Mountaineers 10 Essentials
1. Navigation
Added to the obligatory $7.00 topo map of the area and the $30.00 Suunto M3 base plate compass must be the ability to use them. This requires training, study, and practice. Navigating with a map alone is also a necessary skill. Attach a really loud whistle to your compass lanyard. Almost everyone will add an accurate $100.00 Garmin eTrex H GPS receiver. Learn to use map, compass and GPS together.
2. Sun Protection
Sun glasses and a sunscreen are an obvious addition to a pack. Sun protection should come from SPF 35 sun screen lotion, dark glasses suitable for altitude and reflective snow fields, and long sleeves, gloves and hat rated for strong sun. Have a sun skirt on the hat or wear a bandana under the hat and over your neck and ears.
3. Insulation (extra clothing)
This brings us to extra clothing – the most essential of the list. In Central Oregon, the weather can change in a very short time, leaving people shivering in shorts and vulnerable to rain, sweat and wind induced hypothermia. Hiking fast may keep your body heat up, until you “bonk” or “run out of gas” (glycogen), or have to hike slow with others, go slow to find your way or have to stop and tend an injured companion or stranger. The extra clothing must be carried in your pack, ready to be put on when you stop for a few minutes or several hours.
Cotton clothing, soaked in sweat, rain or melted snow, holds water and may loose up to 70% of its insulating value. Cotton clothing has caused the death of many people. Today’s layers of polypropylene, pile and Gortex are equivalent to the wool underwear, pants, shirts, sweaters and coated nylon jackets of the 1970s and before. Polypro, pile, thick synthetic insulation and Gortex had not been invented when Everest was first summited. However, the earliest climbers used layers 1. to wick body moisture, 2. to adjust insulation and 3. to cut off wind and rain. Remember, layers must be “pealed†to avoid sweat soaked clothes! All of this essential seasonal personal clothing and equipment must be accommodated in a light day/summit pack just large enough to hold it. Garments tied to the outside are likely to catch on something or get wet or lost. A larger day/summit/back pack is needed for the light but more bulky wool, pile, or down insulation layers needed in the winter.
4. Illumination
A small flashlight can assist in finding a lost or injured person. Many hiking groups have returned to the trailhead after dark. Headlamps now weigh in at 3 ounces! Extra batteries can be shared with your GPS.
5. First-Aid Supplies
Individual first aid supplies sized to the trip are a must. And don’t forget the toilet paper! First aid supplies can fit in a Ziploc bag and should deal with cuts and scrapes with small and large Band-Aids, Neosporin and mole skin. In June and July, add mosquito repellent for the woods. Have OTC drugs and a personal prescription pain medication for that broken ankle. Shoot for about 4 ounces for day hikes in the hills. Take a two day Wilderness First Aid class from the Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School. Put together your own individual and group first aid supplies listed on this website.
6. Fire
Waterproof matches and a fire starter can be combined in a couple of adjustable propane pocket lighters. Remember, when you most need a fire, it will be windy, wet and cold. Do not depend on being able to start a fire. Learn how to stay warm without a fire. Don’t try to be a “survivalist”.
7. Repair Kit and Tools
A small knife should be light and sharp – a tool kit knife is heavy and of little use. Carry light special tools for your skis, snowshoes or snowmobile. I carry the smallest Swiss Army knife and six feet of fresh duct tape.
8. Nutrition (extra food)
Extra food should be carbohydrates in the form of easily digested quick acting fat-free fig newtons, jelly filled breakfast bars or ClifBars that offer a bit of protein added to aid utilization. Glycogen (sugar or starch) is the one essential fuel that must be replaced during a hard hike or climb or an unexpected cold wet night under a tree – most people have ample stores of the other essential muscle fuel: fat.
9. Hydration (extra water)
Add extra water or the equipment to obtain it (stove for snow or a filter for summer), to your list. In the summer you may need to drink a gallon or more per day. In the winter you may be able to get by with three quarts if you are careful not to sweat. Use electrolyte replacement powder such as Gookinaid or Gatorade. Remember that only two quarts of water weigh almost four pounds. Use Nalgene or Platypus plastic bags that weigh one ounce per quart, not Nalgene bottles weighing 6 ounces each! I am not a fan of musty bladders, but they are popular at this time.
10. Emergency Shelter
Emergency shelter can range from a 10oz. Emergency Bivy Sack sold by Adventure Medical Kits for about $30. to a four season Gore-Tex $200. bivy bag and 20 degree sleeping bag.
You can not shelter in snow without an insulating pad such as the Cascade Designs RidgeRest three-quarter length, 9 ounce ensolite foam pad, strapped to the side of your day or summit pack.
Carry a light plastic snow shovel and know how to build a real snow cave designed to trap warm air with thick insulating snow with the entrance below the pad covered living area.
