shipping gear vs bringing on plane

Marc801 wrote: Um, you realize that the drive from Reno to Bishop goes over a pass at nearly 8000'. If the weather is bad, there will be a chain check-point in CA, and they will turn you around if you don't have chains. I know of no rental agency that allows chains on their cars.

yeah i was concerned about that - when I talked to AAI they suggested the route to get from Reno to Lee Vining/Bishop - I'll be traveling in the second week of March. I don't know that area well enough to know what the best possible route would be. I know they have many clients come in to the area during that time using the same route. Not really sure what other options might be.

if you don't use 395, and go 95-360-6 you don't go through the Sierras, but do cross the Whites at some point... I'm not sure if this is as severe regarding elevation, but might be something to think about.

simplyput wrote:if you don't use 395, and go 95-360-6 you don't go through the Sierras, but do cross the Whites at some point... I'm not sure if this is as severe regarding elevation, but might be something to think about.

That's the only real alternate. Lower, but can still be messy.

Oh, I checked. Looks like 395 goes to about 7500', not the 8K I mentioned upthread.

mark felber wrote:Most airlines limit their liability with checked bags, and their liability limits won't come close to covering the cost of the gear you describe, unless you buy some kind of insurance.

For domestic flights the current liability limit is $3,500 (DoT mandate). I think that would cover a fair amount of climbing gear.

If you're going to a destination climbing area in the Northeast (e.g NH or NY's Adirondacks, or Gunks [for rock]) there's usually a climbing shop you can rent equipment like ice axes (even technical ones) and crampons; boots too, but your own probably fit best. So wear them on the plane, and carry-on gear you can't rent like your harness, belay-device, helmut, a few biners and slings and put the ice axes, crampons, screws in your checked baggage.

My experience is that almost all of the time checked baggage goes through with you. Put anything that might look "suspicious" right on top (a #2 Camalot looks a bit like a WWI "potato masher" grenade on an X-ray) and if its really esoteric, maybe a advertising page from a magazine showing what the thing is. Remember: NO GAS STOVES, no matter how clean you may think they are, they'll be confiscated. The "burner part" of butane stoves seem to get through OK.

I've had mixed success with rock gear as carry-on. Sometimes it sails right past the TSA guy, but once I had to get a supervisor and show him the cams weren't a danger and couldn't be used as a weapon. Since then I just check them.

ok so slight thread drift ;) but concerning the travel and weather - not sure I can realistically make changes now that I can afford...but at that time of year if you were going to Lee Vining or Bishop where would you fly into and how would you travel?

I'd fly into Vegas.And rent a car. Getting to Bishop would be easy. Getting to Lee Vining could be a problem, without chains, if there is a recent snowstorm.