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.