Hiking Safer With Proper Gear
by Olga Ottens
December 15th, 2010 01:27 PM
My friends, you will read this in June and right now the sky keeps delivering us with new snow. That makes it really hard to predict what we will be doing in June.
The snow will probably not be gone by then, and hopefully the melt will not be sudden and create flooding and slides down here. Since our lower trails may be muddy and slippery, let us look at our gear. We want to be safe. As you probably know, there are a lot of different opinions as to what is considered essential gear.
As a member of the North Vancouver Outdoors Club for the last 15 years, I appreciate that this club – which celebrates its 25th birthday this year – is not known for accidents, because:
Participants must be properly equipped
On day hikes your pack should include, as a minimum: one warm synthetic fleece or wool sweater, warm hat, extra pair of dry socks, mittens or gloves, rain gear top and bottom, sunhat, sunscreen, sunglasses, gaiters, at least one litre of water, lunch and snacks, your meds and ANA kit if required, toilet paper and some money for carpooling etc. You should be wearing well waterproofed hiking boots.
Myself (you know I have a flashlight fetish), I add a flashlight, a small headlamp, my cell phone (turned off), a whistle, a pocketknife, waterproof matches and my well loved camera.
We also strongly recommend avoiding cotton clothing (such as blue jeans or T-shirts) because they offer no insulation against the cold when they’re wet.
If in the opinion of a trip coordinator a participant is ill equipped for the trip, we may deny participation.
Dawn Hanna, in her book Best Hikes & Walks of Southwestern British Columbia, gives us a few pages at the beginning of her book on “Hiking with a Brain,” which I rather enjoyed. This would be an excellent book to add to your pack. Make sure you pick up the updated 2006 edition. We know our trails have a habit of changing because of our weather, so we need the most up-to-date information.
I hope you will really get into it… See you on the trails!
The Mystery Spot shown in the last issue? Easy… The Trail Top Adventure.
Olga is a Member of the North Vancouver Outdoors Club. www.northvanoutdoorsclub.ca
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Jun - Jul 08
The snow will probably not be gone by then, and hopefully the melt will not be sudden and create flooding and slides down here. Since our lower trails may be muddy and slippery, let us look at our gear. We want to be safe. As you probably know, there are a lot of different opinions as to what is considered essential gear.
As a member of the North Vancouver Outdoors Club for the last 15 years, I appreciate that this club – which celebrates its 25th birthday this year – is not known for accidents, because:
Participants must be properly equipped
On day hikes your pack should include, as a minimum: one warm synthetic fleece or wool sweater, warm hat, extra pair of dry socks, mittens or gloves, rain gear top and bottom, sunhat, sunscreen, sunglasses, gaiters, at least one litre of water, lunch and snacks, your meds and ANA kit if required, toilet paper and some money for carpooling etc. You should be wearing well waterproofed hiking boots.
Myself (you know I have a flashlight fetish), I add a flashlight, a small headlamp, my cell phone (turned off), a whistle, a pocketknife, waterproof matches and my well loved camera.
We also strongly recommend avoiding cotton clothing (such as blue jeans or T-shirts) because they offer no insulation against the cold when they’re wet.
If in the opinion of a trip coordinator a participant is ill equipped for the trip, we may deny participation.
Dawn Hanna, in her book Best Hikes & Walks of Southwestern British Columbia, gives us a few pages at the beginning of her book on “Hiking with a Brain,” which I rather enjoyed. This would be an excellent book to add to your pack. Make sure you pick up the updated 2006 edition. We know our trails have a habit of changing because of our weather, so we need the most up-to-date information.
I hope you will really get into it… See you on the trails!
The Mystery Spot shown in the last issue? Easy… The Trail Top Adventure.
Olga is a Member of the North Vancouver Outdoors Club. www.northvanoutdoorsclub.ca
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Jun - Jul 08
