Volatile and unpredictable weather in the mountains is not uncommon by any means. In the valley it can be idyllic, calm and warm, but higher up things can be very different, changing within minutes and leaving the un-prepared in a potentially dangerous and very unpleasant situation.

Believe me, you only make the mistake once when it comes to not being prepared for any eventuality. I quickly learnt that, what I’ve dubbed, my mountain survival pack is worth its weight in gold (which wouldn’t be very much as it doesn’t actually weigh a lot, but you get what I mean).

So what are the mountain essentials?

1) Waterproof/Windstopper Overboots

2) Thermal Leg Warmers

3) Buff or equivalent.

4) Homemade Foil Gillet. You may chuckle but when I donned my custom made gillet 2,621m up at the summit of the Gavia (with soft shell over the top) I was the only one laughing on the descent!

5) Energy Bar/Gel. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll burn carbs when the temperature drops. Try shivering for 30km down a descent and tell me how tired you feel at the bottom. Exactly!

This little bundle is carefully folded and put inside a plastic bag before being slid into a small Gore bag that I got with one of their pac-lite shells. The reason for putting in a plastic bag first is to prevent spray from your rear wheel soaking the kit inside if it rains. Nothing worse than putting wet kit on!

What about waterproof shell, gloves and beanie? I keep these in my rear pockets as they’re frequently needed when in the mountains and I don’t want to delve into the delights of the mountain survival kit unless absolutely needed.

As a final tip, when you tape the pack behind the seat post, fold over the end of the tape so you can easily grab it when needed. Try finding the end of a piece of electrical tape with freezing hands half way up a mountain. It’s not fun one little bit.

Good luck!