{"id":9579,"date":"2013-03-27T11:01:05","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T19:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/?p=9579"},"modified":"2013-03-27T11:01:05","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T19:01:05","slug":"from-a-guides-perspective-packing-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/27\/mt-rainier\/from-a-guides-perspective-packing-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"From A Guide&#8217;s Perspective &#8211; Packing Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March 27, 2013<\/p>\n<p>By Chris Meder<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9581\" style=\"width: 159px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/chris-meder3.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[9579]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9581\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9581\" title=\"Chris Meder\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/chris-meder3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"149\" height=\"179\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9581\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Meder<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Packing is one of those unsung skills of all successful climbers. Do it well and you will save time, energy, hassle&#8230; and be ready to go before everyone else.\u00c2\u00a0 Here are a few things to help you improve your packing game.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Pack only what you need, leave the rest behind.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Less gear means a lighter pack, which makes it far easier and more enjoyable to climb.\u00c2\u00a0 We all know this intuitively, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to lose sight of when thinking about creature comforts.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Pare down your gear to only what is on the gear list, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be well on your way to a better climb.\u00c2\u00a0 Most climbs are relatively short in the grand scheme of things, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to go without some of those supposed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153necessities\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for three or four days.\u00c2\u00a0 You will thank yourself every time you pick up your pack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Be balanced and compact.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An ideal packing job should give you a compact and balanced pack that won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be cumbersome while climbing.\u00c2\u00a0 Here are some guidelines to help you get there:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Heavy, dense items such as food, water and climbing gear should be centered in the pack, and go up against your back and generally from the small of your back up to your shoulders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lighter, less-dense items such as clothing should surround the heavy items, further from your back and on the bottom<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Use stuff-able items such as clothing to fill in around rigid items, such as food or climbing gear, filling all the empty spaces<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Fit everything possible inside the pack (crampons and ice axe are the usual exceptions).\u00c2\u00a0 Attaching things to the outside of the pack can throw you off balance easily.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. Big things in the big pocket, small things in the small pocket.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re buying new, choose a simple pack with one large compartment, and a small pocket better known as the lid of the pack on top.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really all you need.\u00c2\u00a0 This might sound limiting, especially when considering all the bells and whistles on most packs on the market these days.\u00c2\u00a0 But, the more pockets available, the more places to lose things.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep the pack simple; this helps keep the job of packing it simple.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Do a trial run.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong>Lay out your gear, clothing and food for the climb on the living room floor.\u00c2\u00a0 Now divide the gear into two piles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Big items \u00e2\u20ac\u201c think jackets, clothing, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, water bottles\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Small items \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sunglasses, hat, knife, sunscreen, camera, GPS, toothbrush<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now pack the pack from the two piles; big things go in the big pocket, small things go in the small pocket.\u00c2\u00a0 Simple enough, right?\u00c2\u00a0 Think about it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if I put my camera or sunscreen in the middle of the big compartment amongst a bunch of clothes and other bulky items, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never find it when I need it.\u00c2\u00a0 And thinking about an item being buried makes me less likely to actually look for it.\u00c2\u00a0 Translation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c sunburn and no photos.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Same item, same place, every time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Where are those batteries?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know I packed that shirt somewhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 We hear things like this a lot, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just due to a lack of routine.\u00c2\u00a0 So here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how to avoid this.\u00c2\u00a0 Pack and unpack your gear a bunch of times before a trip.\u00c2\u00a0 Develop a system that works for you so that everything fits, and you know where everything is located.\u00c2\u00a0 Do this enough so that you put each item in the same general place every time.\u00c2\u00a0 This helps a lot when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for something or scrambling to pack quickly in the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything has its place, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll always know where each item lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Then you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have time for a drink or a photo while someone else is looking for their batteries.<\/p>\n<p>So there it is.\u00c2\u00a0 Only pack what you need, in a simple pack, in a balanced and well organized manner and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be well ahead of those who haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet mastered the packing game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 27, 2013 By Chris Meder Packing is one of those unsung skills of all successful climbers. Do it well and you will save time, energy, hassle&#8230; and be ready to go before everyone else.\u00c2\u00a0 Here are a few things to help you improve your packing game. 1. Pack only what you need, leave the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gear-questions-answers","category-guide-features","category-mt-rainier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9579"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9588,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9579\/revisions\/9588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}