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Saturday, February 28, 2015

The Essentials of Mountaineering - Updated!


The 10 essentials of hiking, or anytime you don a pack & venture into the wilderness. Tried & true or outdated? Having led expeditions for over 15 years I would humbly offer that its time we tweaked this list a bit. Light is Right in the mountains & ‘stuff’ we pack adds up in weight. This can be dangerous because it slows you down if a storm rolls in, let alone avalanche conditions change. So as mountaineers we make compromises: Here’s the original list is: Map/compass/GPS, whistle, extra water & food, rain gear/extra clothing, fire starter/matches, first aid kit, knife/multi-purpose tool, flashlight w/ extra batteries, sunscreen & sunglasses. Not bad, but here’s my modifications with some of my favorite suppliers of gear for everything from expedition proven to just fun in the outdoors!
 
First a word about technology… Technology is great but consider the technology the backup & don’t overly rely on it. Also plan to keep your tech dry & warm in small neoprene & fleece cases & bags, & have extra batteries or a system like Goal Zero Solar panels so you can charge your tech outside!
 
Map, yes if you don’t have a clear trail & know the area like the back of your hand, I hike all the time in my home mountains without one but yes, a map. Compass, ok but only if you are really good at orienteering, you have to train with it or it’s just a piece of dead weight. I use an altimeter watch sometimes with & also without a map, depending upon my familiarity with the territory. GPS is awesome right? But can stop working if it gets cold. I really like The DeLorme Explorer InReach Satellite Communicator, they also make great GPS Units.
Whistle; not all are created equal. On expedition we use Midland Hand Held Radios: https://midlandusa.com/ but I also have an emergency whistle from Adventure Medical Kits attached right on my backpack. The ones made for kayaking & SCUBA diving are lighter & louder than most.
 
My backpack is usually an Osprey or CamelBak Pack with a built in Hydration Bladder & rain fly. The built in Hydration & Rain Fly are the items that I would consider essentials for any serious trek or adventure, also my Leki Trekking Poles but that’s just a personal choice, they make hiking easier & I can keep a better pave with them!
http://www.ospreypacks.com/
http://www.camelbak.com/
http://usa.leki.com/

Extra water: Yes but how much is the real question. Food & water can add pounds not ounces. Along with my built in hydration bladder where I put my fresh water, I also carry a wide mouthed Nalgene bottle to use with a high energy electrolyte Carbohydrate drinks such as my personal favorite, BRL Sports TriFuel. If it’s cold out place the bottle upside down so the mix freezes from the bottom up!
http://nalgene.com/
http://brlsports.com/

A water filter: Try a superlight water filter like Life Straw, or an Eco Vessel water bottle with a built in water filter, then check the map where a stream may be & fill up your bladder & your water bottle with high energy nutritional powders. I put my snacks where they are accessible like in a side pocket on my pack or a Ribz Front Pack, http://www.ribzwear.com/ also a great place for your small digital camera which is not a necessity but an important luxury, I use a water proof Nikon Coolpix AW110 & keep it warm in my front pack wrapped in my fleece gloves.
http://eartheasy.com/ for a Life Straw
http://www.ecovessel.com/  

Extra Food: We used to get our condensed nutrition from loafs of bread, cheese & logs of salty meat, but today we can do much better, now we have super nutrition like high protein Ostrim Jerky, protein bars & food supplements to keep us moving. Just remember, Chocolate is health food in the mountains.
http://www.protos-inc.com/
 
Wear Layers: During the 3 seasons all you need is a super light rain system like a 1 ply Gortex jacket, maybe late fall early spring the same light system only bring the bottoms. Full on winter 1 piece altitude suits rule but many like a 3 ply Gortex jacket bib or pant system. I have a nice set from Red Ledge that is really light weight, too much extra clothing will weight you down, in the old days we brought changes of socks because boots back then were not all that waterproof, but now a days boots are very reliable, Five Ten is my favorite but we all have a brand that fits us best. I add a Spenco insole especially designed to add additional warmth & a Forty Below overboot in arctic conditions. Most of the time a nice gaiter boot combo like the tailor made gaiters Hillsound makes you so waterproof you don’t need the extra socks unless fording rivers is in your itinerary. Multi-day trips do require extra socks & I use Thorlo exclusively, they cater to mountain sport athletes by designing socks for every particular type of mountaineering, altitude, trail running, skiing, snowboarding, you name it they have a sock for it! Clothing is all about layering & that’s what we do, I use Terramar underwear because it looks cool as outer wear too as so often happens when backpacking for days on end. Terramar has high warmth to weight ratio & several of their tops have hoods so with a baseball hat you are all set in pouring rain.
http://www.redledge.com/

http://fiveten.com/

https://www.spenco.com/index.aspx

http://www.40below.com/

https://www.thorlo.com/

http://www.terramarsports.com/

http://hillsound.com/
 

  • Winter extras include a BekoGear nose guard & Cold Avenger face mask, a Smith Goggle with a turbo fan & extra batteries for it but mostly I use my Oakley prescription Sunglasses year round, the Split Jackets make great glacier glasses. I carry a Terramar light weight Balaclava, no heavy hats. For gloves I use Hot Fingers since 1995 from Swany Gloves & always carry an extra fleece glove with me from Marmot.
http://bekogear.com/

http://shop.coldavenger.com/

http://www.swanyamerica.com/

http://www.smithoptics.com/

http://www.oakley.com/

http://marmot.com/

Fire starter? I have never carried matches; I do what many climbers do, use electrical tape to secure a lighter around my neck attached to a thin perlon necklace made with a double fisherman’s knot. You can also carry your Dermatone lipstuff here as well. Sunscreen from Dermatone also protects against wind burn & frostbite. They come in nice lightweight small bottles. Matches have never worked for me, even windproof ones seem to fail when you need them most, like in alpine zone hurricane force winds. Keep your lighters warm & have 2 backups if you are going to be out long. Fire Starters can also be helpful.
http://dermatone.beaumontproducts.com/
 
First aid kit, you actually need very few items in a small Adventure Medical Kit. Most useful, moleskin enough for others too, a few Band-Aids & a multi trauma dressing, tape & maybe an adhesive wrap. That’s it, all the rest of the room in the kit is for medication, your personal meds that you may need if you get caught out for the night & a few life saving ones like pain killers, altitude medicine & a stimulant like a few caffeine pills, these can make the difference between life & death, especially at altitude or climbing alone. Add any prescription meds & medical conditions you may have on a small laminated piece of paper here & in a pocket. Or, easier still use Road ID, like runners do, around your ankle or wrist.
http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/

http://www.roadid.com/

I rarely carry a knife unless rock climbing, then it’s a Spyderco. A small light weight multi-purpose tool only if camping, select one carefully, they range in weight from heavy to sort of light. If all your systems of food, water & clothing are tweaked then you simply will not need a big old survival knife. Even if you had one you need to know wilderness survival skills to actually know how to use it in such a way that it’s useful.
No Flashlights ever, take a tip from Cave Divers & keep your hands free, headlamps rule. I have a Mammut or Petzl headlamp with either a new battery or a backup one. Be sure to keep that extra battery warm! Check out Princeton Tec for all manners of great lighting solutions, for bike touring, hiking SCUBA diving & more. Mammut makes great clothing as well as climbing gear & Petzl has every manner of technical rock & ice climbing gear you’ll ever need! Any secondary light source is either something like a candle lantern for camping or a really small bright LED thing like the type you play with cats with, Princeton Tec makes these really powerful ones that weight next to nothing.
http://www.princetontec.com/

http://www.petzl.com/en/Sport?l=US#.VPDnv1h0zq4

http://www.mammut.ch/

 

So that’s the list but I would add a Parachord Bracelet like an Airborne Ron’s High Speed Parachords & a Gortex bivy sack. It’s basically a body bag & weighs almost nothing but when you need shelter it could save your life. It doubles as a waterproof sleeping bag cover & if you meet someone injured on the trail you put them in it while they wait for help to arrive. This single item I feel is the most important thing a wilderness explorer should have with them. They range from OR Double Bivy’s which have hoops that take the material off your face & are basically a 4 season mini tent for 2 people, single person hooped sacks & really basic ones that are lightest. I like Black Diamonds Bivy Sacks. If you are on vertical terrain, be sure to carry a Carabineer & anchor for it. CAMP USA makes the lightest Biners in the world & webbing is half the weight it used to be.

https://www.facebook.com/AirborneRonsHighSpeedParacords

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/

http://www.camp-usa.com/

 
In winter on long climbs it makes sense to add a lightweight stove like a 1 person Jetboil stove with a small canister of gas. & 1 bag of mountain house food, even if you don’t plan on camping it could turn an unplanned bivouac epic into fairly comfortable unplanned night out under the stars!

http://www.jetboil.com/

http://www.mountainhouse.com/
 

Titanium & air craft aluminum crampons & ice axes scale weight down drastically CAMP USA has some of the lightest technical climbing gear also Hillsound makes a nice super light trekking crampon that’s easy to don with gloves on. Sterling Ropes makes Dry Core Alpine Touring ropes at 9.2 mm which is an amazing savings on weight & they don’t get heavier when wet! Misty Mountain Has the best lightweight alpine harnesses’ without the frills of their big wall or sport climbing harnesses so if glacier traveling is your thing you can have all the same protection without the bulk. Last but not least, when you need a snow shoe Northern Lites makes snowshoes that are the lightest you will find, they make all others seem like boat anchors by comparison but still grip the mountain just as well!   

http://mistymountain.com/

http://www.northernlites.com/

http://www.sterlingrope.com/

 
The difference between successful professional mountaineers & explorers & people who hike for fun & often experience discomfort is the willingness to take the time out from the hike to hydrate, eat, apply lip stuff & sunscreen, even when you are tired & want to press on, cold because you are exposed to full on winds & distracted by your goal of reaching your goal of the summit or other destination & then returning quickly to the comfort of your car or home. I hope you enjoyed my wilderness survival tips & gear reviews. J Check out our group Wild Heart Expeditions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1398114007116751/

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