Got caught in a storm on the Teton Crest Trail last July

I was three days into a 5 day loop in the Tetons. Weather looked fine when I started that morning. By 2pm the sky went dark and hail started coming down hard. I was above treeline near Hurricane Pass. No shelter anywhere. Had to hunker down behind a big rock for 45 minutes. My rain jacket soaked through in 10 minutes. Got hypothermic and shivering bad. After that I started carrying a proper emergency bivy even on summer trips. Anyone else had a weather scare change their gear setup?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairj552mo ago

Wait, soaked through in ten minutes? What kind of jacket were you wearing that failed that hard?

robert_smith3622d ago

Man I remember reading somewhere that a lot of those cheaper department store jackets use a coating that just wears off after a few washes. Once that's gone you're basically wearing a trash bag with holes in it. It sucks but sometimes you gotta spend a little more to get something that actually works in real rain.

hayden_rivera2mo ago

Start by saying I've been through some nasty weather too but honestly it sounds like you were just unlucky with that jacket. @blairj55 has a point - most decent shells shouldn't turn into a sponge that fast unless it's totally trashed or you're wearing cotton.