How to pack your mountaineering bag properly: advice and tips for optimising your equipment
Preparing your rucksack for a mountaineering outing is a crucial step in ensuring comfort and safety throughout the climb. Choosing the right bag and the right equipment to take with you is vital to avoid weighing yourself down and to ensure that you have quick and easy access to all the equipment you need. In this article, we offer advice and tips on how to prepare your mountaineering bag.
Preparing your mountaineering bag: Choosing your bag
The choice of mountaineering bag is crucial to your comfort and the success of your outing. It's important to find the right balance between comfort, lightness and minimum accessories. For summer mountaineering, a maximum 30-litre rucksack will offer an ideal compromise between the volume needed to carry your technical equipment and the weight to be carried on your back. It's also important to choose a bag with good ventilation to prevent sweat accumulating and making you feel uncomfortable.
Pharmacy
The first-aid kit is an important part of your mountaineering pack. It should contain a few standard medicines for headaches, stomach aches, diarrhoea, etc. It is also advisable to take a standard antiseptic in sachet form and eye drops in sachet form. For first aid, you can add large dressings and Compeeds, a few sterile compresses and two sterile scarves.
Technical clothing
Technical clothing plays a crucial role in preparing your pack for a mountaineering trip. It is important to wear softshell or windstopper trousers, a breathable long-sleeved t-shirt and a thermal fleece to prevent heat loss. We recommend that you pack a down jacket, a goretex jacket, thick gloves, a good pair of sunglasses, a high-altitude mask and a pair of thin gloves for technical work.
Technical equipment
Technical equipment is a key element in preparing your mountaineering pack. It must be chosen with care and must not be neglected. It's important to pack a helmet to protect your head in the event of a rock or ice fall. Crampons are also essential for progressing on snow or ice. Ice axes and poles help to stabilise you during the ascent. Finally, a harness is essential for technical operations and for safety in the event of a fall.
The importance of a light rucksack
Finally, the weight of your rucksack is an important factor in the success of your mountaineering trip. A rucksack that is too heavy can tire you out quickly and prevent you from making effective progress. So it's important to choose a lightweight rucksack to avoid overloading yourself. However, you mustn't neglect the accessories, which are essential for your safety and comfort. So it's important to find the right compromise between what you really need and what you don't.
