Adam Riser has been a climber for 11 years, guided 18 parties to the top of Mt. Rainier, and made expeditions as far north as the Northwest Territories and as far south as Peru's Cordillera Blanca. When not climbing, Adam spreads his time between downhill bike racing and backcountry skiing. He's also pretty good at ping pong.
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.
Jesse taking serious advantage of the burner and grill combo.
My partner and I had an obscene amount of gear when we got off the plane and set foot on the glacier in Alaska. Among our several duffel bags, skis, and backpacks was a Primus Profile Duo Campground Stove and 10 large propane canisters. The rest of base camp must have thought we were nuts, but my partner was the designated cook (since he’s extremely good, and I can barely feed myself) and insisted on something as close to a home kitchen as he could get. I had my reservations about his choice, but I went along. I decided that I had made the right call at about the time I was scarfing down my second steak and vegetables dinner in three days.
Getting the most out of the 'poons on the Mini-Moonflower.
Crampons are one of the most important pieces of gear you take with you on an alpine trip. They literally have an impact on every step you take and must handle every type of terrain with ease. Unlike ice-specific crampons that only need to climb ice well, a pair of alpine crampons must climb ice, rock, and snow equally well. They also have to be light, fit your boots securely, and not ball up when the snow is warm and sticky. I tried out a couple crampons before heading north to Alaska for a climbing trip and ended up choosing the Petzl Sarken Crampons. Here’s how they did …
Our neighbor Rick showing off his plush and, more importantly, shaded kitchen under his Mega Light Shelter.
Most gear is tested by actually using it. You climb with your tools, wear your boots, carry gear with your pack, and so on. Then, after using that gear you form an opinion based on your experience, and you can then speak with an informed opinion on the good and bad properties of that gear. Today I’ll review a piece of gear that we didn’t bring on our climbing trip to Alaska: The Black Diamond Mega Light Shelter. This item was on our group-gear list, but neither of us owned one. We tried to borrow one without luck, and when it came time to buy one, we were broke and scratched it off the list. It was a terrible mistake, and we regretted it from the first hour of the trip.
Using the Camp Starlight Helmet on the Southwest Ridge of Mt Frances.
The last time I went on an alpine trip, I brought along a heavy hard-shell helmet for two reasons: it was tough enough to withstand travel to base camp, and it’s what I had always done. In recent years molded helmets have gained popularity for their extremely low weight, and I’m all about low weight. For this Alaska climbing trip, I chose the CAMP Starlight Helmet for its low weight, low profile, and excellent fit. Every item has room for improvement, and this one is no different. But all things considered, it got the job done pretty well.
Charging batteries under clear blue skies and the North Buttress of Mt. Hunter.
As soon as it was decided that our Alaska trip was going to be based out of an airstrip-side base camp where we didn’t have to carry anything farther than a hundred yards, our gear list basically doubled. Among all that gear was a whole ton of electronics. Between the two of us, we had three iPods, a set of speakers, two point-and-shoot cameras, one full-size DSLR, and a satellite phone. Expecting the temperatures to be battery-sucking cold, we brought along a solar charger to keep things running so we wouldn’t be without music during rest days or without charged cameras when we wanted to take a few photos. After looking at a few options, we decided on a kit from Goal Zero to keep us powered up.
Testing out the Spantiks on a pre-trip training day on some Wasatch alpine.
In my opinion, boots are the most important piece of gear you take on a trip. It’s also one of the hardest pieces of gear to get right. A perfect fit is absolutely paramount, or you’re going to have sore feet the entire time. Warmth is extremely important if you like to keep your toes attached to your foot. Weight, crampon compatibility, durability, and a host of other considerations come into play as well. I have really strange feet (size 7, extra wide, and the right is bigger than the left), so I got my hands on a pair of boots several months in advance of my climbing trip to Alaska to make sure things were completely dialed for the trip. After checking out several pairs of double boots, I chose the La Sportiva Spantiks and began the long fitting process required for my damn goblin feet. Between training and the trip I spent dozens of days in these boots and used them on everything from ski approaches to snow slogging to ice and mixed and even pure rock climbing. Here’s how they did …
On any expedition, you're gonna spend tons of time in the tent.
A good base camp tent should be plenty roomy, be relatively easy to set up, have a large vestibule and two doors, and most important … be tougher than a coffin nail. We were blessed (cursed) with really warm, calm weather during a recent climbing trip in Alaska, but I’ve been on trips where things didn’t go that way. Several years ago I was on Mt. Rainier early in the season when a huge storm moved in on our group. Winds measured 100mph, and snow buried the entire camp. Three of us took turns shoveling out the tent in hour-long shifts for a whole day so the tent wouldn’t get completely covered. We started the trip with a brand new four-season tent from a very well-respected company. When we got down the mountain, the tent was so thrashed, that we just threw it straight in the dumpster before going for beers. For the Alaska trip, I wanted a tent that would have handled the Rainier experience with a shrug. My partner and I brought along the Black Diamond Bombshelter. We were not disappointed.
I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last couple weeks climbing in the Alaska range under beautiful blue skies and temps hotter than what I left in Utah. Although we didn’t get all that much done due to obscenely warm temperatures (88 degrees in the tent one day), I did get the chance to beat the crap out of a lot of gear. Now, I’m a big fan of brutally honest gear reviews. When people post rants that aren’t based on any real-world use, it helps customers no more than when others post flowery praise about untested gear based on nothing more than brand loyalty. So, in an effort to dilute the ocean of “I don’t really like the color” reviews out there, I’m going to post a few reviews of gear that I used on the trip, beginning with the Western Mountaineering Puma Sleeping Bag.
If you want to read an obscenely lengthy blog post with way too many photos, then go HERE. For the review, read on …
Andrew McLean has forgotten more about backcountry skiing than most people will ever learn. His knowledge is deep like the ocean and vast like the sky, or maybe even the universe. Or, well something really really vast. Here, he shows how to, with the speed and precision of a Jedi master, do something that may seem impossible for most skiers. Folding skins in the wind. Watch and learn from the man himself.
