Take 10 – Tested Tough Guide to the 10 Essentials

Take Ten is the second in a series of mobile apps designed by Columbia Sportswear to help you get the most from your adventures in the Greater Outdoors. This app is designed to introduce backcountry users to the Ten Essential Groups, a collection of items promoted by outdoor experts as critical to the safe enjoyment of our wild areas.

The Ten Essential Groups:
At the heart of the app is a user-expandable database of tools and equipment divided into ten groups:

•Medical
•Navigation
•Shelter
•Insulation
•Communications
•Hydration
•Sun Protection
•Nutrition
•Tools
•Fire

Several items in the database should be in your pack any time you venture away from the road. Others are optional, depending on the length of your excursion, the season, weather, terrain, the make-up of your party, and many other factors. You can add custom items to the database as required to fit the needs of your activity or the participants.

Create Custom Gear Lists:

When you start the planning process, Take Ten helps with custom packing lists for any type of outing, from a simple day-hike in your local forest to an extended sea-kayaking adventure in Patagonia. Build a list in minutes from the database, and check off each item as you add it to your pack. Email the list to your team members, or post it to your Facebook wall to make sure everyone has the tools they need to be comfortable and safe.

Leave a Trip Plan Behind:

Before you leave the trailhead, use Take Ten to generate a Trip Plan to leave behind with a responsible party. A Take Ten trip plan includes all the details of your backcountry outing, including trailhead info, route description, team members and their emergency contacts, vehicle info, team equipment list and a link to a map of the the trailhead. Send the trip plan via email or Facebook directly from the Take Ten app.

Safety Tips and How-to Articles:

Take Ten also contains a collection of safety tips and articles; fire-building, proper hydration, wilderness ethics, how to use a map and compass, and, if you forget the map and compass, what to do if you get lost.
So get Take Ten to the Greater Outdoors for iPhone today and start your next outdoor adventure with the gear you need to be warm, dry and ready for anything. And be safe out there… we still need you to buy our gear!