You're going to try to win a knife fight with a giant wild cat?
Good luck with that.
There was a story out of California about a retired guy who was jumped by a cat. His wife kept stabbing the cat with a pen and it eventually high tailed it out of there.
If I'm three days from a trailhead and get jumped I want to have a chance and I want to inflict as much hurt with each thrust of the blade as possible. If I only get one good jab I want it to be deep enough to create maximum damage.
Wearing a backpack it may not get a chance to snap my neck right away. My Leatherman Blast is not up to the task and is usually in my top cap. As far as the mask is concerned I actually though about doing something like that on the back of the pack.
I guess the question really is this...is a five inch blade long enough to reach the vitals on a big cat?
Just so you guys don't think I'm nuts or maybe you still will, lol. There is a place I go called the Gila Wilderness that is in southern New Mexico. I've been looking at the maps and would like to do an east to west traverse of the whole area. This would be a week to ten days unsupported backpacking through big cat country. If I can't get any of my regular crew to go I am considering a solo trek.
The question is hypothetical but the reality is there are some big cats where I'm going.