Packing list for alpine tours

Basic equipment

• Clothing suitable for mountaineering includes the following layers. The clothes from Adidas Terrex:
  • By the legs
    • High altitude touring trousers: Softshell trousers or robust hiking trousers
    • Long pants (merino) if necessary
    • If necessary, rain trousers with zip fastener to be able to put on over the shoes
  • For the top
    • Wind and rain protection (Gore-Tex jacket or similar)
    • Warmth jacket, i.e. a down jacket or one with synthetic filling. The synthetic filling stays warm even when wet and is produced more responsibly.
    • Jumper
    • T-shirt
  • With the hands and the head
    • Cap and headband
    • Sunglasses: We are big fans of the Julbo Glasses.
    • In bad weather, storm goggles (skier's goggles) do a good job
    • Sun cream with a high protection factor
    • Thin and thick gloves
      • Rubberised gardening gloves are recommended for the thin gloves
    • Good hiking socks: if you have problems with blisters, you can either use a Ezeefit Try ankle socks or wear thin sports socks additionally underneath.
• Touring backpack (approx. 30l)
• Mountain boots
  • For the vast majority of tours, so-called "conditionally crampon-compatible" mountain boots are recommended. The soles of these boots are still easy to bend and can be used to comfortably tackle longer passages.
  • "Crampon-proof" mountain boots are particularly necessary for tours where you stand on the front points of the crampons for a long time. In other words, for fairly demanding tours.
• Possibly gaiters, especially at the beginning of the season when there is still a lot of snow on the glaciers.
• Thermos or drinking bottle
• Lunch: bars, cliff bars, sandwiches. Tupperware is not suitable as packaging.
• Possibly a single telescopic pole (Black Diamond Distanze Z)

Pack as little as possible, but as much as necessary. Don't be fooled by a nice weather forecast and always pack enough warm clothes!

Glaciers and rock material

For tours on the glacier or in the high mountains, the following items are also included.

• Climbing helmet
• Gstätli (climbing harness)
  • A light climbing harness is sufficient for alpine tours. You rarely hang in the harness (Mammut Zephir).
• Ice Axe
  • Not too long: an ice axe is not a walking stick.
• Crampons with Antistoll
  • We recommend a crampon with a basket at the front and a clip at the back. These are also good to use on alpine touring boots (Petzl Vasak).
• 2 screw carabiners for fast roping up on the glacier.
• 1 120 cm webbing sling as a self-securing sling or prusik on a fixed rope.
• Headlamp as you start early in the morning and enjoy the sunrise.

Overnight stays in huts

When you stay overnight in a hut, you only need to pack a few extra things. The SAC huts are modern, with friendly service and warm, delicious food.

• Silk sleeping bag (Cocoon) and toiletries
• Personal medicines
• Little spare linen
  • Underwear and a fresh T-shirt are enough. The touring clothes are also comfortable to wear in the hut.
• Sufficient cash for consumption at the hut
• March tea, 1 litre, is available in the mountain huts.
• Sandwiches can often be bought and you can almost always buy extra bars and chocolate.

Independent tours

If you are going on tour independently, we recommend that you also pack the following. Our mountain guides always have these utensils with them.

• a first aid kit with painkillers and bandages
• a Rega radio or a satellite messanger. The device from Garmin: inReach mini is terrific.
• a mountain rope or a Glacier Cord for glaciers
• Abseiling device (Tuber + Prusik sling)
• Crevasse rescue material
  • Micro-Traxion
  • T-Boc
  • Prusik sling (1m unknotted, 6mm Kevlar or Dynema)
• Ice screws (2x16cm)
• Rock support material
  • Few Friends
  • few wedges
  • Slings and Rope Cords
• Orientation material
• • Map
  • Compass
  • Altimeter
  • GPS / mobile phone with offline map and battery pack