Issue Number Eleven - Gear 51
what’s in your
pack?
Crack is wack, and so is forgetting your beacon and a snack. WORDS & PHOT OS: MI KE Y FRANCO
E
ver heard someone say, “Dude! My new pack is sooooo light!” Well, considering the extent of what some folks are carrying includes a GoPro (and selfie stick), a cookie, and maybe an extra hat, it’s no wonder that pack is “sooooo” light. What you put in your pack can be compared to what you put in your body. If you eat food with poor nutritional value, you may not have what it takes to help fend off colds and disease. The same goes for your pack. If nothing useful is in it, how do you expect to reduce your risk of exposure, or to help someone if something actually goes wrong? I hear it all the time – a common statement my friends make when they pick up my backpack: “Man, what do you have in this thing?”
My answer? “I’ve got what I need.” But what I need does not pertain to what makes me feel good, what makes my pack “light as hell,” my Go Pro, libations or a spare pair of shades. What I need pertains mostly to you. Being a guide, I have to carry quite the arsenal. Having some extra gear on hand for clients is essential. I also have to look out for myself by having the proper gear to keep me warm, dry, and fed too. Because of this, I decided to go with a vest. I like being able to balance the load by distributing some weight on the front of my body. Being a snowboarder, a heavy pack leads to fatiguing heelside turns and overleveraged toeside turns. The vest helps me balance that out.
My pack is a SnowPulse Highmark Vest, airbag. Retrofitted with snowboard straps. What should be in my pack, you ask? Well, let’s consider some things that might make you wish you never went on this adventure in the first place: You or your buddy is… cold, wet, hungry, tired, in danger, hurt, lost, dealing with broken equipment… or some unfortunate mixture of these predicaments. What do you have in your pack? How will you use what you’ve got to help the situation? Take a look at what I keep in my pack and how I use what I bring.
