Tent – we took a two man, three season tent, (a North Face Bullfrog) that weighs about four pounds. I carried it.
Space blanket – Will carried this to protect the floor of the tent.
Sleeping bags – We each carried a synthetic fill sleeping bag stuffed into a Lowe attack nylon summit pack that doubles as a compression bag
Thermarests – we each carried a 3/4 length thin thermarest. Mine had a slow leak.
Water filter – Will carried a Pure pump that weighed over a pound. It has an iodine impregnated filter so we tended to boil water for drinking instead of filtering it.
Pot & stove – I carried a little MSR butane stove inside of a set of nesting titanium pots. The whole setup, including matches, base and repair kit, weighs a pound and a half.
Gas – I carried four cartridges of MSR isobutane fuel. We used two cartridges and cooked our last breakfast on the third. Better safe than sorry, I guess…
Cups, bowls & spoons – We each had a plastic bowl, a plastic spoon and one of those thermal cups you get at gas stations.
Water bottles – I carried one 1 liter nalgene bottle and two 1/2 liter bottles. Will carried a 2 liter platypus bladder in a little neoprene bacpack. With the filter we could start off each carrying about a liter of water and be confident that we could pump if necessary.
Maps & compasses – we each had a compass. I had the USGS Holden and Suiattle Pass 71/2 minute quads. We each had TOPO! printouts showing the whole route.
Ice axes – Will has a short (45 mm) Grivel air tech axe. I had a longer (65 mm) Cassin Dragonfly. Because mine is all aluminum – including the head – it is lighter than Will’s.
Tooth brushes & toothpaste – we brushed every night.
Cameras & film – Will carried a little Olympus 35 mm and an old Kodak digital plus four rolls of B&W 400 film. I carried my old Nikon FM with a 50-75 zoom, a 75-300 zoom, a wide angle lens and four rolls of B&W 400 film. My gear was way too heavy – I think that I only took one shot with the big zoom and would have saved over a pound if I had left it at home.
Books – I carried Crowder & Tabors’s Rocks & Routes which I referred to every evening. Will had a Terry Pratchett science fiction novel that he read out loud to me and an old book about computer hackers that I read out loud to him.
First aid kit – I carried my usual backpacking first aid kit and never opened it. I also had extra moleskin and Advil both of which I did open.
Sun block, sun glasses – Will had a pair of Cebe glacier glasses and an oversized tube of banana boat. I had two pairs of glacier glasses (Julbo that I wore and Cebe as a back-up), a small tube of ti-silc SPF 45 and a bottle of bug-sun.
Bug nets & juice – Will had a jacket of mosquito netting. I had a head net and two bottles of bug juice.
Toilet paper & trowel – carried by me.
Matches & candles – we each carried a little container full of matches and a candle as a fire starter (we didn’t start anything but the stove.) I also had a container of matches in the stove. We had scraps of sandpaper in each container to strike the matches on. We used all of the matches in the stove container and half of the matches in Will’s container because the rain made everything damp and that makes it hard to strike a match!
Headlamps and extra batteries – Will had a micro headlamp with two extra AA batteries. I had my regular Petzel headlamp with that big flat extra battery. The battery in my lamp (almost new, too) died when I started reading to Will and I was using the spare by the second day.
Knives – we each carried a knife but I made Will pack his where we could get to it for the lunch sausage.
Garbage bags – before we left I stuck in half a dozen of those big black yard waste bags because they didn’t weigh anything. We used them – I put one over our packs every night and I put one down as a floor to the vestibule. We also ended up using one each to hold our dirty clothing.
Extra socks – I took three pairs besides what I was wearing. Will had six but didn’t use three of them.
Extra shirts – I carried two extra white zip-T polypro shirts. Will had several T shirts and a couple of sweatshirts plus one long-sleeved polypro shirt. He didn’t use more than two of them despite my nagging.
Fleece pants – I took an old pair of expedition weight tights. Will carried three pairs of fleece pants and, except for one day where he wanted to wear all three of them at once, only used one of them. He also carried an extra pair of long cotton pants – but no shorts.
Fleece jackets, gloves & hats – we each had our polar fleece and were glad of it.
Parkas & rain pants – we each had a Patagonia parka and a pair of rain pants. I didn’t use the pants. Will did.
Clean shorts & shirts for bus/boat. We each carried a change of clothes in a zip-lock for the last day. Sandals – We each carried a pair of Tevas. Miscellaneous – I also carried a big stuff sack for hanging food, a length of accessory cord, a leatherman tool, and a couple of spare straps.
Food (which I carried):
- one dozen tea bags (Tetley’s circular with no string!)
- six cocoa packets
- one dozen instant oatmeal packets
- a big bag of Costco rice cracker and nut trail mix
- 2 summer sausages
- a bag of twelve flour tortillas
- twenty four individually packaged string cheese fingers
- six pouches of freeze-dry
- twelve Mars bars and twelve bags of Skittles.
The total food weight was about fifteen pounds for two people for six days. Will’s pack weighed about twenty five pounds, including his water bag. Mine weighed over seventy pounds at the start but I was down under fifty-five by the end!