I think I have finally purchased all required gear listed for my winter mountaineering experience!  I’m sure that my building manager is starting to hate me given the number of packages that he has been dragging over to my apartment on a daily basis.  I found out that the nearest hardcore mountaineering store is about three and a half hours away, so the Internet has been my main mode of shopping.  See, and everyone thought that my years of Internet shopping was only a drain on my credit card.  I am now a finely tuned Amazon shopping machine.  As I like to say: if Amazon doesn’t have it, you really don’t need it.  Case in point, check these bad boys out:

I ended up purchasing the Koflach Degre boots.  Mainly because they were the only plastic shell boot that I could find in stock that came in Toddler size (I wear a women’s size 6).  The backpack is a Cuben fiber bag made by Hyperlite Mountain Gear.  I had not even heard of this fancy fabric until talking to Josh Mularella, the previous SUNY Wilderness fellow.  But it’s insanely light, stronger than Kevlar, and even waterproof.  I plan on using it as my medical bag on my many upcoming adventures.  I took both of these purchases for a spin on a snowy hike and was totally thrilled with both of their performances.  I was expecting to be doing that awkward cowboy walk that usually accompanies the wearing of plastic ski boots, but they were actually quite comfortable to walk in, and very warm.  I loaded the pack up with my tent and a few other items, and it literally felt like I had nothing on.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky with my hands.  My combo of gloves and mittens did not work at all.  My hands were freezing!  And it was a balmy 17 degrees out.  So I’m on the look-out for a warmer mitten shell system.  Meh, what’s another couple hundred dollars of merchandise at this point….