Gear Collecting

By now I should have known very well what I am getting myself into. Well, I do. But didn't think my pocket could deplete at an accelerating speed like now.

I have been looking to buy gears for mountain climbing, which is part of the preparation for the SP. Summer is the outdoor season, so it's difficult to find anything on sale for mountaineering gears. Luckily there are online stores that usually have sales/coupons and no tax and/or free shipping. The only problem with this is you don't get to see your merchandise. Often time you could guess but sometimes you get something not what you think it is. I bought this pair of booties from backcountry.com a few days ago. I checked carefully the size chart, and thought they would fit me. They turned out to be too tight and this store doesn't have other size because they were on clearance. I had to send them back, so there goes my free shipping saving.

Everything is so expensive, even after the sale and no tax. I am buying this pair of mountaineering boots from Raichle. Never heard of this brand (I dont much about the climbing business yet) but I read the review, they seem to be great. The local REI doesn't carry this brand so I don't know how they would fit me. Hopefully they work out for me, as I'll find out sometime next week when they arrive. So this pair was 50% off from $329. I got additional 25% off so my final price was $123. Not bad at all but this gotta be the most expensive pair of shoes I ever bought. Just hope they work for my purpose (Mt Shasta and Rainier). For other peaks if I want to climb, they require different types too! (Will deal with it when it comes). I have other alternative too, like renting the gears. But the rental is not too cheap either, so might as well own if I do climb often.

I also bought some other things like fleece, headlamp, mid and base layers. This is just the beginning of the shopping spree. I can't blame no one but myself :)