CaleHoopes

LOL. DPS... No advice for me? I don't have it all figured out either.... ;-)

Lance, I'm also heading to Denali in June. We fly on June 4th and are driving up there before that. For food, I didn't want 21 days of Mountain House. Therefore, I started looking into all sorts of options. Currently I'm trying out meals from Hawk Vittles (http://www.hawkvittles.com) and PackitGourmet (http://www.packitgourmet.com). The meals from Hawk Vittles are actually quite good - although the cook in bag method is bunk. I cook em in a GSI Fairshare Mug. I've currently tried the Linguine with Mushroom Sauce (Needs Spice), Spicy Chicken (Good), Cowboy Pasta (Good) and Bison Stew (Ok). Today I'm trying out the Hashbrown & Sausage breakfast. Excellent stuff. Packit Gourmet is AWESOME. They have some really interesting meals - however, their greatest add is that they sell items in bulk. Like just freeze dried meat, fruit, vegetables, etc. I've bought packets to replace the MSG in ramen and bought individual items (like dried onions, olives, vegetable mix) to add to ramen. Good stuff. They have a breakfast smoothie that I bought but have yet to try - it'd be nice to take some dried fruit, drop it in a smoothie, mix it up and get 400 calories quickly in the morning... COLD. Also, they sell the HORMEL pre-cooked bacon. This stuff is SHELF STABLE (unlike some of the other pre-cooked bacons). And if you can get a few minutes in the cooking pot, you can crisp it up some. Bagels and pre-cooked bacon is going to be a common meal for me on the mountain. Don't forget the spices and olive oil. I've bought a small little plastic bottle with a screw-on lid for olive oil. Considering that it's 250 calories an oz, it's good stuff to add to meals. I've found that all the meals I've tried above benefitted from spice MIXES - like Mrs. Dash. I plan on bringing: a mexican spice mix, an italian spice mix and a generic savory spice mix (like montreal steak mix). Finally, I'm heading over to Cured in Leavenworth to grab some shelf stable salame to take with us. Their stuff is totally awesome and won't get bad up on the mountain. Feel free to contact me directly: caledh@gmail.com We are an independent climb of 6 folks and we have high hopes but know we might just be getting a month long vacation. Ping us - maybe we can wave at each other as we go up and down the hill! Cale Hoopes Sammamish, WA

Skeletor, I'm sure your question was directed to sharp_end. However, I went guided on my trip and was very happy with IMG. Phil Ershler basically loaded up down to Ecuador way back and developed this as an international climbing destination and the other guide services followed. That means that IMG's trip is a little special - you get to go to off the beat places, meet amazing people and such. You're even more lucky if you go on a trip with Phil. He has a lot of insider knowledge. The best part about an IMG trip is interacting with Romulo Cardenas. Romulo is a famous adventurer, mountaineer and guide in Ecuador - you might have seen his picture in a Patagonia calendar before. He's an amazing climber and an excellent guy! Finally, IMG trips introduce you to Jorge Anhalzer. The Anhalzer family is a famous one in Ecuador. Jorge's passion (other than climbing) is to fly around the volcanoes of Ecuador in ultralights alone and take amazing pictures (panoramas & such). Jorge's work is stunning: http://www.jorgeanhalzer.com/. Anyhow, my trip in 2010 was fantastic.

I'm a big fan of the OR Extraverts. Cheap and great for ice. And not too cold/warm. Kinda perfect. Also disposable (based on price).

Very happy with my Nikon AW100 for climbing (P&S). 16MP & 1080p. 5oz. Lookie: http://www.nikonusa.com/Nikon-Products/Product/Compact-Digital-Cameras/26293/COOLPIX-AW100.html

Excellent work. I've stood on top of Cotopaxi and been darn near the summit of Cayambe (damn bergshrund collapse). Anyhoo, looks like a great trip. I bet Pinchincha was awesome! To climb up and see all of Quito must be incredible!

Hmmmm. Fermented gu doesn't sound like a bad idea. A little buzz with my performance hit...

Very nice. I'm heading up in June and it was nice to see a fairly good representation of the experience. Nice work!

KOMO's website always attracts the worst trolls. That SolomonUW guy should really get a life. Looks like the injuries were definitely significant. Good luck on the recovery!

Yeah, never needed more than 2 liters for summit and back to camp. I guess it's different for everyone, but I haven't had a stove on summit crawls.

Picking up mine today and using this weekend. I'll give a review when I get back.

Very nice writeup IndianolaTom. We can all learn a lot from your assessment. Hoping for a great recovery for him as well! :-)

Ueli has partners??!?!?!?!?

Yes, you did DPS. Appropriate.

This is really well done. I like the site greatly and will give it a spin for organizing my Denali expedition gear.

Billcoe, You're absolutely right. My Cilo 40B is this pack but with all the features and none of the weight.

Hey, I know that this may not work for you, but many of those boots ARE carried by Backcountry.com. If you have the funds, estimate the size and order one or more pairs of boots you want to try. Their return policy is almost as good as REI (return stocking fee of $6 - SIX DOLLARS). I bought my Baruntse boots from Backcountry. Tried them out on a very long 14 day adventure, then sent them back for $6, got a larger pair, went to a boot fitter for extra comfort and now I have a perfect pair of expedition boots. With a credit card, you can accomplish anything. Other than that, the Whittaker Cartel in Ashford does indeed carry many of those boots - however, I'd bet if you make a size mistake, you're gonna be hosed. Marmot's selection is not bad, but not great. If you're looking high end - you can't ignore the reviews all over Dane's blog: http://coldthistle.blogspot.com - most valuable boot reviews ever.

No offense, but what makes your design incredibly different than the Black Diamond alpine packs (Speed, Mission, etc.)?

I just recently bought the inReach. I've used it once up on Rainier as a test - I bought the Android one and sent my wife a text message from Anvil Rock on the Muir Snowfield. So, I had a ton of problems trying to get the Android/inReach to pair over bluetooth. On that trip, I busted my 5 year old GPS - so, I decided to return the Android version and bought the Earthmate/inReach and I like it much better. It pairs better with the inReach because they had control of the technology. The Earthmate soft-keyboard works great and the devices pair much better. The interface of the online map stuff for the inReach is still a bit mysterious to me. I bought the device to use on Denali - expedition tracks and the ability to send text messages to my wife - worth the expense. I'll be giving the whole system a really good test this weekend up at Rainier again - so I'll let you know how it goes. Considering the 4-missing folks on Rainier last month in the sets of storms... I think this device is an absolute in my pack now.

I've also noticed some performance issues. What's the database backend? Possible there's some indexing issues? I'm sure you have enough space but are the queries which bring up posts indexed correctly?

I also am a big fan of the Endeavor stuff. A zip-off soft shell/hiking pant. I've climbed Rainier in them and they will be my go-to non-insulated pant on Denali. I love that they zip-off! They are awesome pants. I do wish the DWR was a little better on them, but it's generally a pretty good pant. I absolutely love the vest, though. Talk about awesome. Huge pockets, warm enough, etc.

I like to climb with nothing but trickery.

I wondered when the spray would come on this one. I'm sure he meant vantage. However, I'll make sure I can find some Pitons for this one... and maybe an Alpenstock...

Seriously AWESOME! I'd love to do these lines if they ever come in again.

Post climb massage