Gear List: Check the gear list. Pack and repack to make sure you know your gear. The gear on the gear list is mandatory to allow you to have a safe, successful climb as well as your entire team. If you have any questions we’re here to help.

Travel Gear:

• Travel Wallet: It should sling over your shoulder and lay discreetly next to your body
• Passport, cash and travel documents: Make sure to have a print out of all travel documents, pen, plenty of cash for the trip, and your passport handy.
• Casual Shoes/Dressy shoes/Sneakers: Light weight foot wear for travel, around town, and for dining at some of the nicer establishments where we stay.
• 1 XXL Duffel Bags: Heavy PVC duffel bags hold up to abuse and pack well. If you can’t get everything in one duffel you may decide to bring another small one.
• 2 Locks for Duffel bags: It is best to not tempt anyone into going through your gear so one lock per duffel is smart. TSA-type locks that customs officials can access and re-lock are handy as are zip-ties that can be cut off and put back on easily.
• Casual/Dressy Travel Clothes: It’s great to have some casual clothes for traveling from climb to climb and some dressier clothes for dining at some of the nicer haciendas that we stay at.
• Hotel vouchers if laying over en route to Ecuador: If you have extended layovers make sure to pre-book a hotel and print out the voucher. Our travel agent can help you with this.

Lower Body:

• Medium weight trekking boots: Comfortable boots with plenty of ankle support and warmth to trek to moderate altitudes in.
• 3 pairs of climbing socks, synthetic or wool: 1 medium weight for lower altitudes, and 2 heavier weight for summit days. They must not be too tight when used with climbing boots.
• Double climbing boots: Warm plastic double boots such as the Scarpa Inverno, La Sportiva Spantik, and La Sportiva Baruntse are ideal. Triple Boots are overkill and will be too warm. Single leather boots are not enough for the summit days!
• Medium weight gaiters: Must fit your boots. They will be used on the summit days.
• Chemical foot warmers: Optional, if needed. Some people use foot warmers for high altitude climbing and swear by them, others don’t. If you get cold feet you should seriously consider purchasing a pair of boot warmers and fitting them to your boots. They could prevent you from needing to turn around on summit day with cold feet.
• 2 pairs of long underwear: 1 thin and 1 medium weight. They will be worn underneath climbing pants so make sure the climbing pants will fit over them.
• 5 pairs of underwear: 2 pairs of synthetic underwear for climbing, 3 pairs cotton underwear for off mountain use.
• 2 pair of synthetic climbing pants: 1 thin and 1 medium weight. They need to fit over the synthetic under layers. Scholler type pants or quick drying zip-off pants are both great options.
• 1 pair of Gore-tex type full-zippered waterproof shell pants: Must be able to fit over your long underwear AND climbing pants together for warmth on summit day. These must be full zipper and should be light weight. They need to fit over your synthetic under layer and climbing pant combination to layer for warmth. They must be waterproof and breathable.

Upper body:

• Casual shirts/tops for travel
• 2 synthetic under layers: 1 light, 1 medium. These must fit underneath your mid weight layers. The light one will be for trekking days and the medium weight for summit days. A zippered collar is a nice option to have.
• 2 medium weight layers: 1 synthetic pile jacket like a soft shell or fleece, 1 down puffy jacket. These two layers must be able to be worn in unison over the synthetic under layer and underneath the water proof shell jacket and down jacket. They should be light and one should have a hood.
• 1 waterproof shell jacket: This needs to fit over your medium weight pile layers and be light weight, waterproof, and breathable.
• 1 heavy weight down jacket: This is to be worn at the huts and on the summit days. It must be able to fit over your other layers and have a hood. It doesn’t need to be an 8,000m parka but should be the step just below.

Head and Hands:

• 2 buff neck gaiters: These can be worn on the dusty drives to avoid sickness and on the mountain to warm and humidify the air.
• 1 face mask: A full face mask that can cover all of the skin on your face when used in unison with goggles is a necessity for cold, windy days.
• 2 heavy weight winter hats/beanies
• 1 sun/baseball hat: A sun hat that protects the neck is a great addition to your gear for trekking and on the mountain.
• 1 light weight pair of fleece/synthetic gloves: These may be used on their own or underneath the warmer glove and mitten layers
• 1 heavy weight pair of climbing gloves: These can be used on their own or with a lighter pair of fleece liners higher on the mountain when climbing in cold weather. They are required gear and should be warm enough to climb to the summit in. Gloves have more dexterity than mittens for manipulating gear so they should be worn as much as possible as long as your hands are warm.
• 1 heavy weight pair of down mitts: These are used as a back-up if you were to drop a glove or if it is extremely cold and you need a layer warmer than heavy climbing gloves. They should fit over a lighter fleece liner glove.
• Hand warmers: Like foot warmers, some people use hand warmers, others don’t. If you get cold hands you should consider bringing them although they don’t burn very warm due to the low oxygen at higher altitudes needed for the chemical reaction to take place.
• 2 pairs of Glacier glasses (one spare): These must block out as much light as possible and be the darkest level of protection (Cat 4). Removable side shields are useful. Bring a spare pair in case one is lost or broken.
• 2 pairs of goggles (1 pair is ok): 1 clear lens and 1 dark lens. The light pair will be worn on summit nights when it is dark if it is really cold and windy, and the dark pair the rest of the climb. They both should block UVA/UVB and fans are quite effective.
• Prescription eyewear: If you wear prescription eye wear make sure to figure out how you will deal with tis on the mountain when it is cold, dusty, and windy. Many people purchase prescription glacier glasses and goggles to use up high and use glasses and contacts down low.
• Sunscreen: At least SPF 30, zinc based and long lasting.

Personal Gear:

• Trekking Poles: These must be collapsible and fit in your duffel bags. A medium sized snow basket is recommended.
• Climbing Pack (doubles as a carry-on travel pack): Light weight 70 liter pack for climbing. We need to make a short hike carrying our gear up to the hut on Cotopaxi, hence the 70 liter pack. We recommend not bringing a second smaller pack for summit days.
• Pack cover: This is convenient if it rains for keeping your pack and its contents dry. It must fit your pack.
• Umbrella: An umbrella is nice to have if it rains. Buy a large one with a long handle.
• 1 sleeping bag: 1 rated to 0F or -10F: This should be made of down and be light weight.
• 2 headlamps; 1 medium sized and 1 small sized as a backup both with extra batteries. The main headlamp must be bright but light weight and the other will be used as a back-up. Bring extra batteries for both.
• Batteries and/or power bank: 8 AA batteries and 8 AAA batteries depending on what your electronics use. Make sure to have enough batteries for all your electronics and gadgets or a separate power bank.
• 2 X 1 liter water bottles, wide mouth Nalgene-type.
• 2 X water bottle covers (jackets): These must fit over your water bottles and be as insulating as possible.
• 1 X .5L thermos (optional): This will be used high on the mountain to make sure you always have unfrozen water. Make sure it insulates well and doesn’t leak. It is also nice for carrying hot tea on the route with you.
• Snack food: Dinners and breakfasts will be provided but be sure to bring enough palatable personal snack food as you will need on the mountain. We recommend 3 pounds/1.5 kilograms. It needs to be palatable when you don’t want to eat at altitude. Specialty items such as “Gu”, “Nuun”, and shot blocks are excellent.
• Water purification (optional): Iodine tablets, filter or UV treatment. We will boil all the water you will need to drink while on the trip. However, since it is boiled it takes a while to cool. If you want cold water then bring personal water purification. You can buy bottled water while in town, but it is nice to not create more trash than necessary and save some money. We don’t recommend drinking un-purified water out of the tap in Ecuador.
• Books and/or Kindle and music: It’s nice to have entertainment while at the huts and haciendas
• Camera: Lightweight is good for the mountain but you can bring a heavier one for the drive and in to base camps. Make sure to bring plenty of storage and your battery charger. Many people just bring their iPhones on climbs now.
• Multitool: Good for around camp but make sure not to cut yourself with the knife!
• Toilet paper (1 roll):
• Altitude watch: Knowing your altitude is important in the mountains. Everyone should have an altitude watch.
• Sun screen: SPF 30 or higher. Make sure to bring enough for the entire expedition.
• Hand Sanitizer: Bring several small bottles to keep in your pocket at all times
• Toothbrush and Toothpaste
• Nail trimmers
• Baby wipes: These are invaluable while at the mountain huts for personal hygiene and cleaning up.
• Basic medical kit: Should include: blister kit, low dose aspirin, band-aids, wound closure strips, triple antibiotic ointment, basic repair kit, scissors, diamox (acetezolomide, 125mg) for AMS, niphedepine (for pulmonary edema, time release), dexamethazone (for cerebral edema, 4mg), antacids, NSAIDs such as aspirin or ibuprophen, anti-diahrheal, duct tape, ear plugs, Antibiotics (upper respiratory such as Azithromycin and a gastero-intestinal such as Ciproflaxin), melatonin, Athsma medication if you use it (Advair), cold and flu medication,

Climbing gear:

• Harness: This should be lightweight and have detachable leg loops.
• 1 locking carabiner and 2 non-locking carabiner
• Helmet: There are a few sections with rock fall and ice fall potential.
• Ice axe: Bring an alpine axe that is long enough for walking and has a leash.
• Crampons: 12 point crampons that MUST fit your boots perfectly. Once we get on the mountain there is no option to change crampons so a proper fit is crucial. We will double-check the fit during the gear checks.