Probe,
shovel,
skins,
extra layer of clothing,
spare thinner gloves for skinning,
multitool for on the move mending,
water,
lunch plus snacks (dried fruit,cereal bars etc,
spare googles/sunglasses depending on weather,
sun cream,
tissues,
camera if I remember,
harness if going on glacier.....
I have skied with people who have first aid kits, space blankets, bits of rope but my day pack is pretty stuffed with that lot.
I normally take a 30 l. rucksack for day touring so I can stuff lots in it and a small 22l. rucksack if it is just a yomp up a local hill. The 30l. sack always has a probe and shovel in it.
To add to the list.
Gaffer tape - good for resticking climbing skins. Henry Schniewind even applies tape before setting out with his clients skis.
I also have a light-weight scraper (could use a credit card or a compass edge), a small piece of wax (for waxing skins to try and reduce balling) and a one use waxing sachet (for bases). Skins coming unstuck (Henry has that covered above), snow sticking to skins and snow sticking to bases can all really mess up a tour.
Spare hat(s) and gloves. It’s easy to lose either, and a day can be seriously spoiled (or worse) if this has happened to you or someone else.
I try to keep my spare gloves (actually mitts - less surface area, less heat loss) nearly new, so this means only using the spare gloves when you really need them. Taking off skins on a windy ridge is one of my least favourite activities, and putting on a brand new pair of well-insulated dry gloves afterwards is the best remedy that I’ve found. (Does our circulation suddenly switch off when we stop climbing? It feels as though something like this is going on).
My spare hat is usually my ultra-cold-weather one. On very cold days, its my next-warmest one. Even in spring, I always have one that will cover my ears.
Steristrips (v.v.light). I’ve never needed them, and I hope I never do.
I agree gloves + mitts are compulsory for any day in the cold, as loosing a glove could become a very serious issue. Less sure about the spare hat as most jackets include head protection.
Emergency tip: for multi-days tours, the (useful!) second pair of woolen socks can make for an effective spare glove if needed
be careful with those!
make sure you have a good ski on them before you put your skins on. my mate used one night part way through a multi day tour, the following morning about 45mins into the climb, just as the sun was rising his skins started flapping badly from about the middle of the ski downwards. we tried a few strips of the aforemetioned gafer tape but it wasn’t enough as so much of the skin had contacted the base wipe. we had to scrape both the ski base and skin to try and remove the solution and left the skin in the sun for 10minutes or so as we faffed with other bits n bobs.
My non-rational feeling about medical kits is that I’ve been out so many days over so many years ski touring and bicycling and hiking without using anything from a medical kit. But I do have an extra pair of clip-on sunglasses in the same bag with my medical kit.
Which gets to the interesting question of communication: For some things (like medical kit) there’s no need for more than one for the whole party. I’ve also heard similar arguments made about avalanche probes - (and even for shovels?!).
I do suspect that with parties larger than 2 or 3, there is a chance that some member will reason that “There’s no point in me carrying X, since surely some other conscientious-type skier who reads the correct magazine articles will bring one anyway.”
So I’ve decided if that if some equipment matters to me, then I need to explicitly ask about it.
But communicating about “What might we each do if event Q happened to us?” is kinda tricky for most of us humans, and takes time + energy away from just getting out started at all.
Anyway that doesn’t fully solve the problem. Like ... What are the “essentials” which one should be able to assume are in a medical kit?
SPOT rescue communicator:
I like it because I can also send an “I’m OK” message which Sharon tells me she likes to receive.
For solo, the argument for carrying a SPOT in an area with uncertain mobile phone coverage is obvious (though not compelling).
For a party of 2, I think it’s also very helpful: because without it, if one member is incapicitated, the other needs to travel say an hour, maybe several hours, to get mobile phone service. And then he calls for a rescue but has difficulty describing the exact location of the hurt partner. Could be a long time waiting there hurting alone.
With the SPOT, an emergency rescue alert with GPS coordinates can get out thru the satellites typically within say 20 minutes (unless there’s cliffs or dense trees around).
So whether or not I’ve got a partner (or two) coming with me doesn’t change my decision about carrying a SPOT. (http://www.findmespot.com)
It must be a French thing. One of the French guides I ski with surprised me with a red wine, cheese and bread picnic for lunch on a particularly lovely day, in a very beautiful place. Made for good memories and great photos. My marmite sandwiches always make him shudder, so I think he was trying to tell me something. My skiing afterwards was more aggressive than normal.
Back to the thought about what is in a rucksack, I always ask my guide what they carry, in addition to the sort of stuff I have. Some interesting answers over the years.....
emergency shelter for 4 people
enough medical kit to do a surgical procedure
pieces of metal and wire to mend clients bindings
spare mittens for clients
telescopic pole for clients
..and these were just day tours. They must have rucksacks with the properties of the tardis.
