Talk:Ten Essentials

message: "In most circumstances, the Ten Essentials will transform a potentially life threatening experience into a mere discomfort." 
Cool.  So, if I fall off a cliff and die, carrying the ten essentials would transform this into merely discomfort?
There are many, many unsupported, un-cited, un-sourced statements in this article, many ludicrous like the one above.  Wikipedia is based on information that is published - and this article should be also.  Those who are interested in working on this article, may I suggest that re-writing it based on citable sources (and what those sources say) would be a contribution to Wikipedia. (I am removing the above statement). Ratagonia (talk) 14:55, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Article based on sources?

message: Why is "extra food" more essential than extra water? --Liface 22:40, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Because water is easier to find than food.  Rain, lakes, rivers, springs:  except in arid places, obviously.  Another list of essentials for the desert has water first.  EncMstr 23:08, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: not that this is relevant to wikipedia, but the rule of thumb is that you can survive 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. So I'd personally put water before food, regardless of whether clean water is easy to find or not. 79.65.171.170 (talk) 22:21, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: It all depends on where you are: in western Washington, for example, finding water is as simple as going downhill -- you're never more than about 15 minutes from a stream, and it's rare for the terrain to block you from getting there.  On the other hand, in the deserts of Utah, water is quite difficult to find, and the terrain tends towards cliffs and steep ravines -- which is why the Wasatch Club puts water ahead of food. --Carnildo (talk) 00:58, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This isn't a hierarchy. All ten are essential. The order of the list is irrelevant, though similar items are often grouped together.  ·:· Will Beback  ·:· 01:05, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Food before water

message: i once heard that the two essentials for anyone going wild are a machete and a cooking pot. Anything else can be improvised, but not these two (well, there is a way to improvise a cooking pot by weaving grass, but that requires skill). I added the machete, but I am really suprised the cooking pot is not mentioned in the article. DirkvdM 17:56, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I just gnaw on trees and bushes.  No machete and no pot needed.  :-)  — EncMstr 18:38, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

text: I agree Dirk. Some way to boil water or purify it is just as essential, so is transporting it. Even scouts can run out of iodine tablets. Then there is being able to cook wild foods. The pros agree too, see the usrsog.org site and equipment chapter. Most basic kit: pot, knife, and 550 cord. I would rather have a wide-mouth metal bottle than just a pot, or both. Alrich44 (talk) 14:24, 20 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cooking pot 

message: Depending on the facilities where one is going, a tent and mattress might not be necessary (but then, the same goes for water (treatment) and especially for sunscreen). But one thing one almost allways needs is a sleeping bag. So why is that on the list? I have added it at the end, but why is it not on the list? DirkvdM 18:03, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Because to survive, a sleeping bag isn't necessary.  Heavily depending on circumstances, it might be better to keep moving, improvise a shelter, or just lay on the ground, as in warm environment.  For winter camping, a sleeping bag is much more important, though I would expect winter outdoorsman to have enough clothing that a sleeping bag would be more of a convenience than a necessity.  — EncMstr 18:37, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This list is intended for all travel in the backcountry, not just overnight travel. Very few people carry sleeping bags and tents on day hikes. "Extra clothing" should be calibrated to include enough clothing to be able to survive an night out, albeit without comfort. -Will Beback 20:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

text: My daypack contains everything I need to spend one night outdoors.  It does not contain a sleeping bag: that two pounds is better served as a sweater, a warm hat, a space blanket, and extra food. --Carnildo 09:30, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

text: Maybe the article should be a bit clearer about what it is about. For example, I don't even think about dayhikes when I read something like this. That is for 'tourists' (excuse the condescending tone of my voice when I say that :) ). But the list is for items that are essential for dealing with emergencies and even dayhikers can be confronted with those (actually, they are most at risk because they are more often ill-prepared). I notice I didn't finish my sentence in the article. I meant to say something like "... a sleeping bag, or at least a bivvy bag, which can be just a big plastic bag in which one person fits." But let me continue under a new section below .... DirkvdM 10:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tent, sleeping bag, mattress 

message: Please correct me if I am wrong but I do believe Canned Heat (i.e Sterno) would need to be lit by an outside source and does not self combust. Therefore, its placement in the Fire Starter section seems to be mis-leading and blatantly incorrect.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by FubarFrank09 (talk • contribs) 20:57, 9 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps it refers to starting a wood fire? A match alone is insufficient to start a wood fire. —hike395 (talk) 07:25, 11 April 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  Canned heat is referring to a "Sterno" can of a petro-chemical, maybe some alcohol in it too. These types of flammables are part of "sure" fire, that is, something that burns even when it is wet and may be started with only a spark. A flint rock with an iron/ferro rock can create a spark. Guys often carry a ferro/flint rod to strike dry tinder into flame, it's faster than a bow drill and works on artificial flammables even faster. Alrich44 (talk) 14:51, 20 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Canned Heat makes Fire? 

message: This article is about a specific list, but there doesn't seem to be a general article on hiking equipment. I suggest starting that article and either incorporating this article in it or keeping this article restricted to the list mentioned in Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills (or possibly moving it there) and for the rest just link to the new article (and vice versa of course). DirkvdM 10:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think hiking equipment can be a legitimate Wikipedia list, but I believe that the Ten Essentials should be distinct from a list of hiking equipment, and from the Mountaineering book.. Several groups have proposed the Ten Essentials, it has its own history separate from the the Mountaineering book (including the NOLS and the Boy Scouts). There is a reasonable literature outside of Wikipedia that references the Ten Essentials, so it wouldn't be vulnerable to being original research hike395 19:11, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: New article or new name

message: Seems to be some disagreement over whether to link to the 10 essentials poem. Consulting the guidelines at WP:EL  :
* Is the poem meaningful and relevant? If so, it should be linked. Discussion?
* Is the poem a personal page by a non-expert? If so, it shouldn't be linked.
Comments? hike395 (talk) 04:05, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: It's a poem, It's ridiculous. It fails the basic concept of WP:EL. DreamGuy (talk) 14:04, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  External link to ten essentials poem? 

message: The article name "Ten Essentials" is too generic. It needs to be more specific, because there are 10 essentials for numerous subject matters. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 12:22, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems to me that "Ten Essentials" for outdoor activities is the primary topic for "ten essentials". I'm not aware of other topics where "ten essentials" are as notable. Can you come up with some hard data for those other topics, like Google n-gram or document counts? —hike395 (talk) 23:01, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: You are missing the point. • Sbmeirow • Talk • 03:33, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

text: The Ten Essentials are notable in this context. I checked a few search engines around the world and had to drive down many pages before finding a reference that was to something else. Now, in time, if that were to change, I'd say, "Sure. Let's fix this." Today there is not a notable rival for capitalized Ten Essentials. —¿philoserf? (talk) 23:36, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rename this article 

message: There is no mention of rain gear in the "Ten Essentials". This is very puzzling–I added "vague" to "extra clothing". Rwood128 (talk) 12:50, 13 December 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Fixed. Rwood128 (talk) 15:01, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

text: For the record. The Ten Essentials do not specifically call for rain gear. See this authoritative primary source for reference: https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/what-are-the-ten-essentials That is not to say mention of rain gear doesn't belong here. I agree it does. Just had to call out that there is an authority we can reference. —¿philoserf? (talk) 23:31, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rain gear