safety/survival gear -- what do you carry?

in addition to water/food/extra clothes, today I toured with the following stuff:

map, compass, waterproof matches, fire starter, shovel, space/signal blanket, lightest 3/4 length thermarest, ace bandage, 5 yards light rope, headlamp.

I usually tour solo and don't use a beacon. I am not a (big) risk taker in selecting slopes.

What would you add to this kit, or take away? Is there a philosophy behind not carrying much/any of this sort of stuff?

I like to turn that 5 yards light rope into 50' of 6 mm. It is very light (certainly compared to 9 or 10 mm). Has not mattered to me yet skiing but has saved me or partner several times in other terrain. Picture the moment you realize that a route is not going to go and you're not sure you can get back up the last couple of turns you came down. Or someone finally does kerplunk through the ice on that (mostly) frozen lake. [More useful with a partner, obviously]

Headlamp that you list: make sure to replace your old one that has incandescent bulb with an LED lamp, to eliminate risk that the filament fails or has failed through burning out or from handling, and to get more battery life. Get a lamp that takes the same batteries as your beacon, so when your beacon batteries get down to 90%, rotate them into your lamp, and from the lamp out to somewhere else.

Duck tape. Wrap a few feet around around a drink bottle. Basically no weight, lots of potential safety uses including first aid. I would rate it more useful than an ace bandage.

A partner weighs more than the items you list, but if you choose the right one, you don't have to carry him or her.

Good topic. I also tour solo frequently, or with just the dog, and choose conservative angled slopes on those days, and carry enough stuff to get through most incidents, including a night out or an injured dog. I take pretty much what is on your list, plus:

Duct tape for sure.
Several zip ties and some baling wire and a small pliers.
Screwdriver for bindings.
Extra ski pole basket.
Whistle.
My compass includes a signal mirror.

Depending on the weather and temperatures and remoteness sometimes I also carry a small white gas stove, smallest MSR fuel bottle, titanium pot.

Dog first aid and repair kit, including booties and jacket. One time he injured and cut a paw deep in the woods, the bootie was key for getting out without further injury.

May we stay fit through carrying this stuff and never need it!

Mark

Shovel, probe, transceiver. (Even when I am touring along) You never know if you are going to come across someone you may need to help.

Water, a little food, duct tape around my poles with bailing wire under that, light weight down jacket, extra gloves, warm hat, goggles, small light multi-tool, map, altimeter, ski crampons, small headlamp.

Depending on the trip I could include the following: 30m rope, crampons, light ice tool., lightweight harness, belay/rappel device, some pro (either a few old screws or a set of nuts)

Overnight I bring a warm lightweight bag, sleeping pad and bivi sack, small stove/fuel and pot, more food, lighter and a change of base layer and socks.

Kyle, Dan, and I bring some little hand held flares as well as everything mentioned. Also, I usually carry a couple of extra pieces to fix my touring gear with a quick fix if need be.

Arnica and Zantac. Something old, something new.

I really need to get a small multitool and start carrying some spare parts -- one day I'll have an equipment failure and be sorry.

I read a survival book once that argued the best way to stay alive is to get rescued, and that having multiple means of signalling for help/your location was the most essential thing after maintaining body temp. I have a mirror and space blanket that is traffic cone orange on one side, but I need a whistle, and the flares seem like a good idea too.

Does anyone carry more medical first aid stuff than duct tape? Antibiotic cream, band aides and 2 inch gauze pads always seemed a little beside the point to me, but maybe I'm not enlightened.

Does anyone carry more medical first aid stuff than duct tape?  Antibiotic cream, band aides and 2 inch gauze pads always seemed a little beside the point to me, but maybe I'm not enlightened.

I think Duct tape and TP can simulate pretty much any bandage, and better. For instance you can make a pretty credible finger splint with enough duct tape. Duct tape can also be used to attach a larger splint (I have not had to do this).

It is possible that antibiotic cream is good but its presence or absence will manifest several days later - I don't think it affects your fortunes much same day.

Duct tape is seriously useful for temporary trail markers.

usually carry and have used at various times all of these in addition to your list:
barometric analog altimeter.
puffy jacket, liner gloves, light waterpoof overmitts, balaclava.
first aid supplies in ziploc bag incl a bunch of 4x4 gauze pads and adhesive tape and adhesive butterflies and latex gloves for wounds -- slices or gashes with lots of bleeding may need more than duct tape or a bandaid or 2x2 can do.
pencil and first aid incident report form and a few sheets of small paper -- it is really helpful to 2nd responders or go-for-help person to have written down name, time, location, condition info and amazing what I cannot remember a few minutes later including the full name and emergency contact phone no. of whoever I casually hooked up with for this trip.
Duct tape wrapped around a wood dowel or pencil and replaced 1x/yr. It dries out.
(used all my duct tape and adhesive tape last week to tape a companion's leather boot to her ski after the sole took off with the ski)
2 oz serrated knife
shovel usually.
light bivy sack if going somewhere remote or with route finding issues if stormy.
small partial roll of red surveyor tape for route marking, wrapped around extra lip balm tube.
extra bite peice for drink tube. 
extra batteries.
emergency calories -- fruit leather is about the lightest, thinnest, very durable, in the bottom of the pack.
4 feet of poly binders twine with overhand knots every couple inches, to use as a snow saw.
If in a stay-together group, not everybody needs to carry everything.

Does anyone carry more medical first aid stuff than duct tape? 

Something that I carry that I seldom hear mentioned are drugs.

In addition to a couple of naproxin and aspirin, I keep two Vicodin and two Adderall (amphetamines).
I don't remember where I got them of course but they are there if needed.

You mentioned a thermarest.  I carry a 2.5" inflateable pillow with primaloft (Big Agnes).  It rolls small and is convenient to sit on for extended breaks but would be a nice item during and unexpected overnight stay.

I keep two chemical hand warmers on hand usually.

Lots of duct tape.  A shovel handle is a good place for extra.

A cell phone can also be a good idea.

It is amazing how close to the road one can have an epic. I think the gear is important, but even more so are the skills and judgment you take as well. First aid gear without a first aid class will probably just stop bleeding. Traveling in the winter without an avalanche course will leave you in low angle trees with a high chance of trauma due to vegetation.

I adjust first aid/repair/clothes/food by the distance/difficulty and quality of my partners. The list in Martin's ski touring book is the most useful one I know of. At the very least I carry the holy trinity plus medical tape and gauze to be found, help with a rescue and make sure I can stop bleeding. Everything else depends on the route and conditions.

Has anyone ever spent a winter night in the mountains in a space blanket and lived to tell about it?

I carry an ultra light bivy-sac most of the time. With the bivy, a puffy, and a small pad you should be able to wait if necessary.

I've always carried extra batteries for my headlamp. Recently I read a story in "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" in which one of the climbers lost his headlamp, which contributed to their epic (ending with a fatality). In the analysis, the ANAM editors suggested that the best way to carry extra batteries for your headlamp is in a second headlamp.

This makes so much sense, and is so easy to do with today's lightweight LED headlamps, that I recently bought a second one and now carry it on day trips.

Lowell has a good point. I've had trouble with headlamps (breaking, losing, batteries) before and it has caused a lot of extra work. So an extra is a great idea...problem for me is I keep misplacing the darn things.

Has anyone ever spent a winter night in the mountains in a space blanket and lived to tell about it?

I'm curious about this too. I carry the "Adventure Medical Emergency Bivvy," which is basically a tube hewn of space blanket: www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php...%20Emergency%20Bivvy

It only weight 3.5 ozs., but if it is a waste of space then I'll bring something else. I carry a puffy jacket and warm hat of course.

Has anyone ever spent a winter night in the mountains in a space blanket and lived to tell about it?

I did spend an unplanned night on north side of MRNP with a mylar space blanket and lived to tell about it. www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...38.msg28164#msg28164  Bivy sack would have been nice.  

I was glad to have a bivy sack and warm clothes when I broke my femur on S side of Mt R a few years ago and had a few hours in the snow waiting for help. And I'll second the recommendations to take classes and get practical experience with first aid.

In addition to the emergency blanket, I carry a candle ( 5" REI lantern candle ) this has been very beneficial in starting fires, and heating snow caves. And in an emergency I always in visioned keeping it lit under a make shift blanket shelter.

In addition to duct tape, I also carry a roll of medical vet wrap, which is very useful for compression wraps and unlike duct tape, it absorbs moisture and acts as a gauze.

And last but not least a summit beer or two...

What I figure to be a real complete splitboard/binding repair kit, stocked with way more than I should ever need to deal with whatever obstacles the square wheel side of alpine travel technology throws at me. This is heavy, but experience makes me not question it's worth.

Binding parts, extra pins, touring bracket, etc. Getting stuck and slogging sucks.

Multitool-you can cut tree branches for a unplannned bivy. Extra hardwear, especially the miscellaneous, critical kind. Fix stuff. Slash your wrists if you get scared.

Headlamp-2 extra batteries.

Like 10 zip ties-these weigh nothing and will fix almost everything-equal to, if not better than, duct tape, IMHO. I know, I know-sacrilege.

Duct tape.

Avy tools.

Space blanket bivy sack. Weighs nada.

First Aid kit-sam splint, bandages, cravats, absorbent pads, heating packs, tape, sling out of a old sheet. MOFA, or MOFA refresher in my case. Deal with a concussion 3 hours from the road in the setting sun. It's not all about bleeding. Way worth it, especially the training. Mountain Oriented First Aid by Mtneers Books (read, not carried).

Compass/inclinometer with mirror.

Extra food. Extra warm layers.

Props to Snow Bell-medic, hit me again!

I saw the inside of Ron Jarvis's back pack at a mountaineers thing-its like a toy chest, please post the list!

Just got back from Brooklyn. Happy to be somewhere that people don't throw wrappers on the ground to one side, when there is a trashcan equidistant to their other side. I swear I saw this. Nice to be in the Great White North again, eh?

NO DOZE - is in my BC pharmacy 1 pill is equal to 2 cups of coffee and no mess (also ibuprofen and benadryll).

Also, for extra food, Top Ramen soup which is 8% fat - better than a glass whole milk - light, packable, cheep.

Jet boil - better than its weight in water. Hot soup and a hot water bottle are morale booster/lifesaver for emergency bivy or evacuation.

You can shave off a strip of your skins if you need fire starter in an emergency too.

That’s a good story Don, thanks.
In your TR you didn’t say much about the performance of the space blanket. Was it useful- did it contribute to your comfort/survival? Do you think one would have been useful when you broke your femur?
The reason I’m asking is because I once spent a "non-survival" type night with one and, while it takes up almost no space and weighs nothing it didn’t seem to provide much shelter value either.

good thread...not much to add to what others have written.

one item that i've had in my first-aid kit for years is a spare set of sunglasses for if/when my usual glasses were to ever break. next time you are at the eye doctor, ask them for a pair of those disposible wrap around plastic sunglasses they give people after you've had your pupils dialated...the disposible glasses weigh nothing, and will keep you from getting snowblindness should your glasses get lost (or in my case have a lens in a pair of julbo glacier glasses actually pop out and slide away at 13,000ft on Rainier)

^^^^
Or just carry goggles and sunglasses?

Good thread. After every trip I dump my pack and give everything the EYE. Over time here's what I've ended up with.

Sucked it up and bought a Feathered Friends 20 deg bag (compresses smaller than a Nalgene bottle - 1lb 15oz), Big Angus air pad and BD First Light tent.  All total about 5lbs and can get you through almost any situation (especially combined with puffy pants and jacket) without too much bulk and the tent can be used without the poles as a bivy sac. This little threesome goes on all longer trips (sea kayak, back packing, skiing etc) unless it's going to be really wet and then it's the synthetic bag or really cold and then it's time for the big guns.

Jet boil with hang kit, lighter and sporke

Leatherman micro

BD Whippet

Paddlers first aid kit (bleeding, shock, etc) and current First Aid/CPR

Duck tape on ski poles (combine the two to make a splint)

Expedition weight balaclava, socks, over mitts in xs stuff sack

Beacon, probe, shovel

Small copy of Tao De Ching

Compass with mirror, map, GPS with PNW maps loaded, iphone (on airplane mode the battery will last for days and it doubles a camera and inclinometer)

20ft 2mm cord

When necessary the usual glacier/mountaineering swag (30m glacier rope, axe, crampons, harness, pro, crevasse rescue stuff)

Light weight climbing helmet

Sunglasses AND goggles and spare glasses

I need to put together a small binding repair kit (epoxy, tele screws etc, but haven't found the time) or luckily the use.

That's about it.  Gosh that's a lot of stuff, no wonder I'm so slow  :

props on the i ching!

In your TR you didn’t say much about the performance of the space blanket. Was it useful- did it contribute to your comfort/survival? Do you think one would have been useful when you broke your femur?
The reason I’m asking is because I once spent a "non-survival" type night with one and, while it takes up almost no space and weighs nothing it didn’t seem to provide much shelter value either.

Yes, mylar space blanket was somewhat useful. Dry, wind sheltered area was probably more important. All these things are a compromise between weight that slows you down and equipment that might save you if you have to stop, so my selections are based on weather and risk assessment and how far I want to travel in a day. The mylar reflects heat back to you, but is not worth much if you are in the wind and it gets blown around, so the bag type is better. Great at the end of a marathon to wrap up in for a few minutes, and great for temporary first aid and great if you can't carry much. I have used one for overnight on 2-day trail runs, camping under alpine fir groves with no sleeping bag, and it was so noisy it kept waking me up.  Have also strung it up as a tarp for lunch stop in wet snowstorm. When stuck in open area in snow with a broken leg that hurt like crazy to move, a real bivy sack that could be slid over me and Goretex overpants that I already had on, and pads from packs made that a lot more tolerable, along with a thermos of hot tea and honey that I had along.
I'll second the info on meds. I carry caffeine tabs, ibuprofen, benadryl, a couple of oxycodins.

Interesting thread.
My husband who stays at home worries a lot about me in the mountains and bought me a Spot Satellite Messenger $169 MSRP for Christmas. He says that the chances of getting hurt or stuck go up over 60... I haven't seen any statistics. It is heavy, 5 ounces with lithium batteries, but I take it to keep him happy. It works with a subscription to satellite service a year at a time $99.00. However, it works great if you can leave it on for 20 minutes. It takes that long to find a satellite sometimes. He loves it when I send him an OK message from our campsite. Gives GPS coordinates, time and sends a Google map too. There is one button for OK and one for help and one for 911. You can change the account at any time to send the message to someone who could help or you know will at least get it. Works most all over the world and oceans too.
J

Does anyone carry more medical first aid stuff than duct tape?  Antibiotic cream, band aides and 2 inch gauze pads always seemed a little beside the point to me, but maybe I'm not enlightened.

I always carry a super lightweight med kit, and then I add things to it.  I have a large supply of IB Profen and I added hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes.  The ones you get at Wendy's are perfect.  extra bandaids, but mostly moleskin and things for blisters.  I'm always amazed at the number of people who complain about blisters, soreness, etc but don't carry anything into the bc to help them with it.

and second to Jason and Lowell, I always have a spare headlamp in my pack, and one in the car. Walmart brand in the car, Princeton Tec in the bc.

good thread...not much to add to what others have written.

one item that i've had in my first-aid kit for years is a spare set of sunglasses for if/when my usual glasses were to ever break.   next time you are at the eye doctor, ask them for a pair of those disposible wrap around plastic sunglasses they give people after you've had your pupils dialated...the disposible glasses weigh nothing, and will keep you from getting snowblindness should your glasses get lost (or in my case have a lens in a pair of julbo glacier glasses actually pop out and slide away at 13,000ft on Rainier)

I have a friend who broke his glacier glasses a little below Camp Muir on the way down from the summit a number of years ago. It was a climbing trip so he was booting. He had no spare glasses, and no one else did either (sad) He figured he would be ok and decided to move a little faster than normal. He said he felt fine until he got in the car. Intense snow blildness started kicking in and he said the pain was excruciating. The person driving had to stop at the nearest urgent care center. (Ashford I think) They gave him some ointment but said that he was beyond the level of treatment they could provide and they urged him to get to a hospital right away. He told me that when the doctor went to inject something into his eyes with a needle he couldn't help but pull back No kidding!! : I believe the eye injection was so they could take an x-ray to see if he had fried his cornea's or something like that. Basically it was extremely painful for him and cost him a bunch of money even with insurance.

Now I will always carry an extra pair of sun glasses on trips that may warrant any sun glasses at all. Even if I never need them, perhaps a friend or even a stranger on his way down from Camp Muir will not have to deal with snow blindness.

I really like the idea of carrying one of those wrap around sun glasses you get at the eye doctor previously mentioned in this thread by Pete A. They are light weight and take up no space, and can get you out of a potentially very dangerous situation. Also on one episode of the Discovery Channel show Survivor Man, Les Stroud shows how to whip up some Eskimo style snow goggles with things you would have in a car. I saw it a long time ago and have since forgotten the materials you could use. I thought I'd mention it at least. I think all you really need is something that you can cut 2 tiny slits in that you can wrap around your head. The ace bandage from your first aid kit would probably work if your not using it already for its intended purpose.

I duct tape blisters.

You dont have to dig in your pack to get to it and you dont need scissors!

I duct tape everything in the field - never carried a bandaid and never will.