"The Kit List Rabbit Hole"

I want to talk about the kit list. Specifically, I want to talk about what happens to a person of moderate income and zero mountaineering experience when they are handed a kit list for a high altitude expedition and left unsupervised near the internet.

It starts reasonably. Boots, fair enough, I need boots. Base layers, sensible. Waterproof jacket, obvious. Trekking poles, hadn't considered them, now cannot imagine life without them. Head torch, of course.

And then you start reading the forums. The forums are a dangerous place. They are populated entirely by people who have either climbed Kilimanjaro seventeen times or have never climbed it but have researched it with the intensity of a doctoral thesis. Both types have Very Strong Opinions. About everything.

Four hours later I had seventeen tabs open and had added £340 worth of items to various online baskets based on the recommendations of a person called MountainDave1987 whose credibility I had absolutely no way of verifying.

Vertical Sky's kit list is actually very clear about what you genuinely need versus what is nice to have. I wish I had read it more carefully before I met MountainDave1987. I am now the owner of hand warmers, a specialist altitude sickness pressure bag, and a pair of gaiters that MountainDave assured me were non-negotiable but which Vertical Sky tell me are entirely optional on the Lemosho Route.

The toilet tent, however. Nobody adequately prepares you for the toilet tent conversation. I will not go into detail here because we have only just met. But I will say that when the Vertical Sky kit notes mention 'headtorch, essential for night use', they are not only talking about summit night. Keep that in mind.

Three weeks to go. The spare bedroom looks like an expedition supply depot. My partner has started referring to it as Base Camp. I think she means it as a criticism. I have chosen to take it as a compliment.

Contact Vertical Sky To Discuss Your Kit List