How to travel with lots of gear

Hi,
I am trying to figure out how to travel with climbing and mountaineering gear and how to move all this stuff around is a bit daunting. I will be in Patagonia (coyhaique area in chile) for a study abroad program in the fall and plan on going to el chalten to climb in December.  The travel logistics for this trip (and many other alpine climbing destinations) involve lots of buses and as well as some foot travel (between bus stops and hostels/campgrounds, etc). For trekking or other tourism, it would be easy to fit everything in a backpack but with rope, rack, mountain boots, crampons/tools, camping gear, etc. this becomes a very daunting task.
How do people normally travel around the world with more gear than you can comfortably carry?
Suck it up and get a bigger backpack? Use a handcart? Get a taxi/bus everywhere?

Thanks!
Adam

Haha, good luck.

The three times I’ve gone to El Chalten to climb I’ve toted two 50lb bags. Backpack on back and large duffle in front. (Or top of backpack)

Carrying 100lbs when you are 150lbs or less is not fun but it will get your legs in shape for the approaches.

You could carry half the gear and hope a partner has the other half.  I guess it depends on what climbing you are hoping to do..

You may need more or less gear depending on the massif.  FitzRoy massif, maybe one axe and aluminum poons. Maybe.
Torre massif two axes and steel poons.

What are you looking to climb?

Cor wrote: Haha, good luck.

The three times I’ve gone to El Chalten to climb I’ve toted two 50lb bags. Backpack on back and large duffle in front. (Or top of backpack)

Carrying 100lbs when you are 150lbs or less is not fun but it will get your legs in shape for the approaches.

You could carry half the gear and hope a partner has the other half.  I guess it depends on what climbing you are hoping to do..

You may need more or less gear depending on the massif.  FitzRoy massif, maybe one axe and aluminum poons. Maybe.
Torre massif two axes and steel poons.

What are you looking to climb?

Haha oof. Well I guess that is what it is, gets even heavier as I need some-non mountaineering stuff for for the study abroad program. I am hoping to line up a partner before I head down but if not I guess ill cross that bridge when it comes in terms of gear.

I am looking to climb moderates on the fitzroy massif (Aguja de L's, mojon rojo, east face of guillaumet). I am in college and haven't yet built up a kit with lightweight crampons/boots (rocking old makalus, nepals and g12s). Mostly have gear for glacier guiding and new england ice.

thanks for the tips!! feel free to spray me down with any other beta that you think might help!

get 1 or 2 semi-rigid roller duffel bags that rei (for example) sells.  those + a backpack give you lots of capacity and are much easier than say 2 50lb duffels.

rpc wrote: get 1 or 2 semi-rigid roller duffel bags that rei (for example) sells.  those + a backpack give you lots of capacity and are much easier than say 2 50lb duffels.

Wow that sounds a ton better. Might be what I do!

Adam Gellman wrote: Wow that sounds a ton better. Might be what I do!

Except that the duffel weighs 8lbs or so.

Cor wrote:

Except that the duffel weighs 8lbs or so.

That’s a lot of gear weight!

That is a good point but sounds a bit easier than having marginally less weight on my shoulders. Is it worth having less weight but more difficult carrying?

I travel a lot with a good amount of gear and this has been a life saver for me (I have the 80 but here's the 120).  This on your back and your alpine climbing pack in front:
https://rab.equipment/us/accessories-equipment/kitbags/expedition-kitbag-120-5386

I use a burly roller duffel for this situation - the patagucci black hole 120. It's spendy but bombproof. The bigger wheels really cut down rolling resistance over long distances and rough terrain.

It came in especially handy when they closed the Chile/Argentina border at Chile Chico/Los Antiguos to taxis due to some sort of tax dispute. We had to walk an extra 4-5 miles with all the gear. So we loaded up the roller bag with probably 80 pounds and got some of the weight out of the packs.

The only issue is that the bag is so big that it's easy to overload the airplane weight limits. So now I travel with a travel scale.

Nkane 1 wrote: I use a burly roller duffel for this situation - the patagucci black hole 120. It's spendy but bombproof. The bigger wheels really cut down rolling resistance over long distances and rough terrain.

It came in especially handy when they closed the Chile/Argentina border at Chile Chico/Los Antiguos to taxis due to some sort of tax dispute. We had to walk an extra 4-5 miles with all the gear. So we loaded up the roller bag with probably 80 pounds and got some of the weight out of the packs.

The only issue is that the bag is so big that it's easy to overload the airplane weight limits. So now I travel with a travel scale.

I don't think that's really in the budget rn (in college and just trying to afford the gear to put in the bag) but I like the overall idea of it and do what I usually do: find one thats 75% as good and half the price of patagonia. Thanks for the tip!

Buy a yacht.

+1 Roller bags... I had about 200 lbs of gear for ski trip all over Japan and would have never made it without wheeled bags.

I'd try to find a place to stash the stuff you don't need, such as a locker at the airport or hostel.  Depending upon your travel plans, renting a car might not be a bad idea.  It's a safe place to store your stuff, and you can also sleep in it.  You'll sometimes have to lug around a giant duffel or roller bag, but you should try to minimize that.

Marc H wrote: Buy a yacht.

might be cheaper than getting a full kit of patagucci

sean o wrote: I'd try to find a place to stash the stuff you don't need, such as a locker at the airport or hostel.  Depending upon your travel plans, renting a car might not be a bad idea.  It's a safe place to store your stuff, and you can also sleep in it.  You'll sometimes have to lug around a giant duffel or roller bag, but you should try to minimize that.

I think that's generally the plan. After my study abroad semester is done I'm gonna travel from Coyhaique Chile to El Chalten and hopefully have a hostel to base out of for climbing until I come back to north. Trying to minimize schlepping but its tricky since I'm gonna be in the chile/argentina for 4 months

Wheeled duffles...

If i had to do it aqain, a roller bag would be nice. when i was in argentina for aconcagua, i had a 75 L backpack, a 90 L marmot expedition duffel (no wheels) and a 40 L REI canvas duffel. it was a pain to move anywhere without transportation, and even then, taxis couldnt fit 2 of us and all of our gear (we each had to take 1). buses were no problem.

Sounds like wheeled duffles are the move.  How big do folks think? 100L? 130?
I'm thinking of putting clothes and sleeping bag/pad and other lightweight bulky stuff in there for the flight to keep things under 50lbs

t.farrell wrote: R u asking about how to get it to South America or to the climb itself?

Cause you could always rent stuff while you’re over there. That at least solves the getting it to another continent issue. 

I think within South America is my crux. Ill have to take multiple buses and probably a couple taxis from Northern Chilean Patagonia to southern Argentinian Patagonia.  I have never heard of companies in Chalten renting gear (without a guide too), especially gear like rope, rack, screws, boots, stuff that I want to be familiar with.

My checked bags for airplane travel are about 100 liters in size.  Any larger and you exceed the maximum of 62 linear inches.

Though I don't think they are as convenient to pull, the wheeled duffels without an extendable handle are lighter, and therefore allow you to carry an extra 3-5 pounds of gear and remain under the 50 pound limit.