Jesse testing out a nice 14-year Oban
Since this will be the last gear review from my Alaska trip, I figured I should end with the one item that we got the most use out of. Some trips are cold, and good down jackets are really key. Other climbing trips have lots of steep ice and mixed terrain where the choice of ice tools make a huge difference. On our trip, however, the most important pieces of gear were the two bottles of 14-year-old Oban scotch that we drank to help us pass the time during the endless hours of daylight while we waited fruitlessly for the temperatures to drop and the ice to form.
Expedition alcohol has some very specific requirements that it needs to fill: It has to be strong so you don’t need much to carry you through. It has to be smooth enough to drink straight from the bottle. And it cannot be some cheap crap that’s going to give you a nine-hour hangover if you drink too much of it. You have to be able to wake up the next morning, pound some water, and get on a route if the weather calls for such a move. There is enough down time on expeditions that having forced down time during good weather because of a hangover would be just about the dumbest thing you could do to yourself.
I was never much of a scotch fan until my friends Andy and Josh introduced me to a fine bottle during a particularly rainy climbing weekend in Indian Creek, Utah. Ever since then I’ve found sipping scotch to be a fine way to pass time and make new friends. Scotch has gotten me through a lot of cold nights in camp, so I was pretty sure it would be up to the task in Alaska. The day we arrived in the state, Jesse and I found a liquor store with a very unappealing name like “Bob’s Liquor” or something. We strolled in and loaded up. While searching the finer stuff, Jesse spotted the 14-year Oban, which was on sale for about $50 a bottle (which is a seriously good price), so we grabbed two of them on his recommendation (I had never had it before).
Our bottle didn’t even make it to the glacier before it got opened. We racked the first one while sorting gear in the Talkeetna Air Taxi bunkhouse. It seemed to work a little too well because we screwed around with gear until 11 pm, completely forgetting that it never got dark, and walked around downtown wondering why all the restaurants were closed. On the glacier, the scotch did an excellent job keeping us warm (not like that was much of an issue on this scorching hot trip), passing time, and making friends. And hey, that’s what good liquor is supposed to do.
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Tags: alpine climbing, scotch
Amen dude
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[...] BackcountryBeacon: Alaska Gear Reviews [...]
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My kind of gear. Crucial for survival in both high lands and highlands. But I woulda gone with Talisker…
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Oban, Talisker, Dahlwinnie, any of which is necessary on an adventure.
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