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The right gear for the job, all ready to go |
Next, you need to piece together the details, and often it's those details that can make or break your experience. Forget toilet paper? How about the Jim Beam? Or worse—your belay kit. You need your camping gear, your climbing gear, food, maps, guidebook, etc. There are two ways to go about this portion of your plan making. You can spend hours packing from scratch, trying to remember every little odd end, strewing gear from your front steps to your back bedroom. Or you can establish a system.
Call me a creature of habit, but I like to keep a packing checklist for my climbing trips, and it's always the same. My climbing pack has my essential gear, and my headlamp and first aid kit are always stowed in the top pocket. One less thing to think about. Grabbing the gear becomes a familiar ritual, and a quick reference to my time-tested list allows me the freedom of mind to stress about better things—like who gets the first pitch of Retribution the next morning.
Once you've covered your bases, you can devote some time to the icing. Little creative afterthoughts can make or break a trip. Have a good book for a rainy day? A deck of cards and a chocolate bar can go a long way as well. How about earplugs if your partner snores, or a pillow, if you plan to car camp?
Then take some time to tap into additional resources available to make you maximally prepared—like the Internet. I get online to plan just about every trip imaginable, checking everything from weather and road conditions to what other climbers have to say about the routes I want to try. A quick search and you'll find sites for your local highway department, the national and regional park system or forest service—complete with campsite availability, and chat sites to get the local beta.
Think Zen, and Execute
And most important, if you forget the guidebook, leave the house late, chicken out on your route, and burn your dinner, a good attitude will be the saving grace of your weekend foray. Just remember that you're out there to have fun, and you did, after all, make it out of the house. Follow through with your plan, and do it in a flexible, good-spirited frame of mind. No amount of screw-ups or stumbling blocks will spoil your experience if you remember that the process, not the end, is the adventure you're after.
Where are you going?
What do you want to do?
