First Aid Kit

In my opinion you should always have a small first aid kit with you, not only when you decide to go hiking or mountaineering but also everyday, in your car, backpack or messanger bag - because you never know when you need a band-aid or something to treat superficial burn.
For mountaineering I built my own first-aid kit but you can also buy a completly assembled kit.
I personally like to customize my first aid kits, so I don't recommend getting an assambled kit. Better build your own kit specified for your needs.
Always keep in mind when packing your own kit, don't pack a first aid kit that every paramedic would be proud of having... There is no need to go overboard.
Thankfully I never had some sever injuries but some items from the kit came handy for me in the past.

So lets take a look inside my kit and why i have choosen those items:

Pouch:

Basically, the type of pouch or container you choose for your FAK (=First Aid Kit) dosen't matter.
As an example, a friend of mine always carried his own EDC-style FAK in an altoids tin. Also this type of container is capable of handling first aid itmes.

But obviously, the size of your pouch depends on a few things:

For what purpose is the FAK build? (hiking, EDC...) and what things do I need in my FAK?
Were will i keep it (in a cargo-pocken, in my backpack, on my belt, in my car...)

Now, I have a variety of different sizes and different types of First Aid Kits. In this blog I will
just show the FAK I use for mountaineering and that one I have as EDC.

The pouch I have choosen for my FAK is the Pentagon Harness Pouch in RAL7013. Before this i used a black no-name pouch I found in IKEA (not meant to end as an First-Aid Pouch but neither is the Harness Pouch I use now...).

Pentagon Harness Pouch, my recent FAK

As said before, this Pentagon-Pouch was not designed to be a First-Aid-Pouch. But I use it because:

first of all, I like the size. Not to big, not to small, ideal to throw it into the backpack.
this type of pouch is Molle-compatible (and matches my loadout). So I am able to mount it to the waistband of my backback. That is an important fact for me, because when I am mountaineering in steep terrain, I won't be able to take my backback of to help someone. So I have access to the FAK on the waistband of the backpack.
Or if I pack for a long-term trip I have my backpack full with othe stuff, so the Waistband is the only free space for the FAK.
I like if no elastic loops hold everything in place. This pouch has no build-in organisation and so I am able to put everything in it like i want to.

Last point I want to mention: make your FAK-pouch visible, so other people can find them if necessary. If it has velcro on it for patches, use a red cross patch, some pouches may even have a cross printed on them or stitched in the fabric.

All my First-Aid-Kits, built for different scenarios. Left to Right: Maxpedition fr-1 , BE-X first aid pouch, Pentagon Harness Pouch

Content:

As said before, your needed items depend on the "type of Kit" you want to build. So not everything I name here has to fulfill your personal needs. (e.g. Blister Plasters may not be number one priority in a car first aid kit)

Content of my Kit

Let's start in the left top corner and work our way through...

Gloves:

First: by using gloves to treat wounds you lower (or avoid) the risk to get infected with something.. (worst case HIV or some other disgusting stuff)
Second: you keep the wound clean (and also the wounded person will not get infected..)
I would recommend some vinyl gloves, because some people are allergic to latex.

Rescue-blanket:

The most important item in the kit! You have to hold your body warm and in the mountains, temperatures can go crazy sometimes.
You can make yourself visible (recommended if you love OD-green and brownish colors...), build a emergency shelter, treat shock or sunstroke or prevent your body to go hypothermic.
If you read my post about my Mountain EDC you know I always carry an emergency blanket in my cargo pockets.

Gauze-Pad:

A medical Jack of all trades. Can be used to clean an injury, help stop bleeding and to soak up blood.
Simply clean a wound, put a piece of gauze on it and hold it in place with tape or a bandage. (Only on wounds that bleed. If you have some kind of burnt skin, don't use gauze)
If the wound is deeper than approximatly 1 cm and longer than 2 cm the wound should probably get sewn. This can (and should) not be done while hiking. I had this case of wound a few years ago and I decided to close the wound using a few butterfly-stripes. Worked pretty well, but just in an emergency situation... (I went to a doctor afterwards to look at the wound)
Take gauze pads with you that are individually wrapped in sterile squares. So you don't need to cut them to size when you need them quickly and makes it easier to keep the wound clean and sterile.

Bandages:

To keep gauze pads in place or to stabilize injured joints. I also recommend getting sterile packed bandages, because they could get in contact with the wound. Just for stabilizing a sprained joint an elastic bandage will work best.

small bandage, elastic bandage, big bandage

Tape:

I use some black medical tape, very easy to rip off by hand, so you don't need scissors to cut the tape.
You can just use any type of tape you want. The tape can also be used to fix gauze pads.
But also a broken finger (or leg) could be stabilized by a stick and some tape...

Different Types of tape: left, my medical tape (easy to rip off by hand and very strong) mid: bw-tape, oil and water resistant, right: normal ductape

Water-Jel:

To treat superficial burns. Put it onto the burnt area and cover it with some gauze or a big plaster.

every package of water jel contains 4g of gel.

Mirror:

Not a First Aid item, but I have contact lenses and I need a mirror to take them in and out. Also a nice Item to send light signals...

Triangular-Bandage:

Can be used to treat a wound. Fold the triangular bandage and place it on the wound to soak up blood (same as a gouze pad...) - Or use the bandage to fix gauze-pads. Triangular bandages can also be used as normal bandages or to treat a wound on the forehead or the top of the head.

The Bandage could also be used (like normal bandages) to fix sprain ankles or wrists.
Also if someone has an arm injury, it can be supported in a bent position by using a triangular bandage as a sling. (tutorial will come soon)

Plasters:

Those are a must-have in any FAK. I have a lot of different sizes and types of plasters in my FAK.
Some for fingertips, fingerstripes and finger joints...

Essential for hiking: Blisters plasters. It isn’t necessary to carry so many you could start your own tiny field hospital. Just a few of each type will do.

left: blister-plaster, top: big plaster, right top: plaster for fingerjoints, right bottom: fingerstrip (long plaster to be wrapped around the finger), bottom mid: 2 different sized plasters for fingertips and butterfly-stripes

Tweezers:

Useful for cleaning a wound or pull out some splinters or maybe a spike from some nasty insect...

Learn how to get rid of a tick using normal tweezers or by some special tick-tweezers.

tweezers: I like the sharp tip. Easy to remove small pieces or ticks.

Not shown on the picture:

Scissors:

Obviously useful for trimming gauze or bandages to size. I don't have one in my kit, because everything is already cut into the right size and even if I would like to trim something down I have a knife with me, so no need for extra scissors in this kit.
Always take the right size of scissors with you, there is no need for bulky rescue scissors, some very small scissors may also fulfill your needs.

Alcohol Pads:

Used to disinfect small wounds (like small cuts or grazes)
Due to their small size very easy to store.

Pain relief medication:

Whatever takes away pain from you will work fine. I use some Ibuprofen or Nurofen (infections, broken leg/arm/etc...) and normal Aspirin (for headaches or small pain)
Always keep them with the original package to read the instructions, unless you are 100% sure what you are doing (and make sure they are nit expired)

Antihistamine or Antibacterial creams:

Antihistamine: To treat stings or bits from insects
Antibacterial: To put on some small wounds or grazes to prevent infections and help heal them faster.

Suncream:

In the mountains you will get a sunburn really fast without using suncream (like I do...)
Also useful to put on the sunburnt area...
Useful in Wintern and in Summer (remember, sun is also reflected by snow)

Cryoprotection:

Cryoptrotection is available as ointment, mostly made out of fat to protect your skin from drying out and freeze.

I hope you never need to use your First Aid Kit

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