safety/survival gear -- what do you carry?

props on the i ching!

In your TR you didn’t say much about the performance of the space blanket. Was it useful- did it contribute to your comfort/survival? Do you think one would have been useful when you broke your femur?
The reason I’m asking is because I once spent a "non-survival" type night with one and, while it takes up almost no space and weighs nothing it didn’t seem to provide much shelter value either.

Yes, mylar space blanket was somewhat useful. Dry, wind sheltered area was probably more important. All these things are a compromise between weight that slows you down and equipment that might save you if you have to stop, so my selections are based on weather and risk assessment and how far I want to travel in a day. The mylar reflects heat back to you, but is not worth much if you are in the wind and it gets blown around, so the bag type is better. Great at the end of a marathon to wrap up in for a few minutes, and great for temporary first aid and great if you can't carry much. I have used one for overnight on 2-day trail runs, camping under alpine fir groves with no sleeping bag, and it was so noisy it kept waking me up.  Have also strung it up as a tarp for lunch stop in wet snowstorm. When stuck in open area in snow with a broken leg that hurt like crazy to move, a real bivy sack that could be slid over me and Goretex overpants that I already had on, and pads from packs made that a lot more tolerable, along with a thermos of hot tea and honey that I had along.
I'll second the info on meds. I carry caffeine tabs, ibuprofen, benadryl, a couple of oxycodins.

Interesting thread.
My husband who stays at home worries a lot about me in the mountains and bought me a Spot Satellite Messenger $169 MSRP for Christmas. He says that the chances of getting hurt or stuck go up over 60... I haven't seen any statistics. It is heavy, 5 ounces with lithium batteries, but I take it to keep him happy. It works with a subscription to satellite service a year at a time $99.00. However, it works great if you can leave it on for 20 minutes. It takes that long to find a satellite sometimes. He loves it when I send him an OK message from our campsite. Gives GPS coordinates, time and sends a Google map too. There is one button for OK and one for help and one for 911. You can change the account at any time to send the message to someone who could help or you know will at least get it. Works most all over the world and oceans too.
J

Does anyone carry more medical first aid stuff than duct tape?  Antibiotic cream, band aides and 2 inch gauze pads always seemed a little beside the point to me, but maybe I'm not enlightened.

I always carry a super lightweight med kit, and then I add things to it.  I have a large supply of IB Profen and I added hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes.  The ones you get at Wendy's are perfect.  extra bandaids, but mostly moleskin and things for blisters.  I'm always amazed at the number of people who complain about blisters, soreness, etc but don't carry anything into the bc to help them with it.

and second to Jason and Lowell, I always have a spare headlamp in my pack, and one in the car. Walmart brand in the car, Princeton Tec in the bc.

good thread...not much to add to what others have written.

one item that i've had in my first-aid kit for years is a spare set of sunglasses for if/when my usual glasses were to ever break.   next time you are at the eye doctor, ask them for a pair of those disposible wrap around plastic sunglasses they give people after you've had your pupils dialated...the disposible glasses weigh nothing, and will keep you from getting snowblindness should your glasses get lost (or in my case have a lens in a pair of julbo glacier glasses actually pop out and slide away at 13,000ft on Rainier)

I have a friend who broke his glacier glasses a little below Camp Muir on the way down from the summit a number of years ago. It was a climbing trip so he was booting. He had no spare glasses, and no one else did either (sad) He figured he would be ok and decided to move a little faster than normal. He said he felt fine until he got in the car. Intense snow blildness started kicking in and he said the pain was excruciating. The person driving had to stop at the nearest urgent care center. (Ashford I think) They gave him some ointment but said that he was beyond the level of treatment they could provide and they urged him to get to a hospital right away. He told me that when the doctor went to inject something into his eyes with a needle he couldn't help but pull back No kidding!! : I believe the eye injection was so they could take an x-ray to see if he had fried his cornea's or something like that. Basically it was extremely painful for him and cost him a bunch of money even with insurance.

Now I will always carry an extra pair of sun glasses on trips that may warrant any sun glasses at all. Even if I never need them, perhaps a friend or even a stranger on his way down from Camp Muir will not have to deal with snow blindness.

I really like the idea of carrying one of those wrap around sun glasses you get at the eye doctor previously mentioned in this thread by Pete A. They are light weight and take up no space, and can get you out of a potentially very dangerous situation. Also on one episode of the Discovery Channel show Survivor Man, Les Stroud shows how to whip up some Eskimo style snow goggles with things you would have in a car. I saw it a long time ago and have since forgotten the materials you could use. I thought I'd mention it at least. I think all you really need is something that you can cut 2 tiny slits in that you can wrap around your head. The ace bandage from your first aid kit would probably work if your not using it already for its intended purpose.

I duct tape blisters.

You dont have to dig in your pack to get to it and you dont need scissors!

I duct tape everything in the field - never carried a bandaid and never will.