Adventure sport enthusiasts include mountaineering as one of their favorites. Climbing the steep peaks and terrains where next to no one has placed foot on ,has its own category of excitement, which only few manage to experience .It includes trekking or hiking up known and sometimes extremely unknown and unpredictable paths around mountains . A certain standard of physical and mental fitness is required to get involved in this.
Preparedness is very important too, which separates the adventure from a disaster. Among the various advanced mountaineering gears available these days, the following list is nothing but small last minute checklist of certain things which everyone venturing up inhospitable terrains of mountains, should never forget.
1. Fire Starters & Matches: Certain emergencies require fire urgently. In the conditions of mountains where this can be a problem, fire starters of some kind is essential. Certain ideas home made fire starters are as follows:
- Cotton balls with Vaseline rubbed thoroughly into them
- Dried pine needles
- Pieces of cardboard covered in wax
- Sawdust/charcoal/ Pistachio shells in sections of a paper egg carton and covered in melted wax
- Pine cones covered in wax
- Paper cut into strips, rolled up, tied with strings and covered in melted wax
- Putting 3-4 inch strings of cotton in paper cups fill it up with sawdust followed by melted wax, taking care as to leave an inch outside .The sawdust becomes waterproof and the extra inch acts as a wick for ignition.
With a fire starter ready, now matches are needed to ignite the fire. Wooden ones preferably long, are recommended. To prepare them for the trip, use "strike anywhere" matches bundled up and soaked in melted paraffin wax. This makes them waterproof/weatherproof and allows a longer burn time.
2. Flashlight: Traveling in low visibility conditions can be quite risky. To avoid useless injuries everyone should carry a flashlight of his own with extra sets of batteries. .
3. Extra Clothing: Excessive sets of useless clothing are not recommended though. Just one extra complete change of clothing is all that is needed to face situations of rain or cold. Sturdy long lasting ones should be preferred over designer brands here.
4. Compass: It's easy to lose direction at unknown terrains. Hence it's quite essential to carry a good compass. An extra one is always welcome in case the other one gets messed up.
5. Knife: The focus here should be on a simple, workable and sharp knife of a standard size to be used from cutting through vegetation to emergency situations involving fighting wild animals .A good Swiss army knife is fine.
6. Maps: To make the adventure memorable, a good map covering the best spots is a must. Apart from adding the safety factor, its better to know where you are, rather than wasting time getting lost.
7. Sunglasses: Whether it is cold winds or pieces of rock or snow, sunglasses will protect your eyes and help you see the beauty better, so just carry one.
8. Extra Food: Store some amount of extra food in your baggage for the unavoidable emergencies, which no one can predict. Avoid using it when other sources are available.
9. Space Blanket: This happens to be quite an invaluable necessity in the cold. Its is especially designed to reduce loss of the natural body heat and reflecting back nearly 85% of it .It consists of a plastic material coupled with a metallic reflecting agent. Being water and windproof it weights just around 2 ounces making it easy to carry.
10. First Aid Kit: A simple box with the basic necessities is all what is needed. Check to ensure the following are present:
- Sterilized dressings/pads for direct application on wounds
- Elastic/gauze/triangular bandages preferably elastic for use in situations of sprains and as slings etc
- Adhesive bandages and sticking plasters
- Instruments should include tweezers , shears,lighters,syringes and rubber suction pumps
- Equipments should include disposable gloves, CPR masks, eye cups, thermometer, and sterile eye wash
- Medication should include at least one antiseptic ointment, Painkiller(Aspirin), Antihistamine(Benadryl), Aloe Vera gel, Burn gel, Poison treatments(Activated charcoal) and QuikClot to prevent severe bleeding
Have a happy journey!
