Veteran Denali guide and Uphill Athlete coach Mark P. walks you through the clothing and personal gear he uses on Denali. Filled with details and tips, this video is a must-watch for anyone considering gearing up for North America’s highest mountain.
Uphill Athlete’s Recommended Denali Clothing and 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
- -20 deg 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)
- Misc:
- 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 Canteen
- 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. 40-below for both w 40-below boots
- Alpine Start Instant coffee, 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 we don’t bring
- Redundant base/midlayer/softshells. Easy for these to creep in. If you can’t wear all your layers at once then consider which ones might be unneeded.
- Multiple weights of long underwear bottoms. With ski socks and triple boots most of your lower leg is already covered. I found a single pair of mid weight LJ to do just fine. If its really cold enough for a true fleecy LJ I just put on my puffy pants. As it warms you can always strip off you full side zip pants where as you’re trapped in heavy LJs.
- 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. Anytime after early May its plenty light out even for reading at night.
- 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.
- Big camp booties. I like the lighter/smaller 40Below booties and mine fit inside my boot shells to wear around camp if I need the traction or warmth
- Big knife. If you want to bring a knife bring the Swiss Army Classic. Scissors and tweezers are often more useful than a blade anyway. Don’t bring any lunch food (meats/cheeses) that need slicing in the field. Pre slice everything in town.