Day after day of freezing rain and high winds are enough to drive you mad. Sitting inside a small tent isn't much better. Two pieces of gear have kept me sane and changed camping forever. First Ascent's base camp tent is the size of a small living room and is just as comfortable when it's raining. There will be no going back to sitting by myself in a tiny tent after experiencing this.
The other is contact with the outside world via email made possible by Iridium's sat phone. There's nothing like notes from loved ones to brighten yet another rainy day.
