Gear List Blowout
As I was packing up my gear for a two-stage trip to Alaska, I decided to shoot photos of it for future gear lists on StraightChuter. I’ll have to see how long it takes me to get around to the actual list and details, but in the meantime, here’s some/most of what I take on skiing expeditions…
Glacier Kit – 40 wands, 2 picketts, saw, probe, alumapoons, hammer, adz, two 30m ropes, etc..
Harness & glacier travel kit.
Harness and travel kit packed up in a skin bag (ice axe for size comparison).
Two BD 50cm Venoms – one hammer, one adz both with technical picks and leashes.
40 3′ wands with floro tape and flagging.
Wands with a “wand condom” to keep them organized and from flapping in the wind.
Cook kit – 33oz fuel bottle, 3l black pot, frying pan, FairShare Mug, #2 cone & filters, MSR XGK, etc..
Packcloth pot liner – keeps the pot from getting scratched up and good for camp organizing.
Details of what the pot liner holds – heat ring, XGK, pump, floatie filter, spondonical, ti Spork, spatula, etc..
Cook kit all wrapped up and ready to go.
Electronics – all AAA or lith ion.
Repair kit (Leatherman shown for size reference).
Details of the repair kit – wire, zip ties, tent/pole sections, JB Weld, screws & bits, needle/thread, MSR kit.
Day tour 1st Aid (I don’t take this on expeditions). Knife shown for size reference.
Details of my day tour 1st Aid Kit – AAA’s, Advil, lighter, pain meds, skin wax, headlamp, Micra.
Expedition 1st Aid Kit
Meds – 2 Z-packs, pain meds, Advil, etc..
Bandages, heat packs, emergency blanket.
More stuff from the big 1st Aid kit – tape, compress, skin wax, knife, floss/string/
Packs – Summit Rocket 40 (expeditions), Chuter 15 (safe Wasatch day trips), ABS Powder 15 (day trips).
178cm BD Current skis, Whippets 2x, nylon skins, Dynafit ST Verticals, BD Quadrant boots.
Shells – MHW Synchro softshell, Jovian jacket, Bokta pants, Spearhead mitts, knit beanie.
Warm layers – Compressor synth pants, Subzero Hooded jacket, beefy mitts.
Baselayers – MHW Sychro pants, Bridgedale socks, MHW Powerstretch Zip T’s Pataoginia boxers.
Misc – BD helmet, goggles, pee bottle, 1l water bottles and covers – 2x.
Sleep/Shelter – Foamie, ExPed Down 7, MHW Trango 3.1, Wraith -20 bag.
Wheesh.
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Help support StraightChuter.com and pack all of this stuff and more into a Mountain Hardwear Expedition Duffel Bag from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…
Category: 02 Gear, Gear Reviews
Glad to see you packed a clean kitchen towel and new scrunchy!
Curious about the lengths you cut your picketts down to. Pro and Cons?
Thanks for the look inside your bag…
The only thing missing is a LoopRope.com I can send you one no charge to see for yourself why it should be included. It’s the duck tape of bungee cords!
Hi Smokey – I run pretty short picketts (18″ and 24″?) as I also have my skis to use as mega picketts if need be. Bean Bowers first showed me really short picketts (maybe 12″?) down in Patagonia, and for firm snow, they work well. More often than not, I’ll bury them as a T anchor, so the extra length isn’t needed.
did you mean to call that a “Waundom”!?!
Cool post. I need to get more organized.
MIA: Shovel?
Hi Ashley – I only noticed afterwards that my shovel(s) were hiding in the packs. So, they are there in spirit. :)
I like “Waundrom.” :) I wonder what kind of customers you’d get if you made a product called a Wand Condom?
Great gear pics, thanks for posting. Do you use an airbag pack for expeditions or only day trips, doesn’t look like you have one, maybe due to added weight?
I really like this kind of posts! I’d love to have some more info about your first aid kit… Have a good trip!
Hi Chris – I just use an airbag pack for Wasatch day trips, otherwise it is too hard to travel with and too heavy once you get into the 30-40l pack range.
Travel Scrabble??
where are the donkeys?
Thanks for this post. I’m headed to Valdez solo for my first trip to Alaska next Friday, camping and touring everyday. This gear list was clutch. Only a couple things that I wouldn’t have thought of, and that probably saved me.
Wrangells! Good luck….sooooo envious (a little).
Some freshies this weekend should clean things up for you. Epic is possible.
Chitina is out of Nutella, but maybe not Kenny Lake.
Advil etc? That looks like a bag of blue meth like on breaking bad. No wonder you climb so fast. Just kidding. Very clean gear layout. I wish my ak trips looked that organized. Thanks for the site Andrew.
Michael – in Utah, we call them “partners.” ;)
The bottom right hand baggy in the expedition first aid kit looks like it contains the special ‘blue meth’ Walt and Jesse cook in ‘Breaking Bad.’ Don’t worry I’m not judging anybody.
All of that stuff fits in your 40L expedition pack?! What’s the secret?
Yeah as far as the customer base for the “Waundcondom” or “Waundom” is concerned. I think it would boil down to whether or not there are rain delays in LARPing or not. If not we may have a business venture going….Lets not get territorial over the naming though, we saw how that behavior doomed the “bro” or should I say the “man-zierre”.
Brendan – Ha! I wish. My personal (or at least current) expedition philosophy is to set up a basecamp and then do day trips from there. Or, to drag sleds. At 143lbs, I am not a pack-animal and really hate hauling heavy loads around in the mountains, let alone trying to ski anything steep with them. I like the 40l pack as it allows me to do an overnight or two away from the basecamp, but it is hardly a LoadMaster.
Stephen – let me know if you need help raising venture capital for the Wandom. ;)
I see your MHW Summit Rocket has a roll top closure but the production ones on their website look like their still running the reversed fixed micro zipper lid. Am i missing something? Home mod? Pro climber/skier rock star issue only? Outside of the occasional Trader Joes run I find the fixed lid less than an ideal solution. Thanks for posting up the details of your kit.
Hi Postle – Nope, it is a stock Summit Rocket as far as I know. The roll top takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do, it is nice.
Great post. You don’t find your 50cm BD Venoms a bit short for glacier travel/ski mountaineering? Or is it that your using your poles/whippets most of the time and the ice axes for more technical ice? Thanks!
Hi Rich – yes, as you mentioned, I use my Whippets (one in each hand) roughly 95% of the time and once in a while will pull the Venom’s out if I get into something steeper and/or icier.
Andrew – I recently got a chance to play with the Chuter 15 and Chuter 28 backpacks. I was disappointed that, when turned upside down and given a good shake or two, that my Avy probe and shovel handle would fall out of the pack, through the hole at the top of the flap.
How have you gotten around this problem? I tend to be a pretty aggressive skier, even in the backcountry (sending cliffs, etc.). Aside from this problem, the pack is just about the perfect backpack ever designed. As much as I’d REALLY love to own one, I can’t imagine ever using it because of this problem.
I’m also disappointed to see these packs go away from the Mountain Hardwear lineup next year (to be replaced by the Snowtastics), rather than just fixing the problem with the hole in the top.
Hi Brian – Yes, I wish the Chuter packs had been able to go through another round of prototyping as I liked the overall concept of them, but some of the details needed to be tweaked. It’s too bad as products rarely get a second chance if they don’t work right on the first production run. Alas.
I still use my Chuter packs, but have modified the back tubes with velcro tightening straps to help hold shovels and probes in. Or, I carry them on the inside, which is less than ideal, but still works.
Got it. I was thinking of adding a buckle to the flap that covers the hole on the Chuter 15 (I can’t believe the tiny strip of velcro was expeceted to hold!). The buckle would attach the small flap to the middle tool sleeve. By adding the buckle, the shovel will certainly never fall out, and the probe will probably stay in place, as well. A wider flap would be a little more ideal, but it should work this way. Should be a pretty easy modification too. I also thought about using some seam sealer, to glue the flap over the hole, but the tools can still fall out the side of the flaps. A buckle attaching the flap to the middle sleeve should make it pretty foolproof.
I love everything else about it though! The hypalon slits going down the middle of the large tool flap are brilliant – as is using a Voile strap there to attach things. It’s perfect for quickly strapping your jacket to the pack without really stopping. The webbing strip on the underside of the flap can work the same way, if you want to protect it from precipitation or brush.
I like the Chuter 15, overall, as a product, over the Chuter 28, as with a pack that size, I sometimes prefer to have a frame on a pack that size. That, and it’s impossible to find a small pack with back panel access – a feature that I’ve always loved. Much kudos for bringing one to market!
Just some thoughts and musings, in case you end up playing around with that design some more.