I'm looking at Muztagh Ata or Lenin for summer of 2016. I am very comfortable with the gear setup I have now, and have had great success using it at over 6000m in a variety of conditions. I soloed Aconcagua with this setup last winter. I know that I need to ramp up my warmth for something higher and colder such Muztagh Ata or Lenin, but I'm unsure what would constitute overkill, or present me the best value.

My down outer layers right now are a Feathered Friends Volant Parka, and a pair of Feathered Friends Volant Pants. These two together are a sort of 'lightweight down suit' which is usually too warm to climb in. I layer these two with a Patagonia Nano Puff synthetic mid layer, two layers of merino on both torso and legs, a Patagonia R1 hood, and softshell pants. I had an unusually cold night on Aconcagua summit day, and was very comfortable.

My boots are Koflach Arctis Expe. I've replaced the liners with high volume Intuition liners, which are considerably warmer than the stock liners. I also have a pair of Purple Haze overboots for these, which are typically too warm to climb in. This combo is pretty solid, however I'm not sure if it's enough for higher given that my fingers and toes often seem to have circulation issues.


So, I really only want to buy one piece of warmth gear for next summer. I'm looking at the following options:

~ Go all the way, and buy a Feathered Friends Down Suit. Expensive, but my goal is an 8000m peak within a few years, so I'm pretty sure I'll get more use out of it in the future.
~ Get a warmer FF parka to replace my Volant Parka up high. Pair it with the Volant Pants. Probably the 'cheapest' option.
~ Get a new pair of boots. Seems like the least viable choice, as I'm unsure whether my Volant parka/pants are enough, even with top end Millet or La Sportiva 8000m boots on my feet.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!

Arghh so hard..Everyone has different circulatory systems and reactions to the cold. Although climbing peaks in the stans, its often amazing how hot you will get rather than cold.

If it was me, I would upgrade the boots. I think faffing around with liners and plastics and overboots is my idea of mountaineering torture. Slip your feet into some Spantiks etc and you will wonder what all the Expe fuss was about. If want to get up an 8ker then go full hog and cruise around in some funky Oly Mons. Just be warned, never walk in on them in rock..They are light for a reason and wont handle much wear ..sans crampons.



A fellow Canuck at 7,000 m

Cloud Ocean wrote:I'm looking at Muztagh Ata or Lenin for summer of 2016. I'm looking at the following options:
~ Go all the way, and buy a Feathered Friends Down Suit. Expensive, but my goal is an 8000m peak within a few years, so I'm pretty sure I'll get more use out of it in the future.
~ Get a warmer FF parka to replace my Volant Parka up high. Pair it with the Volant Pants. Probably the 'cheapest' option.
~ Get a new pair of boots. Seems like the least viable choice, as I'm unsure whether my Volant parka/pants are enough, even with top end Millet or La Sportiva 8000m boots on my feet.

I've summited Aconcagua twice and climbed Peak Lenin a few years ago. In both cases I had pretty cold nights, around -20C and windy. On Aco I wore MH Compressor pants over my softshell pants, but not on Lenin. In both cases I wore Primaloft DAS parkas but down would have been better.

You definitely don't want a down suit for Lenin/MA and will only wear it out on such climbs. Nor do you really need a better parka/pants. I agree with Radson that if you must buy something, improve your boots, if only because they're easier to walk in on these non-tech routes.

Kyrgyzstan/Xinjiang are incredibly hot down low, easily 40C in summer and really only cold above 6000m at night. I'd take the money you've saved on unnecessary gear and buy extra cold beers in town.

It gets butt cold in Kyrgyzstan above 6,000m like Damien mentioned. FWIW I climbed in my FF Icefall Parka from camp 3.5 on Lenin to the summit and I was still cold. Probably didn't layer enough. I had just a single heavy fleece that I got in Vietnam and expedition underwear underneath for top. For bottom I just had expedition underwear and a Patagonia softshell pants. Had the Spantiks for boots and Altimitts for mittens. Also no to downsuit on the 7,000m peaks.

For the 8,000m I would just go with the big boys. Don't fuck around here. If you were in California I would loan you all this gear. I'd rather see all this stuff on a peak than collecting dust in the closet.

Radson, Damien, Kevin, thank you all for your insight.

I think I will follow your consensus and go with new boots, stick with my current down parka/pants system. My mitt system is solid overkill already (I'm paranoid about hands) and I am confident it will do the job even to 8000m. You're right that overboots, liners, plastics are a hassle to deal with in a cold tent at altitude.

Now to figure out where I can get a pair of Millet Everest in China...

EDIT: Haahhaahahahaha, brilliant, Taobao has new ones, and used too! The price is insane, though...

http://world.taobao.com/search/search.h ... PV854_2099