Touring Equipment

articles and materials used in the field or on the road for the purposes of outdoor living arrangements or as a means of travel.

Personal touring equipment includes clothing, footwear, eating utensils, knapsacks, and sleeping bags, while such items as tents and similar shelters fall in the category of group equipment. There is special equipment for long-distance trips, as well as for mountaineering, skiing, and boating—for example, ice axes, climbing hooks, grapplers, rock picks and hammers, skis and ski wax, fishing gear, kayaks, small craft including rubber boats, and shallow-draft sailing vessels with centerboards. The basic requirements for touring equipment are portability, reliability, simplicity of operation, and adaptability to different uses.

In the USSR, the design and endorsement of new types of touring equipment, as well as quality control of production, are the responsibility of the All-Union Technological Planning and Experimental Design Institute for Sporting and Tourist Goods of the Sports Committee of the USSR. In 1975, more than 60 enterprises of various ministries and departments were involved in the manufacture of touring equipment, with a total production value of more than 100 million rubles (excluding sports equipment, which to a large extent is also used by tourists); touring equipment was available for rent at 11,200 specialized rental institutions in the USSR.