“Enough” is a pretty relative term. I’ve been in a few situations that I have needed to use my survival gear. However, I am still here to share my stories, so I would say that I was adequately prepared to handle the situation. Sure there are instances I wish I had brought some different gear or done things differently, but when I look back on a past experience, it is all too easy to pick out what I could have done better.

One of my favorite stories is when my friends and I (7 people in all) drove to the mountains one evening to play in the snow. We were having a blast and before we knew it, it has becoming dark. We decided it was time to turn around and head home. The snow must have softened while we were up there or something, because on the way down we hit a soft spot, and all three vehicles (my Jeep, a Subaru, and a stock F-150) sunk down so their undercarriages were hi-centered on the snow.

I did not have a winch, so I rigged up a sort of hand winch using my Hi-Lift Jack, tow chains, and a few tow straps. It was a lot of hard work, but eventually we were able to free my Jeep and move it to more solid ground. From there I had to daisy chain all 3 of my tow straps together to reach the other vehicles and tow them out. We were stuck up there for the better half of the night, and luckily I had enough food, water, extra clothing, etc in my jeep to keep everyone comfortable.

In retrospect, winch would have saved me a lot of time and effort, but it turned out I was some how able to make it home without one. However, if I had been any less prepared, we would have been in real trouble. I had enough personal gear for me to spend the night, but not enough for the other 6 people in my group. By the end of the night not one piece of my recovery equipment or survival gear went un-used.