First Aid Kit

A first aid kit is the medical side of the same story the beacon tells: something can go wrong, and preparation is the treatment. This page is the mountain-specific kit list.

The kit

Item	Use
Bandages and sterile dressings	Bleeding control
Adhesive tape	Dressings, splints, blisters
Triangular bandage	Slings, immobilization
Blister plasters	The most-used item on the list
Antiseptic wipes	Wound cleaning
Pain relief	Ibuprofen, paracetamol
Antihistamine	Allergic reactions, insect bites
Thermal blanket	Hypothermia (see Hypothermia Recognition)
Small scissors, tweezers	Cutting, splinters, ticks
Tape and safety pins	Improvised everything

Skills, not items

The kit is worthless without the skills: how to apply a pressure dressing, how to improvise a splint, how to recognize shock. Take a first aid course aimed at outdoor or wilderness contexts; the kit earns its weight after the course, not before.

The beacon connection

The kit and the beacon cooperate in the two emergency scenarios:

Scenario	Kit role	Beacon role
Injury	Treat, stabilize, shelter	Transmit position and repeat
Missing / lost	Warmth, food, signaling	Transmit until found

A beacon transmitting from a treated, sheltered subject is the outcome every rescue system is designed around.

Kit care

Check the kit every season: expiry dates, used items, and the thermal blanket (one-time use). A kit that lived through a winter in a damp pack has a way of quietly losing its contents.

Related pages

• Hiking Safety for the broader practices
• Hypothermia Recognition for the cold emergency
• Emergency Response Scenarios for the scenarios