Alpine Backpacking | Wild Basin, RMNP

FOOTWEAR

+Sticky Rubber Approach Shoes

+3-Season Alpine Boot, early season

+Technical Climbing Shoes

+Socks

UPPER LAYERS

+Synthetic T-shirt

+Sun Hoody

+Fleece

+Active Climbing Insulation

+Light Hardshell Jacket

+Warm Belay Jacket

+Vest (optional )

BOTTOM LAYERS

+Leggings

+SoftshellPants

+Light Hardshell Pants

GLOVES/HATS

+Rappel/Rope Work Gloves

+Light Alpine Gloves

+Buff

BACKPACKS

+20L-25L Climbing Pack

ACCESSORIES

+Sunglasses, Sunscreen, Lip Balm, Sun Hat

+Nalgene, Minimum 1.5L

+Climbing Snacks: 100 calories an hour!

+Camp Dinner Kit

+Breakfast and Dinner Options

EQUIPMENT

+Helmet

+Harness

+Cramponsearly season

+Light Alpine Toolearly season

+Belay Device w/Locking Carabiner

+3 Additional Locking Carabiners

+120cm Sewn Sling w/ Non-Locker

+Autoblock Cord w/ Non-Locker

Smile Mountain Guides can supply rock climbing gear including helmets, harnesses, ropes, cams, slings, carabiners, belay/rappel devices, ice axes, and crampons. *We do not provide alpine boots

BREAKFAST (~300 – 600 CALORIES)

Having a hot breakfast is important, especially in cold weather environments. Most climbers go with instant or quick-cooking hot cereals like oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, or dry cereals and powdered milk mixed with hot water. All of these meals taste better and provide more calories when fortified with dried fruits, nuts, honey, butter, and even chocolate chips! Tastier (and heavier!) breakfast ideas are included below.

For your course, you should have 4 breakfasts. About half of these should be basic meals to decrease weight on the mountain and the remaining can be more luxurious. Don’t forget your hot drinks!

Breakfast Ideas

– 1 cup of granola + freeze-dried fruit + 3 tablespoons of powdered milk mixed with hot water

– 2 packs of instant oatmeal + dried fruit + nut butter

– Dehydrated breakfast meal (check serving and calories)

– 2 packs of instant grits + bacon crumbles + cheese + butter + salt and pepper to taste

– 2-4 powdered eggs + 4-6 strips precooked bacon + tortilla

LUNCH (~800 – 1600 CALORIES) X 2

Lunch begins just after breakfast and ends just before dinner. It is the most important meal of the day and needs to have enough variety to keep you happy over your trip. Continuous eating of small quantities will keep up your energy levels for the whole day, especially on big travel/summit days where we will be on the move for 8 hours or more.

For your course, you need lunch food for 5 days. Determining the amount of lunch food to bring is difficult to gauge on your first mountaineering expedition. General guidelines are given below. The rule many guides work with is the weight of your lunch food should be equivalent to the weight of your breakfast and dinner food added together.

Each day it’s nice to have a “real” food item. You may consider some of these tasty sandwich/wrap combinations:

1. Start with a hearty bread product: flatbread, bagel, naan, flour tortilla, croissant, or pita pocket

2. Add protein: hard cheese, Laughing Cow cheese wedges (no refrigeration needed), cured meat, black beans or hummus, nut butter (we like Trail Butter because it comes in a squeeze pouch), tuna pouch, or smoked salmon

3. Add flavor/texture: dried fruit, chips, hot sauce, mustard, or pesto. Also consider, a hearty pre-made sandwich, leftover pizza, or a burrito for the first day of the course

In addition, pack snack foods to supplement any sandwiches or wraps, such as:

– Nuts (cashew and almonds personal favorite – can buy in 1lb quantities at Trader Joe’s)

– Jerky – beef, turkey, bacon, salmon, and tofu jerky are all great options

– Dried fruit (Trader Joe’s has an excellent selection prepackaged by weight)

– Peanut butter filled pretzel chunks

– Trail mix

– Cheese sticks/squares

– Plantain chips

For summit day or big travel days (approximately 2 on a 3-day course) focus on energy-rich food. On these days we travel for roughly an hour between breaks. At each break, you should be eating 200-300 calories (or about 1 energy bar). These days can have 4-8 breaks. These foods include:

– Energy bars – focus on bars with real ingredients. We love Probars, Pure Organic, Kit’s Organic, Larabar, and Chia Bars. If you are ambitious, try making your own!

– Energy chews (Shot Bloks or the like)

– GU’s, Cliff Shots, etc.

– Candy bars (Snicker’s are a favorite of most climbers)

– Gummy bears

DINNER (~800 – 1200 CALORIES)

For the greatest preparation and cooking ease, freeze-dried food is an option. Usually, these foods only require adding boiling water and are ready within minutes. Downsides to freeze-dried food are the cost, an increase in single-use packaging which must be packed out, uninteresting flavors or textures, gut issues from poorly re-hydrated meals, constipation, etc.

With slightly more effort but vastly reduced cost, any supermarket can be tapped for a wide variety of wilderness-ready prepared foods. Items like Knorr rice or pasta entrees in envelopes cook in 5 to 10 minutes, and are very tasty. It is best if you experiment ahead of time at home so that you know which you prefer. For those with a culinary creative streak, very tasty meals can be made up from scratch with only a minimum of additional effort. Items such as quick brown rice, quick or instant white rice, bulgur, instant precooked or dried beans, dehydrated vegetables, packaged or bulk sauce mixes, smoked salmon, exotic cheeses, and whatever spices and herbs you like or want to experiment with can be combined for tasty meals.

You will need 4 dinners for your course. Many guides bring soup packets, like instant miso soup, for each meal (unless the meal is already soup-based). These make great pre-dinner hot drinks and help us hydrated. Don’t forget your hot drinks!

Dinner Ideas

– 1 packet instant ramen noodle soup + sweet and spicy jerky (shredded) + parmesan cheese + dehydrated vegetables

– 1 pre-pouched Indian Meal (we like Tasty Bites) + boil in the bag rice + coconut oil (vegetarian/vegan depending on meal choice)

– 1 box mac and cheese + sundried tomatoes + tuna packet + red pepper flakes

– 1 box cous cous + sundried tomatoes + pine nuts + chunks of salami