I respectfully dissagree Izzy,

"you live or die by training, knowledge, experience and a healthy dose of dumb luck"-me

Tranlation: people have survived a lot more with a lot less. What matters is what you carry between your ears and not how many tiers in your pack. You can't buy experience or common sense in a gear shop.

That being said, don't get me wrong. I do not think for one second I am at such a high level of experience to come across as preaching.(not my intent) I do believe knowlede and experience is a greater contributing factor to my overall survival than what I outfit myself with though. What I carry certainly helps, buts it not the most important consideration by any stretch.

I agree with you in that you should take the gear you need and the best you can afford. I do think some people get too carried away on the whole "two is one, 1 is none" concept however. For SOME people, I believe they rely on lots of back-up gear as a way to compensate for lack of confidence and skill. (not refering to anyone in particular or anyone here, just an opinion)

Think of the gear your grandfather used to take into the woods, Then your father perhaps. Now think about what you carry. The wilderness hasen't changed, so why all of a sudden do we feel it's taboo to go on a wilderness outing without a PLB, GPS, 2 or 3 stoves, 5 knives and about 10 ways to start a fire? Did the wilderness change or are we relying more on gear than we need to. Now I am not suggesting going out into the wild without a solid plan or some essential gear, But where do we draw the line on what is really enough stuff? I guess that is for everyone to answer themselves....

Anyway. I guess this is straying away from the intended topic. My bad. To answer this question however


Because some people try too dammed hard to be prepared for every situation when they should realize that no matter how hard they try, s*** happens to the best of us anyway. Regardless of the type or amount of knives this dude took, I bet he didn't think about being crushed by a huge SOB rock when he stepped off that morning. There are a lot of things that would have helped him out, but I don't think the number of knives in his pack was his greatest concern.

Apologies for the bad spelling and gramar, but I got this wonderful bottle of Glenfiddich 30 yr at the duty free shop recently and now we are getting to know each other.....

I should know better than to drink and type. BTW, happy St Paddys day all .......