What are you wearing alpine climbing?

Oh where are all the clever MPers that like to post pics, don't waste the potential of this thread.

I'm also planning on heading to the Bugaboos. What are you doing for shoes/boots and crampons?

Also, anybody have any leads on a cheap pair of lightweight softshell pants, preferably with side zips? Cheapest I see locally is $130 with no zips.

Lightweight with side zips?

My lwt pants are Patagonia traverses but no zips.

DannyUncanny wrote:I'm also planning on heading to the Bugaboos. What are you doing for shoes/boots and crampons?

Keep an eye on the ACMG mountain condition reports at acmg.ca/mcr/default.asp (summaries updated weekly). Looks like you'll need to be prepared for more snow than usual. Here's an excerpt from the most recent report. This was June 30 so hopefully it'll get better. On the positive side, lots of snow cover in the Bugs can be a good thing since the Bugaboo-Snowpatch col gets nasty once the snow's melted.

Rockies & Columbias Summary
June 30, 2011 - ACMG

This has to be one of the more reluctant summers in recent memory... today it was snowing to 2700 metres in Rogers Pass... Recent reports from BC Parks staff in the Bugaboos are that the choice for objectives there is very limited. There is a lot of snow around the Kain Hut and the trail to the hut requires negotiating snow. The Bugaboo alpine classics will have to wait. The road itself still has avalanche deposits blocking it before the parking lot.

DannyUncanny wrote:I'm also planning on heading to the Bugaboos. What are you doing for shoes/boots and crampons?

I'm bringing crampons and an ice axe.

I am hesitant to bring full crampons mainly because I have Sabertooths with a front and rear bail. That would mean bringing fairly hefty crampons and mountaineering boots.

The crampon alternatives are all pretty expensive and involve purchasing a new pair of crampons and/or boots at a cost of many hundred dollars.

I thought a bit about insteps with trail shoes. I also played around a bit today with strapping the front points from the Sabertooths onto trail shoes. It seems like the best compromise of weight, safety, and cost to me. Here's where I got the idea from: cascadeclimbers.com/forum/u…

R1 hoody and a TNF verto up top. I don't wear pants.

IMHO crampons and an ice axe are 100% necessary for the Bugs, I went last August and would not have wanted/would be very very stupid to do either the Bug/Snowpatch col or the Pigon/Howser col w/o them

Some of my favorite layers are the Patagonia R1 hoody (absolute fav!)
Nano puff is great emergency, summit, belay layer. Synthetic and light.
What ever cheapest ZIP NECK syenthetic silk weight longsleeve base layers I can find. The zip neck is crucial for helping dump the heat.
Also a top weight/warmth item of mine is a light power stretch balclavia (sp?). Great way to really increase warmth.

Merino baby! Maybe it is just me but Capilene smells like ass after about 5 minutes.

Probly just me.

I've done a couple dozen trips to the Bugs: Brian in SLC posted a good list. YOU MUST HAVE GOOD BOOTS, LIGHT CRAMPONS AND AN ICE AXE - or you'll be stuck climbing near the hut. The snow/glacier travel is fairly easy but you can move MUCH faster w/crampons in the early am.

Expect to see snow if you're there more than a couple days, so the puffy and a good mtn shell are needed. Light stretchy mtn pants and maybe a light layer of long underwear (leave in hut/camp on nice days - thank the climbing gods you have them on on bad days). Fleece hat!

Climbing shoes that you can wear all day (12 hrs!) and can fit socks in them.

Good luck - its one of the best climbing areas in the world.

I'd drive up with crampons and yaktrax.

If you're teetering between crampons and no crampons given your conditions, yaktrax can be a good inbetween...

Or split one pair of crampons between the two of you