The Ten Essentials

• Map
• Compass
• Sunglasses and Sunscreen
• Extra food and water
• Extra Clothing
• Headlamp/flashlight
• First aid kit
• Fire starters
• Matches
• Knife

24 and 48 Hour Packs
Before every training course there is a pack inspection to insure proper and adequate equipment is being carried by each trainee. Any time an ESAR member is away from camp they will have at least a 24-hour pack with them. A 24-hour pack contains at least the 10 essentials. It is enough to bivouac for one night should the team be forced to spend a night out away from camp. It should also have enough equipment to help care for a subject if the team needs to care for a subject overnight. A 48-hour pack is a full pack with enough equipment to comfortably take care of one person for two nights in a wilderness setting.

Bivouacs
A bivouac is a lightweight, no-frills overnight stay that is usually unplanned. Usually bivouacs occur as the result of injury, bad weather, an assignment that takes longer than planned, finding the subject at the end of the day, getting off route or any number of other reasons. Any time you must spend the night without a 48-hour pack it is not going to be comfortable but it should be tolerable. The ten essentials allow for survival if forced to bivouac. Large Garbage bags work as emergency shelters and helps contain body heat and keeps clothing dry.

If you must bivouac stop in a safe location. Find someplace protected from the wind and hopefully from the rain. Look for a natural shelter if possible or set up an emergency shelter. Get out of any wet clothing and put on dry clothes. Get warm food or drink if possible, if not eat and drink snack food to provide calories for your body to burn. Loosen your boots, put on dry socks, and put on a hat and gloves. Loosen any tight clothing. Sit on something to insulate and protect from heat loss through the ground. Huddle close together with team members to conserve and share body warmth.

Boots
Up until the last decade almost all climbing and hiking boots were made of leather. Now there are plastic boots and special fabric boots of many makes and brands. The best material for all around hiking and general heavy duty work is still leather. A good pair of boots for search and rescue in the Pacific Northwest Mountains must be versatile. Leather offers that option like nothing else on the market. It must be tough enough to withstand scraping of rocks, stiff and solid enough for kicking steps in snowfields, yet comfortable enough for long hikes and cross-country walking. They must be warm enough for cold winter conditions and capable of being waterproofed against the miserable wet weather often encountered in the Olympics and Cascade Mountains. Typical terrain that ESAR operates in includes mud, streams, gravel, brush, scree, hard snow, soft snow and swamps and steep hillsides. A high quality leather boot is preferable for these conditions and if cared for properly will last many years.

A good leather boot should have the following features:

• High uppers 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches to support and protect the ankles in rough terrain
• Vibram type soles for good traction on slippery vegetation mud and snow
• A stiff shank
• A minimum number of seams to decrease the potential leaks
• A gusseted tongue, or bellows tongue, to keep water from easily entering the boot
• Rubber rands sealing the soles to the uppers, to aid in waterproofing and simplify boot maintenance
• Beefed up toes and heels with multiple layers of leather for durability
• Top that opens wide so the boots can be put on easily even when wet or frozen

Leather fabric boots
Advances in boot technology have led to boots that incorporate synthetic fabric panels that partially replace leather. These are lighter weight than most leather boots and do have some advantages over leather:

• Lighter
• More comfortable with less break in time
• Faster drying time
• Lower cost

• Less stability for the foot on difficult terrain
• Less waterproof
• Less durability
• Inadequate stiffness for steep terrain or hard snow

Fit for any boot is critical. When fitting boots take along the same combination of socks you intend to wear on missions. A mid weight synthetic liner and a heavy wool sock are recommended. If you wear orthodox or insoles they should also be taken with you. The best time to shop is in the evening since feet tend to swell during the day.

Put on the boots and lace them up tight. There should be no movement of the foot inside the boot from side to side or in the heel up and down. Wear the boots for several minutes and walk around checking for uncomfortable seams or pinch points. Your heel should feel firmly locked into the heel cup. Your toes should have plenty of room to wiggle and if you kick a wall or the floor you should not feel your toes touch the front of the boot. Boots that are to tight will inhibit circulation and cause cold feet. Boots that are to loose will cause blisters. Go with larger boots over smaller ones if your feet are still growing and wear two pair of thick socks to take up space.

Proper Boot care will increase the life of your boots. Most boots fail when the stitching rots or mildews because the boots were not cleaned or dried properly after use. After using stuff newspapers into the boot to absorb water. Remove after a couple days and air dry. Avoid exposing boots to excessive heat such as campfires. The glues used in manufacture of boots do not do well with such heat extremes.

Apply water proofing liberally before use and on a regular basis thereafter if you want your feet to stay dry. There are many types of waterproofing available, follow the recommendation of the manufacturer because it depends on the tanning process used which product will work best.

Fabric material used to construct lighter weight boots cannot be waterproofed, but you can increase the water resistance somewhat by adding a silicone-based spray. Make sure your boots are clean and dry before applying waterproofing.

Socks
Socks cushion and insulate the feet and reduce friction between the boot and the foot. Socks made of wool or synthetic materials can perform these functions, Cotton cannot. Cotton socks will get saturated, collapse, stick to your feet, soften the skin and lead to cold, sore, blistered feet.

Socks must absorb perspiration because boots do not breathe well if waterproofed. Synthetic socks dry quicker than wool. The inner sock should be smooth and thinner to transport perspiration from the foot to the thicker outer wool sock.

Gaiters
Gaiters are critical in foot care. They keep debris, water and snow out of the boot and prolong the warm dry feeling of your boots. They also protect the boot to some degree and prolong their life by keeping the uppers cleaner and dryer. Though these are optional items most ESAR members end up with Gaiters shortly after their first training session. It is nearly impossible to keep you feet dry without them regardless of how waterproof your boots are.

Clothing systems
Cotton is not allowed on any mission and has no place in the Pacific Northwest wilderness setting by any professional outdoorsman. Cotton is a leading factor in many of the deaths from hypothermia in the country every year.

Clothing creates a thin insulating layer of warm air next to your skin for you to keep warm. It creates a mini climate that you body is able to maintain at the essential 98.6° F. needed for survival. In the environment you will be working in the proper clothing is your primary safety tool. The proper combination of clothing will assure your survival and ability to function in most weather extremes encountered on missions.

Layering is the key to proper body heat management. Layering makes it easy to adapt to the different temperatures encountered in the wilderness and for the different levels of exertion you undertake.

• The first layer should allow perspiration to pass through and evaporate without absorbing the moisture, which keeps your skin dry and therefore warmer. Wet garments in contact with the skin cause twenty five times more heat loss than dry ones. (Major reason cotton clothing is such a hazard)

• The next layer should trap warm air next to the body. Several light layers that can be added or deleted for changing conditions makes it easier to regulate your body temperature. Several thin layers are generally warmer than one thick layer.

• The final layer is a shell to protect your first two layers from rain and from wind, which can cause heat to be drawn away at a dangerous rate. Wind chill is the effect of wind on wet skin. A 10-mph wind in 50-degree temperatures can be fatal in just a few hours if not protected from the wind and rain.

Sleeping Warm
Your sleeping bag should be lightweight, warm comfortable, and easily compressible and good for year around camping in Western Washington. A bag good to 0° F is usually adequate for most situations encountered on missions. A good three-season bag should fit this requirement. There are several types of insulation available. Down is the warmest but if it gets wet it is next to useless as an insulator. They are very compressible, retain their loft well and are well built and last a long time if properly cared for. They are very expensive and if they get wet they take a long time to dry out.

Synthetic insulation is resistant to moisture, retains most of its loft when wet and dries relatively quickly. They are less expensive than most down filled bags. They are slightly heavier than down and do not compress as well. Synthetic insulation is not as durable as down and will loose its loft over time if kept compressed. For this reason do not store a synthetic bag in its compressor bag.

The body produces heat to maintain the body temperature at 98.6° F. When you sleep heat production is reduced by as much as 20%. Clothing and sleeping bags create enclosed confined areas for your body to heat up and contains that heat in order to maintain the optimum body temperature.

A sleeping bag that is too large creates too much space for the body to effectively heat. If a bag is to long tuck the end under so the space does not have to be heated up.

A sleeping bag produces no heat. If you are cold when you climb in you will remain cold. Exercise briefly before climbing in and the increased activity will generate heat, which will be transferred to the sleeping bag.

Remove all wet clothing, sleep with minimal clothing on and make sure the layer against your skin is a dry layer. Don't wear a lot of clothes in your bag. You defeat the purpose of the sleeping bag by preventing heat from reaching the sleeping bag and warming it. Use extra clothing as insulation under or over or to fill extra space in the bag or as a pillow.

Keep you sleeping bag dry! Pack it in a protective waterproof stuff sack that is lined with a garbage bag. Wrap the stuff sack in your tarp or carry it inside your internal frame pack to give it added protection.

Use adequate full-length ground tarp and insulation. More heat is lost through heat conduction to the ground that to the air. Use whatever is available in an emergency to get off the ground. Backpack, extra clothing, ropes, etc.

Remove constricting clothing that restricts circulation

Don't breath into your sleeping bag. A large amount of moisture is exhaled with each breath of air. (Up to a quart of water a night.) Wear a hat and keep your face out. If it's really cold, breathe into a facemask to conserve heat.

Eat a warm meal and drink a hot drink to provide calories to burn and to start with a slightly warmer body.

Sleeping Bag Construction
Sewn through method with cover is simplest for sewing insulation in place. Used for low price, warm weather camping and slumber party bags. Leave cold spots at each seam.

Laminated Construction consists of one sewn through bag placed inside another with seams offset. Extra fabric layer gives greater warmth. Makes for a heavy bag. Car camping and cool weather camping.

Box construction has a vertical baffle, which forms a wall between inner and outer shells for a uniform thickness Warmer lighter weight bag, for cold weather construction.

Slant tube construction uses longer sloping baffle between inner and outer shells, creating an overlapping tube effect. It allows the down to expand more s warmest for a given amount of down.

Cooking
Meals should be quick and simple to prepare one-pot meals to facilitate ease of cleaning up. Food should include some high-energy meals that can be eaten without cooking. There are often times when there is not enough time to cook a full meal or a location that is not appropriate for cooking. A stove is required equipment in all 48-hour packs. It should be white gas or cartridge style backpacking stove. Never light any stove inside a shelter or a building. Carry a cleaning kit and keep it clean for optimum efficiency.

Breakfasts

• Hot cereals such as Oatmeal or cream of wheat, Instant type is quick and easy
• Breakfast bars (pop tarts, granola bars, fruit bars etc.)
• Warm beverage (Cocoa, apple cider, instant coffee or tea, Juice mix)
• Dried Fruit

Lunch

• Macaroni and cheese
• Top Raman noodles
• Freeze dried meals
• Lipton's soup mixes
• Noodle and rice mixtures
• Cocoa, tea, coffee, cider
• Cheese and crackers, bagels
• Breakfast bars, energy bars
• Fruit snacks, cookies, trail mix, etc.

Dinners
Same as lunches

Notes
Seal a meal bags allow you to package precooked foods at home and simply boiling the food in the bag provides a warm meal. Spoilage is usually not a problem in winter months. Should be a concern when choosing food in warmer months.