COLD weather emergency survival

Happy Camper

Happy Camper

Joined
Jan 8, 2000
Messages
311
I live in a warm southern state, yet tonight an unseasonable front is taking the temperature down to 14 degrees.

What if you were out on your own with minimal tools and no tent/sleeping bag or matches or lighter? How would you keep from freezing? I'd be challenged to stay alive, that's for sure.

Here's the environment: Flat, pine dominated woodland and small fields with no rocks or outcroppings whatsoever. A foot of snow covers the ground, but underneath the thin crust is just powder that won't pack. Underneath the snow is damp forest litter. Wind is just enough to drive the cold at 7mph.

How do you live? Without matches, tinder, or a cigarette lighter I doubt I can spark a fire with titanium using the damp stuff under the snow. Igloo building is pretty bad with loose powder.

Ideas?
 
debris shelter, you can build one with your bare hands, takes a couple hours, crawl in and your body will heat the shelter.

if you can get a fire going, a fire bed would certainly make you comfortable, have never taken the time to build one, but those of
my friends that have think it is the cadilac of outdoor sleeping. those of us that live in rural areas in the north usually dont go out without some type of firestarting equipment, lighter,sparker, tinder,matches, in that order. i dont like matches that much, a cheap bic lighter, a doan tool (magnesium block with sparking rod) and some vaseline soaked cotton balls are my companions when out, i usually have some sort of firestarter with me always as well as some sort of knife.

break off some pine boughs to build a wind break and you will keep reasonabley warm. build a lean too with the broken branches, fire in front will also keep you warm, and give you shelter from falling snow.

good luck
alex
 
now is a good time to try out your fire starting techniques, with the cold weather,and snow, go out and give it a try, try your sparker, you dont have any tinder, make some, rub a knife blade on the inside of your sweatshirt and start to collect the fuzz, roll it into a ball, wrap that into a birds nest of dry grass, pine needles, dry leaves, matchstick sized wood slivers. try that with your sparking tool. find an old pine stump, kick it apart, the wood in the stump will be full of pitch and will burn well. its a good time to find out what works. if you can start a fire in this weather then you should not have a problem in your usual temperatures.

good time to learn,

alex
 
Happy Camper, like the scouts say be prepared! If you find your self spending a night in the cold with little or no survival gear, I would suggest finding a large pine with low branches that you can cozy up under. This should keep you reasonably warm and dry, you will also find dry tinder there (dry twiggs, pine cones/needles and pitch), just don't build a fire so big that it melts the snow off the top of the tree or to set the tree on fire! You can start a fire with the batteries from your flash light and a bare wire or some steel wool, if you have dry tinder.
No big tree around? just use small trees or branches for insulation. Snow is also an insulator but don't lay dirctly in it or let your body heat melt it. You can also exercise to keep your blood flowing and to burn some cals. for warmth.
 
Assuming you have no fire-starting equipement or skills:

Build a shelter from pine boughs, litter and deadfall. There should be plenty of material to work with.
 
I'm No expert, but.

I would find an area that may have some form of protection from the wind, then clear away a small area fill and layer with pine branches to make a "bed" as insulation from the ground. I would then then cover myself with more pine branches and try to stay warm.

As a last resort bed over and ???????

Say warm HAPPY
 
My contemplation may have had little room for good solutions, but it was inspired by a cold night in what is normally a mild winter location surrounded by a miserable selection of natural survival resources.

The best solution I came up with was to walk for as long as it took until adequate shelter or help was found. If continuing is not feasable, or especially if weather is threatening to worsen, hunkering down with a ton of pine boughs seems like the best alternative.

Being prepared with the right equipment works when an outing is planned such as a camping trip, but sometimes people are thrown unexpectedly into such rotton predicaments and when that happens they're not likely to have vaseline coated tinder in their back pockets.

Wolf, your second alternative may have been more fitting. Perhaps I should have titled this thread: Winter Swamp - Survival or Death?
 
Personally, I can't imagine being outside WITHOUT the very barest of essentials. As I sit here in the warmth of my home, I have a mini-kit hanging around my neck with an SAK Rucksack, 2 methods of lighting a fire, 2 types of tinder, cordage, snare wire, fishing kit and a flashlight. All that in a pouch that's only 5.5x3.5x1.5 inches, and weighs less than 7 ounces. If you can't carry that much in your poackets at ALL times, plus a couple of garbage bags and some hard candy, what are you doing on a forum like this? Unprepared people die in situations such as you describe. Hopefully, anyone here would have the basics with them at all times and would spend a moderately uncomfortable night, but still be alive the next day.

Sorry if that seemed harsh, but what's the point of a totally unrealistic scenario such as that? It's just plain foolish to not have good, basic, gear with you all the time. After all, you wouldn't be walking around out there in your bathrobe, would you? And if you're dressed, you should have your mini-kit at hand as well.
 
While I'm sure there are many out there who would be so unprepared for such an event, I'd have had to be literally stripped naked for some reason for that to occur. Yes, there are ways to survive naked in the wilderness, but WHY be so unprepared?

Like VS, I sit here after JUST having gotten out of bed and still in my jammies - within 7 feet is my coat with minikit, gloves, watch cap,
and key ring with Photon and Traser Glow Ring. Next to the coat hangs a pair of carpenter pants with my wallet and EDC blade wear. Boots and socks are on the floor under the clothing.

While too lengthy a list to remember or type at 5am, my minikit contents can be found at Jeff Randall's Outdoor Forums. It's a great little 5oz kit which contains over 30 items, with four different firestarting methods. There's a minikit thread active in that forum right now, which I'd invite you to check out. The address is: http://www.jungletraining.com/forums/

IMHO, there's NO excuse for being unprepared, especially in these days and times. There's enough unpretentious quality gear out there that won't raise an eyebrow from the ultra liberal sect to allow for decent gear availability even if dressed in a tux.

Heck, Even my 18 year old ultra liberal college kid daughter carries a minikit.

Mike
 
If you can't carry that much in your poackets at ALL times, plus a couple of garbage bags and some hard candy, what are you doing on a forum like this?
Click to expand...

Learning! :)

It's just plain foolish to not have good, basic, gear with you all the time
Click to expand...

My job is literally a five minute drive from my house, and the nearest tract of actual wilderness is many hours away. As such, my preparation reflects a realistic assessment of my most likely threats. On occasions when I'm traveling out of town, my equipment changes.

what's the point of a totally unrealistic scenario such as that?
Click to expand...

Good question. Perhaps death is the only outcome in the scenario I painted, but I don't think it was unrealistic. Passengers on commercial airlines, for instance, no longer even have nail clippers, and there have been numerous survival stories of stranded victoms who persevered without their BOBs with them. I recall a news story about one person from a downed airplane who hollowed out a dead tree or log, and wedged himself into it to survive a brutal snow storm.

I can see how my post might have come across as a mental masturbation "You're a naked ape in the jungle, how do you survive with a stick?" But it wasn't meant to be. If the answer is death, then that's what I was looking for.

sgtmike, I'll check out the website you reccommended. Until now, I thought I was ahead of the curve by having a photon on the keychain next to a Ferrocium Rod, and at least one knife in the pocket. By my own hypothetical situation, as well as input by both you and V Shrake, I see that much more is needed.

Thanks for the info, guys!
 
HC,

You're very welcome, and I hope VS and I didn't sound too uppitty. From you're last post, I see you are well on your way and that you indeed have learned. Please do visit us on Outdoor Forums, there's a great bunch of folks there to learn from and we'd be happy to learn from you. BTW, if we do steal a technique or tip from you, rest assured that it will become ours and you will recieve no credit or honorable mention. LOL We will expect the same from you.

If you join us, be prepared for some good natured ribbing once you've become known;)

BTW...If you do check out my minikit, once the 2" hacksaw blade and SAK are removed - it's airline friendly:barf:

Mike
 
Well now I know I'm not the only southern boy that whatched the snow falling and thought about a cold night outdoors. After the snow fell my wife thought I had gone over the deep end when I was out back with my Swiss firestick making a fire. But even better than the practice at fire starting was the time spent in the house with a cup of coffee, re-evaluating the contents carried in my day pack.
 
Though im not carrying a full kit everywhere i have taken to carrying a lighter with me at all times. I may never have to start a fire, but i am comfortable knowing that i can if necessary. I have not been on this forum too long but i like alot of the ideas here. Thanks guys.
 
and the harsh snow missed us but last year there was a huge snow storm and the power and utilities went out for 3-5 days.

in lieu of that possiblity happening while I live here. I have some extra wood and probpane fuel besides all my other survival necessities.

I am also building a lean-to with a pine needle base. near a fire pit. This is being prepared as we speak. plus I have a storage of dry wood availiable. It faces east to get the morning sun and is about 15 ft from my back door. We have tons of blankets and sleeping bags. my wife isn't too thrilled but if everyone is out of power? what choice does she have? winter camping? I will try the shelter once I complete it whether a storm hits or not!


make extreme weather situations your teachers and learn instead of writing your obiturary. when local told me that story they said I hope it doesn't happen again and I asked if they were prepared for it and they said "no". not that I hope for this kind of thing but I look at it as a training scenario. which helps lessen the severity of the situation.
 
HC, sorry if I came across a bit hard-nosed, but I do get a little evangelical about the whole survival thing. I can understand if you're just "getting into" the whole idea, and commend you for carrying a knife, ferro rod and Photon. At that, you're way ahead of most folks. It's just that when I see or read stories about people who died for no good reason, just because they didn't have the basics on them, it bugs me no end. I know a lot of people who would be totally lost if the power went out in their house, let alone stranded in the boonies overnight with a killer storm coming in. So scenarios and "what-if" games can be good, if used as a training medium. Keep on with your preps, and a little 14 degree storm won't seem so bad anymore. And you can get some grat "Contractor grade" garbage bags at your local Wal-Mart. 55 gallon size, and they're big enought that I could crawl into ONE and use it as an emergency sleeping bag. Thet're about $6.00 for a bag of 20, they're super-thick, and you could easily get at least one of them in the back pocket of a pair of jeans. I carry 2 of them in the right cargo pocket of my BDU pants, along with a Mylar "space" blanket and some napkins for emergency TP. So that right there would be a good start for shelter in your scenario.
 
I'm not really new to survival, but my daily carry is difinitely different than my out-and-about carry. Even after looking over the pros and cons from a new perspective, I'm not sure how much I plan to change that.

The biggest threat in my daily activity is getting into an automobile accident. Second to that is being shot by a disgruntled office worker or being mugged. Beyond that, survival scenario probabilites drop exponentially as I'm always within walking distance of my own home in the middle of suburbia.

chrisaloia, I know what you mean about people hoping against a forseen disaster yet not preparing. Long before hurricane season here, I'm stocked up on propane, batteries, bottled water, and canned food while the majority waits for an official alert before crowding the stores to by cartloads of milk and meat(?!).

I'll check out those Contractor grade garbage bags; I always carry Hefty bags on my backpacking trips, and those sound like a good upgrade. I'll probably stash some in my car and briefcase as well as other mini kit items I've been inspired by.
 
Originally posted by Happy Camper


The biggest threat in my daily activity is getting into an automobile accident. Second to that is being shot by a disgruntled office worker
Click to expand...

Postal worker, huh?:eek:

Mike
 
Originally posted by Happy Camper
I live in a warm southern state, yet tonight an unseasonable front is taking the temperature down to 14 degrees.

What if you were out on your own with minimal tools and no tent/sleeping bag or matches or lighter? How would you keep from freezing? I'd be challenged to stay alive, that's for sure.
Click to expand...
I'd dig a hole deep enough to lie down in, get in it, and cover myself up....or jog all night:)
I was out the other night when that front went through, and it hit 10 degrees (according to the weather) near where we were at. Sure was happy to be in 15 degree bag, and some long johns, with a little fleece thrown on for good measure.
 
The Wolf has the most directly applicable solution that I have read here so far. Assuming you have nothing but your bare hands just start ripping off small pine branches that are the least snow covered. Definitely pick a spot with some natural wind protection and cover (probably under a big dense tree). You don't want cold air sinking past you so pick a relatively high and level spot in the middle of a dense grove. You shouldn't need to clear the ground a little snow will help even out your floor. Throw down a deep layer of pine branches to insulate you from the snow. Make a tightly packed lean-to or pup tent shaped niche. You are going to try and heat your space with your body so keep it small and dense. You may even want to cover some of it with snow to reduce air penetration. If the wind is strong this would be a real good idea.
 
14 degrees he says, 14 degrees!

I live in Northern Maine where it has been 75 below with the wind chill.

Sorry I had to.

Knifesmith
 
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