Winter Climbing Gear Lists, 2015-16

Scratching on Mount Evans, CO. 11/2015

'Tis the season!  The winter season.  Or, more accurately, the time to equip for the winter season. I have basically got my systems down, with minor tweaks one year to the next. Here's what I'll use this winter for climbing.  Ski gear is broken down in two separate posts.  This one outlines what I use for your standard ski touring missions.  And this one expounds upon kit for more specialized ski endeavors. 

First, for ice and mixed climbing day trips. Days like this are characterized by harder climbing, longer belays, and the ability to dry out back home at night. I start with a good night's sleep in a warm bed, some hot and fatty breakfast, and then spend 6-10 hours out and about.  

Clothes:

Ian M on the first known ascent of "Guilty as Charged" 2/2013

• Garmont Icon Plus boots.
• Wool socks.  
• Wild Things Saloppette.  My beloved "onesie".  Rigged with elastic under the instep:  No need for gaiters.
• Synthetic Boxers
• Synthetic/wool t-shirt
• Light syn long sleeve hoody
• Camp Neutrino Hoody
• Camp Magic Jacket and Pants (Or Rab Xiom jacket, if the weather's really nuking)
• Feathered Friends Helios jacket
• Fleece helmet liner
• Leading gloves: Camp G Comp Warm Gloves
• Belaying gloves: Camp Geko Hot
• Drytooling gloves: Ironclad Gripmaster
• Approach gloves: older pair of lead gloves
• Native Hardtop sunglasses, with lighter interchangeable lenses
• Approach hat: usually a stylie wool beanie. But sometimes a baseball cap for warmer days.
• Approach soft-shell jacket. ArcTeryx Gamma MX.  

Technical gear, etc:

• Camp C-12 crampons. 
• Camp X-Dream ice tools
• 7 Black Diamond and 5 Petzl ice screws.  Mainly 13 cm.  
• File, v-threader, and tools for crampons and X-Dream.
• 10 draws, mixture of alpine, sporty and load-limiting.  Equipped with Camp Photon carabiners. 
• Grigri and associated 'biner
• 3 more locking carabiners.
• 12 foot 7mm cord
• Double length sling
• Camp Air CR Harness
• Camp Speed 2.0 Helmet
• Cams, nuts, pins, and tricams (only for silly rock climbing stuff)
• Rope. Usually a 70m single. But could be almost anything, depending.
• First aid/emergency kit.
• A liter of water
• Half a liter of some hot drink
• Food.  4 bars and a salad or sandwich.  
• All packed into a Camp M3 pack.  

And then for day trip alpine routes. In the Sierra, Tetons, and Rockies in the winter that mainly means snow-covered rock.

12/2012. Mount Morrison. Colorado.

Clothes:

• Garmont Tower Extreme boots
• Wool Socks
• Outdoor Research Cirque soft shell pants.
• CAMP super light wind pants.  
• Very, very occasionally I'll wear long underwear. Very rare.
• Synthetic Boxers
• Synthetic/wool t-shirt
• Light syn long sleeve hoody
• Camp Neutrino Hoody
• Camp Magic Jacket and Pants (Or Rab Xiom, if the weather's really nuking)
• Feathered Friends Helios jacket
• Fleece helmet liner
• Sun hat
• Leading gloves: Camp G Comp Warm Gloves
• Belaying gloves: Camp Geko Hot
• Drytooling gloves: Ironclad Gripmaster
• Native Hardtop sunglasses, with lighter interchangeable lenses. 

Tech Gear:

• Camp C12 Crampons. Or CAMP XLC 490.  Or, commonly, none at all. 
• Petzl Sum'Tec hammer and adze pair.  Or CAMP Corsa.
• Rock pro. At most: 
• 10 slings
• 10 cams
• 10 nuts
• 4 pitons
• 6 screws
• Grigri and associated 'biner
• 3 more locking carabiners
• 12 foot 7mm cord
• Double length sling
• CAMP Blitz Harness
• Camp Speed 2.0 Helmet
• Rope. Single, 50m at most. 
• MSR Denali snowshoes
• Camp Xenon 4 trekking pole
• First aid/emergency kit.
• Two liters of water
• Half a liter of some hot drink
• Headlamp
• Food. 6 bars and a salad or sandwich.  
• All packed into a Camp M3  pack.  
• Iridium GO satellite phone. 
• iPhone loaded with relevant maps, gps app, emergency phone numbers, camera, route beta, guidebook photos, etc.  

Finally, for overnight climbing.  Here, we're talking trips to more remote peaks and the multi-day ridge traverses. Like a winter ascent of the Grand Teton. 

Middle Palisade. 2/2013

• Clothing.  Basically the same as the single day alpine missions.  For slow-going trips to the highest and coldest "Lower 48" peaks I'll switch the Helios Puffy for something thicker.  I have a few options there.  Also, throw in another pair of socks.  Nothing more.  
• Boots:  Most trips it's La Sportiva Spantik double boots.  Climbing and camping up high with single boots is the most common super-aggressive choice winter climbers make.  I do it, and pay for it a significant percentage of the time.  Are you climbing in single boots because of ignorance, thriftiness, or because you absolutely, couldn't-possibly, make the moves in doubles?  Only one of these is valid.  And still won't prevent foot cold injury.  
• Sometimes I carry the climbing boots while skiing in. Sometimes I'll climb the mellow routes in ski boots.
• Camping
• 21x40 inch chunk of new, flat closed cell foam.  No egg-crate shapes, no ridges.  Just flat foam.  HTFU. 
• Thermarest NeoAir XTherm if I'm feeling extravagant
• Feathered Friends Widgeon (-10f) or Lark (+10f) sleeping bag.
• Or, depending on the partner, Feathered Friends Spoonbill bag.
• Black Diamond "Can't wait 'til" Firstlight.  
• MSR Reactor and 2 oz per person per day of fuel.  
• Lighter and matches.
• Wag bags
• Tech gear- Basically the same as for day trips.  I'm more apt to shorten the rope and slim the rack and shorten the pitches when the pack's got camping gear in it.  
• iPhone loaded with books and tv and maps.  
• Food- Just add water dinners and breakfasts.  Fill a 1 qt ziploc with energy candy and bars etc for each day.  About 1.7-2.0 pounds per person per day total.  Include some vessel to hold hot food (usually a freeze dried envelope. But sometimes a rigid bowl) and something to eat it with: a light spoon. 
• Toiletries. Toothpaste and brush, eye care, sunscreen, personal medications. 
• All packed into the Camp M3. Yeah, it fits. If it's real big and sloggy, I have a Cold Cold World Chaos.  But that's less alpine and more expedition-like.