Dead battery, cold, remote — what now?

A young couple from San Francisco, their small child in mother’s lap in the front seat of their little car, were stranded Saturday afternoon along a remote mountain road.

Snow glazed the surrounding mountains. It was already 38 degrees and snow crystals sparkled in the bright sun. Blue skies meant a night in the low 20s was ahead. Ice plated much of the road.

The hood was up when we pulled over in my go-anywhere rig.

“I left the lights on when we parked” to play in the snow, the young husband said. “Now the battery is dead.”

“You need a jump?” I said. Of course, we weren’t going to leave them stranded.

“Let me see if I can get it going,” he answered.

He pulled out a small, square device with two wires and clamps attached to it. When he tried to connect it to his battery, his hood gave way and crashed down on his shoulder. He winced but didn’t complain. His wife emerged to hold up the hood, and the young man returned to his mission.

“My brother-in-law gave this to me for Christmas,” he said.

A moment later, he returned to the driver’s seat, turned the key, and the little engine turned and fired to life. He beamed at the sound of the engine.

That little gadget was a mini portable car-jump starter. It got him out of a tight spot.

For people who like to ven- ture outside of cell-phone range, backup battery chargers and solar collectors for batteries can get you out of trouble.

In a recent story, we profiled a 53-day, 950-mile rafting expedition on the Green and Colorado rivers. To chronicle the event, the rafters kept their batteries charged for the cameras and computers by using a Voltaic System solarlaptop case; a solar collector charged a universal battery, with every adapter imaginable to run remote devices.

On boats and RVs, you can hook up solar panels to charge batteries.

Just as that stranded couple found, backup battery systems can get you out of trouble.