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Hey guys,
I know theres a lot of climbers on this site from what I've seen, and was wondering what you guys think of ultralight alpine climbing or mountaineering. Do you practically keep the same gear list you would for a 4 season ultralight backpacking trip as lets say a mountaineering trip? (plus the rack and climbing specific gear). Does anything change for you in your gear lists? Are there any ultralight tips that are climbing related?
Thanks,
Matt
You might do better posting your question here in the Mountaineering & Alpinism section of the forums
http://cascadeclimbers.com/faster-is-lighter-tips-for-increasing-your-speed-in-the-alpine/
A very important concept that I’d like to begin my article with is that faster almost always means lighter. However, lighter doesn’t always mean faster.
Think of a party speed climbing the Nose; they likely have a light rack, one rope, one set of jugs, a light pack with a couple litres of water and not much else. They can race up the wall at lightning speed because they are comfortable running it out and belaying very little. They don’t need puffy jackets or tonnes of water as they will stay warm through exertion and be able to rehydrate at the car in a matter of hours.
However, if a team of less experienced climbers replaced every single carabiner on the rack with a lighter equivalent, ditched the second rope and left the portaledge in the car, they are not going to race up the Nose in a matter of hours. This is obvious, and an extreme example of course, but the concept is the same for most climbing situations
.
The alpinist must learn to move faster before he/she can begin to travel significantly lighter. Not the other way around.
Once the climber has the ability to move faster over more complex terrain, he/she can be certain that it will be safe to leave behind heavy items such as bivy gear or extra insulating layers. This will in turn make it much easier for the climber to move as fast as possible, but that skill must already be present.
more at link …
;)
Ties in quite nicely with Andrew Skurka's thoughts of "Stupid Light".
Could summarise the article as "skills, experience and fitness, or as some may say "rat cunning" beats light gear any day…"
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