My Alaska Top 10 Gear List

I biked more than a 1,000 miles during the winter of 2013 in Alaska on roads, trails, beaches, ice and more ice, glaciers, and anything else that I could run my 45Nrth Husker Du's across. My Ti Mukluk took me wherever I asked, and did so with style, grace and incredible endurance.  It is without a doubt the finest bike I have ever owned, period, end of story....

During this trip I encountered sunshine, rain, sleet, snow, more snow, and lots of snow, along with  temperatures that ranged from a low of -36 to a high of 45 degrees.  Planning and executing a self supported bike trip that spans those types of conditions is challenging to say the least. 

As part of my ongoing attempt to pull together and share my thoughts and my lessons learned, I have come up with my top 10 pieces of gear (non bike related); a few honorable mentions; and a short list of what dissapointed me the most.  In the coming days I will add some more detail to why I chose what I did and why the gear that worked, really worked.

Grand Prize: My Prototype Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid

Top 10:

1. Patagonia Houdini
2. Patagonia Cap 4 Hoody
3. NeoAir X Pad
4. Bryjne Wool Fishnet top
5. RBH VBL Socks
6. Wool Buff
7. Sea to Summit UL Sil Backpack
8. MSR Universal Stove
9. RBH Gloves
10. Exotac Tool

Honorable Mention:

1. Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus packs
2. Apple Ipad Mini
3. Princeton Tec Light
4. O/R Insulated Sleeves

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Fatbike festival, Homer AK

Most Dissapointing:

1. Mammut Ultimate Hoody
2. Nokia Lumia 920
3. Swedish Fire Steel
4. Delorme InReach

More details on why stuff worked and why it didn't.  I love the fact that the two top pieces of gear on my list cost me less than $200 combined and were worn more than 90% of the ENTIRE trip.  They are without a doubt two of the most amazing pieces of clothing available to the outdoor enthusiast.

Photographic Gear:

• Nikon D800E - Still the greatest camera I have ever owned
• Zeiss Makro Planar 50/2 - My goto lens
• Zeiss Distagon 21/2,8 - An unbelievalbe wide angle lens
• Zeiss Makro Planar 100/1,4 - One of Zeiss's best pieces of glass ever!
• Sony NEX-7 with Sony 50/1,4 - This was my goto grab camera while on the bike

The kit worked brilliantly, albeit a little large for a bike tour.  However, I knew that with two months in Alaska I was going to encounter stunning scenery and I wanted absolutely the best gear possible for that trip. 

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Note: The links above are to the products on BHPhoto, my preferred source for photography kit.  Purchasing using these links provides me a small commission and costs you nothing.  These small commissions help me to pay for the web site and the exposure site where I share my stories and images.

Porcelain Rocket Bags

A big thanks once again to Scott Felter for his support.  His Porcelain Rocket bags are simply mind blowingly awesome!!  I have used them non stop and had 0 failures or issues.  Scott recently built me new custom frame bag for the alaska trip with the double zip side panel.  This allows me to more easily get larger items in the bag such as stoves, fuel bottles, or even insulation layers.  Scott's attention to detail is evident in all of his bags and can be seen by the many happy customers going into extreme environments with his kit. 

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For this trip I will only be using a Frame Bag, a Handlebar bag, and a Top Tube ditty bag.  On the back I will forgo my Booster Rocket pack and instead go with a rear rack and two Ortlieb panniers.  Aesthetically this runs against my grain, but the extreme conditions, remote nature of Alaska, and the scarcity of resupply points demand more storage than a typical bikepacking setup.

This image shows nicely the advantage of the Panel Loader.  With this style bag, you have 2-3 options for how the bag is opened.  The top, horizontal zipper is a 2 way zipper that can be opened from either the left or the right side.  The vertical zipper goes from top to bottom.  If you open both zippers, the panel opens wide for the insertion of bulky objects.  This allows the following combinations:

1. Zip the top from left to right and access the panel from the top
   
2. Zip the top from right to left and access the panel from the top
3. Zip the side from top to bottom and access the panel from the vertical
4. Zip left to right, top to bottom, and the panel opens out

No more fighting to squeeze something through the zipper.  The beauty is in the details, so notice how Scott has added a flap in the corner to protect the two zippers from water immersion. 

Thanks Scott, the bag rocks!!

Old Man Mountain Rack

When I decided to go to AK, I also opted to go the 'rear rack' way of packing v. the seat bag route.  My rationale was largely based on the increased load of a winter expedition kit.  After making this decision, I ordered the new Old Man Mountain Rack (OMM) made specifically for the wide rear end of a Mukluk, along with new wide Salsa Alternator rack.  My goal was and is, to evaluate the two and choose the one that will do the best job for my expedition.

Last evening the OMM rack arrived and it is amazing the work and craftsmanship that went into crafting this rack.  OMM racks are made in the USA out in Santa Barbara CA.  The welds, for those of us that appreciate these things, are nothing short of beautiful.  The rack feels solid and clearly designed to take a beating.  I think mounted to the Titanium Mukluk, it would be an even draw as to which failed first....

I will mount up the rack in the next couple of days and report back on the process.  The Salsa Alternator rack should be here shortly and I will then do the same for it. My goal is to always take and use the best possible gear when my life is on the line.  After a proper evaluation I will use the rack that I deem to meet that very singular requirement.