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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Heading to Denali (but how will I carry all my stuff up there)

Tomorrow, I'm going to Denali with my brother Aaron.  I know, I said in previous posts that I'm not going to Alaska this year, but . . . .  I'm going.  I've put aside speed plans and am going just to go and just to ski.  And I've found that preparing to "just go" is an adventure in and of itself.  Over the last few weeks, I've pulled together a whole crap-ton of gear.  Initially, a maintained my fast and light mindset.  But as I kept realizing that I needed a solar charger, and a spork, and a stove board, and lots of food, and this and that and this and that, the mindset kind of fell by the wayside.  This was confirmed quite clearly to me last night when my friend and former Denali guide Brian Harder told me I needed to pack a steel shovel that he went to the hardware store to procure.

But if I carry this, will I look STUPID?
The present result?  My pack weighs at least a third of my weight.  It is humongous.  And it doesn't nearly hold all the stuff I have decided that I "need."  I have a duffel bag stuffed with 50 pounds of food, mostly dehydrated.  And I have a bag full of climbing and skiing gear.  And the big question looms?  How in the world am I going to haul all this stuff up a mountain?  I'll let you know how it works out.

Here is a list of what I will carry, excluding the food, which is worthy of a post by itself (maybe later):






SPECIAL THANKS TO LA SPORTIVA, CAMP, PATAGONIA, GREGORY, FORTY BELOW, AND BACKCOUNTRY.COM FOR THE SUPPORT!!!

IPad w/ charging cord

Goal 0 Solar Charger
Garmin GPS
FRS Radio w/ charging cord
Sat Phone w/ battery and charging cord
Sony NEX 7 Camera w/ extra batteries and charger
SD Cards --- I'm a walking Best Buy!


1 L Thermos
1 L Nalgene w/ cozy
1 Fairshare GSI mug

Stoves-JetBoil Helios Guide and Flash
Stove board--carbon fiber :)
Mtn Hardwear Trango 2 man tent
Marmot -40 Bag
XPed 7 Mattress
Thermarest Z Lite
Cook Tent -- Go Lite Shangrila

 Gregory Whitney Pack 

This is the Deluxe glacier rescue setup. . . might have to
pare it down.
2 Avalanche Probes
1 Aluminum Avy Shovel
1 Steel Garden Shovel
Saw

Crampons - Grivel Airtech
1 Ice Tool (maybe 2 if I'm underweight, hah)
La Sportiva RST Skis w/ RT Bindings and Skins
La Sportiva ski crampons
La Sportiva Spitfire ski boots

Forty Below Overboots
BD Whippets
BD Couloir Harness
Glacier gear (Tibloc, pulley, prusiks, biners, cord, ice screws, snow stake)
Rope (Beal 8mm x 30m)
Cord (6mm x 30m) 
Jumar ??? 
CAMP X3 Superlight Pack
2 person Bivy sack

CAMP cover pants and jacket
BD Punisher Gloves
Lightweight Gloves
BD Mittens
Sunglasses
Patagonia Guide Pants
Millet Active Shell Pants
2 MontBell Thermawrap Pants (rather than going with huge down pants, I'm taking two puffy pants to layer)
Baselayer top (2)
Baselayer bottom (1)
Underwear (3)
3 pair socks
Patagonia R1 top
Patagonia R1 bottoms
Patagonia NanoPuff jacket
Patagonia DAS jacket
RAB down puffy
Arc Teryx Alpha FL -- shell
Camp Booties
Red Cloudveil Thin Hat
Ice Breaker Wool Hat
Visor
Buff
Liner gloves

Wet wipes
Hand sanitizer
Toe warmers

Stuff I need to get STILL:

Fuel
Dipper mug
Wands
Ski Safety Straps
Balaclava
Nose guard
Sunscreen and lip balm
Trash bags

 The second biggest question that looms is: what have I forgotten? (and how can I make my load even heavier?)

3 comments:

  1. I think you forgot Nutella and a travel Scrabble game board. That's a lot more stuff than I brought to Alaska, but I wasn't camping. I had a couch to sleep on. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. HEY! So you did Denali with Spitfire and the Grivel Air Tech crampons. What fit on the crampons did you have? Did you do any front pointing (I'm mostly an ice climber). Thanks in advance!!

    ReplyDelete