What actually broke and how'd you fix it ?

[Chip]

...and what do you carry now that would have made the repair better/quicker ?

I like to be prepared but I also don't need to carry a bunch of stuff I'll never use.

I need to re-examine all my gear, especially pack, crampons and snowshoes, to see if I good properly field repair them with what I carry. What good is carrying a 8oz 5" multi-tool if you don't have the correct nuts, bolts and screws to fix what broke ?

To answer my question; I broke a tent pole on a winter outing with my younger son and spent a good deal of time splinting it with extra metal stakes and duct tape. It held but you'd be amazed by how much tension is on a pole. I now carry a couple of ferrules that slip over the pole and could be held in place by a band-aid: much easier, faster and better than my splint.

What'd you break, how'd you fix it and how would you fix it now ?

 

[Tom Rankin]

Laurie has always carried plastic zip ties and metal twist ties. Very light and can come in very handy for a lot of things!

 

[HH1]

Anything/Duct Tape/Duct Tape/, but not your garden variety duct tape for wussies. I'm talking the real McCoy available at Lee Valley in Canada.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=56121&cat=1,110,43466&ap=1

Don't head to the Whites without it!

 

[Chip]

I'm interested in knowing what equipment has actually broken. I've been doing this on and off for 35 years and I've had almost nothing break. I've had to clean stoves and replace old equipment, but who's had a critical failure and what was the repair ?

 

[Barbarossa]

Parachute cord

I've twice had a pair of boots decide to shed a sole mid-way through a hike. I repaired one pair with duct tape, another with parachute cord.

It's pretty versatile, re-usable stuff.

 

[Raymond]

I think this thread subject may have come up before. This story may seem familiar to some of you.

Back in 1985, when I was on a nine-day backpacking trip in Yosemite National Park, one of the attachments of my pack to the frame broke, lucky for me in such a way that I was able to simply tie the pack to the frame without the hardware, whatever that was (22 years later, it’s hard to remember the details). That held up fine for the remainder of the trip, several days. But, on the final day, as we were heading out, the attachment on the other side broke, this time I was faced with having to tie it onto the pack, which was impossible, so I just had to walk the last few miles with my arm bahind my back, holding up that side of the pack with my hand.

 

[dug]

I always carry a few zip ties, duct tape rolled around a water bottle, and a 6" piece of copper tubing. The tubing could be used for a splint on a snow shoe or sleeve for a broken tent/ski pole.

I have had to use it for a broken ski pole. The only other things I've ever broken were stove pump (we had two stoves so we went without mine for the weekend), a pack strap buckle (which I just tied the belt to me and dealt with it as I was on the way out), and a snowshoe webbing (duct tape worked fine).

 

[sapblatt]

I'm interested in knowing what equipment has actually broken. I've been doing this on and off for 35 years and I've had almost nothing break. I've had to clean stoves and replace old equipment, but who's had a critical failure and what was the repair ?

Chip - I am in the same boat as you - I think we both may be overdue! It does bug me that I carry so much "just in case" stuff - and I have never used it...I try to be prepared to get thru whatever may happen.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I've been involved in 3 major repairs - none of it mine, but we used my repair stuff. Two involved snowshoes, the third a pack. The pack repair was a broken shoulder strap on a winter out & back to the Bonds. The strap broke just below the summit of Bondcliff -it was a beautiful day, so we had an early lunch as we used a spare piece of 3/4" nylon strap to make the repair. The first snowshoe failure was on the return from Owls Head on a cold, nasty day - my friend had a pair of those cheeseball MSR snowshoes (lots of failures when they first came out, and well-documented here). A couple of nylon zip ties did the trick, and EMS later replaced the 'shoes. The other snowshoe failure was to a friend's Sherpa's, and again a few zip ties did the trick - the binding attachment had failed.

The nylon strap isn't part of my McGyver emergency kit, but part of my 1st aid kit. I carry a few lengths of 3/4" nylon strap with a buckle sown on the end to help with splinting, if necessary. Began doing that many years ago after a Wilderness 1st Aid course. They weight almost nothing.

Fortunately, none of the equipment failures prevented us from doing the peaks we'd set out to do that day.

 

[SherpaKroto]

My tow sled, in BSP, 20+ miles or so from the nearest road. Baling wire did the trick for 2 days, then had to refit it for the last 14 miles. Worked great. I think my fellow trekkers were surprised I had it

Skis: Shizzy's bindings came loose at Roaring Brook (again, BSP) and we patched it with wood glue, steel wool and sawdust.

Snowshoes: duct tape and zip ties.

 

[RoySwkr]

One of my pack ties broke, temporary repair with plastic cable tie

Someones snowshoe frame broke, walked out packed trail without it

My plastic snowshoes broke in half, tied pieces on top of each other and continued, by the time I got back one was in small pieces

Screw came out of someones crampon, thread was stripped so replacement wouldn't hold so wired them

Bar between front & rear of my crampon broke, but these were NSPF so the front half stayed on and I was able to descend with them

 

[Nessmuk]

Skiing into Avalanche Pass in my favorite 3-pin ski boots, the toe piece of one decided to break completely off just as I arrived at the lake. I always carry a few lengths of parachute cord with me and was able to lash my boot to the ski for the trip out. Luckily it is mostly downhill on the return trip.