What's in my pack: alpine climbing gear with Graham Zimmerman

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Connect with Graham on his website and on Instagram, @grahamzimmerman

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American alpinist (and Piolet d’Or winner) Graham Zimmerman has an impressive record on big expeditions to many corners of the world. He obviously pays great attention to his gear.

Here's a video of him going through some equipment he used on a highly technical climb of Link Sar in Pakistan in 2017. Check it out for some tips that might help you on your next outing, even if it's to a more modest objective.

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What's in my pack: ski touring gear by Graybird Guiding

This post come from Shane Robinson and Graybird Guiding, a Seattle based guide company that not only leads some sweet ski trips, but also has an Instagram full of solid tips. Connect with them at their website and on Instagram. Check out their hashtag #sknowmore for specific backcountry ski tips.

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In the pack:

• Mountain Hardware 40 liter pack. It’s big enough for a full guide kit or bigger ski mountaineering objectives but can compress down for more average days. Bonus: helmet fits inside most days.

• Traverse Equipment repair kit

• trauma kit (cpr & extreme bleeding) separate from first aid kit and more accessible

• general first aid kit

• Alpine Threadworks rescue sled & bivy

• downhill gloves

• headlamp

• puffy coat for added warmth or as an emergency layer

• Trew Gear Anorak shell

• extra buff

• helmet

• goggles

• extra wool hat

• thermos for hot water/tea

• rescue shovel

• probe (ideally 300cm long)

• Leatherman multi-tool

• sunscreen & lip balm

• snow saw, with teeth that can also cut wood if needed in an emergency (not pictured)

• Garmin InReach (not pictured)

• cordelette, double length sling, and a couple carabiners (not pictured)

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Actually wearing:

• Dissent Socks

• Trew Gear Nuyarn Merino bottoms

• Trew Gear Nuyarn Merino Tee

• NW Alpine Spider Hoody

• Trew Gear Up Jack

• Trew Gear Capow Bibs

• Hestra Ergo active gloves

• hat with visor

• sunglasses

• avalanche transceiver

What's in my pack: clothing systems by Colin Haley

Colin Haley on the summit of Cerro Domo Blanco. photo by Alex Honnold. from https://www.patagonia.com/stories/colin-haleys-clothing-system-for-alpine-climbing-in-the-chalten-massif/story-95145.html

American alpine climbing expert Colin Haley gives a LOT of thought and serious field testing to his alpine clothing system. The Patagonia website has a superb deep-dive article that covers a lot of Colin’s clothing choices, some of them quite unconventional.

• Here's the original article on the Patagonia website.

• In case that goes away, here’s a PDF saved on my Google Drive.

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For me, here are a few takeaways from this excellent article.

• “At any given moment in time, I must be able to wear every item of clothing that I brought with me on a climb (the exceptions to this rule are gloves and socks). The total insulation value of all my layers worn at once must be great enough for the environment I’m climbing in. A good rule of thumb for myself is that if I bring enough clothing to be comfortable for all planned circumstances (while belaying at night, for instance), then I’ll have enough warmth to make it through an unexpected circumstance, like an unplanned open bivouac. I wouldn’t by any means be comfortable, but I would feel safe from hypothermia.”

• “Highly technical climbing requires a very large range of motion (much more than trail running or skiing, for instance), and the ideal clothing system is the one that hinders that movement the least. Your clothing system should not only allow you to have full range of motion, but it should do so without wasting energy. For example, many soft-shell pants allow you to highstep, but you have to dramatically stretch the fabric every time that you do, and when you add up the thousands of times over the course of a big alpine climb that you highstep, you are wasting a lot of energy repeatedly stretching that fabric.”

• “When the wind gets strong (as it tends to do in high mountains, especially in Patagonia), not having an outer layer to block the wind drastically reduces the insulation value of the rest of your clothing. Whether or not you need a waterproof layer depends on the environment and circumstances in which you’re climbing. In a really cold environment, like on Denali or on 8,000-meter peaks, a waterproof layer is usually superfluous. In a place where the temperature often fluctuates right around freezing, a waterproof layer can be very important. Wind protection is essential in any high-alpine environment, and water protection might be important or might not be.”

• “Rather than bringing a heavier, warmer puffy, my preferred system is usually to bring two Micro Puff Jackets. When it’s warm, they’re both in my pack. When it’s chilly I wear one, and when it’s cold I wear both of them. I used to bring one in size S and one in size M, but I realized more recently that I prefer to bring both in size M. The baggier fit gives me better freedom of movement when climbing.”

• “The Houdini jacket is, in my opinion, the single most useful, important item of clothing that I own. It is very simple: just an incredibly lightweight windbreaker.”

• The Nano-Air vest has become one of my favorite items of clothing in the past couple of years. I find that a vest is often a great way to slightly boost the total insulation of a clothing system. Because a vest covers your torso it makes a significant difference to how warm you feel. Because a vest doesn’t cover your arms, it doesn’t affect freedom of movement much, and is thus well suited to technical climbing.

• “I used to nearly always get my jackets in the hooded version. More recently, I have decided that I prefer to have fewer hoods. The way I see it, if you can’t comfortably wear all of your hoods at the same time, then clearly you have too many! These days I prefer to have a bit more insulation directly on my head (often two balaclavas at once—see below), and only a couple of hoods. I feel that I have an easier time moving my head around this way.”

• “Recently, I have been using a system of two balaclavas: one is a very thin silk-weight, and the other is thicker and warmer. Unless it is really warm out, I wear the silk-weight balaclava for essentially the entire climb. It adds a bit of warmth and protects my ears and neck from the sun. Between my helmet, the silk-weight balaclava and my sunglasses with nose-guard and cheek-guards, I pretty much don’t have to use sunscreen at all, except on my lips. Whenever it gets colder, I put the thermal-weight balaclava on over the silk-weight one, and together they both fit comfortably under my helmet.”

• “Contrary to what many beginners might think, in a given pair of boots your feet will almost always be warmer in thinner socks, and colder in thicker socks. If your socks are too thin, then your boots will be too loose, and the climbing performance will be diminished. If your socks are too thick, your circulation will be reduced, and your feet will be cold.”

What's in my pack: Rainier gear by Mark Smiley

This gear list is a free excerpt / preview from Mark's new online course, “The Ultimate Guide to Modern Alpinism”. I haven’t taken it, but I have taken a couple of his other online courses, and they were excellent. Check out all of Mark's offerings at mtnsense.com.

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Emmons Glacier, Mt Rainier. Photo by Vaqas Malik

There’s nothing a gearhead likes more than a detailed packing list from an expert climber. Here’s what IFMGA Certified Guide Mark Smiley likes to pack for a two day Mt. Rainier trip up one of the standard routes (Emmons or Disappointment Cleaver). (I've climbed Rainier several times and sure wish I had a few things on this list.)

Of course you don't have to bring everything listed, but it's a pretty good starting point.

Here's a link to the original “course preview” article Mark posted for free on his website, where he names some specific brands that he likes and goes into a bit more detail.

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Clothes

• Wool t-shirt

• Sun hoodie

• Thin wind shell

• Light puffy

• Big puffy

• Waterproof shell jacket

• Buff

• Hat with visor for sun protection

• Thin gloves for hot day on glaciers

• Showa Temres gloves for cold and wet

• Second pair of cold-weather gloves (if forecast is for nastiness)

• Softshell pants

• Waterproof pants

• Socks

• Boots (Single layer, with integral gaiter)

Climb gear

• Helmet

• Sunglasses

• Goggles

• Headlamp (400 lumen minimum)

• Lightweight harness (Edelrid Prisma Guide)

• Steel crampons (Mark likes the CAMP Skimo Pure Nanotech crampons, very lightweight)

• Ice Axe (50 to 70 cm)

• Trekking poles

• One mid clip picket

• One ice screw (aluminum, 16 or 19 cm)

• Petzl Nano Traxion progress capture pulley

• Petzl Tibloc

• Four lightweight carabiners

• Three locking carabiners

• Two 120 cm Dyneema slings (or cordelette)

• Rope (50 or 60 meters, 8.4 mm dry treated)

• Avalanche transceiver

• Shovel

• Avalanche probe

Pack and camping gear

• 55 liter pack

• 2 liter water bag

• Steripen water purifier

• Lip balm (several tubes)

• Sunscreen (small tube or stick)

• Satellite communication device

• Backcountry navigation app, with GPX file of route loaded onto phone

• First aid kit

• Sleeping bag (down, 20 degrees)

• Compression stuff sack

• ThermaRest NeoAir XLite Sleeping Pad

• Compact pillow

• Two person mountaineering tent

• Earplugs

• Canister stove (MSR Reactor or Windburner, not Jetboil)

• One freeze dried dinner and one breakfast

• Spoon

• Lunch food, whatever works for you

What's in my pack: Denali gear by Mark Postle and Steve House

Steve House and veteran guide Mark Postle have more then 30 Denali summits between them. Learn what Denali gear they like (and don’t like) in this article and in two videos from Uphill Athlete.

They review pretty much every piece of gear, naming exact brands and models. What do they cover?

• What temperature rating sleeping bag should you bring?

• Why are baby wipes (usually) a bad idea?

• Do you need gaiters? How about a headlamp?

• How much sunscreen should you bring? (Hint, not much)

• What's the best size and shape of duffel bag to go on your sled?

• Who’s the most important person to make friends with when you land at base camp?

• Pro tip: At camp, remove your liner boots, put on your down booties, and then put your foot in your outer boot to wear around camp.

• Pro tip: if you’re wearing puffy pants, you can unzip the fly and clip the rope to your belay loop through the fly. 

You get the idea - loads of tested expert tips! (Plus, a pretty long list of things you should not bring.) If you're headed to Denali, have a look.

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Here's a video covering clothing and personal gear with Mark, about 45 minutes.

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Here's a longer video/podcast version on the same topic, with additional expert advice from Steve House, about 2:12.

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And finally, here's the original article at Uphill Athlete, with a summary of the gear list.

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What's in my pack: rescue gear by Karsten Delap

Photo and most content today comes from Karsten Delap. Karsten is an IFMGA Guide and rescue expert. Connect with Karsten and see more tips like this on his Instagram, YouTube, and website.

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Say you’re on a search and rescue team. You probably have a “go pack” already loaded with the essentials of food, clothing, headlamp, first aid etc., but what about technical gear?

If your callout for a mission involves steeper terrain, having a small prepackaged kit of technical equipment can help you deal with unexpected contingencies. If everyone on your team carries something similar, this gives you lots of room to be resourceful and create more advanced lowering and raising systems if necessary.

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Here’s what rescue expert Karsten Delap carries for those missions when you don’t quite know what you might be getting into. 

• Petzl Altitude Harness (The Petzl Tour harness is a bit cheaper and only a little heavier)

• Petzl Connect Adjust personal lanyard

• Petzl GriGri

• Petzl Micro Traxion

• Petzl Reverso (plaquette style device) with round stock carabiner

• 4 locking HMS carabiners

• 2 non-locking carabiners

• two 5 mm prusik loops

• 120 cm sewn sling

• 180 cm sewn sling

• 21 feet 7 mm cord

• small stuff sack to hold everything

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Want to learn more about why Karsten chooses this specific kit, and what each item can be used for?

Head on over to his blog post to find out!

What’s in my pack: backcountry ski kit by Colin Zacharias

I love “what’s in my pack” style videos (or second best, reading an article) by real experts.

Here’s an excellent one from Colin Zacharias. Colin is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) and IFMGA certified guide, who has been ski guiding for decades. His gear is dialed, comprehensive, and fits nicely in a 30 liter pack.

Of course everyone will take away different things from a video like this, but here are a few cool tricks that were new to me.

• How to use wine corks (?!) to make a rescue sled

• Get a snow saw that can do double duty as a wood saw

• Some specialized first aid gear for leg injuries more common with skiers

Check out the video link below to help get your ski gear dialed in.

What's in my pack - alpine climbing by Steve House

Connect with Steve and learn cutting edge alpine training at his website, uphillathlete.com

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Want to know what a world class alpinist takes for an overnight climb? Watch this great YouTube video as Steve House explains his detailed gear choices. You’ll be amazed at all of the gear he manages to fit in a 30 liter pack!

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Some key points:

• Food: pretty much energy bars

• No Camelbacks or water bladders. Steve uses 600 ml soft flask collapsible water bottles. Carry no more than one liter total, because water is heavy. Put the flask in a mitten to insulate it if it's really cold, and try to always start off with hot water. He has a dilute electrolyte mix already in the water

• When you get to your bivy, first thing to eat is some nuts (almonds cashews, raisins). Also, have some sort of recovery drink mix like Roctane. You want carbs, amino acids, and electrolytes in the recovery drink

• Tries to avoid heating too much water, like for soup or tea, because that means you need to bring more fuel

• Dinner: freeze dried food. 1 bag per person, 800 calories. Pour in boiling water, put it inside your jacket to stay warmer

• Breakfast: instant coffee, 10 g protein powder, energy bar. Keep the energy bar in your sleeping bag so it's not frozen in the morning

• Stove MSR Windburner. One small canister can last two people for one day, if you’re careful. Brings an extra foil windscreen for the stove. Generally does not use a hanging stove

• Branched-chain amino acid tablets and electrolyte tablets to eat with dinner, for recovery

• Gloves: up to four pairs of gloves! Take mittens, belay gloves, lightweight action gloves

• Outer shell jacket: Patagonia Houdini if weather is good, Patagonia M10 if it’s going to be colder or windy

• Patagonia hyper puff belay parka

• Navigation: Garmin InReach, Garmin GPS, paper map in plastic bag, altimeter watch

• Sleeping bag: one night trips always bring down bag, more than one night, almost always bring synthetic bag. (Exception, long expedition style climb like Denali when you’ll have the chance to dry out your down bag.)

• Always keep a pair of dry socks stored in the sleeping bag. When you’re ready for bed, take off your damp/wet socks, put them on your chest to dry them, and put on the dry socks to sleep. In the morning, swap them, repeat for many days

• Sleeping bag get stored inside the bivy sack, and not in a compression stuff sack

• Neo air sleeping pad, folded up and put it inside the sleeve inside the pack; this can keep it from getting punctured

• Take a 4‘ x 8‘ very lightweight nylon tarp, to string up over his bivy sack

• Backpack: 30 Liter Patagonia Ascensionist

• Put a trash compactor bag inside your entire backpack, and pack everything inside of that to keep it waterproof