[pct-l] Shipping/Transporting gear from east to west.

[at2002 at earthlink.net (Gary Wright)]

On Dec 30, 2004, at 3:31 PM, Jason Waicunas wrote:
> 1. Will TSA/airport security allow me to put my gear-filled pack 
> inside of a box after they inspect it in order to protect from 
> damage/theft during transport?
A suggestion: I bought an $8 duffel bag at Walmart and packed all my 
gear inside it
for the flight out.  The pack was empty and flattened on the bottom 
with all my
stuff bags on top so that the inspectors could poke thru them as 
needed.  You can
mail the duffel bag back at your destination, toss it out, give it 
away, whatever.

> 2. What method is best for shipping items such as knives, fuel 
> bottles(empty/clean), ice axe, crampons, etc. from the east coast to 
> the west coast?

Everything except the fuel bottles can be checked thru (not carried on) 
with
your gear on the airlines.  Empty (even if clean) fuel bottles might be 
a
problem on the airlines.  Of course if you are using Gatorade or other 
plastic
bottles, this won't be a problem.  Stoves can also be a problem 
although a
tin-can/tune-can stove probably won't set off any warning bells.  I've 
checked
my pocket rocket in the past.  I can't see any logical reason why a 
disassembled
stove should cause problems but that doesn't mean it won't.

All these items can be shipped by the USPS as far as I know although my 
mom
did get a weird response from the postal clerk when she tried to get a 
box for
my ice axe.  He said that they couldn't ship the ice axe because it was 
a
weapon.  Huh?  Since there are regulations that deal with shipping 
firearms
via USPS/FedEx/UPS, I don't know what this guy was thinking.
I did a quick google search and couldn't find anything regarding USPS 
regulations
on weapons (other than firearms).  She shipped it anyway.

If you want to ship fuel, see http://gottawalk.com/shipping_fuel.htm 
for a good
summary.


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