OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

I didn't read the posts but here's my input.

I've done some backwoods time and climbing in the past. Having things to use for survival is essential but so is keeping pack weight down. You'll get weeker over time and lugging around an 80 pound pack will get old fast.

Climbing rope is essential. Things that are flexible for multiple uses are what you need to look for.

A killer LED flashlight is nice but eventually the batteries will wear out. I'd bring one of the LED lights that you wind up.

A small mirror. A zippo with a small extra butane bottle. And a satalite phone. Haaaa.

Rescuer

iTrader: (9)

what do you need climbing rope for? Plus, what length? A long rope is heavy to carry

Never Slip'N'

iTrader: (1)

PSP for ****, check!

Shayhan27

iTrader: (4)

Nice one Paul. Me and my buddies actually go out into the middle of nowhere near lakeTahoe and try to do the minimlistic thing. Usually bring in pack. Small cook stove back pack type -w- cook utensils, small water filter, Knife w magstrip, small flashlight w extra batteries, sleep gear, poncho, 550 cord, hammock, firearm of some sort. The biggest problem is always water and food. they are the heviest most neccesary things out there. We usually cary dehydrated with the plan being to hunt and cook if neccesary and for water we bring our own with the thought of purifying if neccessary. Its kinda fun we go out t shoot targets is the ultimate reason we do it but incorperating some extreme camping makes it all the more fun. Oh dont forget the TP you can have all the cool gear in the world but if yur cleaning your a$$ with a pine cone youre not gonna be a happy man.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

I know it came in handy for me. I used it twice. Rope can be useful for setting up cover. For getting across running water and for getting down things. I guess it depends on what region you're dropped in. Can generally go around but sometimes it will cost you days and put you WAY farther from your destination. And I suppose it's more useful in groups. We were in a group.

The length I carried was 12 pounds I think. Climbing gear for the whole group was 10 pounds. But we were doing some serious climbing. I did two peaks. We did a very dangerous desent in the dark and had to do a pretty gnarly traverse that required climbing gear. 130 miles in 3 weeks.

I can tell you what I had in my pack....
socks. a couple pairs of shorts and shirts. A fleece. A pair of nice water resistant pants. A pair of tennis shoes which came in handy when the sole pealed off my $300 boots with about 40 miles to go. Climbing rope. Climbing gear. A pack. A pad. Flashlight. Toothbrush. Biodegradable mouth wash. Cooking gear. Food like tortillas. Honey. Powdered milk and potatoes. Cheese. couple bandanas. We finished off the 130 mile hike with a 10 mile run. Woot. Toss in a 3 day solo with a fast in the middle of the 3 weeks.

I ended up carrying much of the gear ment to be carried by 3 people do to injuries. My pack weighed over 85 pounds by trip end. Started out around 60 probably as I was smart and traded out my canned foods for tortillas and honey and lighter more dense calorie foods.


I would have done things and packed different things if I was going solo or with say one other person. But much of that stuff I'd do again.

OneManArmy

iTrader: (7)

haaa. word.

I had drops for the water. Iodine. After about 10 days I was sick of the crap. Used fast running water sources everytime I could which wasn't that hard considering we hiked some glacier spots. Even made chocolate ice cream once. Haaa. But the iodine is nice for those iffier spots. Didn't get sick at all.

Jabberwocky

iTrader: (3)

Most so called survival kits are total junk.

IMHO The best "survival" tool is research and knowledge. Do research on where you are going ahead of time and learn basic skills for the land. In a lot of cases, staying warm and having enough water is adequate for "surviving" a few days. With that said, here's are the items that I pretty much always I carry in my backpack:

A small compass
A small tube of superglue - for repair and first aid (I actually had to seal a pretty big cut on my hand once using this, it works really well)
Floss - To floss, but it very good for repairing gear
A medium size Needle - to repair gear
Lifeboat matches - like 30 of them cause they weight nothing
Cotton ***** soaked in Vaseline - Try this, it is amazingly easy to start a fire this way
A folding knife - nothing fancy but the blade is thick enough so that I can hammer it with a rock to split wet branches
Several large garden trash bags - makes for decent rain poncho
About 3-4 yards of duct tape rolled
A clean handkerchief
A small LED flashlight - the key chain ones that weight nothing
And EMERGENCY MONEY in the local currency and in USD
All adds up under a pound.

Then everything else depending on where I'm going (eg I'll only carry snow stuff when I plan to be in snow; only a filter when there is water to be filtered, etc)

Rescuer

iTrader: (9)

@OneManArmy
if you are in a group, then rope can be useful for something, but as a single person it's too bulky
the thing about that heavy bulky rope (being alone) is it pretty much get's used once if you have to get down from a ledge, you tie it to something, go down, and that's it.

on the NASAR SARTECH II pack it has "Nylon twine or small rope, 50 feet" which is what could be used to hold up shelter, or many other things.

I think surviving is very different than a hike with climbing gear

I want to do some hikes like you've done sometime in the future. There are large SAR groups that do things like this, like in yosemite.

Dans Rex

iTrader: (7)

im an eagle scout with lots of outdoor experience
and i agree with the rope being used for like everything! you can make a LOT with lashing rope, not climbing rope.

Things i didnt happen to see:

- Tube tents are lightweight and big. You can use them to catch water if needed (but id also recommend a filter). Its compact (tube tent), and is very easy to make into a quick shelter for flash heavy rain


- Small cooking stove was mentioned. either that or, if it will be dry, lots of matches (wind proof ones are cooool but take awhile to light). But a box of strike anywheres is always fine with the striking part cut off the box and put on ur knife or something. But, instead of a stove and fuel, u could always bring just a metal grate to put ur food on to cook. Put like rocks around ur fire, balance ur grate level on the rocks and light the fire underneath. I cooked a lot of wild trout on that method, very tasty You can find lighter weight grates or make one urself

- When we did our "50 milers" (they were all over 50, its just thats what they called um), we wouldnt take any clothes than what we're wearing. You shouldnt care what you look like in the wilderness. Just wear "universal" clothes, like long sleeve shirt with a reg t-shirt underneath and those pants that zip off from the knees. But multiple pairs of socks is a must for a lot of hiking...wearing the same ones can leave you positioned in one area, because your feet will suffer! Its up to you for underwear lol

- Confidence. If you have confidence in what your doing in the woods, you could pull out the most random "tricks" for making things easier for yourself when left alone. Thats probably the greatest outdoor experience i have learned. So just stay calm and be cocky haha. Doesnt weigh a thing.

-Those plastic kite handles, you can wrap fishing line around it and use it to fish. very compact and light. you can chose to bring just hooks or bring little lures. Or if your like me, and love to fish, i had gotten a breaking down 6'6'' fishing pole and compact reel and just carried that. Lot more fun

-TOILET PAPER....they always say u could just use leaves...but really? they make really compact for carrying and biodegradable (sp?) tp.

Just wondering but why Internal backpack? Because of the fishing pole, and straping other things on my backpack, I was a huge fan of External. Plus i just liked a lot of my items available quickly on the trail. If your afraid of externally placed items getting wet, a big trash bag is a perfect fit over most of internal and external backpacks if you dont put it in your shelter.

edit: i have more, just not the time lol