Alaska Gear 2014

In continuing the series of blog posts on the gear I use out and about, I present the list of what I'll use on forthcoming Alaska climbs. The main event is a five or six day alpine-style climb of the West Ridge of Mount Hunter. Check out the Smileys video for a little perspective:



West Ridge of Mount Hunter, AK from Mark Smiley on Vimeo.

I cooked up similar lists for Sierra winter climbing, ski mountaineering, and more traditional backcountry skiing. I'll enumerate here climbing equipment for the multi-day endeavors. Additionally, and unlisted, we'll have a comfortable base camp kit, and some ski gear. So, without further ado...

Clothing:

• La Sportiva Spantik boots
• 2 pr Darn Tough Socks
• Long underwear bottoms
• Outdoor Research Cirque Pants
• Patagonia Leashless shell pants
• synthetic t shirt
• OR Rumor Hoody
• Arc Teryx Nuclei Hoody
• OR Axiom shell Jacket
• Feathered Friends Volant Jacket (incidentally, we awarded this the OutdoorGearLab Editors Choice award…)
• IronClad Cold conditions gloves
• Black Diamond Rambla gloves
• Black Diamond Jupiter mitts
• Buff
• Fleece hat
• Light colored glasses
• Dark colored glasses

Tech Gear, etc:

• Petzl Sarken Crampons. 
• Petzl Sum'Tec hammer and adze pair.  
• Rack: 
• 5 slings
• 5 cams
• 5 nuts
• 8 screws
• Belay device and associated 'biner
• 3 more locking carabiners
• 12 foot 7mm cord
• Double length sling
• Petzl Micro Traxion
• CAMP Blitz Harness
• Black Diamond Vapor Helmet
• Rope. Double 60m. 
• Black Diamond Compacter ski pole.
• First aid/emergency kit.
• Two liters of water
• Half a liter of some hot drink 
• Iridium Extreme Sat Phone. 
• iPhone loaded with relevant maps, gps app, emergency phone numbers, camera, route beta, guidebook photos, etc.
• Food- Just add water dinners and breakfasts.  Fill a 1 qt ziploc with energy candy and bars etc for each day.  About 1.7-2.0 pounds per person per day total.  

Camping

• 21x40 inch chunk of new, flat closed cell foam.  No egg-crate shapes, no ridges.  Just flat foam.  HTFU. 
• Extra small Thermarest Prolite if I'm feeling extravagant.
• Feathered Friends Spoonbill bag. This little number will save us pounds and pounds...
• Black Diamond "Can't wait 'til" Firstlight.  
• Jetboil and 2 oz per person per day of fuel.  
• Food- Just add water dinners and breakfasts.  Fill a 1 qt ziploc with energy candy and bars etc for each day.  About 1.7-2.0 pounds per person per day total.  
• All packed into Hyperlight Mountain Gear's 4400 Ice Pack.