The gear of the Summits of My Life project
My point of view about the gear
"In all the challenges of the Summits of My Life project I tried to go as light as possible and with the minimum material to feel more connected to nature and into the mountains, following the Fast & Light style. In Everest, to be able to move fast and be more agile, I decided not to use fixed ropes or artificial oxygen. My gear was very different from the used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953."
Everest gear: 1953 vs 2017
May 29th, 1953 - Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
Oxygen: open-circuit system, which weighed 8 kg with one cylinder
Food: vacuum packed food
Clothing: 7,7kg weight
Altimeter: handheld altimeter
Communication: walkie-talkies made with rubber components
May 27th, 2017 - Kilian Jornet
Oxygen: without
Food: gels and freeze-dried food
Clothing: 3kg weight
Watch: Suunto Spartan
Communication: without
My essentials in the Summits of My Life project
With the SOML project I discovered some of the more important summits of the world.
Each summit has its own difficulties and to reach it in the fastest and lightest possible way is very important to have one thing in mind: the gear. This is my top 6 gear essentials for each challenge of the SOML project.
- Montblanc, 2012
- Cervino, 2013
- Elbrús, 2013
Prototype Salomon Snowspike
- Denali, 2014
- Aconcagua, 2014
Prototype X Alp backpack
- Everest, 2017
Prototype Salomon Mountaineering Boots
A common and essential element in all the challenges of the SOML project is my Suunto. In the Everest expedition in 2016 the device helped us to find our way in the middle of an episode of bad weather and poor visibility thanks to the visual route navigation feature!
My Everest gear
Some material I took to the Everest challenge was specifically created and developed for this.
Boots
We developed together with @salomon this prototype footwear system.
Is a three-in-one shoe: starting with a running shoe you only need to add layers to have a boot with crampons that you can use in cold terrains. Perfect to avoid frozen toes!
The boot has 3 different parts:
- basic layer of insulation with the bottom of one of my most used shoes: Salomon S/Lab Sense. It is also used as the inner boot in the system.
- That first trail running shoe was inserted inside a second mid-layer designed with extra insulation to keep my feet warm
- Those two pieces together went placed inside a large insulated boot with built-in crampons
You can read more in this link!
Sunglasses
I always use de Salomon Sagarmatha model of sunglasses, so with the Salomon team we decided to make some modifications adding leather shields of protection to that model to fight against extreme weather in Everest.
We added this protection around the sunglasses not only in the sides but also in the lower part The reflection on the snow can be very damaging as it’s like a mirror so that’s why it’s very important to create a specific protection for this.
I’m pleased with the result as we achieved a pair of sunglasses that are very light and protect well.
Discover more in this link!