Emergency Kit - What do you take when out walking / hiking?

What do you carry in your rucksacks just in case an emergency arises such as bad weather, accidents, etc.?

 

Nothing really, but then I don't tend to go on exceptionally long walks and stick to well marked, popular trails so there are usually other people around or passing nearby. I have a whistle in case I need to raise the alarm, but I've never had to use it.

 

Whistle, torch, foil blanket, first aid kit, water and chocolate bars.

 

Very comprehensive first aid kit, including pulse-oximeter etc, waterproof emergency bivfy, food, at least 3 litres water, phone, VHF radio, touch, whistle, heliograph, maps, compass, all the shizzle.

 

For SAR, but also for anywhere more than a couple of miles from the nearest house. It only takes a bad fall to break an ankle, or in my case hyper-extend a knee, and suddenly one is left to rely on oneself to contact assistance, and stay alive and comfortable.

Being in lowland England won't count for much when the cold rain starts, your core temperature drops and you've got no shelter... We recover plenty of people from relatively benign looking landscapes near death with hypothermia.

The whole lot bagged up in my bergen weighs about 5kg. Sounds a lot, but I weigh 116kg myself so its a tiny load for me, plus the bergen spreads the load amount multiple contact points very nicely indeed. All day use without fatigue is no problem.

 

Bivvy bag with foil lining. Small first aid kit (including crepe bandage, wound dressing, plasters, safety pins, that sort of thing) plus assorted oddments such as a cable tie, a bit of duck tape, a small Swiss army knife and spare headtorch and batteries. Whistle.
Bad weather isn't an emergency, it is to be expected. I'd never head into the hills without full waterproofs and at minimum hat, gloves and a buff, plus at least one warm layer that I don't expect to wear. (We're talking Scottish highlands here. I might run into the Pentlands with less than that, though Drago's point about even apparently benign landscapes having dangers in combination with British weather is one I agree with.)

 

Spare compass, small first aid kit, painkillers, whistle, spare (lithium) batteries for basic GPS unit, glasses in case something happens to my contacts.

I always have a lightweight shell with me, fleece hat & gloves, waterproof shell mitts and a suitable fleece top in the colder months - I run pretty hot and rarely wear a fleece unless it is very cold and/or windy.

Can't bear waterproof trousers - I wear a pair of DWR treated climbing salopettes when scrambling or DWR treated fleece trousers the rest of the time.

If it doesn't fit into an ultra-lightweight rucksack (20L) it's not coming with me.

When I first headed into the mountains 45 years ago I took everything bar the kitchen sink - candles, matches, bivi bag, spare laces, emergency chocolate etc. Big rucksack to carry it all that weighed a ton fully loaded.

Gradually whittled it down to what I consider the bare minimum.