Ugh, it is tick season. As we all know, they are nasty little buggers that carry Lyme Disease and other viruses. Do you know how to protect yourself against ticks?

Download our Tick Field Reference Guide to learn more about:

• How to protect yourself.
• How to identify a tick.
• How to properly remove a tick.
• What to do if you have been bitten.

Tick Reference Card

(Click image to download)

You can also read our blog about Lyme Disease to learn more.

By Christopher Van Tilburg, MD

I’ve been chomped by a tick multiple times, as have most people who regularly tramp in the outdoors. It’s creepy — the tick drops onto your skin, burrows in painlessly, and sucks. Its anticoagulant can cause tick paralysis, and these arthropods carry all sorts of infections: Colorado Tick Fever (a virus), Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (parasite), Tularemia (a bacteria), and the more commonly known Lyme Disease.

Comment:

I took an Ultralite .5 First Aid kit and added these Adventure Medical Kit items: 1 person HeatSheets Blanket, Signal mirror, Firestarter, & Whistle.

It is compact, fits easily in a pocket and weighs about 7 oz. Plus it looks cool!

My two cents. Kurt

Response:

Thanks for the comment Kurt! Our Product Development team loves to hear feedback from our customers about how they use our products.  Keep the ideas coming….

If you have a story or product idea to share with us, you can submit the info using this form.

Navigation Basics: Map and Compass

Check out these great tips found on REI.com

Together they form the first of the time-tested Ten Essentials—map and compass, the indispensible twin tools of navigation. Even in this high-tech GPS era, nothing replaces the value of a magnetized compass, a paper map and the understanding of how both can help you find your way in the wilderness.

The Resort Sports Network (RSN), a national television network that specializes in creating and distributing outdoor content to America’s premier resorts, has announced it will begin airing AMK’s ‘Be Safe’ video segments starting in April. Hosted by high altitude mountaineer Ed Viesturs, the ‘Be Safe’ vignettes were designed to provide viewers with useful tips on first aid, safety and survival in the outdoors.   Based in Portland, Maine, RSN broadcasts content into 125 mountain and beach destinations across the country. Currently, RSN has affiliates in the following markets:

MYTH: Lightning can strike you only when the thunderstorm is in sight.

FACT: Lightning may travel up to 15 miles horizontally and strike out of the clear blue sky. Get into a protected area before the thunderstorm passes overhead and wait 30 minutes before heading back outside after the last thunder is heard or lightning is seen.

Question:

What are some good components for a survival kit to put in a medium hydration pack?

Thanks, Zach

Answer:

When I am going light and space is tight, I carry The Pocket Survival Pak and Heatsheets Bivvy. The Pocket Survival Pak has everything you need but a shelter, hence the addition of the Heatsheets Bivvy. I carry this setup whether I am backcountry skiing in the winter or mountain biking in the summer.

BE SAFE,

Frank Meyer, Marketing Director/Co-Founder

ASK YOUR QUESTION – CLICK HERE

Question:
Regarding your Heatsheets and like items, how durable are they?  I was thinking of using them as a ground sheet.  I do ultralight backpacking and it would be a unique option if it was durable enough for more than one use.

Thanks.
James

Answer:

Hi James-

By Doug Abromeit – Director of the Forest Service National Avalanche Center

Avalanches typically kill more people in the mountains in the West than any other natural disaster, and the winter of 2007-2008 was particularly grim. Last year 36 people died – the worst on record. Two of those people were killed by avalanches off of house roofs, one was killed in a ski area and thirty-three were killed doing their thing in the backcountry — snowboarding, skiing, climbing or riding a snowmobile.

BACKCOUNTRY GRUB: WHAT’S SAFE TO EAT AND DRINK?

Christopher Van Tilburg, M.D.

In October, a solo climber on Washington’s 12,276-foot Mount Adams fell on Suksdorf Ridge, and broke his ankle. It’s just what every climber fears: being alone on a high mountain with a disastrous injury. Unable to walk, he dragged himself down the snowfields. After five days and nights, he was found at 6,200 feet suffering from frostbite and dehydration. He survived on creek water and an eclectic mix of creepy crawlers: ants, centipedes, spiders, mushrooms, and berries.