![Clint Helander using the Mystery Ranch Tower 47 backpack in Alaska. [Photo] Clint Helander collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mystery-ranch-tower-47-1-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alaskan alpinist Clint Helander tested the Mystery Ranch Tower 47 backpack for all sorts of activities. The pack is designed as a crag pack for rock climbing—for which it shines—but Helander also used it for ice climbing and skiing. The pack is big and bulky, he reports, but its durability and functionality make it worth the extra grams. Four stars.
Alaskan climber Clint Helander generally prefers softshell jackets instead of hardshells when climbing and skiing, but the Rab Muztag GTX Jacket proved to be an exception. He writes, “I have always appreciated the ability of softshells to breathe and stretch while I methodically plod up steep snow slopes. In my mind, Gore-Tex jackets were still too heavy and restrictive in regard to movement…. I was happy to be proven wrong.” Five stars.
![The author preparing the Peak Refuel Sweet Pork and Rice entree at Camp 1 on Ama Dablam in Nepal. [Photo] Clint Helander collection](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/peak-refuel-1-2.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Clint Helander recently discovered a new personal standard when it comes to freeze-dried food. In this review he explains why Peak Refuel meals are in a different category from other backcountry food products that he has tried over the last 20 years. Five stars.
![Clint Helander wearing the La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme boots on an ice climb. [Photo] John Giraldo](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/la-sportiva-trango-tower-extremes-1-2.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Clint Helander tested the La Sportiva Trango Tower Extreme GTX boots on some Alaskan ice climbs and cannot think of a single con. He reports that the Trango Towers are the “new iteration” of the discontinued “silver bullet” EVO Extremes and that these boots are “ideal for ice/mixed climbing and single-day mountaineering.” Five stars.
![Roskelley on Chhota Bhai. [Photo] Nelson Nierinck](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/pakistan-kondus-valley-first-ascents-5.jpg?resize=930%2C504&ssl=1)
In what proved to be a month of strikingly optimal weather, Americans Jess Roskelley and Kurt Ross teamed with Belgian Nelson Neirinck to explore climbs in the Kondus Valley of northeast Pakistan from July 15 to August 15. They completed new routes on a 5800-meter tower and two 6000-meter peaks, which were all previously unclimbed.
![Leading on unexplored terrain on the east face of Caliban in Alaska’s Arrigetch Range. Gus Barber, Lang Van Dommelen and Chris Williams’ new route, which they are simply referring to as the East Face for now, is a 2,500-foot Grade IV+ 5.11. [Photo] Lang Van Dommelen](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/caliban-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Gus Barber, Lang Van Dommelen and Chris Williams recently established a 2,500-foot first ascent of a Grade IV+ 5.11 on the east face of Caliban (ca. 6,400′) in Arrigetch Peaks in Gates of the Arctic National Park.
![Ryan Johnson rigging a rappel on an October 2015 attempt on the north face of the Main Mendenhall Tower. Johnson completed this dream line with Marc-Andre Leclerc, but the pair lost their lives on the descent. [Photo] Clint Helander](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ryan-johnson-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Clint Helander remembers the life and prolific climbing career of his friend Ryan Johnson, who went missing and is presumed dead along with Marc-Andre Leclerc after the pair climbed a new route on the north face of the Main Mendenhall Tower in Alaska in early March.
![The Mountain Equipment Citadel Mitts. [Photo] Clint Helander](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mountain-equipment-citadel-mitt-1-1.jpeg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Alaskan alpinist Clint Helander finds the Mountain Equipment Citadel Mitt to be a lightweight and versatile option for climbs that require cutting down on bulk and extra grams. Five stars.
![The BASU eAlarm can be used in a variety of ways. Here it is rigged on a food sack so that it will be set off if an animal were to tamper with it. [Photo] Clint Helander](https://i0.wp.com/alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/basu-ealarm-1-1.jpg?resize=930%2C620&ssl=1)
Clint Helander lives, works and climbs in Alaska, where the risk of bear encounters is a regular hazard. He tested the BASU eAlarm and found it to be a versatile and helpful device.
Why Mark Westman should be famous (A postscript to Alpinist 19). May’s everlasting sun hovered in a low, lateral arc over the Alaska Range, bathing the massive peaks in fiery light. Waves of clouds washed up the Kahiltna Glacier and flooded the lower mountains in an ever-darkening fog.
