cruiser decked Yak, which I carried. For this route it also happens to be the best choice among all packrafts currently on the market, I believe. The Cruiser deck is pretty good at keeping Class II water out, and will perform well enough up to short stretches of Class III. As I boated, I found myself on the edge of my safe temperature limit, and even had to wear my synthetic puffy (which I had hoped to keep for an emergency reserve in case I swam) to keep warm. I would have been far too cold in the deckless Curiak. The small tubes and lack of rockered bow in the Curiak would have also made staying upright more difficult for me. A whitewater deck would have been welcome, but unnecessary. A cargo fly would have been extra weight and fuss on this route, as I just tied my pack to the bow using Alpacka’s excellent Packtach system. I was happy to have brought my DIY sub-5-ounce wilderness thigh straps along as well. I brought and used Alpacka’s removable 4.2 ounce whitewater foot brace, but I could have done without it on this Class II water. For contrast, Will (another participant) brought a Wolverine (fully decked-out whitewater packraft) and a drysuit for his much more challenging packrafting route down the Middle Fork Flathead. Despite the extra weight of the paddling gear on his back, he covered 60 miles on his first day compared to my 34 miles, due to his choice to bring burlier equipment to protect himself on a more dangerous route. 

PFD: I brought the MTI Journey in women’s size small, which weighs only 14.0 oz. It’s a simple closed cell foam PFD that costs only $40. I always took the most conservative lines and didn’t swim. My personal risk assessment told me to bring a CCF PFD, since this would be my first solo packrafting adventure on a western river, but next time I’ll bring an inflatable horse-collar type PFD and save about 10 ounces. I would only do this, however, if I am very confident that I won’t be swimming. Unpredictable things happen to your body when you are suddenly immersed in cold water, fully clothed, in the middle of some rapids in the middle of the wilderness, by yourself. Like death, as you think to yourself “I wish I had brought the extra 10 ounces.” Be careful.  And it doubles as a pillow, so I had that going for me.

Water: There is bountiful clean water in The Bob, and I hesitated to even bring any type of water treatment along. In the end, caution and convenience won out and I brought the 2.3oz Katadyn BeFree 1L Filter bottle. It’s a collapsible bottle with a filter built into the lid. Uncap it, dip it, recap it, and drink. I cameled up at water sources, and never needed to carry any water with me for more than a few hundred feet. I would drink half a liter while moving whenever I was thirsty, and dump out whatever I couldn’t drink before replacing the empty bottle in my shoulder pocket. This worked very well. I carried no other water container. Caution – This filter only lasts about 200 liters before it clogs to a trickle in my experience, so I can only recommend it for events where you really need the speed/compactness/light weight it offers. I’m not sure what I’ll use next time, because I really don’t want to throw more money at a fourth one of these.

Shelter: I own several shelters that would be appropriate for this event. The front-runners were my DCF MLD Duomid, and my DCF HMG 8×10 flat tarp. The tarp won out because of it’s 11.9 oz weight (with guys), and it’s extra versatility. I ended up needing the versatility, as I pitched the tarp on a small patch of kind-of-flat snow, the only one I could find for miles in the dark with my waning headlamp. I only had six items that could be easily used as stakes, so I tied the ridgeline between two trees. I did bring stakes, but didn’t want to take the time to construct deadmen. The area wouldn’t have worked well for the Duomid, due to it’s larger footprint requirement and it’s tendency to warp when pitched on uneven surfaces. The Duomid wouldn’t have been a bad choice, though. I didn’t take a bivy due to the large size of the tarp and the lack of any insect pressure this time of year. These echo the reasons why I like large flat tarps in general. I think a tent is overkill for this event, and will be more difficult to set up if you happen to find yourself on uneven terrain when night falls.

Backpack: I took a Porter 4400, with 2 ZPacks shoulder pockets and 2 ZPacks hip belt pocketses. My total pack weight of about 29 pounds was well under my personal limit of 35-40 pounds comfortable carry with this pack. It swallowed everything with no problems. I attached shock cord to the front of the pack to hold small items like my rain gear, active insulating layer, and wind shirt so that I didn’t have to open the main volume for quick layer changes. The shoulder pockets stored GoPro, empty water bottle, ibuprofen, Buff, compass, and map. The hip belt pocketses stored 2000-3000 calories, extra GoPro batteries, and a 5,000 mAh power bank. The side and top compression straps stored paddle shafts, snowshoes, and sometimes trekking poles. This whole setup weighs 45oz. It could be lighter, but only by reducing durability, which is a trade I no longer want to make because I love this pack. It kept everything dry while packrafting and took no damage from the fifteen or so miles of bushwhacking I did. I wouldn’t make any changes to this setup. 

Sleeping: I slept on a NeoAir XLite short, under an Enlightened Equipment 20 degree Revelation quilt. These were both great choices. I’m really not sure, but I would guess that the overnight low temp was somewhere around 30 degrees. The short sleeping pad only goes down to my knees, so I put my mostly empty pack under my legs for insulation. I wore all my clothes. This was warm enough for a couple hours, until I woke up with cold feet. I didn’t have any more insulation to use, so I put empty DCF stuff sacks over my feet and stuffed the foot end of my quilt inside my backpack. This provided enough warmth to sleep a couple more hours until my alarm woke me. Stuffing the foot end of my quilt inside the non-breathable DCF pack made sure there was quite a bit of moisture in that section of my quilt in the morning, but I was confident that I wouldn’t need it again on this trip. During all the packing and unpacking that is inherent in packrafting transitions, I was glad to have the smaller packed size of the NeoAir rather than a closed cell foam sleeping pad. However, my NeoAir apparently had a slow leak, so I had to blow it up once during the night. So there’s the downside of an inflatable. I need to test my gear better, I suppose. I would take this setup again. 

Trekking Poles: Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork, the AK-47 of trekking poles. They’re flick-lock poles, which came in handy for quick length readjustments on the uneven terrain and for walking on logs across creeks while planting the poles in the creek bed. Once, while crossing a precarious log above some cliffs, a branch must have opened the flick lock because one of the poles collapsed, sending me down a steep slope until I grabbed some handy branches. That was scary. Despite the drawback, I still like flick-lock poles vs twist-lock due to the speediness of adjustment. Non-adjustable poles aren’t a great option while packrafting, as they need to collapse to be stowed while boating. The ultralight pole crowd tells lots of stories about “Two poles went in…only one came out.” I depend heavily on my trekking poles, so I don’t want to chance one breaking. I forgot to bring snow baskets and regretted it constantly, as my poles weren’t very useful when they punched two feet down through the snow. I brought wrist straps and used them sometimes. I don’t use them when there’s a chance I could fall, which seemed like it was almost half of this event. I also don’t use them when descending steep hills. So I guess I’m ambivalent on wrist straps for this event. 

Shoes/Socks: La Sportiva Ultra Raptors, Dirty Girl gaiters, Darn Tough Endurance quarter socks, and NRS Hydroskin socks. These non-waterproof shoes work great for me, and they hardly ever give me blisters. The smaller lugs did seem to have a little bit less grip on the snow than others’ shoes with larger lugs. The socks were fine. My feet were wet for the entire race, except the 4.5 hours I spent in dry sleeping socks in my quilt. That dry time was enough to keep me from getting blisters, and my feet were never too cold (except for the middle of the night inside my quilt). With all the high stream crossings, waterproof shoes simply don’t work. Waterproof socks might work for a few hours, but a stream will send water over the top of them at some point and then they won’t dry. I just didn’t bother with waterproofing. It worked well. The NRS Hydroskin socks are thin neoprene socks I use for trekking below about 30 degrees, or to keep my feet warm when rafting. I buy shoes that come in European sizes, which allow for finer sizing than U.S. sizes. This gives me the ability to size them small enough for use with thin socks, but large enough to slip on the Hydroskins over the top of those socks as well. I felt hot spots forming both times I tried to hike in the Hydroskins, which is unusual for me. I took them off immediately with no ill effects. They were crucial while packrafting though. The Dirty Girl gaiters are not tough enough for use in snow, which I knew but totally forgot about until the velcro came undone and was scraped right off my shoe. Next time I’ll take something with a little tougher material and an underfoot cord. 

Pantalones: I used some random running shorts with pockets over a pair of Powerstretch fleece tights. My rain pants were ZPacks Challenger pants. The tights are my base layer, and it was cold enough that they never came off the entire event. I took the shorts in case it got over 55 degrees, and because pockets. Because of the Powerstretch tights, I didn’t need the Challenger rain pants while hiking, even when it rained for hours. I used the rain pants while packrafting for a little extra warmth, and to cut the chill when freezing water made it through the spray deck. The all stars were the Powerstretch tights. Mine are made by Kenyon, but the brand doesn’t matter much; it’s the material that is so impressive. These tights have a great comfortable temperature range, and they feel dry even when they are soaking wet from rain. Because they’re close to my body, they dry much more quickly than pants. I no longer wear normal pants while backpacking in the cold, unless I’m moving slowly in a forgiving environment. 

Upper Body: MSR Echo hoody under Patagonia Cap4 hoody under Massdrop Veil wind shirt. ZPacks Challenger rain jacket and Nunatak Skaha Apex puffy. Synthetic Buff and Powerstretch fleece gloves. Old Brooks running cap. Various combinations of these worked very well. The system was at it’s limit only after several hours of boating in the cold. I was wearing everything and paddling as hard as I could, and just barely staying warm enough to continue boating. I like the thin nature of the Echo base layer, and pairing it with a thinnish active insulating layer in the Cap4 hoody was a good choice. In addition to one of the shells, I never needed more while hiking. Hoods on everything beats hats, in my opinion. Easier to put on/take off, and you can’t lose them. The Veil’s breathability was as expected on its first trip. I give it a 3.6 for breathability. Not great, not terrible. As a result, it does a great job of blocking wind. I chose it over my Black Diamond Alpine Start because of the Start’s tendency to allow too much wind through sometimes. Either would have been fine, but the Veil is lighter. It was surprisingly tough, as I bushwhacked in it for several hours and it sustained no damage. The Challenger rain jacket also, surprisingly, took no damage in the hours of bushwhacking either. I wore it under my PFD while boating, and stowed my phone (for GPS) in the chest pocket to quickly check my position. It’s a great piece of gear and I’m sad that they don’t make it anymore. Not sure what I’ll get when this one dies. The Powerstretch fleece gloves were stalwart as always. I forgot about their lack of grip on the palm, which hurt me as they were too slippery to hold the paddle with. I’m sure bare hands contributed to my coldness on the water. 

Other: I own but chose not to take a Tica 46 ice tool. That was a good choice for this route as the snow was always soft enough that a self arrest would be possible without a tool. For snowshoes, I took a pair of Northern Lites Elite Race shoes, which didn’t work out too well. Most of the others took MSR Shift childrens’ snowshoes, which are cheaper and smaller, with superior traction. The Elite Races have better flotation, but that wasn’t necessary on the slushy snow. They slid around and didn’t give me sure footing on any type of angled terrain. I followed Dan Durston’s footsteps for almost 30 miles, and his Shifts gripped the snow in places where my snowshoes slid like skis. Next time I’ll definitely buy some Shifts. For the first time on a major trip, I used my phone as a backup navigational tool. I used the Caltopo beta Android app. Due to its certainty and speed, it quickly became the primary navigational tool. I actually never used my paper map for the whole race, which surprised me. I could practically feel my navigational skill atrophying. I don’t want to do this regularly, but it does make sense when in a hurry. I was glad to have map and compass when I realized my power bank was inexplicably dead though. Luckily I was on the homestretch of trail by that time. I also used my compass regularly when cutting a bearing while bushwhacking. I’ll definitely always want something for this job that doesn’t rely on batteries. I had bear spray in an elastic holster. It almost fell out multiple times. I’d like to figure out a more secure way to carry it that still allows a quick draw. I didn’t bring a stove, which was a good choice. I never had time to cook. I used the Grill Mount for my GoPro to help capture video while moving. It’s held in your teeth. It’s also lightweight. I kept it attached to the camera the whole race. I think it’s lighter than other hands-free mounting options, and definitely more convenient to pack away and deploy. 

I hope this wall of text helps someone to complete the event in the future.