Playing With A Full Deck

For those of you who know the book "Freedom Of The Hills', you will certainly appreciate the latest product that they recently came out with.  For those not familiar with the Freedom of the Hills, it is an unbelievably informative 'textbook' on mountaineering.  It has continued to evolve and get updated based on the collective knowledge of the community and covers anything from basic Wilderness First Aid, to Climbing techniques, to Glacier Travel/rescue, to Routefinding, etc.  It is a pretty comprehensive book that is a book that occasionally gets pulled out for a quick reference or refresher.

Just like any activity, reading the book does not an expert make...most of the mountaineering skills are refined and really learned once hitting the great outdoors.  The latest product release is a set of playing cards that is split into 4 areas as per the suit:

• Clubs cover 'Mountain Skills'
• Spades cover 'Climbing Skills'
• Diamonds cover 'Wilderness Skills'
• Hearts cover 'First Aid Skills'

Each card has a reminder of skills (not a comprehensive list by any means, but more the major concepts to act as ticklers on the brain) to stay fresh on and the look a little something like:

If you are a seasoned mountaineer, you will scoff at how basic some of this is... but if you are a weekend warrior,  the cards will serve as good reminders.  If you are a novice, it will seem like information over-load.  Just like anything else the use you get out of them will be a function of skills and frequency of use that will determine their helpfulness.

All in all, me thinks they are a capital idea!  A great addition to the camping/climbing pack that will no doubt get some use - if nothing else, cards are always a great distraction.