Lots of insightful comments here, the ETS community is a philosophical crowd... I confess, I am a gear-a-holic much like anyone else.


My gear-a-holism took a really bad turn for the worse during my stay in high arctic conditions. Essentially, the lessons learned at Spitsbergen are the same as I was taught as a kid - how to dress in winter, the mountain code, be prepared and so on. But the point was amplified and really driven home.

And the costs of my gear-a-holism increased - big time.