Wild Trails & Tall Tales

- by Roland Cheek

CRISIS-PREPARED SKIERS

He carries a down-filled coat and she doesn't. On the other hand, she carries a first-aid kit and he doesn't. But both have emergency space blankets, duct tape for crisis repairs, and hard candy for quick energy. They carry a bunch of other stuff, too. What might one find in the daypack of experienced crosscountry skiers?

Royce and Ruth Satterlee are accomplished, both at downhill and crosscountry skiing. They've helicoptered to Canadian ski adventure, "hut toured" in the Okanagan and skied most snowbound roads and trails in northwestern Montana.

One day while we were eating lunch alongside a huge drift above Marias Pass, I asked about things carried in their daypacks. Here's a complete list of each:

Ruth Satterlee -
wind pants / knit neck warmer / headband / down vest
2 pair gloves / 2 handkerchiefs / stocking cap
climbing skins / foam pad for sitting on snow / sun screen
2 water bottles fire starter pitch hand warmer / duct
tape / assorted ski wax / camera film / extra boot laces
matches / first aid kit / moleskin / a candle / hard candy
2 plastic garbage bags / power bar / space blanket
dark glasses / lunch / sanitary paper

Royce Satterlee -
down coat - wind pants - dark glasses /
extra gloves / foam pad for snow sitting / duct tape
stocking cap / climbing skins / ski wax
water bottle ' fire starter pitch / matches
hard candy / emergency space blanket / lunch
sanitary paper / handwarmer

My own daypack has, of late, grown heavy with camera gear. But there's more. Odd things. Like rubber bands . . . large size . . . for wrapping a windbreaker or sweatshirt (both in daypack). Then there's ski carriers to make it easier to carry the confounded things when one runs out of snow. I have a small first aid kit, too. And moleskin. And let's see, wool mittens.

Then there's a tiny flask, the contents of which will restore color to my cheeks and compel me to leap energetically up in pursuit of more adventure. There's a water bottle in my pack, too, but it contains orange juice. And there's a wool headcap with ear flaps that, when the wind blows, fits under my regular baseball cap.

That's about it, except for a candle, matches, pitch, lunch and maxi-glide.

The contents of my pack compares poorly with one carried by Royce, and especially with contents from Ruth's daypack. But if push came to shove and you were stranded far from civilization during a raging blizzard, with whom would you rather spend time? Me, too.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind spending time on a desert island with Ruth.

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