Supporting Emergency Preparedness in BC’s Backcountry: PEAK4RATION × FMCBC

British Columbia’s backcountry is vast, beautiful, and often unpredictable.

For hikers, mountaineers, skiers, and other backcountry travellers, a trip that begins as a normal day in the mountains can sometimes last much longer than expected. Weather can change. Trails can become difficult to navigate. Injuries can slow a group down. Transportation plans can fail.

In these situations, a small reserve of food can become an important part of emergency preparedness.

That is why PEAK4RATION is working with the Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia (FMCBC) to help place long-shelf-life emergency food reserves in backcountry huts across British Columbia.

A Simple Idea: Keep Emergency Food Where It May Be Needed

Backcountry huts provide shelter and important infrastructure throughout many remote areas of British Columbia.

Our idea with FMCBC is straightforward:

identify suitable backcountry huts and provide emergency food reserves at no cost to the hut operators.

The food is not intended to replace the supplies that backcountry travellers should carry themselves. Instead, it provides an additional emergency reserve for situations where someone may become unexpectedly stranded or delayed.

This could include severe weather, an injury, route difficulties, or other circumstances that extend a trip beyond what was originally planned.

It is a simple layer of preparedness — but in the backcountry, simple things can matter.

Why PEAK4RATION Works for Long-Term Emergency Storage

Emergency supplies placed in remote locations present a particular challenge: they should require as little ongoing maintenance as reasonably possible.

PEAK4RATION emergency food rations are designed with this type of long-term preparedness in mind.

They are compact, ready to eat, and designed for long-term storage with a shelf life of up to 20 years.

There is no cooking requirement and no need to depend on additional preparation equipment simply to consume the food.

For a remote hut, this means emergency calories can remain stored for years without requiring the frequent replacement cycles associated with ordinary food.

From “Carry One Extra Day” to Community Preparedness

At PEAK4RATION, we often talk about a simple outdoor preparedness principle:

Carry One Extra Day.

The idea is not to prepare for every imaginable scenario. It is to recognize that outdoor plans do not always unfold exactly as expected.

A little additional food, carried before it is needed, can provide another margin when a journey unexpectedly becomes longer.

The FMCBC backcountry hut initiative takes that same philosophy and applies it at the infrastructure level.

Instead of only asking individual hikers to carry an additional reserve, we can also help establish strategically located emergency food reserves within the backcountry itself.

The two approaches complement each other.

Personal preparedness first. Community preparedness behind it.

Working with British Columbia’s Outdoor Community

The Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia represents outdoor and mountain clubs from across the province and has spent more than 50 years working on issues involving non-motorized backcountry access, recreation, education, and advocacy.

For PEAK4RATION, working with organizations that already understand BC’s backcountry is important.

We manufacture and supply emergency food.

But local clubs, hut operators, volunteers, and outdoor organizations understand their mountains, their facilities, and their communities.

That local knowledge helps determine where an emergency reserve can actually be useful.

This is why the program is being developed together with FMCBC rather than simply placing products somewhere and calling it a preparedness project.

Know a Backcountry Hut That Could Use an Emergency Food Reserve?

FMCBC is currently looking to hear from groups operating backcountry huts in British Columbia that may benefit from the program.

Interested hut operators can provide information including the hut name and location, approximate annual visitor numbers, and a contact person for delivery logistics. Availability will depend on need, interest, and available inventory.

For complete program information and application details, please visit:

FMCBC — Let Us Equip Your Backcountry Hut with an Emergency Food Reserve

We are proud to support this initiative and to contribute, in a practical way, to emergency preparedness in British Columbia’s backcountry.

Prepare before you need it.

Carry One Extra Day.

PEAK4RATION