Gear Loss Prevention

Common ways to lose your gear

• Cell phones
  • Causes: Hikers commonly drop phones off cliffs and into streams or lose them when they fall over in deep snow or when glissading. Sometimes the phone will fall out of a shoulder strap pocket and into a stream when a hiker leans over.
  • Prevention: Use a phone pocket and a case with a lanyard clipped to your pack.

• Tent poles
  • Cause: Extended tent poles easily slide down mountain slopes when set on the ground.
  • Prevention: Never set poles on the ground without anchoring them into the snow.
• Water bottles
  • Cause: Water bottles are typically lost when hikers are glissading or fall over in deep snow. The bottles slip out of the side pockets of the backpack. You are unlikely to hear it fall into the snow and finding it can be difficult or impossible.
  • Prevention: Clip the bottles and anything else in the backpack side pockets. Sometimes it helps to make a trench below your tent to catch anything that starts to roll away.
• Tents
  • Cause: Wind. Assembled or not, the wind can easily carry away a tent. If you are on a ridge, it can fly for miles over the valley below. 
  • Prevention: Have two people handle the tent during assembly when you are in high winds. Whenever you assemble your tent, toss your pack inside as soon as you have made the tent free-standing. Don’t wait until the tent pegs are put in place. Put your pack inside before staking out the tent. Build a snow wall to break the impact of wind. Usually, digging down 1.5 feet (45 cm) for a tent provides enough snow for a stable 2-foot (50 cm) wall above the tent trench.
• Pads
  • Cause: Full-length solid pad can easily become airborne if left unattended.
  • Prevention: Be sure the pad is inside your tent or weighted when outside your tent. If, for example, you leave the kitchen area, be sure to position the pad in the trench and weigh it with your food bag. 
• Stuff sacks
  • Cause: Blown away during camp set up or lost while breaking camp. 
  • Prevention: Put all your stuff sacks into one stuff sack as you set up camp. You can also clip it to your pants or pack. 

Misplaced items

Prevention: Keep gear inside the tent or tent vestibule. Position snowshoes and trekking poles in the snow in an upright vertical position. Or, lay the trekking poles along the side of the tent.

Gear in sleeping bags

Cause: Many hikers will put gear in their sleeping bags at night, such as gloves, socks, and headlamps. These items are sometimes overlooked in the morning and packed into the backpack. After that, the hiker is unable to find the items. 

Prevention: Be sure to invert your sleeping bag when you pack up in the morning so that anything inside your sleeping bag will fall out. Turning your sleeping bag inside out also makes it easier to stuff into its sack. This is because the inner lining of the sleeping bag releases air quicker than the water-resistant exterior.

Gear in backpacks

Cause: Disorganized backpack.

Prevention: Keep items organized. Some items need to be more accessible than others, such as your headlamp and rain jacket. Headlamps should be put in a hip-belt pocket (always the same pocket). Rain jackets should be stored close to the top of a pack or in the other mess pocket on the front of the backpack. For more, see Safety Tips for Packing a Winter Backpack

Gear in tents

Whether you are using a two-person tent or a small solo tent with no more floor space than a full-length solid pad, your gear should be inside your tent or tent vestibule and organized. 

Gear at campsite

Causes:

• Gear goes missing because it is covered in snowfall or snow drift.
• Gear blew away
• Gear rolled down the slope

Let us know your thoughts and suggestions

Have any ideas about keeping track of gear or stories about lost gear? Please share your ideas, experiences, and challenges below. Your comments and questions are welcome.