Equipment Outfitters

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 »

Will and perseverance

If, in spite of your precautions, you get into trouble, you must adopt an air of hope. Even if you feel the situation is desperate, don’t give in to panic. There is a way out of most situations, so keep calm and try to think of it. Panic can spread alarmingly among tired people, but only makes a bad situation worse. You must, as an individual, exercise control, consider the facts, arrange your priorities, and then act. If you are theleader of the party then you must, in addition, set an example of steady nerves to the other members.

Precautions

When problems start to occur on the hill you may also fall prey to the ‘if only’ factor. This is the train of thought which begins ‘If only I had told Mum; if only I had left a route card; if only I had asked Bill; or brought a tent‘ — and so on. To save yourself from any such bitter reflections, check that you have these requirements before you start: Read the rest of this entry »