The Gear on Everest Below is the gear that the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition will be using on Everest. Click for Sponsors Page. Scroll down the page for a Lexicon of Everest Gear, or click on hot items to view details and online purchasing information from The Mountain Zone Marketplace.

Mid-March in Ashford, Washington
 Gear is being loaded onto the 24 ft U-haul to take it to Thai Air Cargo. It will go by truck to L.A., then hop a big bird to Kathmandu, then get loaded onto another truck (actually, three trucks) together with all the individual gear bags that will fly with the team. Then it will all head to the Chinese border (pay no attention to the 2,000 vertical foot drop right there about six inches from the passenger side of the truck.) Add in some more gear already in Tingri, all in all about 100 Outdoor Products Collossal duffels, each weighing about 70 pounds. You do the math, but I think this is about 3.5 tons of stuff, plus the oxygen, shipped separately and weighing in at over 700 kilos. Pity the yaks. What's in all these duffels? Here goes. Not by any means a complete list. —Erin Copland, International Mountain Guides




The Everest Gear Lexicon

Crampons
 Racks of steel alloy spikes that attach to mountaineering boots and provide secure footing in icy conditions. On Everest, climbers routinely wear crampons from the ice fall to the summit. Modern step-in crampon bindings attach much more easily to plastic mountaineering boots, saving the climber from the torture of fumbling with crampon straps with frozen fingers.

Ice Ax
 Basic ice tool with three business ends — adze, pick, and ferrule — for safer travel through snow and ice. Since the South Col route on Everest is not technical, the standard 70-cm or so ice ax works well. There is no need for more technical ice-climbing tools like those used on waterfalls.

Fixed Rope
 A safety line rigged from an anchor and left in place to facilitate progress up the mountain or during descent. Fixed lines usually are rigged from 9 mm or smaller perlon climbing rope, or cordage even lighter than that: polypropylene, water-ski rope has been used for this application. The idea is to take a large spool of strong and durable but lightweight rope to a convenient place, and attach the highest end to a secure anchor, such as multiple snow pickets or rock pitons (see below). Climbers can then ascend the rope using a jumar (see below) or descend the rope using a belay device, allowing up and down movement even in bad weather. Frayed fixed ropes can be a lethal danger, as was demonstrated in the 70's when American climbing legend John Harlin was killed while jumaring fixed ropes on the Eiger Direct route while he and Scottish climber Dougal Haston attempted the route's first ascent.

Jumar
General term derived from the French-made Jumar Ascender but now applied generically to include all rope-ascending devices, including Petzl, Clog, Gibb etc. Any of these ascenders uses a pivoting cam which deploys against the rope, enabling the device to move up but not down. This is very useful when climbing fixed ropes, as the tired high altitude climber merely moves the jumar up the fixed line with each step as he or she climbs higher, providing not just a safety belay that prevents the climber from falling, but also allowing the climber to lean back against the fixed rope and rest. As the late Scott Fischer once said, "People don't realize that the mountain only has to be climbed by the first guy, 'cause after that you're just juggin' ropes."

Plastic Boots
For the past 15 years, ski-boot technology has been applied to mountaineering boots, resulting in footwear that keeps climbers' feet warm and dry in even extreme conditions. The proliferation of double plastic boots-made by such companies as Koflach, Lowa, Scarpa, Asolo and others — has greatly reduced the risk of frostbite like that suffered on such early Himalayan climbs like the French expedition to Annapurna in 1950.

None, however, have performed like ABC's Everest Boots. Last year, Beck Weathers, and this year, Hugo Rogriguez, both spent an emergency night on upper Everest without bivy gear, and neither suffered frostbite on their feet. Both were wearing ABC's Everest boots.

Piton
Metal alloy spike of varying sizes that can be driven into cracks in rock. Rock hardware is sometimes used for attaching fixed ropes on Everest's South Col route, but not for protecting lead climbers as is the case on more technical rock climbs.

Deadman
Shovel-blade-shaped section of aluminum (with a length of cable for clipping carabiners) that can be used to protect climbers on steep snow slopes.

Picket
Length of aluminum or other light-weight metal T-bar that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor for fixed ropes or to otherwise protect climbers.

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