Equipment Outfitters

Repairs

There are few opportunities for any major repairs in the field, but a temporary patch can prevent down spilling out from a ripped sleeping bag or a snagged jacket. More and more garments, bags and flysheets are in rip-stop material, in which the fabric is seamed with reinforcing strands of nylon, but tears are still a possibility. Rip-stop repair tape and a needle and thread are useful accessories carried in a 35-mm film container, inside your pack.

Car care

In winter especially, the countryside is muddy. It is frequently not much better in high summer and mud can cause trouble in a number of ways. Nothing is more discouraging than to return to your car on a cold wet winter’s night and find when you try to move that the wheels sink swiftly into the sodden ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Settling in

Organization, having a place for everything and everything in that place, is the secret of a comfortable night under canvas. To save endless rummaging in the rucksack I unpack it completely and the settling-in routine usually goes as follows:

1 Find a site and pitch the tent.

2 Unpack stove, fuel and water and put on a brew.

3 Lay out pad and, after a good shake, lay out the sleeping bag to `left’.

4 Unpack rucksack completely, except for small lose- able items, which stay in top flap pocket. Read the rest of this entry »

Where are you?

Always know where you are. That is a fundamental rule. Consulting the map every few minutes is irritating, and

will slow you down considerably, so wear your compass around your neck and get into the habit of taking a quick bearing on a couple of features every few hundred yards. Any new landmarks should be identified on the map as they appear, and in difficult country you should have the map in your hand and be ‘thumbing’ the route. This means that the map, in its plastic bag, is held with your thumb firmly at the point of your present position. The area of your thumb on the map covers an area of a square mile or so, but you will have the general location. Read the rest of this entry »

Pre-trip checks

The first step is to take pen and paper and make a list of each and every item you intend to take, including food and water. Put in quantities and weights.

When I buy any new item I enquire about the weight. When I get home I weigh it again, both as a check, and to get a filled weight for such items as petrol stoves and water bottles. The new item and its weight are added to a list I keep pinned behind the equipment cupboard door. This list has proved extremely useful over the years and I suggest you prepare one.

Having compiled the list for the trip, criticize it. Is there anything you can leave out? Add up the weights. It concentrates the mind wonderfully to realize you may be planning to do 20 miles a day over mountains carrying 5o lb. of gear. Should you reduce the load, shorten the stages, change the route, or abandon the trip? Take only what you need, for it soon becomes clear that something must be changed. Having reduced your load to a reasonable, but not dangerous level, check every item carefully. Read the rest of this entry »

By this stage, half way through the book, the sensible person should have assembled a suitable range of clothing and equipment, learned to find their way about, in good weather, and have a grasp of what to do if something unforeseen happens. It is now time to go out into the wild and consolidate your knowledge by putting it into practice. Common sense plus experience is the basis of good technique and there is no substitute for experience.

Let us look at outdoor living from the moment we form the intention to make a trip, right through to our return home. Read the rest of this entry »

Food storage

If food looks or smells doff’, don’t eat it. Keeping times vary according to the food, the situation, and the weather, but hot or humid weather conditions are bad for storage. Eat your fresh food first, cooking extra portions to eat cold later.

Where wild animals, foxes, raccoon or bears are possible visitors, hang the food out on a thin branch well up in a tree. Bears have been known to come into tents after food, and injure the occupants in trying to obtain it. Read the rest of this entry »

Pre-trip cooking

A large number of dishes, sandwiches, pasties, salads, cold meats, sausages and so on can be cooked at home and taken into the field to be eaten either cold or re-heated.

Many foods can be enjoyed equally well cold, accompanied perhaps by a mug of hot soup or a brew.

Replenishment

Here again, as is so often the case out-of-doors, the value of pre-trip information is apparent. Since the amount you can carry is limited on a long trip, it is usually necessary to find somewhere to stock up every three or four days and these stops are usually at country stores where special outdoor foods, in light, dehydrated form, are rarely available. You must check that the shops will be open, or even that they actually still exist, for quite a number of villages survive with only a church and a pub. Read the rest of this entry »

Cooking stores

There is a world of difference between living to eat and eating to live. Depending on his or her expertise, the outdoor person hovers somewhere between the two extremes and how far you lean one way or another will depend on the competence of your cooking and the degree to which a few useful and tasty spices and herbs are introduced into the cooking.

A small nylon bag containing a selection from the following items can turn the most mundane meal into something appetizing and add that little extra touch which rounds off the day. The quantities need not be large, but the benefits can be terrific! Read the rest of this entry »

Filling stoves

Never fill a stove when it is hot, with a cigarette or fire alight nearby, or inside a tent. Use a small plastic funnel to avoid spillage and mop up any liquid at once. Be fire-conscious.

All good stoves should have a windshield, which helps to prevent the stove flaring in the wind, especially when first lit.

Stoves

The range of stoves is, by now, vast. Any good outdoor shop should be able to show you half a dozen or so, and having decided on the amount of cooking you intend to do, and the most suitable fuel, you should be able to find a suitable stove.

Good stoves are not cheap, but always buy a reliable model from a proven manufacturer. A petrol, or any pressure stove, must be safe, and this is not the area to tolerate cheap goods or shoddy workmanship. Read the rest of this entry »

Many competent cooks quail at the idea of cooking on a single-burner stove. It is true that a meal on the hill can be plagued by wind, rain and the eager arrival of a variety of hungry insects, but as with most outdoor activities, much misery can be avoided by good organization and pre-planning.

The first point which has to be decided is exactly how much cooking you are going to do. For many outdoor activities, cooking is unnecessary and you can manage perfectly well with a vacuum flask of hot soup and a packet of sandwiches. If you do intend to cook, you need to calculate how much and at what times of the year, for this could well affect the fuel you use, and therefore the stove you buy. Read the rest of this entry »

Heat and cold exhaustion

These arc not ailments in the true sense, in that they are a result of accident or illness. They are an inherent risk caused by the weather and as a result exhaustion is a hazard. It is all too easy to over-estimate your physical strength and once you have over-taxed your capabilities, further effort will result in exhaustion and possible collapse. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are summer hazards, far more prevalent than cold exhaustion, perhaps because they are more unexpected, and fewer measures are taken to prevent them.

Heat exhaustion can be caused by a humid atmosphere, excessive perspiration, loss of body fluids, and simple tiredness. It can lead to collapse and even death in very severe cases. Read the rest of this entry »

Avalanche precaution

The best precaution is to use your common sense, observe avalanche warnings, and never travel on closed routes. They have been closed to keep you out of danger, and even if you take the risk and get away with it, your tracks may tempt others into danger and they may not be so lucky.

Most avalanches occur at known spots, and when avalanche conditions exist, a warning is issued, ski pistes are closed and the emergency services stand by. Providing the skier does what he is told, and stays out of danger, little harm can come to him. Read the rest of this entry »

Frostbite

When you get really cold, the body transfers warmth from the skin surfaces to the body centre in order to maintain core heat. This causes shivering as the skin tries to generate heat and can lead to frostbite. Frostbite is a term which means an actual freezing of the flesh, until ice actually forms in the tissues. A less serious, but still painful form is frostnip, where the skin becomes burnt and blistered by the effects of exposure to winds and low temperatures, but swift action in covering the affected parts and re-warming the flesh can quickly prevent this, or reduce the effects.

Slight frostbite is usually indicated by a whiteness of the skin and a loss of sensation. The ears, toes, fingers, nose, cheeks and chin, are particularly vulnerable. If such signs are noticed and the areas concerned covered and re-warmed at once, then no further damage need result. Read the rest of this entry »

Wild water and tidal currents

While rivers present a potential hazard to those crossing them in the shallows, there is considerably more risk involved if you choose to take to the water in canoe or small boat. Any water-borne activity requires, as a basic rule, that the participants should be able to swim, and wear life-jackets or buoyancy aids at all times when afloat. If these two rules are followed, then a soaking is the worst that can happen in the event of a capsize, unless the water is tidal or fast-flowing.

In wild water or rapids, there is a fair chance of being dashed against rocks, and attempts to swim against the current are likely to be fruitless. Read the rest of this entry »

Jungles

To go to the other extreme, let us examine the tropical rain forest, or jungle. The first priority for entering the tropics, even without leaving the city, is to check on local and endemic diseases.

These thrive in the hot, humid, steaming tropics, so it is advisable to get a full range of vaccinations, inoculations and pills. Anti-malaria tablets need to be taken before the trip starts, and personal hygiene is most important.

The humidity in the tropics can be enervating, and time for acclimatization is advisable. Read the rest of this entry »

In the wilderness hazards are mercifully few and far between. Even where they exist they are merely potential hazards, quite safe if you, the traveller, take the correct action or observe a few simple precautions. The main danger lies in failing to recognize the existence of this potential danger. Unfamiliarity with the terrain is a prime cause of hazard, and any city-dweller venturing into the wild is automatically at risk for this reason. The same would be true of a shepherd who leaves his flocks and wanders among traffic.

Two good examples of terrain which will always be unfamiliar to the majority of outdoor people are deserts and the jungle. Unfamiliar as they are, they can still be entered in safety, provided certain basic situations are understood and allowed for. Read the rest of this entry »

Dehydration

Because of the effect of chill on the body and the need to work hard in order to stay warm, dehydration becomes a possibility at below-zero temperatures. It is important to drink lots of liquids in winter and up to a litre a day may be needed just to keep the body fluids in balance. Tea and hot chocolate may be found to be more refreshing than coffee, but neither tea nor coffee by itself, without the addition of milk and/or sugar, offers any calorific support at all.

Frostbite and wind chill

Both are possible in the winter and must therefore be guarded against.

Movement in winter Read the rest of this entry »

Tent pegs, ‘dead men’, and guys

Getting a peg to hold in snow or soft ground can be a real problem, especially in high winds. Hammering a peg into frozen ground can be very difficult. In winter carry some thin steel pegs to cope with the latter difficulty and take a selection of long wooden, serrated plastic, or aluminium pegs for better holding insoft ground.

If they still fail to provide sufficient grip, you can use a `deadman’. These are flat metal plates which you can bury in the soft ground or snow, and their shape offers good holding properties. You can, however, use your initiative and construct your `deadman’ from your normal pegs, or whatever aids come to hand. Read the rest of this entry »

Shell clothing

A full set of ’shell’ clothing, giving protection against wind and water, is essential in winter. People maintain that with the waterproof protection of shell clothing, you can wear down garments and thus keep them dry, and in theory to a certain extent you can. However, I have tried this out in prolonged bad weather, and in practice you still get wet, if not from rain, then from condensation. Condensation is the real enemy of the winter camper.

Porous materials like GORE-TEX may well provide part of the answer to the condensation problem, for they permit body heat to evaporate and yet prevent rain droplets from beating through. Read the rest of this entry »

Many outdoor enthusiasts avoid the winter entirely, put away all their gear, and go into hibernation until well into the spring. This is quite unnecessary and rather a shame because in spite of generally inclement weather, winter has a great deal to offer. It is a challenge to your skills and the crowds have either departed or are much reduced. When the snow and cold weather set in, a whole new range of knowledge and technique is necessary to ensure your comfort and survival.

As a personal choice, I prefer the winter season, and would urge all outdoor people to extend their season beyond the autumn and see what the cold-weather camping has to offer.

The challenge

If you live in temperate latitudes with few extremes in the weather, then the winter is less of a problem, except where, as in the U.K., the weather is always unpredictable. Where winter sets in with a vengeance, in such northern latitudes as the Eastern U.S.A. or Canada, or in the high mountains, then your complete range of equipment, clothing and technique must be extended. All must be capable of coping with whatever weather can hurl at you. Read the rest of this entry »