All My Bags Are Packed...

But I'm not leaving on a jet plane, I could never afford the baggage fees! As you can see below, my basement is currently awash with all kinds of gear, coming in two distinct varieties: basic camping/hiking gear and technical climbing gear.

Under normal backpacking conditions, I can often keep my backpack well under 35 pounds (~15 kgs) and sometimes less than 30 (13 kgs). I enjoy hikes much more when I am not exhausted from carrying huge loads up steep terrain. A climbing expedition stomps on my dreams of sub-35 lb packs and grinds them into the dirt with a big smile on its face. To begin with, we are bringing a heavier 4-season tent that can withstand the higher winds and lower temperatures of high altitude (it's a roomy 2-person tent that we might be squeezing 3 people into, not sure at the moment). Add this to the fact that we are bringing extra food and fuel because we will be staying multiple nights at our base camp and I am looking at more than 35 lbs before we even add up the climbing gear. The climbing gear is heavy, but it is divided between our group (as the tent would be also). Nonetheless, we are still looking at ~8.5 lbs for the rope, ~5 lbs for protection (stoppers, nuts, cams ect.), and then personal technical gear, such as crampons, ice axes, harnesses and helmets. All of this adds up quickly and we are easily looking at 50+ lb packs. Luckily we are only carrying this up ~4500ft of elevation the first day, where we will make our base camp. That's lucky, right?

One of the reasons we are taking so much gear is the variety of terrain and conditions we are expecting to face while in the mountains. It is early in the season for such a trip so we are expecting snow and ice, but there will also be exposed rock that might require rock shoes. The weather will also vary from 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the valley to well below freezing at our camps so we need the warm weather clothes to deal with such things. There is no way around it, we will be moving slow to our first camp.

In the mean time, the drive to Jackson, Wyoming will be nice. I've always loved road trips, even though this one is a 30 hour haul from Chattanooga.On the way we will be seeing family and friends and the freedom and anticipation of the open road only sweetens the deal.