What Burning Man week requires

A lot of people shop for this week the way they shop for a music festival: lights, a layer, something that looks good in a photo. Then they hit a dry lake bed that gets over 100, drops into the forties after dark, and works fine alkaline dust into every zipper. Once you're through the gate, there isn't a store you should count on. Pack for those conditions.

What you're packing for

• Sun that will end your week if the shade is only half built.
• Dust fine enough to pack a mesh vent and line your sinuses.
• Nights cold enough that what you wore to the party won't work as a sleeping bag.
• A city you cross by bicycle, much of it after dark.
• Wind that can turn shade into a kite, and rain that turns the playa to mud.
• No services you are entitled to. Water, power, and a toilet are your problem unless a camp has explicitly taken them on.
• A leave-no-trace standard that includes zip-tie tails and ash, not just obvious trash.

Burner Supply is the Black Rock desk of a small family of shops. The list is what we would hand a friend: what to seal, what to drink, what to stake, what to lock, and what to haul back out. Dustproof Supply covers the rest of the festival calendar. Raverr is the rave floor. This site stays on the playa.

We are an independent outfitter. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Burning Man Project. The event name is used so you know which week this gear is for.

Shop in this order

Eyes and lungs first, and the goggles on your body, not in a bin you can't reach. Drinking water you can carry and haul. Shade lagged at every foot so it stays put. A bike you can see, lock, and fix. Sleep off the ground, plus a warm layer and a rain layer. Power sized for the camp you actually have: a bank for a phone, a small station if you need a fan and a laptop. Then the vinegar, the blower, the bags, and the bucket plan. A sealed set of clothes for the drive home. Costumes come last.

The watt-hour arithmetic for that small station, and why a fridge is a different project, is camp power, counted in watt-hours.