Recently I have been insanely busy with organising my book launch. Stupidly I have arranged it to be held a mere week after I return from Nepal. The last time I returned from an extended climb I spent one and a half months huddled in a corner of my Danish writing lair rocking backwards and forwards, being spoon fed energy rich food by my gorgeous (now) wifie and watching day time television… yup, those motivational poster photos come at a cost! (Note: I may have exaggerated a bit there…I mainly rocked forwards).
Anyway, so I have not gotten around to packing until last Sunday, which was a rainy day. I got a Skype message from Mal saying that, as I am arriving early, I will have to send my gear to Lukla ahead of the expedition. This sent me into a flurry of opening storage boxes, rifling through my outdoor gear, and trying not to dwell on how much money I have spent over the years on this stuff.
To give you an idea of the logistics involved in climbing, here is a quick summary of what’s going to happen with my gear:
Arrive in Kathmandu
Buy more gear and pack it into three different bags (Trekking&Kathmandu, Climbing Ama Dablam-more technical gear-and Climbing other mountains)
I send my climbing Ama Dablam and climbing other gear to Lukla where someone (?) will look after it until we arrive.
We fly to Lukla
Climbing Ama Dablam gear is tied to a yak and sent up one valley to Ama Dablam base camp.
Climbing other gear is tied to another yak who will follow us as we climb Mera Peak, Island peak, and then abseil down the Amphu Labsta pass towards Ama Dablam BASE camp (as they don’t have opposable thumbs, Yaks cannot abseil, he will have to go the long way!)
Have a teary reunion with our Ama Dablam technical climbing gear.
Climb Ama Dablam
Have a cup of tea and a shower.
Second teary reunion with wife in Australia
I dusted off my packing list from Manaslu, made some adjustments, and came up with this comprehensive gear list for climbing Ama Dablam :
Mountaineering gear
Ben Gear List:
Climbing:
La Sportiva Spantik boots
Crampons
Orange helmet
Harness (light)
Mitts
Ascender on short ropes
2x Slings
4x Prussic loops
Figure eight
Locking carabiner x3
Snap link Carabiners x3
Goggles
Socks – thick wool x2
Fleece balaclava
polyprop balaclava
Nalgene bottle (yellow-pee)
Nalgene bottle (clear – drink)
Toothbrush!
Petzal Reverso Belay Device.
Sleeping:
Therma-rest Pro-light
Therma-rest neo light (basecamp)
Sherpa brand 4 seasons sleeping bag
Sherpa brand 3 seasons sleeping bag
Polyprop liner (reactor)
Trekking (+/- climbing):
Big rucksack (Red!)
Gor-tec jacket
Waterproof pants (light)
Bib and brace pants (gor-tec)
Soft shell jacket
Primaloft jacket
Trekking shorts
Trekking shirt – quick drying
T-shirt or 2
Merino legs (200 and light)
Fleece pants
Softshell pants
Fleece Beanie
Gloves – Polyprop contact x 2
Sunglasses
Sun hat
Sunscreen
Head torch
Waterproof liner for rucksack
Merino underpants x5
Toiletries
Swiss army knife
Para-cord
3 mtrs of 4mm climbing rope
Trekking poles
Towel
Coupla stuff sacks
Misc:
We will have the option of both 12v and 240v on the trek and then using the same system at BC as Manaslu + goal zero system at AD BC
Now, did you see how many electronic gadgets I am bringing? This is purely so that I can blog from the wilds of Nepal, so, I would hugely appreciate any sharing, link-love or comments as we go.
excuse my ignorance, but why do you need two sleeping bags? and if you do need two because it’s crazy cold; why are they different? why a number three of whatever it is and then a number four as well?
Hey Adam, good question mate. One is a 3 seasons (not super-super warm) which I mainly use on the trek in, the other is a four seasons. The four is insanely warm – one night at camp four on Manaslu (7800 meters high) we recorded minus 24 degrees inside the tent, despite this I was toasty inside my four seasons sleeping bag, I woke covered in frost but was warm. It is also good to have two as when you are going up and down the mountain to acclimatise and gear carry you can leave a bag in high camp tent and one at base, saves a lot of carting things up and down. Gotta work smarter, not harder, at altitude
I love learning about how the original expedition up Mt. Everest was apparently in tweed blazers and wool sweaters or something like that. I still get all this fancy gear too, but it’s kind of neat to see people adventure with nothing.
Yeah I love the new gear, but it’s kind of funny that, despite all the recent advances in fabric technology, merino wool is still the best. Hard to beat mother nature!
excuse my ignorance, but why do you need two sleeping bags? and if you do need two because it’s crazy cold; why are they different? why a number three of whatever it is and then a number four as well?
Hey Adam, good question mate. One is a 3 seasons (not super-super warm) which I mainly use on the trek in, the other is a four seasons. The four is insanely warm – one night at camp four on Manaslu (7800 meters high) we recorded minus 24 degrees inside the tent, despite this I was toasty inside my four seasons sleeping bag, I woke covered in frost but was warm. It is also good to have two as when you are going up and down the mountain to acclimatise and gear carry you can leave a bag in high camp tent and one at base, saves a lot of carting things up and down. Gotta work smarter, not harder, at altitude
Nice -Air Jordan’s dude!
Nice -Air Jordan’s dude!
Haha Ice-Jordans!
I love learning about how the original expedition up Mt. Everest was apparently in tweed blazers and wool sweaters or something like that. I still get all this fancy gear too, but it’s kind of neat to see people adventure with nothing.
Yeah I love the new gear, but it’s kind of funny that, despite all the recent advances in fabric technology, merino wool is still the best. Hard to beat mother nature!
ahah, love the sudoku book mate
An absolute must have!