Backcountry Shit Kit

This story originally appeared on Mountain Lessons and is republished here with permission. You can hear Fink discuss airbags on Episode 11 of The High Route Podcast. 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what emergency gear is worth carrying in the backcountry. It all began while I was on a hut trip and my binding screws decided to start backing out… it was only at that point that I found out they were mounted with Torx T-20 screws, and nobody carries that screwdriver.

I hate carrying things. I rarely carry more than 10 oz of water and a single bar for day-long tours because weight sucks. If I finish a tour with extra water or food, that seems stupid. It follows that I don’t really want to carry gear that I don’t need with me on backcountry tours. Still, I was inspired to finally some gear together by two other Wasatch tourers, Noah Howell and Brody Leven.

The way that I see it, the goal should be to have just enough gear to limp my way out of most situations without risking life or limb. That narrows my scope:

1. Repair: I’m not going to carry bailing wire and a bunch of other junk. I just need to be able to make common adjustments to my bindings, and jerry-rig attaching a ski to a boot/force a boot into ski mode.
2. Medical: I care a tiny bit about disabling blisters. I care much more about delivering life-saving medical interventions for ski-related injuries.
3. Rescue: I appreciate being able to call for rescue. In the Wasatch mountains a cell phone will usually suffice. I often also carry an InReach in the bottom of my backpack, and that’s not pictured here.
4. Bivy: Should all of the above fail, I should be able to spend a night out and survive. I assume that any time I’m touring, my kit includes a puffy jacket and a shovel, so this category is small.