TH R E E
PREPACKAGED
MEALS WE LOVEPatagonia Provisions Chili
Beans, tomatoes, carrots, chi-
potle in a generous serving.
$Backpacker’s Pantry Cereal
Not too sweet, not too mushy.
11g protein.
$6Good To-Go Pad Thai
Probably better than
your local delivery joint.
$Anker wakes up
for breakfast on
the 2011 irst
ascent of Meru in
a portaledge—a
tent anchored to
the side of a clif.HOW TO
SUBSISTAT 21,000 FEET
Conrad Anker, captain
of The North Face Global
Athlete Team and three-time
summiter of Everest,
does not get fancy when
packing meals.*
“I’M THERE to climb,” Conrad Anker
says, “not for a picnic.” In 2011,
when he successfully climbed the
21,000-foot Meru—one of the last unsum-
mited Himalayan peaks—alongside Jimmy
Chin and Renan Ozturk, their diet for those
two weeks was basic and repetitive: oatmeal
for breakfast with protein powder and dehy-
drated blueberries; a couple energy bars and
some cheese during the day; and then cous-
cous and olive oil in the evening.“When you’re out there adventuring in the
mountains, you run your engine lean, your
body hot,” Anker says. “Food is more of a calo-
rie-transfer medium.”
He estimates that he lost 15 pounds over
the course of his 2012 climb of Everest—a ven-
ture he made more challenging by forgoing
supplemental oxygen. “Summit day was Top
Ramen the night before and maybe a half liter
of cold cofee and a handful of cough drops,” he
says. “That was all my sustenance up there.”*Note: Also applies to non-Everest locations.PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN60 JULY/AUGUST _ 201 POPULARMECHANICS.COM