Below is the gear that the 1999 Millennium Expedition will be using on Everest. Scroll down the page for a Lexicon of Everest Gear, or click on hot items to view details and online purchasing information from The Mountain Zone Marketplace.

Clothing

• The North Face Store
  
• The North Face Ultra-wick Pullover shirt
  
• The North Face Power-Stretch Shirt
  
• The North Face Aurora Zip Neck Microfleece Top
  
• The North Face Ventilation Shirt
  
• The North Face Aurora Alpine Weight Tights
  
• The North Face Cross-Training Tights
  
• The North Face Big Wall Pants
  
• The North Face Ama Dablam Pants
  
• The North Face Cerro Torre Jacket
  
• The North Face Summit Jacket
  
• The North Face Ama Dablam PacLite Jacket
  
• The North Face Himalayan Down Suit
  
• The North Face Devil's Thumb Suit
  
• The North Face Expedition Wind Suit
  
• The North Face Air-Core Bibs
  
• The North Face Himalayan Mittens
  
• The North Face Black Ice Gloves
  
• The North Face Power-Stretch Gloves
  
• The North Face All-Terrain Gloves
  
• The North Face Micronamics Briefs
  
• The North Face Power-Stretch Balaclava
  
• The North Face Expedition Balaclava
  
• The North Face Smartwool Socks
  
• The North Face 30 Years of Exploration, fleece lined baseball hat
  
• The North Face Micronamics, aerobic weight long underwear, top and bottom
  
• Sawtooth Ridge Trail Running Shoes
  
• La Sportiva Hyper-Guide Boots
  
• La Sportiva Nepal Extreme Boots or Trango Extreme Boots
  
• La Sportiva Expedition Insulated Supergaiters

  Gear
  Check out

• The North Face Store
  
• The North Face Polar Circus Pack
  
• The North Face Duffles - Base Camp Duffles XL, Rolling Thunder XL (F99)
  
• The North Face Packs - Thin Air
  
• The North Face Thin Air Pack
  
• The North Face Tents - VE-25's, Him. Hotel, Two Meter Domes
  
• The North Face Himalayan Hotel Tent
  
• The North Face Mountain Tent
  
• The North Face VE-25 Tent
  
• The North Face FoxFire Sleeping Bag
  
• The North Face Sleeping Bags - Solar Flare DL
  
• Goggles - Smith Turbo
  
• Blue Water 7mm Fixed Line
  
• Nikon - F100 Camera, TI35 Camera
  
• MSR - Stoves Rapidfire, Fuel Isobutane, Pot Sets, Pickets & H2O Filters
  
• Approach - Sawtooth Ridge, Triple Divide Mid
  
• Climbing - Koflach Arctis Expedition
  
• Crampons - Black Diamond Sabertooth
  
• Shovels - Black Diamond D9
  
• Sunglasse - Maui Jim
  
• Fuji Film - Provia, Velvia
  

Crampons
Racks of steel alloy spikes that attach to mountaineering boots and provide secure footing in icy conditions. On Everest, climbers routinely wear crampons from the ice fall to the summit. Modern step-in crampon bindings attach much more easily to plastic mountaineering boots, saving the climber from the torture of fumbling with crampon straps with frozen fingers.

Ice Ax
Basic ice tool with three business ends — adze, pick, and ferrule — for safer travel through snow and ice. Since the South Col route on Everest is not technical, the standard 70-cm or so ice ax works well. There is no need for more technical ice-climbing tools like those used on waterfalls.

Fixed Rope
A safety line rigged from an anchor and left in place to facilitate progress up the mountain or during descent. Fixed lines usually are rigged from 9 mm or smaller perlon climbing rope, or cordage even lighter than that: polypropylene, water-ski rope has been used for this application. The idea is to take a large spool of strong and durable but lightweight rope to a convenient place, and attach the highest end to a secure anchor, such as multiple snow pickets or rock pitons (see below). Climbers can then ascend the rope using a jumar (see below) or descend the rope using a belay device, allowing up and down movement even in bad weather. Frayed fixed ropes can be a lethal danger, as was demonstrated in the 70's when American climbing legend John Harlin was killed while jumaring fixed ropes on the Eiger Direct route while he and Scottish climber Dougal Haston attempted the route's first ascent.

Jumar
General term derived from the French-made Jumar Ascender but now applied generically to include all rope-ascending devices, including Petzl, Clog, Gibb etc. Any of these ascenders uses a pivoting cam which deploys against the rope, enabling the device to move up but not down. This is very useful when climbing fixed ropes, as the tired high altitude climber merely moves the jumar up the fixed line with each step as he or she climbs higher, providing not just a safety belay that prevents the climber from falling, but also allowing the climber to lean back against the fixed rope and rest. As the late Scott Fischer once said, "People don't realize that the mountain only has to be climbed by the first guy, 'cause after that you're just juggin' ropes."

Plastic Boots
For the past 15 years, ski-boot technology has been applied to mountaineering boots, resulting in footwear that keeps climbers' feet warm and dry in even extreme conditions. The proliferation of double plastic boots-made by such companies as Koflach, Lowa, Scarpa, Asolo and others — has greatly reduced the risk of frostbite like that suffered on such early Himalayan climbs like the French expedition to Annapurna in 1950.

None, however, have performed like ABC's Everest Boots. Last year, Beck Weathers, and this year, Hugo Rogriguez, both spent an emergency night on upper Everest without bivy gear, and neither suffered frostbite on their feet. Both were wearing ABC's Everest boots.

Piton
Metal alloy spike of varying sizes that can be driven into cracks in rock. Rock hardware is sometimes used for attaching fixed ropes on Everest's South Col route, but not for protecting lead climbers as is the case on more technical rock climbs.

Deadman
Shovel-blade-shaped section of aluminum (with a length of cable for clipping carabiners) that can be used to protect climbers on steep snow slopes.

Picket
Length of aluminum or other light-weight metal T-bar that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor for fixed ropes or to otherwise protect climbers.