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DAE pack a $4 poncho for 2 years and never open it, then a storm at Mount Hood teaches you it's dead weight
Sitting in my soaked tent after a surprise hail storm at 6,000 feet last Saturday, I realized I'd been hauling that flimsy thing around for 14 trips without ever checking if it still worked, and it ripped in half the second I pulled it out, so I'm asking: what's the one piece of gear you keep carrying but have never stress tested?
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anthony_fox904d ago
Remember that little emergency whistle on your pack strap you've never once blown? I found mine cracked in half last summer when I actually needed to get my buddy's attention from across a ravine. Turns out plastic gets brittle after a few winters and I'd been carrying a dud for who knows how long.
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charlie_lane854d ago
The "dud for who knows how long" part is what gets me. You trust that thing without ever thinking about it, and it's just sitting there quietly falling apart the whole time. Same deal happened to me with my headlamp batteries, pulled it out one night and got nothing but a weak flicker. That feeling when you reach for a piece of safety gear and it just isn't there for you is rough. Sorry your buddy was stuck yelling across a ravine, but good thing it happened on a calm day and not during something worse. Guess it's worth checking the little stuff now and then, even the stuff we never touch.
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