Whelp, I'm sitting here at the San Diego airport, waiting for my flight to Reno, and then the drive to Tahoe. I'm not thrilled about how late I'll get to the hotel--it looks like I'll arrive around 1am--but that's fine, I'll be happy to head up there and learn a few things.
I'm curious as to how to do 'things' in the snow--set up the tent, use snowshoes, figure out what clothing to wear. The weather looks like it'll be around 50F in the daytime and just below freezing at night, even at the 9000' elevation we'll be camping at, up at Lake WInnemucca near Carson Pass.
I'm guessing everything will be fine--but almost all my gear is untested, so I'm being a little excessive. Do I really need two midlayer shirts? Will the silk base layers be warm, or just kind of a hassle? How will the new sleeping bag and pad work out (I'm taking both a blow-up NeoLite and a foam pad, just to make sure I'm warm sleeping on the snow).
If anything, the sunny, cool, and likely windy days expected near Lake Tahoe this weekend are likely to be similar to the sunny, cool days I'll encounter at the end of May, as I head north out of Kennedy Meadows into the southern Sierras. This will be good preparation, and I hope to learn a lot from Ned, his training, and the other four class members going along on this trip.