13 January 2018

Mountain Skills First Aid Kit

What Should Be In Your Mountain Skills First Aid Kit, Or General Outdoor First Aid Kit?

Lots of ideas out there - this is just my personal definitive list of what should be carried as a self sufficient first aider at mountain skills or general outdoor level.

Kit Bag (to put everything in)
Survival Bay/Bivvy Bag
Foil Blanket x 2
CPR Face Mask
Sam Splint (for splinting a sprain/fracture such as wrist/ankle - a separated walking pole will also suffice)
Walking Pole (for splinting a sprain/fracture such as knee/leg)

Storm Shelter/Kissu (make sure it is big enough for your group number)
Triangular Bandage x 4
Sprain Bandage x 4
Wound Dressing x 4 (large wound dressings)
Normal Plasters (lots of, and the cut to size yourself kind)
Compeed Plasters (for blisters)
Antiseptic Wipes
Surgical Tape (great for keeping on plasters/dressings in wet conditions)
Surgical Shears (normal scissors not strong enough)
Sterile Water (for flushing wounds, drinking water from your bottle will also suffice)
Steri Strips (lots of)
Safety Pins (lots of)
Tweezers
Nail Clippers
Waterproof Paper & Pen/Pencil
Latex Gloves (lots of)
Aspirin + Paracetemol + Nurofen

Once packed, I wrap this into two plastic bags, followed by a dry bag, to keep as dry as possible.

Storm shelter I carry separately, or get someone else to carry.

Every couple of weeks I unpack everything and allow to air/dry.

Quite often the pre-made first aid kits you buy are simply too small/too lightweight; and you can often be better off putting together your own first aid kit, piece by piece.

The gear in your first aid kit does not need to be complex, as you can see, but there needs to be plenty of it and things need to be big; such as big safety pins instead of small safety pins, big wound dressings instead of medium wound dressings, four sprain bandages instead of two sprain bandages.

I run outdoor training courses and survival courses - www.outdoorsireland.com - and for specific first aid courses I highly recommend Marie - www.remotewestfirstaid.com.

Nathan - Outdoors Ireland

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