The 10 Essentials of Backcountry Travel
As a long-time Search and Rescue volunteer, I’ve met many people — usually in the middle of the night— who started with a grand adventure ahead but ended the day a victim of Murphy’s law. A snapped derailleur. A bad crash. Or even just appendicitis striking at the wrong time. Just as a pilot completes the same checklist for each flight, the Ten Essentials are a list of items to be carried on every adventure in the backcountry— the essential list of just-in-case items. The list was originally designed for mountaineers, but adventures of all-kind can end in unexpected situations.