I will be spending 5 months in South America and hitting a bunch of treks in Patagonia and Peru. My treks in Patagonia will be January and February and ranging from 2 to 8 nights in length, Torres del Paine Circuit, Fitz Roy, pretty much anything popular in Argentina. Treks in Peru are in May, Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu, Santa Cruz circuit, maybe some others. I'm going to be bringing an 18 oz Osprey Hornet 24 for keeping valuables safe on buses, day trips in cities, day hikes, and storing extra clothing at hostels while I go out on treks with my main pack.

This is my gear list for treks (minus normal clothes for use in cities that will be stored in my osprey hornet, etc). I've never done any overnight backpacking and this is solo. I've put things in parentheses if I'm unsure and need advice

ULA Catalyst
Trash compactor bag liner
Zpacks cuban fiber roll top for down bag and certain clothing pieces
Everything else will either be free in my bag or in ziplocs

Upper body:
Smartwool microweight crew short sleeve
Patagonia Capilene 2 L/s 1/4 zip
(Maybe one more shirt for clean sleeping?)
Patagonia Houdini full zip
Montbell ultra light down parka
Marmot Aegis rain shell with pit zips

Lower body:
(1 or 2 pairs?) Running shorts
Montane featherlight wind pants
REI polartec long underwear for sleeping

Feet:
Non waterproof trail runners ( haven't decided yet, Terroc 330 or La Sportiva Wildcats)
(2 or 3 pairs?)
Light wool crew socks for hiking
1 pair Smartwool light trekking socks for sleeping
(camp shoes - sandals maybe)

Extra clothing:
Fleece hat
Outdoor Research PL 400 windproof gloves
MLD eVent rain mitts
Sunglasses
Buff (possibly? don't own one yet)

Sleeping:
Scarp 1 with 2 extra guys and stakes for sleeve pullouts
Tyvek ground sheet
REI sub kilo 20F down bag
Thermarest Xtherm regular ( do people fold these flat against their bag or roll it up in the sack that it came with that also is used to inflate it or inflate with mouth?)
Cocoon hyperlite pillow

Cooking:
MSR mircorocket
Snow Peak Titanium Trek 700 Mug
REI campware long plastic spoon (titanium spork better?)
(other accessories needed, like windscreen, cosy, etc?)

Hygiene:
Zpack ultralight travel toothbrush and toothpaste
Sea to summit multiuse wilderness soap
Sunscreen
Packtowel ultralite towel
Moleskin
Nail clipper
Toilet paper

Electronics:
32gb iTouch and charger and headphones
Lowepro toploader 45 hanging from chest strap
Canon T1i and 15-85mm lense
2 extra batteries and charger
Uv filter and hood
Goja microfiber cloth
Lens pen
Gepe extreme waterproof memory card safe
Kindle


Extras:
First aid kit - haven't put together yet
Repair kit - thread and needle, duct tape, kid that came with sleeping pad
Lighter and box of matches
Maps
Katadyn purifying tablets
Leatherman Juice S2
Black diamond headlamp and spare batteries
Documents in ziploc - passport, etc
timex watch - just for time and alarm
Black diamond distance z-pole
Whistle
Just going to use plastic bottles instead of nalgene, no bladder
(Have a compass but my Patagonia book says it needs to be a global one to work in southern hemisphere - I don't even know how to use a compass anyway)

Edited by adimi24 on 12/28/2012 17:18:02 MST.

I did a similar trip in Peru and Bolivia, and probably would have been cold with that upper body, though I was there in July, when it's a bit colder. I took a mb thermawrap and rab infinity. We also ended up doing the Huayhuash instead of Santa Cruz, and Choquequirao instead of Salkantay. They're worth a look.

There was a series of articles here about backpacking in South America, here's one:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/global_test_gear_list_part_2.html?id=jreYwd6D:69.89.31.227

I'm pretty sure it's quite a bit colder in July. I've heard that for example in TDP in January it won't hit freezing. I might take a 100wt fleece as well. I'm I'll be okay with a Cap 2, fleece, houdini, MB parka, rain shell, and hat if I get cold.

Did you use rain pants?

And thanks, I'll definitely look into those other treks

In colder rainy weather, you'll probably end up using your sleeping tights as a baselayer under your windpants at some point in time - just so you plan for it.