Night before climb checklist

Info on gear, conditioning, and preparation for hiking/climbing.
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hokiehead
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Night before climb checklist

Post by hokiehead »

This is now my 3rd year climbing Colorado peaks. Over that time, I've missed at least two summits because we didn't leave the TH as early as planned, and in those cases I was able to identify my "evening before prep" routine as the root cause. Part of my routine is now to use the checklist below that includes activities beyond "pack".

This mostly applies to climbs when we plan to get up at some god-awful early hour of the morning and drive to the TH (versus camping at the TH). If I'm getting up at 3AM, I want to be as efficient as possible.

Hoping that someone benefits from my experience and hoping (maybe even more) that others will contribute more ideas that help.
  • pack and load car with everything on my "boy scout list" //"boy scout list" is the term my friends gave me for my pedantic packing/prep list for which this is a subset. side note, but last year I ported that list to googlesheets and shared with my usual climbing partners -- very helpful so I can edit from nearly anywhere with partners getting real time updates, as well as being able to pull it up on my phone while I'm walking around the house packing
  • pack dry clothes for after //part of the "boy scout list" that I see missing on a lot of prep lists, but consider it mandatory for the eventuality that I'll return wet and muddy from the adventure. if nothing else, dry socks and shoes can be a blessing
  • gas in car //stopping for gas on the way to the TH is 5 - 10 minutes. this has been an issue for me at least 3 times
  • park pass in car
  • the next day's hiking clothes and "pocket" contents laid out //anything I plan to carry in my pockets vs my pack gets laid out with the day's clothes
  • coffee ready, with timer set //smelling fresh brewed coffee when the alarm goes off helps
  • breakfast ready
  • cooler ready to pack with cold drinks for after the hike
  • TH coords in car GPS, or directions printed, or sent to phone //I've lost 15 minutes screewing around planning my route at 3AM on one occassion
  • route and itinerary emailed to designated backup person //my wife requests that itinerary include times for "start worrying if you don't hear from me" and "call SAR"
  • route printed and/or installed in handheld GPS
  • trim toe-nails //this may not be an issue for most, but on steep downhills reduces likelihood of foot pain for me
  • check weather forecast, leave webpage up on computer for quick refresh check the next morning
  • check 14ers.com Condition Reports and Trip Reports
  • check 14ers.com TH reports
  • vacuum/clean car in case one of my hiking partners is a co-worker :lol:
  • review Roach's Classic Commandments of Mountaineering //sometimes Surfer Girl does this for me
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Urban Snowshoer
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Re: Night before climb checklist

Post by Urban Snowshoer »

hokiehead wrote:This is now my 3rd year climbing Colorado peaks. Over that time, I've missed at least two summits because we didn't leave the TH as early as planned, and in those cases I was able to identify my "evening before prep" routine as the root cause. Part of my routine is now to use the checklist below that includes activities beyond "pack".

This mostly applies to climbs when we plan to get up at some god-awful early hour of the morning and drive to the TH (versus camping at the TH). If I'm getting up at 3AM, I want to be as efficient as possible.

Hoping that someone benefits from my experience and hoping (maybe even more) that others will contribute more ideas that help.
  • pack and load car with everything on my "boy scout list" //"boy scout list" is the term my friends gave me for my pedantic packing/prep list for which this is a subset. side note, but last year I ported that list to googlesheets and shared with my usual climbing partners -- very helpful so I can edit from nearly anywhere with partners getting real time updates, as well as being able to pull it up on my phone while I'm walking around the house packing
  • pack dry clothes for after //part of the "boy scout list" that I see missing on a lot of prep lists, but consider it mandatory for the eventuality that I'll return wet and muddy from the adventure. if nothing else, dry socks and shoes can be a blessing
  • gas in car //stopping for gas on the way to the TH is 5 - 10 minutes. this has been an issue for me at least 3 times
  • park pass in car
  • the next day's hiking clothes and "pocket" contents laid out //anything I plan to carry in my pockets vs my pack gets laid out with the day's clothes
  • coffee ready, with timer set //smelling fresh brewed coffee when the alarm goes off helps
  • breakfast ready
  • cooler ready to pack with cold drinks for after the hike
  • TH coords in car GPS, or directions printed, or sent to phone //I've lost 15 minutes screewing around planning my route at 3AM on one occassion
  • route and itinerary emailed to designated backup person //my wife requests that itinerary include times for "start worrying if you don't hear from me" and "call SAR"
  • route printed and/or installed in handheld GPS
  • trim toe-nails //this may not be an issue for most, but on steep downhills reduces likelihood of foot pain for me
  • check weather forecast, leave webpage up on computer for quick refresh check the next morning
  • check 14ers.com Condition Reports and Trip Reports
  • check 14ers.com TH reports
  • vacuum/clean car in case one of my hiking partners is a co-worker :lol:
  • review Roach's Classic Commandments of Mountaineering //sometimes Surfer Girl does this for me
Everybody might have variations of the list but on the whole I'd say that this a good list. Laying out as much as you can the night before is key. When I'm backpacking I try to repack as much as I can the night before, including filling water bottles.

If you're camping or backpacking, it's not a bad idea to try to scope out you're intended route during daylight, if possible, so you have a visual cue for where you need to go in the morning.
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dpage
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Re: Night before climb checklist

Post by dpage »

You forgot to pack this
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hokiehead
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Re: Night before climb checklist

Post by hokiehead »

dpage wrote:You forgot to pack this
=D>

Roach's commandment #1
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