Planning Spring Break: Back Country Snowshoeing and Montana

Cutbank Valley
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service
Iceberg Lake
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service
Glacier National Park Multimedia Site

Well, as y'all saw from my last post, I've gotten into a new sport, to me......snowshoeing. We're planning a Spring Break trip to Glacier National Park for some back country snowshoeing. I'm starting a series of posts here to organize for the trip.

Our Equipment List:

1. 2 65 Liter backpacks
2. 100 feet of rope each
3. Snowshoes and Poles (Cabella's Snowy Range Shoes, made by Atlas)
4. Nautica Wind Shells, waterproof
5. Polarguard vests under, packable
6. Fleeces
7. Fleece long underwear and foundation layer
8. Waterproof wind pants
9. Goretex Gloves
10. 3 pairs wool socks, each in the packs
11. Packcloth waterproof gaiters, tall
12. Cabella's Sorrel Packer boots for me, or Herman Survivors as an alternate. My wife has some lighter weight packer boots with Thinsulate and a goretex inner boot.
    
13. 2 Surveyors compasses
14. Set of waterproof Topo maps of Glacier each
15. Avalanche beacon each.
16. GMRS Radios
17. We'll rent the snowshovels from Glacier Outdoor Center and I don't think we'll really need ice axes, since we aren't really going to be doing any traverses on steep glacier faces and we can't carry ice axes on Amtrak, anyway.
18. 2 1 liter Nalgene Bottles each for water
19. Small backpackers stove, and fuel, to melt snow if we run short on liquids as well as 2 lighters and waterproof matches
    
20. Small thermos for hot chocolate at the Overlook looking down on Lake McDonald from the mountaintop. (Good photo opportunity)
21. Survival bivvy sacks if we get caught out in the back country in a Spring Storm + 3 days food. If we get caught in a bad one, we'll just dig in in a snow cave and ride it out.
    
22. Glacier sunglasses for the wife and sunscreen for both. I have some very good polarized cycling/ski glasses, already
23. Flashlights and survival whistles
24. Back Country First Aid Kit
    

We'll also be carrying food, and if anyone has suggestions that I've missed, let me know!

Here's a bit of our planned terrain: This is about 15 miles out in the park.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3473659