Essential emergency tools for hiking

The physical kit a phone cannot replace

Start here, because no app changes any of it. The traditional "ten essentials" framework used by hiking organisations exists for good reason.

• A head torch with spare batteries — hands-free light is not optional, and a phone torch is a backup at best
• Extra insulation beyond what you expect to wear, including a windproof layer
• Water and more food than the walk requires
• A paper map of the area and a physical compass, plus the ability to use them
• A basic first aid kit, including a way to manage a significant bleed
• An emergency shelter or bivvy bag — cheap, light, and the difference between a cold night and hypothermia
• A whistle. Six blasts, pause, repeat is the international distress signal, and it works when your voice is gone
• A power bank and cable

What the phone is genuinely good at

Reporting an exact position

This is the phone’s single biggest contribution. GPS works without signal, because it receives satellite broadcasts rather than using a data connection. Being able to give a rescue team a coordinate instead of a description changes a search into a collection.

Know which format to give. Degrees/minutes/seconds is widely understood and easy to read aloud accurately; a long decimal is easy to mishear over a bad line. Some services work in a national grid reference. If you hike a region regularly, find out what the local team uses.

Sending a message when a call will not connect

On a marginal signal, an SMS will frequently get through when a voice call fails — a text is a tiny amount of data that can be retried automatically, while a call needs a sustained connection. If you have one bar and it keeps dropping, text rather than call.

A map with your position on it

Downloaded before you set off, a map with a live GPS position is genuinely useful for confirming which of two paths you are on. It is not a substitute for the paper map, because it shares a battery with everything else.

What the phone is bad at

• Being a primary light source — it drains fast, needs a hand, and points the wrong way
• Working in the wet or the cold, where touchscreens fail and batteries lose capacity
• Surviving a fall onto rock
• Reaching anyone with no cell coverage at all — a satellite messenger or personal locator beacon is the only real answer to that

If you regularly go beyond coverage, a personal locator beacon or satellite messenger is the equipment that actually addresses it. No app on a normal phone can send a message without a network.

Before you set off

1. Tell a specific person your route and your expected return time, and agree what they do if they do not hear from you
2. Download the map area at the trailhead while you still have signal
3. Check the weather, and check it again for the summit rather than the valley
4. Charge the phone fully and pack the power bank
5. Check your compass calibration and confirm the map matches the ground

The first item is the one that matters most and the one most often skipped. Rescue teams are consistent about this: knowing roughly where to start looking, and when to start, is worth more than any equipment the missing person is carrying.

If something goes wrong

General principles, not a substitute for training:

1. Stop. Most situations get worse because someone kept moving while lost or injured.
2. Get warm and out of the wind before doing anything else. Cold degrades decision-making quickly.
3. Work out exactly where you are, and write the coordinates down rather than trusting memory.
4. Call the emergency number for the country you are in and ask for mountain rescue. If a call will not connect, send a text with your coordinates.
5. Stay put once you have reported a position, unless staying is more dangerous than moving.
6. Make yourself findable: bright colours visible, torch on, whistle in six-blast pattern.