- Joined
- Apr 3, 2015
- Messages
- 1,048
Winter has come to Atlanta. The landscape has been turned into desolate frozen tundra with 30 mph freezing winds and temps of -2 Fahrenheit. Alone, desperately seeking shelter before I became one of Shackleton's missing comrades or one of those poor bastards from that movie where the rugby team's plane crashed in the mountains and they ended up eating each other, what was that called...so, so, cold...focus!...Alive, that's it! Pushing forward, looking for a warm ray of hope when all seemed lost. But what’s this on the horizon…a glimpse of civilization, or just a mirage? Blindly trudging forward as the screaming wind ripped at the exposed areas of my frost bitten skin visions of laying down for a nice long nap in a warm field with three fingers of bourbon…no, no, get up you fool!!! Brushing off the snow that had settled on my clothes I took the last paces and had come upon a camp long forgotten, but not without a bounty of resources that may just save my life. Digging into the inner recesses of my memories, just to the left of Id, I recalled
Mistwalker
blog on vector fires and lessons from @k_estela learned over a long, arduous, wet encounter only known as Fiddleback User weekend. Focus!... rummaging through the debris pile I quickly collected the half burnt sticks and mostly dry bits of charcoal that resided in the pit and set them aside to aid in restoring life to my now partially unresponsive limbs. Casting aside any remaining refuse I purposefully took the strewn about brick to create a windbreak and decrease the overall size of the pit in-order-to enable me to increase my success at creating the only thing in all this world that could save me right now…Moving quickly, I set about creating a pallet of wood with which to raise my bed of coal off the frozen wet earth. Looking around I harvested dried seed pods from a nearby poplar tree, dead leaves from an oak that had managed to stay on the tree’s limbs and snapped off the ends of many strewn about limbs that stood upright in attention, erratically shifting in the winds, but bone dry as they had remained off the ground and were unable to retain any moisture. Taking my treasures back to the pit I created a nest of pods and leaves and reached into my pocket for the bit of kit I knew would see me through this ordeal. My @Exotac NanoSpark given to me by my pal
Luca917
as a gesture of our friendship, I wonder how Tony is doing, probably warm I bet, with a cigar no doubt…I hope he is not in that deer stand…Focus, too close now!!! Pulling the fibrous tinder from the NanoSpark and feathering it so as to better accept the flame, two strikes are all that were needed to bring forth the first bit of hope I had seen since finding myself in this most dire circumstance…FIRE!!! Leaves and seeds, twigs and sticks, charcoal and oxygen. The rush of warmth was pure ecstasy, allowing my blood to warm and normal function return to my body. Turning now to other needs of survival, I gathered additional limbs to build a spit over the fire with which to hang my pot, melt snow and hydrate my nearly spent and dehydrated body. With the use of my Cumming Blade Works Trailmaster and Gomboy I was able to fashion a spit and hook and soon I had a pot full of steaming snow melt with which to replenish myself. With a warm belly and renewed vigor I was able to make the long trek back to the safety of my home. This experience was the longest 23 minutes of my life and goes to show the importance of knowledge through practice, perseverance and of course a sharp blade on you at all times.
Cheers,
SG
Mistwalker
blog on vector fires and lessons from @k_estela learned over a long, arduous, wet encounter only known as Fiddleback User weekend. Focus!... rummaging through the debris pile I quickly collected the half burnt sticks and mostly dry bits of charcoal that resided in the pit and set them aside to aid in restoring life to my now partially unresponsive limbs. Casting aside any remaining refuse I purposefully took the strewn about brick to create a windbreak and decrease the overall size of the pit in-order-to enable me to increase my success at creating the only thing in all this world that could save me right now…Moving quickly, I set about creating a pallet of wood with which to raise my bed of coal off the frozen wet earth. Looking around I harvested dried seed pods from a nearby poplar tree, dead leaves from an oak that had managed to stay on the tree’s limbs and snapped off the ends of many strewn about limbs that stood upright in attention, erratically shifting in the winds, but bone dry as they had remained off the ground and were unable to retain any moisture. Taking my treasures back to the pit I created a nest of pods and leaves and reached into my pocket for the bit of kit I knew would see me through this ordeal. My @Exotac NanoSpark given to me by my pal
Luca917
as a gesture of our friendship, I wonder how Tony is doing, probably warm I bet, with a cigar no doubt…I hope he is not in that deer stand…Focus, too close now!!! Pulling the fibrous tinder from the NanoSpark and feathering it so as to better accept the flame, two strikes are all that were needed to bring forth the first bit of hope I had seen since finding myself in this most dire circumstance…FIRE!!! Leaves and seeds, twigs and sticks, charcoal and oxygen. The rush of warmth was pure ecstasy, allowing my blood to warm and normal function return to my body. Turning now to other needs of survival, I gathered additional limbs to build a spit over the fire with which to hang my pot, melt snow and hydrate my nearly spent and dehydrated body. With the use of my Cumming Blade Works Trailmaster and Gomboy I was able to fashion a spit and hook and soon I had a pot full of steaming snow melt with which to replenish myself. With a warm belly and renewed vigor I was able to make the long trek back to the safety of my home. This experience was the longest 23 minutes of my life and goes to show the importance of knowledge through practice, perseverance and of course a sharp blade on you at all times.Cheers,
SG
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