Andinia.com - Product Review: Backcountry Store

Backcountry Store - Ponchos

Backcountry Store offers all kinds of ponchos; get your military poncho, resistant and failproof, or a lightweight and compact one.

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In a survival situation, you will have to follow certain steps in order to guarantee your safety and minimise exposure to danger. Usually, the first thing to do is to remove yourself and others from the most immediate threat to survivors of - say - a car crash. In this case that would mean to walk away from the vehicle in which you suffered an accident in order to avoid a possible fire or explosion. In other cases, getting away from danger may imply reaching a high point in the terrain, finding a trench or foxhole where you will be able to protect yourself from bullets or shrapnel, etc.

The second thing you will usually have to do is to find an acceptable shelter; this does not mean that you will have to build yourself a house under palm trees in a desert island. It only means that you will have to seek shelter from the factors that caused or provoked the situation you are in - like bad weather -, or those that might make it even worse, like a night falling in a very cold region.

Once you have secured a shelter, you will be able to assist the wounded, provide yourself with light and fire, gather any equipment or provisions left, signal your position, etc.

And one of the main virtues of a poncho is that it lets you solve the second step of this chain in an immediate manner: good quality ponchos are big enough to cover your whole body while you are standing, sitting or lying down; thus, they are extremely practical in order to provide you with a basic shelter in a matter of minutes, regardless of your situation or the place you are in.

We recommend you to get a poncho and include it in your adventure or outdoor gear. You will need to practice in order to get the most of a poncho, but you will soon find out why the gauchos came up with this extremely versatile piece of equipment, and why they can use it to survive from the jungles of tropical South America down to chilling Patagonia.