The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word ICE PICKS
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
I
C
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P
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C
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S
More clues leading to the result ICE PICKS
- In case of emergency, opt for special climbing gear
- Reserve best spades – mountaineers might need them
- One getting cold with little energy chooses items for mountaineering
- Circle regularly selects requirements for mountaineers
- Dreadfully sick after one mushroom — they can be deadly in the wrong hands
- Terribly sick carrying large-scale mountaineering gear
- They may help mountaineers with choices of water
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "mountaineers might need them" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case mountaineers might need them = ice picks.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.