• Western Mountaineering Flight down jacket
• ¾ length Therm-a-Rest
• 48oz Nalgene bottle of water
• Ultralight, compact umbrella
• Basic fire making kit-Bic lighter, cotton balls, Esbit fuel tabs, flint & striker, petroleum jelly, tinder bundles, life boat matches & striker in a waterproof bag
• Drivers License, ID card, lion tag, topo and forest service map, truck key
• Food-dried fruit chips, Cliff Bars (2), hard candy (10), Ensure Powder (2 servings)
• Basic First Aid Kit-Benadryl tabs (2), EpiPen, Ibuprofen tabs (2), Pepto Bismol tabs (4), duct tape, 4x4s (6) and Ace bandage
• Insect repellent towelette (1)
• Sunscreen towelette (1)
• Garmin Foretrex 101 GPS
• Suunto wrist compass
• Petzl Tikka Plus 2 headlamp
• Toilet paper and wet wipes (3)
• Commando wire saw
• Disposable heat packets (4)
• SPOT Satellite Messenger-second generation
• Outdoor Research fleece Balaclava
• Nylon meat bags (2 nylon stuff sacks with drain holes that are connected by a sewn piece of 1 inch tubular webbing so that it can be draped over the neck or pack straps)

All this weighs right at 8 lbs, not counting the pack, which allows me to travel fast, far and quiet.  Are you going to be comfortable and sleep like a baby with this set up?  No!  Ask any sniper, Special Operations soldier or SAR Tech.  You will sleep in fits of 20 to 60 minutes, you may have to get up and exercise periodically or do isometrics to stay warm and you might even have to start a fire but you will be fine in the morning.  I promise, the sun will come up.  Eventually.


Note the unique racking system to keep things neat, tidy and in close to your center of gravity where it belongs.  While my entire list fits in the main pocket this particular pack has side pockets that are sized to carry more 32oz Nalgene bottles and or a lightweight canister stove and kettle.  

Interesting pack, huh?  Well, let me tell you about it because it is unique and has a good story behind it.  When I joined the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Mountain Rescue Team in 1990 Ralph Holzhaus was just finishing a long, successful run as Team Commander.  He was looking forward to spending all his new found free time  running The Wilderness, an outdoor and tactical equipment shop he opened a few years before.  Not only was Ralph a decorated SAR Tech-EMT, it turns out he was also a pretty fair hand on an industrial sewing machine.  These packs and many other items were designed and made by him specifically for Mountain Rescue work based on experience from hundreds of missions and many years of field service.  
 
Now, I said Mountain Rescue work and not search and rescue work for a reason.  That is because the term Mountain Rescue is also a name and it means something to those in the know.  I have a great deal of respect and admiration for anyone that is a part of the search and rescue community but not all SAR teams have the same qualifications and capabilities, there are important differences.  I admit it, I am biased and something of a SAR snob but a certified Mountain Rescue Team is something very special in the SAR world.  They are cross trained to certified proficiency and regularly tested in search, technical rope, swiftwater, helicopter, alpine, underground and wilderness medical disciplines.  These all weather, all terrain, self-sustaining units are capable of operating effectively in extreme environments and conditions.  If your basic volunteer search group is the general infantry, Mountain Rescue Teams are the special operations element.  Incidentally, the military version of a Mountain Rescue Tech is an Air Force Pararescuemen or PJ except that they are sneaky pete stealthy, heavily armed and jump qualified...but other than that you almost can't tell us apart.

SAR Techs trained to this level are the best in the business.  Their objective is to reach, treat, stabilize and evacuate those in need by any means despite little inconveniences like darkness, bad weather, difficult terrain or personal discomfort.  They are the ultimate wilderness athletes in my opinion and by definition, hardcore outdoorsmen.   "...that others may live" is the PJ motto but we liked it so much we stole it fair and square.  

So, that is the back story and ethos of these packs.  They weren't just a neato idea that some snot nose, Red Bull swilling, dorsal fin hair do, twitter fiend with an industrial design degree dreamed up in a cubicle somewhere.  They were solutions born out of real world problems in the field.  Oh, you want some examples.  The Wilderness packs are ultra durable because they were thrown out of helicopters and drug up or lowered down the sides of mountains.  They are compact and don't have a lot of crap dangling off of them to facilitate the clean ingress/egress of a helicopter.  They are narrow at the shoulders to allow a full range of motion for handling ropes or climbing.  The racking system was developed so that a SAR Tech-EMT, like yours truly, could rappel down a sheer face to treat an injured climber, doff the pack, hang it on a rope or piece of protection and open it up without having all the gear in it fall out.  That would be considered very bad form.  Savvy? 

These packs are cool because they are built for a rugged, manly purpose, the marketing kiddies call that authenticity, it just so happens that they work for other things too.  Check 'em out.

Thanks.

Wade Nelson
Editor

Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies.