Packing packing packing packing. It looks like a big giant gear bomb went off in my loft. I have small gear, medium gear, large gear. Common gear, specialized gear, unique gear. Some gear I look at and wonder what I’ll ever do with it again after this trip, some gear I’m excited to try out on a more common mountain like Rainier. Quite literally, it comes in all shapes, colors and sizes and a good portion of my floor space is covered with equipment. I guess the closest comparison I can give is to liken the experience to packing for a deployment. I’m about 99% of the way there on shopping though, which is really good because I seriously don’t know how I’m going to fit it into two bags for transport to Nepal as I bounce through a few cities en route.

I’m only allowed two pounds of “specialty foods”— as in a favorite snack, which for me are hands down Sour Patch Kids — more or less Gummy Bears with a tart/sugary coating. They happen to be the best quick energy trail food developed by man. Two pounds? Right. I know that the second I pull my two-pound bag of Sour Patch Kids out there will be 15 cupped hands waving around in front of me. This is if the bag doesn’t vanish before I even get there. Besides, if these bags are being hauled on the backs of burros to Base Camp, I’m not at all feeling guilty about going over my “two-pound weight limit” while I am short all the approved camera equipment on the list. My point & shoot Cybershot is perfect and more than makes up for the six extra pounds of Sour Patch Kids that I have hidden in boots, etc.
*archive posting- we'll catch up to Doug in Nepal soon