I wanted to create a blog post sharing my experience of summiting my first 14er as someone who didn’t train for it and isn’t in the best shape. Below I will share what I packed, what I used from what I packed, what I wish I would have packed that I didn’t, and what I wore.
What I wore:
– fleece leggings
– long hiking socks
– hiking boots
– light long sleeve top
– long sleeve button up flannel (that I wore over the light long sleeve)
– sweatshirt (had it tied around my waist for most of the hike until we got closer to the top and it got windier)
– gloves
– winter hat
What I packed:
– 2L water pack
– winter hat
– gloves
– headlamp
– chap stick
– sunscreen
– Kleenex
– oxygen
– snacks
– * the only thing two things from the list that I didn’t use were the headlamp since we started at 5:10am and it was already starting to get light out, and the oxygen. I packed the oxygen since it was my first 14er and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Although difficult to breath many times, I was fine just by taking numerous breaks.
What I wish I would have packed that I didn’t: The only thing I can think of that I should have packed that I didn’t would have been having a larger bag/pack to carry. As mentioned above, I had a 2L water pack so fitting my snacks, oxygen, hat, gloves, chap stick, sunscreen, and Kleenex in it was a very tight fit – plus, I still had my sweatshirt that I ended up tying around my waist – which wasn’t terrible, but if I had a larger pack I would have been able to put that in there too. I wore fleece lined leggings to keep me warm, but if you have a pair of pants or leggings with pockets I would highly recommend that to put your phone in if you are like me and like to pull it out often for photos! It was super windy towards the top so if you have a wind jacket, pack that! I do not own one so I just wore my sweatshirt over my other layers which was doable since I had a hat and gloves.
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