TIL the hard way that bringing a headlamp isn't enough if the batteries are old from 2 years ago

I was 45 minutes deep in the lower level of the Pine Ridge Mall (the one with the collapsed food court) and my light started flickering before dying completely, leaving me to navigate back out by feel along a wall because I never thought to check the expiration date on those AAs - does everyone here have a backup light or am I the only one who learned this lesson mid-crawl?

2 comments

2 Comments

price.tara25d agoMost Upvoted

davis.noah you gotta tell me more about the grain silo thing later because that sounds awful. But yeah the backup light thing is real. I actually just carry a cheap keychain light that takes a single AAA now. Its stupid bright but it only lasts like 30 minutes on high. The trick is I keep it in a different pocket than my main headlamp so if one goes out I dont have to dig around in the dark to find the other one. I learned that one from crawling through a drain pipe that had a sudden twist that wouldnt let me turn my head. That headlamp was useless once the pipe forced my face forward. Had to clip it to my jacket collar instead.

davis.noah25d ago

Same thing happened to me in an old grain silo. Had a cheap headlamp that died after 20 minutes. Now I carry three lights minimum. A good rechargeable headlamp, a small backup flashlight in my pocket, and a shitty backup for the backup. Learned that lesson in the dark with concrete dust in my mouth.