No Trekking Poles & The Most Expensive Firestarter in the World

I learned something this weekend. Fortunately, at no cost other than time and an altered plan.

Ascending 2,000+ ft of scree in the Eastern Brooks Range, Alaska. Bad idea, even though this section was easy. Ken Ilgunas Photo.

1. In this photo, two trekking poles, normally used for aiding in balance while travelling over rough terrain, are stored in my backpack. I have come to realize that even though I always bring two (used mostly as the support for my shelter), I rarely even use one. But, since I need something for the shelter anyway, I might as well bring them, for there are times when they're great and if I were to injure my lower body, they would help me walk out (this has happened to a few friends). Maybe I should get some collapsible sticks.

2. My $2500 camera is being carried in my hand and was then later used as an aid in gaining traction in loose scree. I didn't want to put it away, because then I'd miss a photo. Normally, I'd have my small point-and-shoot, but I just sold that to Ken, who I was hiking with. Needless to say, I felt at a loss for a pocketable camera.

3. After a few minor scratches on the camera's magnesium body, which revealed the shiny metal below the black finish, I realized I was carrying the world's most expensive firestarter (or at least, magnesium striker). If I ever REALLY needed to start a fire and had my DSLR, I could take my knife to it and light a blaze. [This is merely hypothetical, as I did not test this.]

4. Unless you can see a safe area or right where you want to be and it's not too high up, never, ever ascend an unknown scree slope.
  -The summit or ridgeline can never be seen from the base, unless it's a vertical cliff.
  -The slope never looks as steep or technical as what it truly is.
  -There are bound to be dangerous sections and high potential of falling/sliding to your death.
  -You could become rim-rocked on a grand scale, as the entire area you climb up to could be cliffed-out in all directions.

When we reached the top, we hiked for about a mile until realizing there were cliffs above and below us in every direction. On, along, and over the ridges, down the slopes, along the creek, and back the way we came. It took us 4.5 hrs to go roughly one mile as the crow flies. About an hour of that time was spent looking at the map & GPS and deciding how we were going to get ourselves un-rim-rocked. It took so long, I did some time-lapse photography as we hemmed & hawed over our predicament.

We finally got out to a safe area with great hiking and continued on with our new route back to the car, as we no longer had time to do the 40 mile loop originally planned. And, based on what we had seen thus far, we figured we'd run into the same situation at the two passes on the original route, anyway.

I'm in the bottom left corner, traversing a small cliff. Again, bad idea. Ken Ilgunas Photo.