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Many of you remember Jack London’s wonderful story “Love of Life.” “… He unpacked the bale and first of all counted how many matches he had. There were sixty-seven of them.

“To avoid mistakes, he counted three times. He divided them into three piles and wrapped each one in parchment; He put one bundle in an empty pouch, another in the lining of his worn hat, and the third in his bosom.” “I’m not new to tourism,” says Vera Lubsanova, Nordic walking instructor. “But I still remember one incident with trembling.” One day we returned to camp after climbing in the mountains. The main part of the group left the base camp, its members were in a hurry to return home.

There were four of us left in the camp. In the morning I was the first to get up and crawled out of the tent to light a fire and make tea. I remember well that before going to bed, I put a matchbox with a single match in my empty boot. I remember for sure that it was the only match.

I warned my comrades, but in the morning, when I put my hand in my boot, to my horror, I did not find the box. When the shock passed, I began to figure out how to light a fire and make tea. First of all, I carefully examined the site of the evening fire. I’m incredibly lucky!

Under the pile of ash there are signs of a fireplace. I immediately leaned over to the pile of ash and, burning my lips, began to fan it. At last the faint fireflies of the embers appeared. Trying to revive them, I carefully placed resinous twigs and dry pine needles.

Believe me, what a joy it was for me to see a living, slightly flickering flame. I still remember this to this day. Soon the fire began to burn, gaining strength every minute. I quickly ran to the ice hole for water and hung up the boilers.

My companions crawled out of the tent when hot tea was waiting for them, from which came the mysterious smell of sagaan dali. I didn’t tell my friends about my fears, and the matchbox, as it turned out, was lying in the same place where I had put it in the evening. Since then, I have two boxes in my backpack: one is the usual one for constant use, the other is a box of emergency supplies, the so-called “NZ”, in a tight waterproof package.