Josh Wilkins’ Simplehiker site is back up and running on a new publishing platform. Just in time for your next blizzard, he has a link to igloo-building instructions.

Josh has a hankering to go snow-camping, which is what I’ll be doing tomorrow night, thanks to WildeBeat‘s Steve Sergeant, who’s been getting us all in the mood for way-cold campouts with his podcasts of the past few weeks. Not to douse anybody’s enthusiasm or anything, but Steve’s latest ‘cast is all about avalanches — the operative thought being: stay away from really steep slopes after really big snowfalls. Steve interviews an avalanche expert who notes that it isn’t the rookies who get trapped in avalanches — they have enough sense (welll, fear) to avoid obvious dangers. The ones who get in trouble are those who think they know their way around the backcountry and take risks that get them in over their heads, literally, when the snowpile gives way.

Steve was planning to lead a Sierra Club snow-camping course in the Sierra this weekend but it didn’t draw much interest. He did have one person who still wanted to go, so he asked me if I wanted to join them. Fool for adventure that I am, I said what the heck. Better to go along with somebody who knows what he’s doing up there (and he’s cooking dinner!). We’re planning to build a snow cave and spend the night in it.

Of course I had to buy more stuff — zero-degree down sleeping bag and bivy to keep it dry; down jacket; rain paints; expedition-weight long underwear; winter mittens; 2-liter pot for melting snow; shovel — now the only things I need to be completely outfitted for winter backpacking are snowshoes (which I’m renting for this weekend), a white-gas stove and a four-season tent.

Steve’s plan is to hike for about an hour from Carson Pass along the Pacific Crest Trail, find a likely snowdrift to build a snow cave and camp there for the night. Check back Monday for an account of my weekend in an icebox.