Day five of your captivity. The snow storm still rages outside. You're stuck in a tent, about to kill your partner because he won't shut up about how Lady Gaga is getting so derivative. It's true, personality conflict is the leading cause of expedition failure. Solution: the Freedom of the Hills card deck from Mountaineers Books.
A full 52 card deck contains distilled wisdom from the just-released 50th Anniversary 8th edition of Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills. Each suit is a different subject: clubs are mountain skills, spades are climbing skills, diamonds are wilderness skills and hearts are – what else first aid skills.
Need a quick refresher on HAPE? 8 of hearts. Windchill factor chart? 9 of diamonds. Carabiner brake rappel, illustrated? 10 of spades. Z-pulley? 8 of clubs. The two jokers contain a complete contents list. There are two extra cards with a disclaimer and publishing info; save them to mark as replacements in case you lost a card. 3.5oz to a more congenial partnership. We say brilliant.