Alternate Gear: Redundancy Without Complexity

Alternate gear exists for one reason: continuity.

It is the equipment you rely on when your Primary gear is unavailable, damaged, or impractical.

Alternate gear is not about carrying more — it’s about having another option.

Good Alternate gear should be:

Compatible with your Primary gear
Easy to deploy
Reliable under normal conditions

Examples of Alternate gear include:

Backup illumination or power sources
Secondary tools that perform the same function
Alternate methods of navigation or communication

The mistake many people make is adding Alternate gear that introduces complexity instead of resilience.

Alternate gear should reduce friction, not increase it.

When your Primary option fails, your Alternate option should feel familiar.

You can view our current Alternate gear recommendations here:
👉 Alternate Gear Recommendations

Next, we’ll look at Contingency gear — the tools that help you adapt when conditions change.