Equipment for Mountaineering

 

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:

1. Arrive in Kathmandu
2. Buy more gear and pack it into three different bags (Trekking&Kathmandu, Climbing Ama Dablam-more technical gear-and Climbing other mountains)
3. I send my climbing Ama Dablam and climbing other gear to Lukla where someone (?) will look after it until we arrive.
4. We fly to Lukla
5. Climbing Ama Dablam gear is tied to a yak and sent up one valley to Ama Dablam base camp.
6. 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!)
7. Have a teary reunion with our Ama Dablam technical climbing gear.
8. Climb Ama Dablam
9. Have a cup of tea and a shower.
10. 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 :

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

• Pelican case
• Camera (+charger)
• Memory cards
• Go-pro (+spare battery)
• Steripen (+batteries)
• Solar monkey (USB charger)
• Music player + earphones
• USB battery charger (AA + AAA)
• SPOT (+batteries)
• Cables
• Mac-book
• Leatherman tool (small)
• First aid kit (basic)
• Aquaseal
• Duct tape (Or Mal bringing?)
• Drugs (See below)

Drugs:

(As the token pharmacist I bring a lot of drugs)

• Azithromycin 500mg x 2
• Metronidazole 200mg x 21
• Ciproflox 750mg x 14
• Ciprofloxacin 500mg x 14
• Paracetamol/codeine x 8
• Amoxycillin875mg/Clav125mg x 10
• Chlorpheniramine 2mg x 6
• Diclofenac 25mg x 18
• Diclofenac 50mg x 50
• Ibuprofen 200mg x 14
• Metoclopramine 10mg x 25
• Temazepam 10mg 25
• Cold and Flu, Day/night – 1 box 
  
• Diamox x 90
• Fucidin 2% Crm – 1 tube
• Menthol foot powder
• Clotrimazole crm
• Throat lozenges
• Gastrolyte
• Alcohol hand wash

To buy:

Kathmandu:

• Black diamond guide gloves from Shona’s like Mals
• Ice ace
• Venom Ice hammer
• Lip balm
• Sunscreen
• Sleeping mat – foam
• 6x Barrels for Mal
• Poly-prop socks x3
• Trekking, mid-warm socks x 5
• Codeine (cough suppress)
• Dexamethasone  (oral + intramuscular – AD kit)
• Locking Carabiner x 1 more

Australia:

• Batteries for steri-pen
• Batteries for SPOT
• Batteries for headlamp
• Suduko book

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.