Denali Clothing and Gear tutorial from Uphill Athlete

A review of the clothing and equipment needed to climb Denali's West Buttress route by veteran Denali guide and Uphill Athlete coach Mark Postle.

Denali Personal Gear List

Boots: La Sportiva Olympus Mons Boots
Camp Booties: Western Mountaineering Standard Down Booties
3-4 Pairs socks (over the calf ski length)
Lenz heated socks for summit day (if your feet run cold)

3-4 pairs underwear
Patagonia Capilene mid weight Long Johns
Patagonia Capilene Thermal Weight Long Johns
Patagonia Simul Alpine Pants (rig tie downs on cuff?)
Marmot Precip Eco Full Zip Rain shell pants (full side zip!)
Mountain Hardware Compressor Pants (full side zip!)

Sports Bra (1-2) Comfy and work well under heavy pack
T shirt Voormi Merino Wool Tech T
Sun Hoody Voormi River Run hoody
Patagonia R1 Hoody
Patagonia Houdini or Houdini Air
Patagonia Micro Puff or DAS light
Patagonia Nano-Air Hoody Full Zip
Patagonia Storm 10 Rainshell
Patagonia Grade VII Down Parka (Parka sized to fit over other layers)

Light weight liner glove: BD Light Weight Soft-shell Gloves
Insulated leather work glove: BD work glove, Kinko 1927, REI Co-op Guide Insulated Gloves
Warm Glove: Black Diamond Guide Gloves or Guide Finger (removable liner for drying)
Mittens: Black Diamond Super Light Mitts

Buff X 2 (cut small hole to breathe)
Ball cap
Neoprene half face mask (Velcros in back, cut small hole to breathe)
Glacier Glasses
Beko Nose guard
High contrast Goggles (Julbo Aerospace Reactiv 1-3 Super Flow?)
Thin skull cap to fit under helmet
Helmet: Petzl Sirocco

closed cell foam pad: Thermarest Z-Rest
Inflatable pad: Thermarest Neo-air Xtherm
-20deg F down sleeping bag (-10 if you sleep warm or late season trip)
Feathered Friends and Western Mountaineering make great -10deg bags.

BIG Backpack!
Mountain Hardware AMG 105
Gregory Denali 100
Hyperlite 5400 Porter

140-150 Liter Sled Duffle (long and skinny is best to fit in sled)
Budget: Outdoor Products Deluxe Duffle
Non Budget: Hyperlite Duffel
Note: Alaska Mountaineering School clients will be provided a custom duffle.

Harness: Petzl Altitude or Mammut Zephir Altitude (I love the plastic coated toggle buckle on the Mammut when its super cold in the morning)
12 point Crampons, Steel only no aluminum.
Ice axe: (Light!) BD Raven, CAMP Corsa Nanotech
Trekking poles (w snow baskets)
Snowshoes

Locking and non locking carabiners
Cordage/slings for glacier rig
Ascender: Petzl Ascension (right or left handed for your dominant hand)
Stuff sacks: Sea to Summit Ultra Sil Dry Sack or Hyperlite Pods/Stuff sacks
1 large for sleeping bag
1 large for misc clothes
1 small/medium for all small things (Hyperlite Pod)
1 small for cup/bowl/spoon/hot drinks
3 for lunch food (5# lunch food per bag)
1 XL for cache bag (20-35 liter)
Ear Plugs
Watch w alarm
Small solar Panel and battery (consider sharing panel)
Paperback or Kindle
Individual baby wipes
Toilet paper (2 rolls)
Small hand sanitizer
Foot and/or body powder
Hand warmers 3 pairs
Blister repair kit
Advil and Advil PM
Toothbrush and paste
Diamox
Lip Balm
Sunscreen
Pee Bottle: Nalgene 48 oz Flexible Cantene
Pee funnel (for Women, Practice!)
Mug (or just use 1/2 liter Nalgene w Bottle Boot), bowl, spoon (no metal)
1.5 Liter water bottle and .5 liter water bottle. 40below for both w 40below boots
Starbucks Vias or Trader Joes Instant coffee packets w cream and sugar. The TJs ones are way simpler if you’re a cream and sugar person. You’ll probably need the calories anyway!
Favorite snack food. Bring a variety of snacks. Altitude messes with your appetite and its nice to have a few different things to choose from. Sweet and savory. Welchs single serving fruit snacks and peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets are 2 of my favorites.

Things I don’t bring YMMV
-Redundant base/midlayer/softshells. Easy for these to creep in. If you cant wear all your layers at once then consider which ones might be unneeded.

-Thermos. I like a 1/2 liter Nalgene in Boot Bottle as my mug/thermos/extra water bottle.
-More than 15 pounds of lunch food. 5 pounds per week.
-Heavy shell/rain gear. Light hardshells are fine, especially once you get higher Denali is a fairly cold environment. It can occasionally rain at lower elevations.
-Excess toiletries/handwarmers/electronics/camera gear.
-Fleece Balaclavas. With 3-4 hoods, 2 buffs, thin hat and neoprene facemask I never ended up wearing my Bala so I stopped bringing it.
-Gaiters. Triple boots make them redundant but even with normal double boots I always found tie downs on my soft-shell pant cuffs adequate.
-Headlamp. .
-Giant bottle of sunscreen. Small 2 oz bottle is fine, mostly just for face. I try and cover up with Buff/hat/sun hoody instead.
-Big container of baby wipes. Freezes solid anyway. I prefer a handful of individual packaged wipes. Easy to thaw/warm in pocket.
-negative 40 F sleeping bag. -20 F is great unless you sleep incredibly cold. You also have a lot of puffy clothing you can press into service if needed.