SummitPost.org

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:One way to avoid cold injury is to stay hydrated.

Another cold weather injury prevention tip. Take one asprin and one garlic pill a day. The asprin thins the blood and the garlic makes the platelets less 'sticky' so circulation to the extremeties will be improved.

A number of folks advocate taking a satelite phone. My wife insisted I take one and I regretted it.

-The phone was the single greatest expense of the trip
-The phone was heavy and bulky
-The batteries ran out extremely quickly in the cold - you will want a solar recharger
-I got to hear all about the problems at home which took my attention off the mountain

Books are a great idea. I suggest books that are light hearted and easy to read. I figured that I would use the time for self improvement and brought scholarly books and classics that were either not entertaining or difficult to read.

I brought both synthetic and thin wool liner socks (Smartwool). I rotated the socks I wore daily, drying the damp ones at night in my bag. After a couple of days the synthetic socks smelled like unholy death while the wool did not smell much at all.

My partner brought a small bottle of Gold Bond foot powder. That was genius.

Down booties are worth the weight.

Books are a great idea. I suggest books that are light hearted and easy to read. I figured that I would use the time for self improvement and brought scholarly books and classics that were either not entertaining or difficult to read.

Audio books are even better.

Sounds like at least a few SP'ers will be out there...give me a shout out, I'll be the guy in the yellow tent...I mean with the black pants...I mean ummmm...

Just a couple of random comments...

We pulled sleds only to 11K. It's usually a double carry to 14K camp so a sled is not 100% necessary above 11K. So sleds are unplesant but you only have to pull them for ~3 days on the lower galciers. So I'm not sure if a tire pulling training is that necessary.

We took way too much food and had gear that we could do without. Agree that it's not that hard to bring "luxury" items to the 14K camp but all that unnecessary food and gear irritated me and took time to manage.

Here is how I did my backpack training: I would go on a hike with my wife (usualy in NH White Mountains) and take a couple of gallons of water; then empty it out on the summit to save my knees on the descent. Was a lot of fun to watch reactions of other hikers out there!

Same here! Have worn the Spantiks both in the gym and up a 2 mile residential road gaining 1000' dragging a tire and 65# pack up the sidewalk. I make up stories when they ask:

Solo trip to the North Pole

Solo trek across Africa

Training for the Olympic Bobsled team

It's all good! Scott

peladoboton wrote:

benjamingray wrote:Sounds like at least a few SP'ers will be out there...give me a shout out, I'll be the guy in the yellow tent...I mean with the black pants...I mean ummmm...

i'll be the one swearing about the weather and melting snow....

BUT, you won't be the only one!

Great tips!

Myself and another SPer will be there May 11 - June 5.

bdynkin wrote:We took way too much food and had gear that we could do without. Agree that it's not that hard to bring "luxury" items to the 14K camp but all that unnecessary food and gear irritated me and took time to manage.

What most people take too much of is Gorp so watch how much you pack. I never think of eating when working hard so most of mine goes uneaten. Experience on trips like this has taught me to plan better. What also helps is to put your food in bags labelled for each camp. That way you know what to take up on carry days and what to leave behind when you move up to the next camp.

I am with Mountain Trip group. I'll be looking. Scott

Reading this topic I found lots of good info from those who already been there.

Regarding the training, I'm already tired from my job but I do my best to get in shape for the "big one" and since we still have lots of snow in the mountains we even tried the sled with one bag of cement and one box of tiles (I'm a tile setter), about 40kg, for a couple of hours...it was hard work.

Now I have a dilema too. Have enybody use a D90 or similar cameras on the mountain?
How many batteries did you bring? There is any possibility to recharge them at ABC?

Thanks.

Alti,

Contact Mattyj on this forum. He is quite the "kevin-kodak" and hauled a lot of camera gear up Denali. I myself am also way into DSLR's but am brining the coolpix 'cause I am a wimp! My DSLR is staying home and I am using a Solio to charge the I Phone (music) and the camera. Scott

I've never climbed Denali, so I really should be in the shut up seat.

HOWEVER, !!! my little experience has taught me that a super critical part of your success will be based on a simple question.....

How do your boots feel? did you break them in? Are they warm and comfy like cinnamon toast? Any ouchie spots? take care of that now.

Not sure if this helps, but I'll be taking a D5000 with a standard sized lens to Denali this year. I will also be bringing 3 fully charged batteries, as I'm not expecting to be able to charge them on the mountain. I will also have 9 Gb of storage capacity. On one hand I'm not looking forward to lugging around the DSLR, but on the other I know it will result in getting some phenomenal shots!