Field KitCatalog
14 items, each tied to a numbered clause. If we can't point at the clause, it isn't here.
1 listed
Suunto
A northern-hemisphere baseplate compass with adjustable declination — the tool the Level 1 navigation module is taught on.
L1-NAV-01 requires a baseplate compass with adjustable declination, because declination in Canada ranges from roughly 20° west to 20° east and a fixed-declination compass forces students to do arithmetic in the field that they will eventually get wrong. The M-3 NH is zone-balanced for the northern hemisphere and adjusts with a key.
2 listed
Morakniv
A 109 mm full-tang Scandinavian fixed blade — the least interesting knife on this page, and the one we would hand a first-time student.
L1-CUT-01 calls for a fixed blade of 90–110 mm with a full tang and a spine square enough to throw sparks. The Garberg meets all three without qualification, and its Scandi grind is the easiest geometry to teach sharpening on — a student can restore a working edge on a flat stone in a weekend, which is the actual competency being assessed.
Bahco
A 190 mm folding pruning saw that cuts green and seasoned wood faster than an axe twice its weight, and fits a jacket pocket.
L1-CUT-03 requires a saw capable of processing wrist-thickness wood for shelter and fire. A folding saw does this with far less risk than an axe, which matters on day one of a field session when fatigue and unfamiliar tools combine. The Laplander is the reference point the clause was written against.
1 listed
Light My Fire
A 12 mm ferrocerium rod rated for roughly 12,000 strikes. Works soaked, works at −30 °C, works with cold hands.
L1-FIR-01 requires a non-consumable ignition source that functions wet and below freezing — the two conditions under which a lighter fails and a student most needs fire. The Army model's larger rod is the one to buy: the smaller Scout version is harder to use with gloves, which is exactly when it matters.
1 listed
Therm-a-Rest
An R-7.3 inflatable pad. Overkill for July, and the reason people sleep through a February field session instead of enduring it.
L1-SLP-02 sets a minimum R-value of 3 for cool-weather sessions and 5 for winter. Ground conduction, not air temperature, is what actually ends a cold night, and it is the single most common gear mistake we see on intake. R-7.3 clears the winter threshold with margin for a student who does not yet know how to site a shelter well.
1 listed
Atwood Rope MFG
Seven-strand 550 cord. Thirty metres covers a tarp rig with enough left for repairs and the knot practice the syllabus assumes.
L1-COR-01 requires at least 30 m of cordage rated to 250 kg or better. The length is set by what a full tarp rig plus guy lines actually consumes — students who bring 15 m spend the shelter module short of line and learn the wrong lesson.
1 listed
DD Hammocks
A 3×3 m ripstop tarp with 19 attachment points — enough configurations to teach every shelter form on the Level 1 syllabus.
L1-SHE-01 specifies a tarp of at least 3×3 m with a minimum of 12 tie-out points, because the number of tie-outs is what determines how many shelter configurations a student can actually practise. Nineteen points exceeds the clause comfortably at a weight a student will still carry.
1 listed
Icebreaker
A 200 g/m² merino base layer. Warm when damp, and it does not start to smell on day three.
L1-CLO-01 prohibits cotton next to skin and requires a base layer that retains insulating value when wet. Merino does this and synthetic does too — merino wins on odour over a multi-day session, which is a real quality-of-life factor when students share a shelter. The 200-weight is the general-purpose choice across three seasons.
1 listed
Petzl
A 600-lumen headlamp with a red mode and a rechargeable core that swaps for AAAs when the battery dies in the cold.
L1-LIG-01 requires a hands-free light with a red mode and a field-replaceable power source. Red preserves night vision during navigation exercises; the dual-fuel design matters because lithium cells lose capacity sharply below −10 °C and a student needs a path back to working light that does not involve a charger.
1 listed
Osprey
A 65 L pack with a suspended mesh back panel and a hip belt that genuinely transfers load off the shoulders.
L1-PCK-01 requires 45–65 L capacity with a load-bearing hip belt, because a session kit plus shared group gear does not fit in 40 L and a pack carried on the shoulders produces the fatigue injuries we see most. Fit matters more than model here — this is the pack we benchmark against, not the pack we insist on.
2 listed
Katadyn
A 0.1-micron hollow-fibre filter in a collapsible flask. Fast flow, field-cleanable by shaking, and light enough that people actually carry it.
L1-WAT-02 asks for a filtration method rated to 0.1 micron or finer that a student can clear in the field without tools. The BeFree meets both and its flow rate is high enough that students keep using it instead of quietly drinking untreated water, which is the real failure mode.
Aquatabs
Chemical backup that weighs nothing, cannot freeze, and has no moving parts to fail.
L1-WAT-03 requires a treatment method independent of the primary filter. Every filter on this page fails in a different way — freezing, clogging, cracking — and the redundancy clause exists precisely because those failures happen on the coldest, wettest days. Tablets are the standard answer for winter sessions where a hollow-fibre filter is a liability.
1 listed
Zebra
Stainless billy that boils over an open fire without a stove, and takes the abuse that implies.
L1-COO-01 requires a metal vessel that can be used directly on a fire, since boiling is the fallback water-treatment method in L1-WAT-03 and a non-metallic or non-fire-safe pot removes that option entirely. Stainless survives coals; titanium and aluminium do not, in student hands.
1 listed
Adventure Medical Kits
A personal kit sized for one person for a weekend — blister care, wound care, and the basics, in a dry bag.
L1-MED-01 requires a personal kit covering blister and minor wound care. It is explicitly not group-scale first aid: instructors carry that, and NBWSR requires instructors to hold an external wilderness first aid certification that this kit does not substitute for. Blister care is what students actually use, on nearly every session.