chuck 09 Jan 2007 11:36 pm
I’ve tried to capture everything I brought with me to South America in the following gear list. I started with the gear list recommended by Aventuras Patagonia and then modified as necessary to account my additional activities in Patatagonia after the Aconcagua expedition.
| Item | Quantity | Area | Description | Comments |
| Socks, thick wool or polyproplyene (Outer Socks) | 3 pairs | Feet | Smartwool | |
| Thin Silk or Polyproplyene (Inner Socks) | 3 pairs | Feet | Patagonia Lightweight Liners | |
| Vapor Barrier Liner Socks | 1 pair | Feet | Seal Skinz socks | Use with chacos instead of neoprene booties |
| Plastic Double Mountaineering Boots | 1 pair | Feet | La Sportiva Nuptse | |
| Lightweight Hiking Boots or Sturdy Tennis Shoes | 1 pair | Feet | La Sportiva Makalu Trekking | |
| Booties, down or Polarguard | 1 pair | Feet | TNF N.S.E. Tent Bootie | |
| Gaitors | 1 pair | Feet | Green OR | |
| Neoprene Booties with Sole | 1 pair | Feet | Will use Chacos and water proof socks instead | |
| Lightweight capilene turtleneck | 2 | Upper Body | Patagonia Capilene (Green/White Silkweight, Blue Midweight) | |
| Expedition weight capilene shirt | 1 | Upper Body | Icebreaker Slalom Zip | |
| Fleece Jacket | 1 | Upper Body | Arcteryx Gamma Jacket | |
| Breathable/Gore-Tex windproof outer jacket with hood | 1 | Upper Body | TNF Kichatna | |
| Heavyweight down expedition parka with hood | 1 | Upper Body | Patagonia Down Parka | |
| Cotton T-Shirts | 2 | Upper Body | Moosejaw, Arcteryx and Cloudveil shirts | |
| Polypropylene Boxers | 3 pairs | Lower Body | Patagonia SW Boxers | |
| Capilene lightweight long underwear | 1 pair | Lower Body | Patagonia LW Capilene | |
| Expedition weight capilene long underwear | 1 pair | Lower Body | Icebreaker Strider | |
| Fleece Pants (full length side zippers) | 1 pair | Lower Body | Patagonia Micro Puff Pants | |
| Gore-Tex pants (full length side zippers) | 1 pair | Lower Body | TNF Mountain Light | |
| Shorts | 1 pair | Lower Body | Opted for zip-off trekking pant shorts | |
| Lightweight cotton pants | 1 pair | Lower Body | REI and TNF Trekking Pants | |
| Fleece/Down/Wool Mittens | 1 pair | Hands | Black Diamond Lobster Mitts | |
| Capilene Gloves | 1 pair | Hands | OR PL Base Gloves | |
| Insulated finger gloves | 1 pair | Hands | Cloudveil Work Gloves | |
| Gore-Tex wind shells for mittens | 1 pair | Hands | Black Diamond Lobster Mitts | |
| Ski Hat | 1 | Head | Patagonia Ski Beanie | |
| Balaclava | 1 | Head | Icebreaker Balaclava | |
| Baseball Cap | 1 | Head | Orange MJ hat | |
| Thermarest | 1 | Sleeping | Full-length expedition | |
| 5,500-6000 cu. In. pack | 1 | Pack | Lowe Alpine Crossbow 90+15 | |
| Large daypack | 1 | Pack | Osprey Talon 33 | |
| 7000 cu. In. duffel with lock and zipper | 1 | Pack | Patagonia Large Stellar Black Hole | |
| Ice Axe | 1 | Tech. Gear | Black Diamond Raven Pro | |
| 12 point non-rigid crampons | 1 pair | Tech. Gear | Black Diamond Sabretooth Pro | |
| Crampon Bag/Point protectors | 1 | Tech. Gear | Black Diamond Crampon Pouch | |
| Adjustable Ski/Trekking Poles | 1 pair | Tech. Gear | Leki Sport Trekker Poles | |
| Headlamp | 1 | Personal | Single LED Doite micro-headlamp | |
| Sun Glasses | 2 pair | Personal | Smith Mainline, Julbo mountaineering glasses | |
| Ski Goggles | 1 pair | Personal | Scott amber goggles | |
| Sunscreen | 2 tubes | Personal | Dermatone SPF 23 | |
| Sunscreen lip protection | 1 stick | Personal | Aveeno SPF 15 lip moisturizer | |
| Skin moisturizer | 3 oz | Personal | Aveeno skin moisturizer | |
| Mole skin | 2 sheets | Personal | Dr. Scholl’s moleskin | |
| Bandaids | Assortment | Personal | Band-aid brand of course | |
| Tape | 1 roll | Personal | Athletic tape | |
| Throat lozenges | 1 pack | Personal | Chloraseptic dissolving sore throat strips | |
| Pocket knife | 1 | Personal | Leatherman Wave | |
| Plastic bowl | 1 | Personal | Foldable plastic bowl | |
| Insulated large cup | 1 | Personal | OR Insulated Cup | |
| Titanium Utensils | 1 | Cooking | Snow Peak Utensils | |
| 1 Qt water bottles | 2 | Personal | Nalgene bottles | |
| 1 Qt Lightweight Thermos | 1 | Personal | Moosejaw Thermos | |
| Toothbrush | 1 | Personal | GUM Toothbrush and protector | |
| Toothpaste | 1 | Personal | Aquafresh toothpaste | |
| Toilet Paper | 2 rolls | Personal | Charmin travel TP | |
| Antibiotics | 1 sheet | Personal | Immodium | |
| Aspirin/Ibuprofen | 1 bottle | Personal | Advil | |
| Disposable Lighter | 1 | Personal | BIC disposable lighter | |
| Medium Compression Stuff Sack | 3 | Pack | Granite Gear Air Compressor | |
| Small Compression Stuff Sack | 1 | Pack | Granite Gear Air Compressor | |
| Large Compression Stuff Sack | 1 | Pack | Granite Gear Air compressor | |
| Water treatment | tablets | Personal | Iodine crystals and Aqua Mira tablets | |
| Cash in small bills | $100 | Personal | Washingtons, Lincolns and Hamiltons | |
| Small camp towel | 1 | Misc | MSR Camp Towel | |
| Soap | 1 bottle | Misc | Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap | |
| Baby Wipes | 1 pkg | Misc | Kleenex brand moist wipes | |
| Foot Powder | 1 bottle | Misc | Deferred | |
| Swimsuit | 1 | Misc | Will use shorts | |
| Sandals | 1 pair | Misc | Chaco sandals | Use with Seal Skinz to replace neoprene booties |
| Cotton Banadana | 1 | Misc | Everest Map Bandanna | |
| Earplugs | 1 pair | Misc | ||
| Pee Bottle – 1 Qt Capacity | 1 | Misc | Small Nalgene | |
| Lunch treat/Energy Bars | 2 lbs | Misc | Jerky, Snickers, Trail mix | |
| 1 oz spice | 1 | Misc | Forgot to pack | |
| CamelBak | 1 | Misc | 100oz Widemouth Camelbak | |
| Chemical Handwarmer | 3 | Misc | Chilean Special | |
| Portable water filtration system | 1 | Misc | Deferred | |
| Passport | 1 | Misc | US Passport | |
| Aconcagua Climbing Permit Fee | $225 | Misc | 700 Argentinian Pesos | |
| Camera | 1 | Canon PowerShot SD600 | ||
| Above from Aventuras Patagonicas Gear List | ||||
| Chilean Passport Fee | $100 | Misc | ||
| Three person tent | 1 | Shelter | Mountain Hardwear Annapurna | |
| One person tent | 1 | Shelter | Black Diamond Firstlight | |
| Cook Stove | 1 | Cooking | MSR Whisperlite Stove | Confiscated by the TSA |
| Cook Stove | 1 | Cooking | JetBoil stove | |
| Titanium cookset | 1 | Cooking | Snow Peak Cookset | |
| Sleeping Bag | 1 | Sleeping | Mountain Hardwear Crazy Legs 550 | |
| Organizer Sack | 1 | Pack | OR Zip Sack #2 | |
| Laptop | 1 | Gagdet | 12″ Apple PowerBook | |
| Organizer Sack for Electronics | 1 | Pack | OR Backcountry Organizer #2 | |
| Laptop sleeve | 1 | Pack | RoadWired Advanced Protection Laptop Sleeve (Compact) | |
| 72mm Polarizing Filter | 1 | Camera | Quantaray 72mm Circular Polarizer Filter | |
| USB Flash Reader | 1 | Camera | GGI USB 2.0 CF Reader | |
| Camera Bag | 1 | Camera | Tamrac Digital Zoom 4 | |
| Spare Camera Battery | 1 | Camera | Nikon EN-EL3e | |
| Camera Lens Cleaner | 1 | Camera | Lil Rocket Blast Tube | |
| Tripod | 1 | Camera | REI Travel Tripod | |
| Plug converter | 1 | Gadget | Kensington | |
| Airplane/AC laptop adapter | 1 | Gadget | Kensington 70W Apple | |
| USB Cable | 1 | Gadget | Generic USB cable | |
| GPS | 1 | Gadget | Garmin eTrex | |
| GPS/Heart Rate Monitor | 1 | Gadget | Garmin Forerunner 301 | |
| AA Batteries | 6 | Gadget | Energizer Lithium AA |


February 22nd, 2007 at 9:40 am
Happy Belated Valentines Day Chuck!
Reading your tales is an advenure iteself for us your following of readers. (You most certainly have gained verbal writing skills for your father, editor of Clark Chronicals.) I can’t imagine your disappointment not getting to the top of your mountain that you have dreamed about. But do not discount your adventure is still that, a GREAT adventure. The majority of us will forever climb our own dreams in our minds over & over again and never step foot any further. You, my nephew, are an inspiration.
The biggest news here is that little Matthew has begun to crawl on all 4′s.
Angela hasd all 4 wisdom teeth removed last Friday. I stayed with them to help with the boys. She, like me, did not do well with anesthesia, & it was a good thing they had my services. She is much better & can eat again.
Dave should close on house #2 tomorrow.
We are going to Cleveland tomorrow for a Joel Osteen conference & be back Sat.
Angela & Brady has ther 1st anniversary Sunday on Poppi’s Bday. By the way, I have printed your chronicles out for him to reas, review and read again. Then he put on his clipboard to share with friends to lovingly boast & ask them to pray for you.
Paul may get a job at a restaurant–sorry, I can’t remember the name.
Tally ho!Love,
Aunt MaryAnne
Don’t forget any sand!
March 20th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
[...] On the first afternoon I waited to do my gear check in the hotel room with a fellow expedition member named Mark who would become my tentmate for the duration of the expedition. Mark is from Hawaii and this was his fourth attempt to summit Aconcagua. His first attempt ended when he came down with a severe case of bronchitis and had to ride a mule off the mountain. Having lost his glove liners during a river crossing earlier in the trip he found himself adjusting his crampons at altitude on summit day. Touching his hands to bare metal bled any remaining heat from his hands brought on a case of frost nip which ended his second attempt. Bad weather last year prevented a summit bid on third try. Mark was a wealth of knowledge about Aconcagua and obviously had a lot of experience to share and he patiently answered all my questions about what was in store for the next three weeks. I certainly hoped having Mark along would be a good omen and the fourth time would be a charm for him. Mid-afternoon there was a knock on the door and we met our head guide who also happened to be named Mark but was from Oregon. He looked like a mountaineer and had a very laid back attitude. During the trip Mark we would learn while Mark did not take himself too seriously he was very serious and realistic about the endeavor in front of us and had years of experience. The gear check went well and Mark approved all of the gear I had lugged down from Chicago, much of which was new and purchased especially for this trip. [...]