[Doug]

You are right spuggie; I hate to see people dragging their kids up the side of a mountain wearing their school coats and Wellingtons with no sign of a map or fluids or even well intentioned people who seem to have the right idea then go up with little more than a doggy bag of kit. They don’t seem to appreciate that the temperature and weather conditions can change within a few yards. I think that the only problem with having perfect preparations is that in the event of a real injury you can be as vulnerable as you would have been if you went without anything. My kit is only really for helping me survive if I get lost or become closed down by the weather and have to sit it out and perhaps sustaining myself or another after a minor injury that prevents a walk off. I wouldn’t want to put to the test for longer than a few hours though; I don’t mind the thought of over nighting if I had too, but a real emergency usually means a serious threat and sometimes the best of preparations won’t help, but it’s better than sleeping off an hangover on a Sunday morning…