What do you bring in case you epic on route?

Chalkbag pocket always has knife, e-lite and small lighter. Roll of tape on my chalkbag belt. If I'm carrying a pack up a route there will probably be a small tube of superglue in there instead of a bunch of bandages.

My basic "epic proofing" menu:

1. Small locking biner with:
1a. Tibloc
1b. Small Spyderco knife

2. 6mm cord as chalkbag belt

3. Quart Ziploc Bag with:
3a. Spare headlamp batteries
3b. Space Blanket
3c. Large, heavy-duty garbage bag
3d. Duct tape
3e. Emergency calories (2-3 packets of caffeinated Gu)
3f. Two disposable lighters

4. Small med-kit, the contents of which are determined by the terrain and remoteness of the objective.

5. Headlamp - on anything where there is even a remote chance of being benighted.

6. On bigger objectives I bring about 8 feet of 11/16" webbing and 2-3 rap rings.

7. Poop kit appropriate to the place I am climbing. Have you ever had an epic poop? If you have, then you know finding a pack filled with ropes and pitons halfway down the Rupal Face is nothing compared to having a little bit of TP and a bag to put it in.

8. A belay-escape/rope-ascension system consisting of:
8a. A small locking biner
8b. A Prusik or two
8c. A 6mm cordelette

Of course, it goes without saying that I don't always bring all of this, but I often bring some combination of it that I feel is appropriate to where I am, when I am there, and how long I plan on being stuck if an epic ensues.

I'm going to look into that chalk bag/pocket idea. Plus, the webbing belt with rap rings pure genius.

Survival gear list.

-Headlamp
-Raingear + warm clothes when called for.
-Bail kit - leaver biner, booty cam, booty nut (available for other uses)
-Dedicated escape belay kit - 3 lockers, 20 foot of 5mm, two prissik cords (reserved for emergency only) This is pointless if you don't know how to escape the belay or jug with prussiks.
-Energy gel, granola, or some ration for energy.
-A couple of sticks of gum, in wrappers. (fire starter)
-Compass for complicated approaches.

I carry a camelback with room for most of it, the rest goes on the harness.

Suggest you rack gear on a sling for faster lead changes, freeing up room on your harness.

What I bring depends on the route, how long, how remote, how equipped, mountain or desert, etc---I have no one-size-fits-all kit. The only things I always have, permanently stashed in a zippered chalk bag pocket, are two small prussik loops and a small knife.

One of the worst things that can happen is getting hypothermic. You get slow, clumsy, weak, and stupid fast when this happens. It's an obvious issue in mountain environments, but in my experience the desert can be just as bad. My two hypothermia experiences were getting soaked in a severe but fortunately relatively brief Yosemite storm and getting badly chilled in Red Rocks in March on a very windy day.

Avoiding hypothermia obviously means not getting wet and having enough insulation for the expected temps. But just as important is having good wind protection, especially in the desert, where you can get hypothermic in low 50's temps and high winds. Nowadays there is all kinds of superlight stuff that will help with these issues. At most the second carries a small pack, but the leader needs to have their wind/rain protection with them.

GPS units can be extremely helpful, especially for getting back to the car after dark. I've never carried one up a climb with me, but if the we're bringing packs to the base and returning to them, then I'll take a GPS unit, use it to record the track in, and leave it in the pack at the base for the return trip in the dark if that's what happens. Once or twice this has saved me hours of wandering, most of the time it never gets used.

Mammut is coming out with a "multipitch chalk bag" that has a decent-sized pocket and some bungie for attaching a wind shell. I'd get one of these when they come out.

Rap rings (or an old biner or two) make it easier to pull the rappel. This can be a critical consideration, especially when rappel ropes get soaked in a storm.

I once got into a desperate situation in the Wind Rivers because we couldn't pull a rappel that had been threaded through slings. The first person down (we had two parties of two) tested pulling the rope, but then a deluge hit and by the time all four people were down the rappel absolutely would not budge. One of the party had to prussik back up and leave a carabiner, and this in the midst of an extremely serious lightning situation. Failure to use rap rings could easily have cost one or more of us out lives in this case.

There is also the question of being considerate. A hard pull through slings can damage the slings, which means you've left a possible booby trap for the next party.

Extrablue wrote:I guess my comment still stands. You are carrying 'biners already. You can leave them. Carrying rap rings seems unneeded.

Personal preference, lots of items could fall into this category. Rap rings are pretty darn light, and carrying 2-3 of them doesn't cost much in terms of weight. No one is saying you have to carry them, just that they do.

rgold wrote:...but then a deluge hit and by the time all four people were down the rappel absolutely would not budge.

Wet rope friction can be an issue even if the rope is through biners or rap rings if the rope goes over enough rock leaving the anchor, particularly basalt or sandstone, and can be quite a pain.

The smc ring in use are everywhere. I have found at least 12 of them in a year... so I have them because they were free. I mostly got them while replacing tat with chain.

Extrablue wrote:I guess my comment still stands. You are carrying 'biners already. You can leave them. Carrying rap rings seems unneeded.

Lots of folks aren't enthusiastic about leaving an expensive carabiner, maybe two, and if you are in the back-country, sacrificing carabiners off your rack might ruin the trip. So many people will carry something to facilitate pulling the rappel. If they choose an old carabiner, it will probably weigh 2 oz or so, and that's the same as about five SMC descending rings, or ten rings if you have to use two biners with gates reversed. If a long retreat is in the offing, I suspect most climbers would go for the descending rings as by far the most efficient solution.

I've had various types of epics and fortunately not the mountain rescue kind. Usually our epics were from being unprepared for descending in the dark and had no more than lighters and decades later cell phones for light. Would have avoided checking if partners brought a flashlight. Rappelling throwing ropes into trees or dropping them into rock fissure cracks were epics with ropes stuck. I had rock protection smarts during thunderstorms because couldn't see what I was doing. First aid kits are bad luck for us and knowing advanced first aid makes our luck. We to bring an ace bandage or two they have many uses. A flatten as a pan cake weigh nothing down jacket and windbreaker pants and hooded jacket also weighs nothing and a couple of 33 gallon trash bags will rainproof enough the body and a hat and scarf in the winter. Its all about getting out best and fast and alpine lightest is safest. Hypothermia didn't happen as long I kept moving or I got to where I could hold up for hours somewhere. Know how to make a fire in the rain and in winter a can of sterno will do wonders on frozen hands. Bring overnight gear and its highly likely it will make you stay overnight. I learned to climb almost anything at night and anchored to the ledge on gear my extra supplies have worked in three seasons. I wear no cotton. Like gummies to keep my mouth wet. Best thing I've brought is my sense of humor. Hiking in bad weather is a great place to learn what is necessary while escape to roadside is easy.

powhound84 wrote: I have to think the friction of the wet rope through nylon is far more than if it were run through a rap ring or biner.

It is. Through slings wet rope is intractable; with rings over enough rock it is still highly onerous to wrangle - even with jumars or prussicks. Ditto bare on tree trunks.

powhound84 wrote: I have to think the friction of the wet rope through nylon is far more than if it were run through a rap ring or biner.

That turned out to be the case in our epic. We were able to pull the sodden ropes once a biner was employed. As Joe says, it still wasn't easy though.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_E…

I consider item 2 optional depending on area.

Ryan-G wrote:Insulation is so lite these days it seems ridiculous not to bring some on longer routes in the mountains.

Dead bird nuclei hoody is just a hair under 11 ounces and warm enough that I've used it instead of a sleeping bag during the summer a few times. 80gm synthetic insulation on the body, no stitching through the outside fabric so it blocks wind better than many of the lighter coats. Of course if you have to pay retail, well you're gonna pay.

Nick Drake wrote: Dead bird nuclei hoody is just a hair under 11 ounces and warm enough that I've used it instead of a sleeping bag during the summer a few times. 80gm synthetic insulation on the body, no stitching through the outside fabric so it blocks wind better than many of the lighter coats. Of course if you have to pay retail, well you're gonna pay.

I usually bring a really cold bag from early spring to fall and rely on my jacket to stay warm as well. Dead Bird? Sounds sweet...but I am not going to buy it, i am not going to buy it...i'll probably buy it.:)

This is a really helpful, interesting thread.

bump

"DON'T BRING THOSE damn cams," Yvon had grumbled over the phone. "Don't need them. A few stoppers and hexes, that's enough. And don't bring those heavy ten-millimeter ropes. Ridiculous!"

We were planning a climbing trip into Wyoming's Wind River Range. For 30 years Yvon had had his eye on a stunning, unclimbed line on the south face of 12,972-foot Mount Arrowhead. "And we don't need a tent," he bellowed. "I've spent a hundred nights in the Winds without a tent."

When I mentioned helmets, he scoffed at that, too, and said he'd only used one once or twice in his life. How about a headlamp? "I prefer to stumble around in the dark."

On the other hand, the fact that I wasn't intending to bring a fly rod represented a serious problem. "It's practically a crime to walk through the Winds and not fly-fish," Yvon said gravely.

....from "King of the Dirtbags", Outside magazine, 2001

outsideonline.com/1909941/k…