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Contents of our Repair Kit

It’s been a while since I posted an update, but we haven’t been idle. Today, among other things, I was busy putting together our Repair Kit. When you’re on the road with four participants and me as a guide, something can always break. That’s why I’d like to walk you through the contents of our Repair Kit.

Essential Repair Materials

Our Repair Kit is a small bag that fits everything we need. First of all, we have tape with us: spin-acre tape, which is slightly stronger than duct tape. However, we also brought a roll of duct tape. With spin-acre tape, you can easily repair a tent, sleeping bag, or down jacket. In addition, we have two tubes that can be slipped around a tent pole if it breaks. In one of those tubes are two tie wraps, although they can become brittle and break quickly at temperatures of minus 20 to minus 30 degrees. That’s why we also have five meters of rope with us for other repair work. For the bindings, we brought two rubber stoppers, because they sometimes break. From experience, we know that the bindings themselves can also break, so we have one spare binding and five clamps that fit into a binding.

Other Tools and Materials

Furthermore, the kit contains a meter of iron wire, spare laces, and spare guy lines. In case we have to sleep on a flat sleeping mat, we have patching material to repair the mats. Three matches are included to fix bindings if they come out of the ski. By placing a piece of wood from a match in the remaining hole, you create resistance for the screw again. We also have an extra basket (the bottom of a ski pole), a buckle for tow harnesses, two clips for the sled cover, and a sewing kit with thread, needle, and floss. Floss is particularly strong and slides well through the wax layer.

Small but Important Items

The kit contains safety pins, a key ring for various purposes, superglue, screws and bits for bindings, and a hand drill. In addition, we have a small carabiner and a cord lock with us. Finally, there is a large nail that, when heated above the burner and held with a multi-tool such as the Leatherman, can serve as a soldering iron for repairing cracks in the sled.

The Power of Creativity

Although these materials are essential, the most important part of our kit is the creativity and inventiveness in our heads. Things will go differently than planned, but with this hardware and our mental software, we can solve many problems. The complete technical first aid kit weighs only 350 grams. So far for this update!