What do you carry that others may not have thought about?

Lund

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If i was to recommend ONE thing it would be "RIDE SMART" don't get into a situation in the first place.
It is one thing to be prepared equipment wise, carrying all kinds of gear in case of the what if. But one thing pretty much everyone forgets is the mental preparation. No one can actually know how they will cope in a situation, especially if they end up alone.

When i was sent to Europe in the 80's we trained for nearly 8 months, the majority of it was mental over physical and for a very good reason. Under certain stresses your mental abilities and line of reasoning changes, where normally you would make rational decisions on a situation the stresses compromise those thoughts now and rational decisions turn into possibly life changing decisions.

How can you train for that? Well you really can't unless you have experienced it and been put into it. The best thing is discussions like this, carry what you think might help you out there if you get into such a situation. Plus don't allow others to move you into uncomfortable scenarios...say no.

One big rule i have, no more riding after "WITCHING HOUR". Witching hour for me is about one hour before natural lighting goes away. Witching hour means, it is time to ride the main trail back to the parking lot and get loaded, no side treks. Personally i like to be loaded before it gets dark.
Why witching hour, my experience has taught me if thing's are going to go wrong, it will during witching hour for sure. Bad things seem to happen around that time it appears...LOL
 

imdoo'n

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But we all went to the shop and just tried it.

Did it work?

Bet it doesn't taste like butterscotch.

Tastes like sleepy.

How the hell did you ever firgure that one out?

Things that make you go HMMMMMMM!

shop foreman in ft mcmurray couldn't understand why they were going through boxes of electrical tape. then he seen a few of the natives all chewing on something black, yes electrical tape. thus mystery of life was solved.
 

imdoo'n

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you fellers need to get out more!
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it can't be all that bad can it? :confused: there was a few drinking toner fluid a while back in the news, and i have heard of a few found drinking well head methanol and a splash of OJ for flavour on a lease or two. i don't think long term would be very good at all.
 
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imdoo'n

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ya, could be some bad things happening with that stuff.
 

skegpro

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on the topic of tea lights, anyone think of one of the uco candle lanterns, heat , light and maybe a bit safer than open flame?
Yeah I carry one, with 4 of the big beeswax candles cause they last longer and you don't have cancer when you emergency from the snowcave.

Lots of people think they will just build a big ass fire when **** hits the fan, but they rarely do.

IMO better to dig into a sidehill or snowbank, get inside crawl in your bivy sac light the lantern.
795230ea3ccb6154d78bee915238a856.jpg
 

sirkdev

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This one is a biggie IMO. If you are serious you could actually simulate failures and it quickly becomes obvious the desired tool list, you can slim it down after but if you don't have it you begin with and need it you are dead in the water. Ex... track comes off can you get it back on? bend an A arm can you get it off to straighten it etc. However I am kind of a pack rat...



sounds odd, but I always carry a rear spare idler wheel. I've had to use it twice. With two wheel rear axles being the norm, one goes South you are going nowhere.

sounds obvious...but wrenches to fit your machine. New Doo's have Torx bolts. I bet not many actually carry torx wrenches

Assortment of nuts/bolts/washers...never know..drop something in the snow and you're done.

I put all of my tools in a fair size orange bag I acquired from somewhere. Figure this is pretty visable if I ever needed to spread it out for a chopper or otherwise.

Sounds stupid - but my contact information is laminated in the glove box of my sled as well as in my jacket pockets. If someone ever needed to contact for some reason, info is always there. When we ride in a group, I always have a list of names in my jacket pocket too. Figure if something ever happened to me, they would know who or how many others were with me.
 

52weekbreak

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This one is a biggie IMO. If you are serious you could actually simulate failures and it quickly becomes obvious the desired tool list, you can slim it down after but if you don't have it you begin with and need it you are dead in the water. Ex... track comes off can you get it back on? bend an A arm can you get it off to straighten it etc. However I am kind of a pack rat...
Straighten an A arm in the field? I have one in my garage that required a Vice. Can't imagine doing that outside a shop.
 

sirkdev

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Straighten an A arm in the field? I have one in my garage that required a Vice. Can't imagine doing that outside a shop.

I reaching there but you never know... had to take mine off because it was twisted and was going to wreck the shock if we tried any other way, not very common for sure but **** happens. As you can imagine it was not easy. However saved the $500 shock.
 

52weekbreak

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I reaching there but you never know... had to take mine off because it was twisted and was going to wreck the shock if we tried any other way, not very common for sure but **** happens.
Haha. For a minute I thought you must be a circus strong man :). I am definitely not
 

imdoo'n

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Yeah I carry one, with 4 of the big beeswax candles cause they last longer and you don't have cancer when you emergency from the snowcave.

Lots of people think they will just build a big ass fire when **** hits the fan, but they rarely do.

IMO better to dig into a sidehill or snowbank, get inside crawl in your bivy sac light the lantern. //uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180115/795230ea3ccb6154d78bee915238a856.jpg

i agree! people need to try some of this stuff out before finding themselves in a life or death situation. tracked snow is easier to travel on, but try and find dry wood out in the deep snow, next to impossible to sustain a small fire at night. i like the snow hut also, temp -35 outside, with inside temps at 0 C. candle you will get through the night. good thinking

always intended to do an overnight, in the alpine, never did though. even an overnight in the backyard would give a different perspective on what you need, and find out what can work before it has too!
 
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gmustangt

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I pack extra food as if I was spending the night , always easier to bring it home than need more when your out there.
 
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