I've receive a lot of email from people asking what equipment we took on our Cassin Ridge trip, so I decided to put our equipment list on the web. But please note the following. What equipment climbers take is due in large part to personal preference. Many very good climbers will take stuff we did not take or leave behind stuff we did take. Furthermore, I make absolutely no claims about this being a good equipment list or a list of stuff that you should take up the Cassin. My ONLY claim is that this is what we took; nothing more is implied. Each climber will need to make their own judgement about what to take on the climb. That being said, I hope the following is helpful. Good luck on your climb!
Polypro briefs 1 pair
Lightweight polypro 1 pair
Wool shirt
Pile jacket
Down parka
Gore-tex parka
Pile pants < size="1">(essential, wore every day!)
Gore-tex bibs
Mountaineering Boots
Polypro socks 2 pair
Wool socks 1 pair (plus 1 pair down low)
Overboots
Sinchilla balaclava
Wool balaclava
Thin Capilene glove liners (generally useless)
Thick Capilene glove liners (too thin, fingers got cold)
Overmitts and liners
Overgloves and liners
cotton neckerchief
Glacier glasses
Ski goggles
Sleeping bag
Thermarest
Pack
Ice axe
Ice Hammer
Spare pick for ice axe
Daisy Chain
Crampons
Rubber sheets for crampons
Ascenders 1 pair per 2 people
Foot slings (for ascenders), prussik
Helmet
Sit Harness
Biners (2 normal for ice axes and daisy chain, 1 locking for chest harness, and 1 munter hitche for connecting things)
Rappel device (ATC) (I didn't really use this much except to rappel on the bergshrund--otherwise I used a munter hitch, or a body belay when the rope froze)
Insulated water bottle
Knife
Spoon
Mug
Tupperware eating container
amino acid pills (3 or 4 a day, 40 total)
Toothbrush
Floss--optional
Sunscreen
Antifog for glasses (didn't use)
Camera
Spare battery for camera
Film 7 rolls < size="1">(I used 4 x 24 and 1 x 36)
Earplugs
Eye shades (for sleeping)
Notebook and pen
Trash bag for cache
Walkman radio, earphones
Wisk Broom--nice, but optional
Tent
Stove 1 and spare pump and parts
Fuel Bottles < size="1">(we ended up taking the big gallon can and 3 small bottles up the NE fork, which was too much by about 2 or 3 bottles)
Pots 1 up high, 2 down low
Board for stove
Stuff sack for snow
Topo, Map
Compass 1 per group
Altimeter
CB Radio and batteries
Pee bottle
spare cap for pee bottle
Toilet paper ---3 total rolls, 2 up high < size="1">(we had about 1.5 rolls left out of the 2 up high)
bags
Lighters, matches
First aid kit
spenco blister repair kit (only for down low)
molefoam
athletic tape
vicodin
murine
neosporin ointment
rolaids
waterproof matches
stove repair kit
zipper pull for tent
wrenches for ice axes (1 each person)
screwdriver for ski bindings for down low
vise grips for down low
baling wire
duct tape
crampon repair kit: wrench and nuts only
tent pole repair kit
sewing kit
2mm nylon cord (30')
Thermarest patch kit
9 screws (could have done with 6 screws)
2 pickets
4 camalots (#3/4,1,2,3)
some (4?) large nuts (we should have taken smaller ones also)
10 normal slings
2 double slings
2-15' slings
biners (probably 1 each sling, 1 each piece of pro, and a couple of extras)
rope (9mm x 50m rope, we took zip line to rap with)
We planned to take 12 days food and gas (5 bottles) up the Japanese Couloir. For down low, maybe 3-4 days of walking (to base of Japanese Couloir), maybe 6 storm days, so 10 days total for down low. Total of 21 days food. Take 6 bottles of gas and 15 days of food up NE fork. < size="1">(we took way too much food to base of NE fork,but it was safe that way) We ended up taking 12 or 13 days food up the NE fork
Oatmeal (2packs/person) or granola (3/8 lb/person)
dried milk for granola (1/3 cup a day)
vitamin pill
tea--20 bags
1 cliff bar (or power bars, etc.) (no chocolate cliff bars)(total of 12)
1 'meal pack'
1 snickers bar
butterscotch candies
soup miso
freeze dried dinner (1/person) or lipton dinner(1/person)(rice is best)
Take no margarine for the lipton dinners. Take 2 freeze dried and 10 lipton dinners for 12 days food up high
Powdered apple cider--10 days (very good!)
drinks--electrolyte replenisher(lemon lime) 6 up high
spice kit (black pepper, cayenne, tabasco)
drinks--tang, exceed fluid replacement
nuts--very popular
cheese
icka
Lipton Dinners
Dinners to be left at airport
wool socks
shovel
extra gas
extra food
duffle bag for sled
bungie cord for sled
prusik, biners, for sled
Skis
Ski Poles
Climbing skins
extra pot
Screwdriver for skis
Wands, for cache
Trash bags for cache
last modified 9/10/2003