Why I Added This Solar Panel to My Safety Kit

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I can use a map and compass. I can read the different types of cloud to conclude if a storm is brewing. I know how to communicate with a climbing partner by making rope tugs when we cannot hear each other.

But I am better off when I can track myself over GPS waypoints. I am better off if I have a weather forecast to help me estimate weather patterns that I cannot see behind a peak or ridge. I am better off using walkie talkies to be extra sure me and my climbing partner are on the same page.

… and then there is emergency beacons and satellite communication.

I think it’s important to be able to survive in the backcountry fully analog. Batters dies. Electronic devices fail.

But it’s kind of hard to argue that modern electronics don’t make us safer if compared to the fully analog experience. I can simply point to a modern, ensemble-model weather forecasts we can get sent to our finger tips as a major advantage, but there are all the others I just mentioned… and then some.

So, I now think of electrical power as part of my safety chain. If I’m out on a single-day climb, that’s not really that hard to deal with. But If I’m boing to be without electrical infrastructure for days to weeks on end, like we often have on expeditions, then I need to bring some portable power with me. When I’m already facing all of the risks that many days in very remote locations brings, shaving off some risks by improving my weather predictions, navigation, communications, and last-ditch emergency signals, is very worth it to me.

So, what’s my power source? Like many, it’s portable solar.

Of course, that comes with tradeoffs in weight and getting true performance out of that extra weight is the only way to make that tradeoff worth it. So, finding the right panel setup is a fairly important process, for me. That’s why I am excited to share a product - like with all my reviews, I bought myself - that I am really happy with. I was very pleased with the Cruxley Danger Cat 50 Solar Panel. Take a look at the video and consider if it, or something like it, might hold a worthy place on your gear shelf.