HEAD GEAR by Aaron Teasdale
Every explorer needs a pack-up plan. Here’s one for life. The trail had disappeared into a wild and thickening forest, but we were brimming with the bravado of astoundingly unprepared youth, so we shouldered our mountain bikes and marched deeper into the mountains. The farther we went, the worse it got. Downed trees were everywhere, alder grew in impenetrable walls, and our bicycles seemed to snag on everything we passed. After many hours of brutal bushwhacking, my friend and I were exhausted, soaking wet, and stumbling like drunks. Night was looming and we had no food, no means of starting a fire, and no spare clothes. In a final masterstroke, we’d told no one where we were going. It was the pinnacle of poor planning. In the end, after almost abandoning our bicycles (by far our most valuable possessions at the time), we finally reached a dirt road that delivered us, spent and shivering, to my family cabin in the valley below. We were lucky. But every year in the Mountain West there are people who aren’t—people who head into the backcountry and never make it out. As one survivor
who was near death when rescued after three days in the mountains put it, “One thing I learned is that nature is completely indifferent to outcomes.” The hard truth is, everybody makes mistakes out there— and not just oblivious kids. No matter how skilled, savvy and shrewd you are, something will eventually go wrong. When that happens, your survival may depend on one simple thing: how prepared you are. What follows is a list of items the prepared adventurer won’t go into the backcountry without. Once you’ve compiled your survival kit, put it in a small waterproof stuff sack that you can throw in whatever pack you’re using, whenever you head into the backcountry. I have one friend who calls this a “possibilities bag.” Another friend uses the less euphemistic “when-my-day-goesto-shit bag.” Whatever you call it, if you spend time adventuring, you need to have one. The list and accompanying gear reviews cover the basics. After that, it’s up to you to stay safe out there, wherever your disappearing trails take you.
Aaron Teasdale