My first backpack outing I put bananas in a bear cannister outside the tent while camping near Bishop Pass in the high Sierra in late October and they were hard as a rock in the morning.
I was so devastated I haven't backpacked since!

Let's see...

Inadvertently climbed Katahdin without any food, which my dad and I somehow left behind in the car. We did have water, though...oh, and my dad thought it'd be a good idea to climb the mountain in a dress shirt and polyester pants. I chewed him out pretty good for that one, and he never did so on a hike again. Apparently some guys who passed us on the way up made a bet on whether we'd reach the top (we did).

We climbed up the Thunderbolt Ski trail on Greylock in December, with only about 3 hours of daylight left when we started out. We had no equipment beyond some water and a map, and I almost didn't even bring hat or gloves "because it wasn't that cold out". Several dangerous snowy slopes and treacherous icy patches, and one summit, later, we were nearly back at the car, but nearly out of daylight. And then we ran into a hiker even worse off than we were! He was apparently miles from where he needed to be, and after looking at our map took off; hopefully he made it.

Spruce Knob, also in winter. The plan was, the gate probably being closed, my dad and I would walk the ~20 miles roundtrip to the top, mostly in the dark. We had two flashlights, each with maybe 2 1/2 hours of light to them. Very luckily for us, the gate happened to be open, but we still had a nice treacherous drive most of the way up in my dad's Geo Metro, nearly sliding off the road onto the steep mountainside once or twice. Again, we somehow made the top and lived to tell the tale.

In my defense, I was no older than 14 for any of this

Noondueler wrote:I was so devastated I haven't backpacked since!

On my first backpacking trip, we didn't have a backpacking stove, so we took a two stove Coleman range with three propane tanks onto the trail. We brought six cans of chili and we only stayed out for one night. The chili did not sit well...

tyler4588 wrote:On my first backpacking trip, we didn't have a backpacking stove, so we took a two stove Coleman range with three propane tanks onto the trail. We brought six cans of chili and we only stayed out for one night. The chili did not sit well...

I had a Carls Jr. breakfast burrito just before hiking up Mount Whitney. Worst idea in the history of mankind. Bar none.

My first time on a big mountain (Shasta), my college buddy and I got to 12,500' before turning back due to rockfall. After breaking camp at Helen Lake, we headed down but did not bother to put crampons, thinking the snow was soft. And before you know it, I'm on my back sliding down fast. First thought: "Roll to left, use ice axe for self-arrest." Second thought: "Uh, that would be the ice axe that is firmly strapped to the backpack?" Fortunately, I stopped before the snowfield ran out onto some very uncomfortable looking rocks. Dusting the snow and ice off, I turned to see my friend sliding down the slope, fortunately also stopping just in time. Me: "You slip too?" Him: "No, it just looked like a fast way to get down."

I remember being eight or nine years old and climbing a 60 degree dirt cliff near my house. My brother and I would take took two claw hammers and used them like ice axes to claw into the dirt and pounded in ten inch tent stakes as protection. It's good that no one ever slipped.
Travis

rappel on 1/4" nylon cord from the hardware store with a munter hitch and a screwlock, using a harness I tied from a piece of said rope. Also thought it was fun to test the dynamic properties by free falling before coming to a screeching halt.

Me and another climber ascending hard, frozen snow up the north face of Thor with crampons, but no ice axes. Got very lucky on that one and it was a dumb move. We were both newbies at the time.

Carrying about 5 pounds of sugar, 4 liters of water, a messkit, and other assorted crap up Mt. Pugh, normally a one-day mountain that we made two. My pack was 45 pounds, and I was wearing cotton. As I always did, until I found out it is a bad idea in the PNW to wear cotton even to take out the trash.

Scrambling up a frozen waterfall, approximately 30 degrees at the bottom steepening to 40. Wouldn't be too bad, if I had crampons, ice axe, experience, or boots. I didn't. I was wearing sneakers, stranded on the top of an ice flow. I almost died. I learned a valuable lesson from that trip.

-Mark

Dartmouth Hiker wrote:oh, and my dad thought it'd be a good idea to climb the mountain in a dress shirt and polyester pants.

nothing wrong with that. I make it a point to climb in dress shirts or polo's and work slacks. I call it "Mountain Casual"

1969. On leave before vietnam. Grand Canyon. Friend and I decide to hike down. Meet girls the night before. Eat spaghetti and drink Red Mtn wine. Throw up spaghetti and RMW. Sleep late. Friend's left. Hungover. Decide to walk down. Decide as a little challenge to not drink water. Reach river in a bad state. Drink much, much water. Sleep 12 hours on a picnic table. No sleeping bag. Food? Can't remember. Hike out the next day.

tom johnson wrote:Decide as a little challenge to not drink water.

Man, sounds like a great idea!

I went winter camping once with a group from the MIT outing club. One of the guys brought a 6" wheel of Brie cheese for him to eat and nothing else. It got down to minus 20 that night. It was so cold, the guy decided to sleep with it in his sleeping bag. Didn't help! Next morning it was hard as concrete. To his credit, he TRIED to eat it. We felt sorry for him and shared our oatmeal and hot chocolate with him.

Decided it was "summer" and "warm" up on San Gorgonio in September a few years back, so decided we could leave sleeping bags at home and bring a fleece blanket each. Would've been a good idea to check that the blankets were even long enough...they were those throw kind...so basically neck to shin length. Woke up balled up together in the corner of the tent, and then left on a day hike of the local peaks with two packs of cheese and crackers (those little kraft ones with the fake cheese).

Ya know...this wan't too long ago...