#101 Preparing Your Outing

Expedition, trek, trail race… it is possible to design an identical preparation framework, whatever the outing. Although the very motivation for heading out is focused on the outing itself, preparation generally reduces stress, saves time and ensures nothing important is forgotten beforehand. The further the terrain is from what we are used to, the more it pushes us out of our comfort zone. Good preparation helps make things easier for us during the outing by loading us up with information. Picture yourself in the middle of nowhere with a partner in a bad way: you will be very glad to know where to go to alert the rescue services. Or stepping off a bus, faced with self-proclaimed guides telling you it is impossible to complete the trek without them. Preparing your outing means you can focus on the essentials once on the terrain: the pleasure of being in your element. There are as many preparation methods as there are athletes. We are going to present one of the most common, the so-called three by three (3x3) method, which works for every type of outing. Although we use the example of an expedition abroad here, this preparation advice applies perfectly well to less complicated outings.

The 3x3 method

The 3x3 method consists of crossing three time horizons with three preparation points. The combination of these two pillars of three elements makes it easy to remember the actions to take depending on the time horizon in question. The three time horizons are:

The three preparation points are:

This method is very time-consuming ahead of the outing, but when properly applied it reduces the stress level when you are a few days from departure. Here is a detailed review of the different combinations.

1) Well ahead of the outing

a) The terrain

Terrain preparation done in advance represents the biggest share of the preparation work. It involves gathering as much information as possible about the outing's terrain, in order to determine at the very least a route and a schedule. This information will also feed into your teammates' preparation (gear list, briefing…). This phase also consists of gathering information about the country or region you are visiting, to make your arrival easier.

Information about the host country

If you plan to do your outing in your country of residence, you can skip this part. Here, the point is to gather information about the customs and habits of the country that will host you. The questions that need answers are the following:

To answer these questions, the "Conseils aux voyageurs" website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an almost mandatory stop. The country factsheets are good summaries of information. General guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Routard…) are also good sources, and make passing through towns easier. A small aside: French tourists have a bad reputation abroad, because most of our compatriots only try to speak French and stick to themselves. We often complain about the food, often rightly so, let's be honest. That said, we invite you to polish up the image a little by staying open-minded.

Establishing your route

Depending on what you want to do, it is now time to establish a route. The best way to do this is to consult the Strategic navigation section of the Navigation page. For unfamiliar terrain, it is recommended to choose a route whose difficulty stays within your comfort zone. You need to take into account the additional challenges, such as travelling somewhere you do not speak the language, or speak it poorly, where you do not know the customs, or terrain that presents challenges in terms of navigation, altitude, isolation or weather. Even if it means coming back later for meatier challenges.

Additional route information

The mountains are not necessarily freely accessible everywhere in the world, and once the administrative formalities for entering the country have been dealt with, you now need to look at the access conditions. In most cases, you will be asked to obtain a permit before being allowed to enter your future playground. In the case of a national park, the rangers will inform you. In other situations, you can ask other people who have recently been through the area. If you do indeed need a permit, you will need to determine the average lead time to anticipate for the application, what conditions must be met and what the permit costs. In addition to the permit, look into visitor numbers, in particular to make sure you will have space at the campsites (if they are mandatory). You will also need to find out about the fauna and flora, and whether there are recommendations to follow. For example, if bears are present along the route, you will most likely need to plan a way to hang your food or have a special barrel to protect it.

b) The weather

Now that you have your route, the next step is to determine the weather associated with the different periods of the year. Rather than weather, it is climate that interests us here. The goal is to understand which periods are most conducive to the expedition's success, and what wind conditions (prevailing direction, speed…), precipitation and temperatures the group will have to face. It is also during this research phase that you will identify the websites providing the weather forecasts that will be used a few days before departure. In principle, the research is simple. In practice, it already gets more complicated. There are plenty of forecasting websites, but rather few historical records. Pay particular attention to historical sources to find out whether they are actual recordings or simulation results. Sources can sometimes come from park rangers, tourist offices, paper guidebooks, route guides and trip reports available online. There are a few websites that let you search through simulation archives, such as: Historique-Météo.net

c) The human factor

Once the information on the route and the climate is in hand, you need to sit down and think about the conditions of execution.

Participants

Ah, the participants… You can decide to head out alone if you feel capable of it. In most cases, people decide to set off in a small group to motivate one another and/or share both the preparation and the difficulty. With an idea of the route's difficulty, its appeal, and the best departure windows, it is time to recruit your potential teammates. Nothing beats preparing a summary of what you plan to do to make yourself clearly understood. A clear presentation avoids parasitic discussions. Nothing is worse than poor communication for losing control of your project (especially if it is close to your heart) or your motivation. Beyond the enthusiasm of the various participants, and if you are the group leader, you will need to determine the participants' physical condition and level of experience, and make sure the gaps are not too wide. It is entirely feasible to bring along a mega pro with a complete beginner, but in that case you must warn them of the differences in motivation that could appear once in the thick of it. Also ask yourself about the size of the group. Too large a group can harm the experience of intimacy with the terrain, but too small a group exposes you to potential dropouts. The group size must also be compatible with the terrain, especially if you are going to have to form rope teams. Throughout the preparation, it is essential that the leader shares the project's progress and the information gathered. On the one hand to involve the group members and reduce the pressure on the leader's shoulders, but also to anticipate any dropouts that would jeopardise the project's viability. It is important to clarify who plays the leader role(s) during the route.

Establishing a schedule

The information gathered will now allow us to generate a schedule for the expedition. This schedule is made up of one part before the terrain, and one part on the terrain. The part before the terrain must deal with questions of permits, visas, any vaccinations and their boosters, etc. It must also take into account the travel time between your home and the expedition's starting point, as well as that of the group (with the definition of a rallying point). The part on the terrain will be calculated from the route and the group's physical condition. The idea here is to break down the distance and the elevation gain into progression time. This does, however, imply that you know your level… The average speed, or the reasonable distance you can cover per day, will depend on the group's physical condition. On a long trek, 20 km is a good average, 15 a low average and 30 a very good average. On the other hand, the difficulty of the estimate in a mountain environment is accounting for the elevation gain. A good rule of thumb is to divide the elevation gain by 100 and add it to the daily distance. This amounts to saying that 20 km with 1000 m of elevation gain is equivalent to 30 km on the flat (30 = 20 + 1000/100). Do not be caught out: elevation loss matters just as much as elevation gain. To take it into account, you can divide the elevation loss by 20 and add it to the calculation. Finally, weight all this by the mass of the backpack. You then end up with a number of days to plan for covering the chosen route. When finalising the schedule, remember to add reserve days. These days allow you to handle the unexpected: minor injuries, illnesses (often stomach-related), forced waits, luggage that does not arrive at the same time as you. How many? That depends on your experience, the climate and the time otherwise available. If the weather is not prone to storms, one reserve day every 10 days is a good starting point.

Safety

By safety we mean everything related to a rescue operation. We are lucky in France: the rescue services are efficient and free. Calling for help literally consists of making a call, with the chance of seeing rescuers arrive very quickly. The situation is not the same in the vast majority of other nations. During this preparation phase, you will need to look in detail at what the potential rescue resources are and at what cost. Knowing the existing resources will give you food for thought regarding the adequacy of your knowledge and the design of your gear list. From a gear point of view, to call for rescue, nothing beats a device compatible with the Iridium constellation. Satellite phones are the simplest to use, but they are expensive, and you still need to have pre-registered the rescue services' number. A more economical solution is to take a beacon such as an InReach or Spot (InReach offers better worldwide coverage). As for the costs, if they fall to you, it becomes essential to take out insurance covering "search and rescue costs*", with substantial reimbursement. The helicopter is most often used for rescue operations and a flight hour runs into the thousands of euros. A potential reimbursement of 50,000 dollars per operation is a minimum to consider. It is also crucial to check the geographical limits of your insurance, in particular the maximum altitude covered. Among the little tricks, remember to scan all your official documents, such as passport, vaccination certificates, insurance certificates, licences, and store everything online. The simplest way is to email it all to yourself. All this information will let you handle the post-rescue formalities simply and quickly.

Budget

Establishing a budget is key, on the one hand so you do not get ripped off on site (by having identified the going rates) and on the other hand so you can treat yourself without going into debt. So many trips ruined by failing to account for hidden costs… The first big expense item is transport, whether international or local. In the case of flying, flight combinations (as opposed to direct flights) are the cheapest, but you will then have to endure often quite long layovers. For English speakers, http://www.sleepinginairports.net/ lets you know whether the transit airport is suitable for a good night's sleep (opening hours, availability of free beds, tips…). The train is a very interesting option when it is safe and comfortable. Once there, you need to look at the cost of the ride between the station/airport and your base, as well as the cost between civilisation and the starting point of your expedition. The more remote the area, the higher the asking price. Do not forget to check the price for the return trip! Then comes accommodation. If you sleep in a tent, that is quickly settled, unless bivouac zones are imposed and charged for. If you plan to sleep in mountain huts, and you can book, do so to avoid being turned away at the door with no fallback options. If the huts are free, try to arrive at the end of the day rather than in the evening, to get a good spot. Be kind to those who come after you, do not turn them away — it could be you. If you sleep indoors (lodge or hotel), just add up the small bills… Food is often one of the big expense items, especially when freeze-dried meals enter the menus. If you plan to eat in restaurants or lodges, guidebooks give information on the average budget to plan for. If the outing is committing, you can set off with all your food, unless certain products are prohibited (importing saucisson into Argentina when coming from Chile, for example). Buying on site is often more financially attractive, but you remain dependent on supermarket availability, and it requires setting aside half a day to find everything you need. Permits and visas, if mandatory, sometimes represent a non-negligible budget. If you plan to hire porters and guides, plan to pay them ethically. Even if it represents a budget for you, those on the other side may wonder who these people are who can afford a plane ticket but are not capable of paying a fair wage. Finally, find out about the prices of restaurants, cinemas, excursions, etc. These are the little extras that let you treat yourself after an exhausting expedition and avoid staying shut in your room for days waiting for the trip home. Everyone is free to manage their budget as they wish. We simply advise you to set off on an expedition where you will be comfortable with your budget, so you can enjoy it without having to think about money constantly. It is entirely possible to wreck your health on an expedition that starts right at your doorstep.

Health

Health — let's talk about it. Before leaving, a little health check-up can prove useful. Especially if you plan to stay several weeks in a remote area. In particular, check that you are up to date on your vaccinations. You will be surprised to learn that toothache is a major cause of expedition abandonment: a quick trip to the dentist covers that. This is also the time to draw up your medical form and share it with your team. Below is an example list.

For both the health and safety aspects, we invite you to take a wilderness first aid course, such as WAFA or, even better, WFR.

Gear list

Once you have the details of the route and the weather, as well as an idea of the group size, you have everything in hand to build a gear list. In the case of a group, there will be two: one for shared gear, one for personal gear. Shared gear is generally everything related to the camp, such as tents, kitchens… as well as shareable specialised gear, such as ropes, protection pieces… Personal gear is your clothing, your sleeping and eating kit, your personal belongings and your protective gear. Building your equipment list obviously depends on the weather conditions, the type of outing you are planning and the time you estimate you will need. But a good starting point is the list of the 10 essentials to plan for when heading into the mountains:

This list may be over the top in the case of a day outing in the volcanoes of Auvergne, but it has the merit of summarising well what you should plan for on somewhat more committing terrain. To this list, you will then add other equipment needed for the outing, in particular if you have to progress on rock or ice. In any case, do not forget to familiarise yourself with this gear during this preparation time. If you are flying, it is impossible to carry your own fuel. You then need to identify what type of fuel is available on site (for example, gas canisters are not available in Ethiopia) and adapt to it. Multi-fuel stoves let you sidestep the question, but they are heavy to carry and to operate.

2) A few days before departure

a) The terrain

The idea here is to gather information on the state of the terrain, the freshest information possible. This research, if fruitful, will let you know the terrain conditions, in particular whether the trail is visible and clear, whether there is still snow, whether the ground is waterlogged. That way, you will be able to brief your team with the latest elements and update the gear lists if the need arises. This information should be sought on forums, in recent trip reports, or directly from park managers or tourist offices. Another solution is to identify local mountain folk and ask them the question directly. If you are heading abroad, another thing to do is to register on the Ariane portal of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This registration lets the embassy know whether it should worry about your fate in the event of a disaster in the country. However, the ministry is very clear on one point: embassies are not travel agencies. It is up to you to manage on your own in the event of a personal accident or problems during your trip.

b) The weather

It is time to carry out the final weather checks before leaving, in order to validate your gear list or cancel your outing if the weather is not conducive to safety. Either from the sources you may have identified during the upstream research, or from generic weather websites. On that note, we recommend Windy, which provides short-term forecasts for anywhere on the planet, and lets you compare several forecasting models.

c) The human factor

Team management

If you are the group leader, this is the time to review your team's state of preparation and identify the people pulling out of the outing. Experience shows that there are always more volunteers a month before departure than the day before. You will also need to brief your team on the latest information and go over the key points of the coming days leading up to departure. Finally, remember to identify injuries, motivation levels, and the participants' limitations.

Preparing your food

If you plan to bring your own food, this is the time to pack it properly and remove as much packaging as possible. For freeze-dried food, the best French supplier is the Lyophilise website and the best-tasting brands are Real Turmatt. Make a meal list to help with the final purchases if you are heading abroad, and identify potential points of sale in advance (for example via Google Maps). When preparing, the ideal is to pack by day (and by meal), to make sure you eat neither too much nor too little. Vary the flavours and include a small treat each day. Be careful: at altitude (above 4000 m), digestion is harder and nausea frequent, while you still need to keep taking in calories.

Preparing your vehicle

If you plan to take your vehicle to reach the terrain, make sure in advance that it is in good condition and fit to remain parked for a long period (which can drain the battery).

Do not forget your driving licence and the vehicle's papers.

Preparing your belongings

Preparing your backpack consists, on the one hand, of listing the equipment we really need, then placing it intelligently in the pack. We advise you to set off with your own gear from the moment you leave home. That way, no stress over whether or not what you are missing will be available. By proceeding this way, you also set off with gear whose limits you know and that you are used to handling. For some destinations, it may be said that gear is cheaper on site, but it is often counterfeit. And if the prices really are attractive, and it is not a copy (beware of customs on the way back otherwise), nothing stops you from buying some before heading home in anticipation of a future trek. All that remains now is to put everything in the backpack, to carry your belongings comfortably while protecting them. Put another way, the backpack must be loaded so as to maintain its balance, limit pressure points between the pack and our body, and preserve the physical integrity of the pieces of equipment by protecting them both from external aggressions (rain, rubbing,) and internal ones (leaks, sharp points,). The science here is to organise the pack so as to limit weight and volume, keep the centre of gravity close to that of the body and isolate each item from the others, while having quick and easy access to each of them. The operation seems complex, but many brains have looked into the problem and out of it came a mnemonic to find your way: the ABCs method. A: Accessibility: the gear you are going to use or might use must be placed near the pack's openings, and what will not be used at the bottom. Typically, water, sunglasses, the first aid kit and the day's rations should be placed in the pack's pockets. The sleeping bag, the stove and the rest of the food can go at the bottom. B: Balance: the heaviest items must be placed as close to the back as possible, ideally at mid-height of the pack. The method consists of first placing the sleeping bag and the sleeping pad at the bottom, then putting the cookset, the stove and the food on top, and finally, above that again, the tent and clothing to wedge all the equipment in place. C: Compression: each piece of gear must take up the least space possible. A sleeping bag, for example, can be compressed by using — wait for it… a compression sack. Same for clothing. D: Dry — or rather, how to keep your equipment dry. The backpack's fabric is very often insufficient to protect the contents from the elements, even with a rain cover (invariably of poor quality). As the commandos say, you must be able to throw yourself into the water with the pack without it being a catastrophe. Obviously, in that case, it will be a disaster, but you get the idea. The Dry principle is to create groups (food, sleeping, clothing…) that you isolate from one another by means of watertight (or rather waterproof) bags. That way, if the water bottle leaks (worse, the fuel bottle) or a can explodes in the food bag, the rest of your belongings stay dry. Likewise if the rain gets the better of the backpack. E: Everything in the inside, which could be translated as dangling stuff, stuff that is a pain in the a**. We all have in mind that image of the globetrotter's pack with the ceramic mug attached to the outside. The first sign of an amateur. All equipment must be inside the pack, for reasons of balance and protection against the elements and sources of abrasion or tearing. Not to mention that gear hanging off the pack is a source of noise; the sound of a mug hitting the pack with every step will quickly destroy your patience. F: Food above fuel. It is so obvious that you could forget it (like packing the toilet paper). Inside the pack, it is important to place food above fuel so that a leak of the latter does not contaminate the provisions. Incidentally, fuel is generally only used at camp, so its place is at the bottom of the pack. Once your backpack is done, the ideal is to empty it then fill it again, several times, to make sure you have found the perfect organisation that will make you quick and efficient on the terrain. During this step, it is worth asking yourself, every time you load a piece of equipment into the pack, whether you really need it. The lighter the pack, the better the carrying comfort and the safety (you move faster), and therefore the experience of the outing. Finally, if you are flying, make sure your luggage complies with transport standards (dimensions, weights).

Sharing your plans

Also inform your close ones of your programme. We like to ask at least two people to be our contacts in case of problems. If they accept, we provide them with all the information about the outing (including the gear list), and we send them a copy of the official documents. It has to be as simple and as unintrusive as possible for these people. The best approach is to put all the information with a ReadMe file in a folder available on a cloud service. That way, you do not flood your emergency contacts with updates and they have the confidence of having all the necessary information in one single place. If your close ones are not familiar with the mountains, take care to explain to them properly what it is all about. It has happened to us to list as an emergency contact a person who knew nothing about ultratrail. The organisation had a mix-up and called that very contact to inform her that we were lost. She was in shock to learn that we were, in fact, also running through the mountains at night. So, imagine now if it had been your mother… Good to know: having every detail of your expedition or route, organised for easy reading, can impress any reluctant bureaucrats and smooth administrative procedures.

One last piece of advice before leaving

After doing all this planning, and when you are about to leave, we recommend cleaning your home and preparing your accommodation for your absence. It is always nicer to come home and be able to settle in right away. The last time we went to Nepal, we had forgotten to take out the chicken that was cooling in the oven. A month later, we will let you imagine the smell…

3) During the outing

We are no longer really in preparation, but in anticipation. Let us now move on to the last column of the 3x3 method.

a) The terrain

Participants must constantly analyse the terrain: above (what is going to fall on us), below (are we going to slip or fall) and to the sides (consequences of a fall, avalanches, rockfall). A shared analysis of the terrain allows the group to progress safely and to retrace its steps with confidence should it get lost. One piece of advice on this point: if you are lost, looking for shortcuts can consume more time and energy than retracing your steps, even though that can be very depressing.

b) The weather

Once in the thick of it, handling the weather consists of keeping your eyes open. Observe the sky to detect potential changes. Check your barometer to spot sudden pressure shifts. Adapt to the weather conditions, for example by modifying your route according to the colour of the sky or by protecting your belongings from a visible incoming shower.

c) The human factor

Here, you will need to track the evolution of your physical shape and your mental state over the course of the outing. And that of the others if you are the group leader. Group dynamics must be watched like a hawk, and what sometimes passes for schoolboy humour can be felt as barbs by members of your team. Know how to stay attentive to others, ask questions to gauge physical and mental states and make sure you keep the dynamic positive. Also monitor potential injuries and illnesses in the making. Hold a briefing every evening on how the day went, and go over the plan for the next day. It is obviously easier to assert yourself when you are a professional guide than when you are the leader of a group of friends, but it is up to you to find your own way. Finally, at the end of each day, take the time to analyse with the group how well the outing went. For this, you can use the 3 colours method: