Projo Offbeat Blog

Interested in hiking? Here's a list of essential gear, whether you're a woman or a man: map, compass, sports bra.

That's right. You should pack a sports bra, even if you're a guy.

According to an Associated Press story, an American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps for nearly three days was rescued after using her sports bra as a signal.

Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp said that he helped lift 24-year-old Jessica Bruinsma, of Colorado, to safety by helicopter on Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain, the story reports.

"She's a very smart girl, and she acted very resourcefully," said Rasp. "She kept her shirt and jacket for warmth, but thought the sports bra could work as a signal."

Good thinking on her part, and I'm thinking a sports-bra-rescue-me flag catches attention no matter who flies it.

Sure, a lumberjack rescue crew might be disappointed to discover a lost guy and not a damsel in distress waving the flag, but they'd have to be awfully cold to leave him in the wilderness.

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