Packing the appropriate survival gear is essential, whether you’re going on your first backcountry trip, testing your mettle in Alaska’s wilds, or receiving a crash course at a place like the Bear Grylls Adventure Park.
We’ve compiled a list of the top survival items for the great outdoors that won’t take up too much room in your daypack or camping kit. The goods below will be useful for either setting up camp or boosting confidence, regardless of how your outdoor expedition pans out.
1. WINDPROOF MATCHES
The Lifesystems Windproof Storm Matches are essential for your survival kit. Containing 20 matches, they come in a tough polycarbonate container.
Not only are they waterproof, these storm matches will also light in heavy wind and rain.
2. Survival Knife/ Multi-Tool
Gerber’s Truss Multi Tool has 17 of the company’s most requested features. The Truss, which is based on the Suspension chassis, is made to please even the pickiest of customers. You’ll find room for wire strippers, a medium flathead driver, an awl, a file, and a ruler once you clear out the old gear. A single piece of steel is used in the slender construction, making this instrument very sturdy. The Truss is an industrial-strength device made for fixing issues of many kinds. Total Contents: 8.4 ounces Dimensions (in inches): (when closed) 4.35; (when opened) 6.5; (when wide) 0.66
3. Compass
Silva’s Expedition Compass is made for serious, professional use. The Silva Expedition series is the best because of its accuracy, precision, and longevity. This traditional baseplate compass has a slope card and a scale lanyard, a Dryflex housing for ease of use, silicon rubber feet for precision map work, a detachable safety-release lanyard, luminous markings for use in the dark, a magnifying lens, a clinometer for measuring slope angle, map-measuring scales in millimeters or inches, 1:25,000, 1:50,000, and GPS scales, and built-in adjusters for magnetic (including permanent local adjustment). In addition, the Expedition has the capability of taking 1:40,000 scale map measurements. The slope card is useful for gauging the difficulty of your route and for spotting avalanche danger. You can estimate the extra distance you’ll need to travel due to the slope if you know how steep it is. The lanyard scale contains two different scales, one at 1:25, and the other at 1:50, so you can easily keep track of your hiking progress.
4. First Aid Kit
A full-featured emergency kit for the mountaineer, trekker, or other outdoor adventurer.
Mountain First Aid Kit contents were determined with input from British Special Forces medics and expedition physician Hugh Montgomery. For usage when immediate access to specialized medical treatment is not possible.
5. Emergency Survival Whistle
The Hurricane, one of the loudest whistles on the market, works in any climate and can be heard from greater distances and in more directions than any competing product.
6. Water Filtration
MSR’s TrailShot Microfilter eliminates the need to carry around heavy water containers on the move. The filter can be carried in a stash pocket and used to purify water from sources along the path for immediate consumption.
In only around 60 seconds, you may filter 1l of water, allowing you to keep traveling down the trail. Anyone who regularly logs hundreds or thousands of miles on foot, two wheels, or both would agree that this is the best filter money can buy.
9. Flashlight / Head Lamp
The NEBO Pro 2400 is equipped with a high-intensity white light LED torch that, at maximum brightness, produces 2400 lumens. The convex lens on the Pro 2400 is protected by a crenulated bezel in the event of a drop. To make the torch easier to find in the dark, both the lens and the tail switch are illuminated. The soft press button may toggle between three different brightness settings, strobe, and beacon (slow flash). The 4x zoom allows for a focus range from pinpoint to wide-angle, depending on the task at hand. Using its highest setting, it can project its beam up to 346 meters away, and it runs on 9 AA alkaline batteries.
10. SHELTER
For emergency and everyday use alike, the Bothy 2 Camping Shelter from Terra Nova is an essential piece of gear. It can provide shelter for two people in the great outdoors. There are PU windows so you can see outside, mesh vents to keep you cool, and storage pockets in the shelter’s roof so you can bring your trekking poles with you. Whether you’re skiing, hiking, leading a mountaineering expedition, or performing a mountain rescue, a shelter can come in handy.
Conclusion
Exercise is the cornerstone of readiness. Take the time to practice survival skills like striking a magnesium fire starter and tying bowlines in case you ever need to use them in a real emergency. Learn how to treat wounds and stay warm in the wilderness by enrolling in a Wilderness First Aid course. Following the instructions provided, you will be able to treat minor injuries such as cuts and scrapes and stabilize fractured bones until medical assistance arrives.
Keep your cool and your strength, because those are the two most crucial survival skills. When you’re feeling hopeless, it’s easy to let go of your goals and give up. A strong will to life can keep you alive if you are truly in danger.
About Nevisport
Founded in 1970 in the shadow of Ben Nevis by mountaineers Ian A. Sykes MBE and Ian D. Sutherland, who were unhappy with the limited selection of climbing gear available in UK stores at the time, Nevisport quickly became a popular destination for climbers.
When Sykes returned from his time in the Royal Air Force and the British Antarctic Survey team, he and his friend, who was also a member of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, decided to start the first Nevisport shop in Fort William using money they had saved. Only four years later, the store had outgrown its original location and expanded to Glasgow to become one of the country’s leading outdoor specialty retailers.
The company first set up shop in Edinburgh in the early 1990s, when they erected a store at the top of the gondola at the Nevis Range ski center on the western slopes of Aonach Mor.
Sykes was honored with a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for “services to sport and mountain rescue” in recognition of his role in the development of the wildly successful Nevis Range Ski Centre, where he served as Managing Director for 12 years.
