 Hey, everybody. This is Alan. Hey, listen, I'm getting ready to go to Akankagwa and leave it tomorrow. So I thought I would just give you a quick update on what's going on as well as talk a little bit about the gear and how I'm going to pack. So, you know, Akankagwa is the highest mountain outside of Himalayas at a little under 23,000 feet. So this is serious, serious altitude. People do die on this mountain even though it's considered a relatively easy climb. There's nothing technical about the route that we're going to be taking. Even though I will be taking crampons and my ice axe along with me. So anyway, I wanted to talk a little bit about the gear. There's three basic parts to this climb. There's the trek in, there is the actual climb, getting up to get established to the high camps before the summit bid and then the summit bid. Each one of those requires a different type of packing, so I want to walk through that. And so just sit back and enjoy. You'll see a little bit about the gear. Well, the first part of the Akankagwa climb is trek in. It's typically about a three-day trek, which is what we'll be doing. We go through mountain valleys that can reach temperatures of 100 degrees so it can be really hot. Plus there's lots of stream crossings. So I'm going to be wearing a very light top. This is a base layer top that would long sleeves protect me from the sun. I've got pants here with zip-off legs and really sturdy hiking boots. I find this is better for my ankles because some people go with lighter shoes than this. In terms of the gear to carry with me trekking in, very, very simple. I'm going to be carrying three liters of water. I'm going to be carrying a little bit of food, some energy bars. I've got a lightweight wind shirt, a little bit heavier, a soft shell in case it starts pouring down rain. And I've got my hoodie, which is always with me in case it gets a little bit cold, especially at night before the mules arrive with the rest of the gear. Other than that, it's pretty much the basics. You know sunscreen, lip balm, my buff, skull cap, light paired gloves, toilet paper. All this gets into the pack and the way I pack this is the stuff that I need more frequently goes into the top and the rest of it goes down to the bottom. So here we go, let's pack it up. Okay, now that we've made it up to the 13,000 foot camp, now we're going to begin the serious climbing. I've switched over now from my trekking clothes into my climbing gear and basically that consists of a pair of light shell pants here. These are actually windproof. I've got now boots that are suitable for climbing in snow. These are insulated, double insulated boots that will keep me warm all the way to the summit. My top is a couple of layers. I've got a merino wool base layer and another merino wool top with zips so I can ventilate. I can even take this off. And if it gets really cold when I'm climbing up and the wind really picks up, my first line of defense is my good old trusty blade jacket here that is very light but actually is incredibly warm. It kept me warm on the summit of Mountain Vincent. So everything else in the pack. This is not going to be shoveled up and down the camps. So here's the water bottles as you can see. We've got to take those up. We've got a pee bottle. We've got different types of layers here. This is my sleeping bag. This is a zero down sleeping bag. I've got some extra clothes. I've got a layer here for insulated pants. I've got a pair of down pants in case it really gets cold and goes on top of these. This is just some extra gear in terms of batteries, things like that. Extra gloves. And then I've got my regular gloves as well that I'll be wearing. And of course sunglasses and my cap. By the way, sunglasses go all the way from leaving Mendoza until I get back. So all this goes into the pack. I've already got my pad on here, their pad, as well as the Thinsulate pad. And all this goes into the pack. These are the gloves I'll be using all the way through. So let's go ahead and get this all packed up. Again, the same order. Things I need most frequently go into the top. Things I don't need until I get to camp and go into the bottom. So let's go ahead and pack this guy up. Time for the summit. So I basically just add a few more layers to what I was climbing on to get up to the high camp before our summit. Iconcog was known for having incredibly cold summit days. Some of the coldest on the planet. The winds are really brutal up there. I've been up here before and I've absolutely been the coldest I've ever been on any climb I've ever been on, including Everest or Vinson. So one of the first things I add to what I've been climbing in before is this polar tech suit that is a kind of a Union Jack suit. And this thing adds probably down to 20 degrees of warmth to my overall body process. I've got now a down jacket. I'll actually have my belay jacket as well. But this thing goes on in case it really starts to get cold. And then I've got my softshell, my hardshell that goes over this to again lock off all the wind at that point. I've got my regular gloves, but I also have a pair of really good mittens. And this will actually keep my hands really warm. I've got a full bottle of clava that I also can put over. And now I'm always wearing my sunglasses, but now I can also put on the goggles. Again, in case it really starts to get very, very cold. I've also got a pair of Gore-Tex bibs that goes over my pants. I wore these last time on Okancagua. It absolutely saved me from probably getting frostbite. So this absolutely stays with me on my summit pack. Now the water bottle is insulated with a cover on it to keep it from freezing. And we've got crampons and also an ice axe. All this should be good enough to give me to the top of Okancagua and then down again safely. Okay, I've got everything all packed into the two duffel bags here. I'll set to go to the airport tomorrow and hopefully I'll be under the weight limits for the airline as well as for the mules when I get down to Okancagua. Well, this is the second climb of the seven summits climb for Alzheimer's, memories or everything. For Vincent, we raised a lot of money. I hope we do the same thing for Okancagua and along the rest of the seven summits. What I'm asking is for everyone to donate a penny for every foot that I climb or more. You know, you can also go to your employer and ask them to do a matching fund for you. Many companies do that out there. Or you can issue your own challenge grant. Do it on Facebook, do it on Twitter, do it within your friends or family. So for every dollar that you donate, then get them to match it or vice versa. And that way we can leverage this. We can raise a lot more money. Remember, 100% of your donations go to research to find a cure for Alzheimer's. That's what this is all about. Nothing goes to me, nothing goes to my supporters. I'm excited about going down to South America again. This will be my third trip to Okancagua. I've summited two previous times. But I'll tell you, it's a serious mountain. It's close to 23,000 feet. That's about the equivalent of being at Camp 3 on Everest. It'll be a good test for me. I'm looking forward to being back at that extreme altitude. Looking forward to seeing if my conditioning work over the last years paid off. I feel great. I feel really in good shape. I feel very confident. I'm very confident of going with the team, with IMG International Mountain Guides. And I'm really looking forward to it. So please follow along on the blog. There's going to be the spot tracker so you can track us all the way along the way. And it's going to be a lot of fun. Thanks for coming along guys. Appreciate it. Memories are everything. Climb on. This is Alan.