And the verdict is in, La Sportiva won again. It's funny how some of their boots can absolutely destroy my feet while others such as their mountaineering boots are a perfect fit. The use of what is known as a double boot is best for this type of climb. It consists of a soft moldable inner bootie that provides most of the insulation and a more rigid hard shell outer boot that gives it strength. The nice thing about double boots, at the end of the day the booties get tucked away deeply inside your sleeping bag to dry out while the hard shells stay outside. A couple hours before our summit attempt I'll bring both boots inside the bag to warm up so I start out with warm feet. If you start out cold then good luck.

Something relatively new to me is a GPS device. I was able to acquire topo maps with GPS way points and add them to my software. I'll still bring a couple maps with a compass for back up, but GPS orientation gives a whole different approach to route finding. Also, the use of Google Earth has immensely helped in gaining a bird's eye view of the mountain.  I should say "condor's eye view." Something different this time is having to worry about our food caches being rummaged by eagles and condors. These condors have up to a 10 1/2 feet wing span. We'll need BIG rocks to cover our stuff. It'll be nice to finally get there and just have to worry about climbing. I talked to Dan today and he said he's ready for a vacation. I tell people the same thing. We have a sick way of relaxing.  The exciting and perhaps the more relaxing part is that we're taking a route less traveled. We did that in hopes to see more of the local wildlife such as guanacos (a llama looking animal), perhaps condors, and to have cleaner climbing conditions.

One of my favorite companies and they're local to the Bay Area is Mountain Hardwear. They picked up where "The North Face" had left off.  Their clothing line and equipment is designed by climbers for climbers. No extra pockets where they shouldn't be, extremely durable, and my favorite feature...light.  My outer Gortex hard shell layer along with the tent we'll be using are products of Mountain Hardwear.  The backbone of all my trips is the stove. Dan is also bringing his stove as a back up. It's what provides food and water, especially higher up where we'll have to melt ice and snow. This particular stove burns many types of fuels including diesel, regular unleaded, white gas, and even jet fuel. I seriously doubt we'll be blasting off burning jet fuel. The only downside to this type of stove is that it's all or nothing. There's no turn knob for flame adjustment.