THE BACKCOUNTRY PACKING SYSTEM
10 min · Free lesson · written lesson, video in production
After this lesson your pack is built as a system that assumes the day goes wrong: warmth, shelter, fire, comms, first aid and repair, in that order, before a single luxury goes in.
The Technique
- Pack for the unplanned night, not the planned day. The question for every item is not "will I use this today" but "which problem does this solve when today goes wrong". Weight without a problem attached stays home.
- Warmth: one full insulation layer more than the forecast asks, a spare set of gloves and socks in a dry bag, and a beanie that lives in the same pocket every trip. Wet gloves end more days than injuries do.
- Shelter: a bothy bag or two-person emergency shelter is the highest value-per-gram item you can carry - wind gone, group morale back, casualty out of the weather in thirty seconds. Foil blankets are a poor cousin: better than nothing, no substitute.
- Fire: two methods, waterproofed, in two places - a lighter in your pocket and stormproof matches with firelighters in the pack. In wet cold country a fire kit you have never tested is decoration.
- First aid and repair travel together: the bleed kit and personal medications on top of the first aid pouch; tape, ties, tool, tow strap and spare hardware in the repair pouch. Machines and bodies fail on the same days.
- Navigation and power: offline maps downloaded, a paper backup for the area, compass, headtorch, and a battery bank kept warm. Every screen you rely on is a battery you must protect from the cold.
- Water and food beyond the day plan: high-energy food you will actually eat cold, and the means to make water - in snow country that means fire or stove, because eating snow costs more heat than it gives.
- The system only works if it is rehearsed: same items, same pockets, every trip. In the dark with cold hands you will find the headtorch where it always lives, or you will not find it.
Common Mistakes
The pack of borrowed habits: items copied from lists, never tested. Fix: every item earns its place by being used in practice at least once.
- Everything buried in one big compartment. Fix: pouches by problem - bleeding, cold, fire, repair - each grabbable in seconds with gloves on.
The Drill
The glove test: gear up in full winter kit, gloves on, and retrieve your fire kit, bleed kit and shelter in under sixty seconds each, eyes closed for the last one. Repack until you pass.
Adjust the system to the country you are entering - avalanche terrain adds transceiver, probe and shovel as non-negotiables that live on your body, not in the pack. This content is general guidance, not medical advice.
LET'S BUILD
YOUR
ADVENTURE
Whether you want to surf Japan's legendary powder, ride the Old Telegraph Track to the tip of Cape York, or chase a New Zealand winter - tell us what you're dreaming about and we'll build the trip around you.