Driving In Remote Mountainous Areas In Winter

redsquid2

redsquid2

Free-Range Cheese Baby
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I've been thinking about the Kim family tragedy of 2006.

I looked at the Wikipedia entry for "Bear Camp Road."

I came up with a hypothetical.

I am driving through the mountains, in winter. I know winter comes earlier and leaves later, in the higher altitudes. As careful as I may be, it's possible I will take a wrong turn somewhere. What items should I have in my trunk?
 
Let me start things off:

Deer rifle.
Wool blankets.
Tarp, and if I can find one in bright orange, that's better..
Sven saw.
Hunting knife.
Signal mirror.
50 ft. or paracord.
Tinder and matches.
Gazeteer.
Trail maps (maybe).
Snow shoes.
Satellite phone (just thought I would throw that out there -- I have no idea how much they cost, or if special licensing is required)
First Aid Kit.
At least one pot for cooking/melting snow.
Iodine tabs or filter.
Clear plastic drop cloth.
Chains.
Axe.

There seems to be no end.
 
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Sorry. Double post.
 
I think a shotgun would be more versatile than a deer rifle, good for small game, large game, and self defense if necessary. Freeze dried food along with coffee or tea would be a big plus. A portable snow shovel might help. There's a lot of space in the trunk of some vehicles so the possibilities can go on and on. My wife used to drive a rural mail route. She kept a kit for winter emergencies in her SUV even though she was never more than a few miles from a house.
 
LoJack (or personal locator beacon). A ham radio (or CB radio) might also help.

The goal is to get back to society, not to be able to spend three weeks in a snow drift. To that end having someone out there who knows which route you took and who will miss you is a great help. Don't take short cuts. Take the predictable, well trodden path. Having the tools and materials to make basic repairs and to facilitate self recovery of your vehicle is also very important.

You will want to prime your car for winter driving. That means a FULL tank of winter grade fuel, install winter grade batteries (ask my how I know), top up engine antifreeze and window washer fluid, squirt some of that lock defrosting liquid into your car locks (ask my how I know), swap to studded winter tires or bring some chains.

- Detailed road maps, compass, gps.
- Food and water that wont freeze or spoil. A way of purifying water and melting ice/snow. In extreme cold the body needs a LOT of water. A stove for preparing hot meals and stove fuel. One of those freezer chests would do the trick since they work both ways.
- Signaling devices. Cellphones, cellphone chargers, road flares, LoJack & roadside assistance, ham radio, warning triagle, hi-visibility vests etc. Depending on how much risk you are willing to take you can really go overboard with this category.
- Every person who might ride in your car needs to have a full set of deep winter clothing in the car. This is the one form of shelter I would never skimp on. Insulated boots, parkas, bibs, gloves, hats, wool thermals, socks, underpants.
- Some sort of sleeping system that sleeps everyone. Sleeping bags, pads, tents, stoves? etc. One sleeping bag for 4 people won't do it.
- Self recover and repairs. Spare tire and patching kit. Jack and tire iron, compressor, booster cables, snow shovel, tow ropes, traction mats and or sand. Ice scrapers, brushes. Antifreeze, engine oil. Bungee cord, duct tape, tire chains. etc.
- First aid kit. Flash light. Toiler paper.
 
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General winter driving tips.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Winter_driving

Additionally the clothing you pack should be suitable for outdoors use. You want quick drying synthetic base layers or wool. Bring a variety of insulation layers so you can layer up or down as necessary. You want shell garments that suit the weather. That means goretex type shells in above or slightly below freezing weather. For extreme cold you need shells that are windproof. Waterproof is not necessarily great, there are different schools of thought on that. Down offers ultimate warmth but it's useless when wet, so consider synthetics like primaloft. In absolute horrible extreme cold (-40C and below) wear whatever the locals wear and do not ask for advice on online forums.

Naturally, you'll want the dry change of clothes stored in a waterproof bag because murphy hates you and poo happens.
 
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Guns, probably going to get left at home, since moving it in and out of the car is going to be annoying, plus drying and cleaning it every time since the condensation is going to build up... not really worth it.

Next thought, can you get from your drivers seat to the trunk without getting out of the car? if not, then at least some of your kit, including the shovel better be in the back seat. If you slide out and put the front end in the ditch, you might have to dig your way out. And at the very least you will want to be able to clear enough snow away to safely run the engine a bit.

traction mats, tire chains and all that. Only get them if you know how to use them safely and that they will work for your car. No need to go breaking things because something wasn't right. What sort of car do you drive? do you know how the traction control works? do you know how to shut it off, or can you?

Vehicle maintenance tire pressure, compound and tread make a huge difference. But you do need to balance with your other driving needs. Winter tires are great, but don't last long at all on warm pavement, so you need to consider what your overall needs are.

Enough food and ability to get water to stay put for a couple days. If you've left a plan, someone is looking for you. They will find the car. Almost always people that leave the car die, and people who are not looked for die. Those are your two main factors for being found. You want to have as many advantages as possible so you can limit your risks. Sure you can chop trees and make a shelter. do you have practice chopping trees in the snow and ice? what happens if you hurt yourself? Better to have what you need to shelter in place if possible. As far as getting water, just being able to melt it is good enough, don't worry about filters (once it freezes its useless) or chemicals. Or is wood chopping your thing and a big fire part of the plan, in which case two birds with one stone, and you can bet someone will see you.
A big coffee can full of mars bars, candles, and matches will cover a lot of what you need for a couple of days. Remember, most of the people who get into heaps of trouble had nothing or next to nothing. You don't need to spend a huge amount of money on this stuff, but you need to have it with you. I'd rather have cheap stuff that I could afford to leave in the car than nice gear that may risk getting taken out and not put back. Also consider, if you fill your trunk with survival kit, and are heading away for the weekend, will you have room for your regular stuff?
Insulated clothes are good, again, no need to spend a mint on them if they are only for standby use. Insulated coveralls are great, especially if you have to crawl around or under the car. Stuff like dickies or carharts that can take some punishment and be dried by a fire would be my choice over synthetics that are harder to dry safely like that.

You also have to set yourself up for your own mindset. Don't let pride put you into a grave. a lot of old truckers I know would light a fire first before they started with chains or digging. That way if the chains and digging don't work, the fire is already lit while your hands were warm.

I think its more about mindset than anything else, and the sad truth is most people wait too long before making decisions, and once they do, they may reactive instead of proactive choices, and it generally ends badly.
 
Sleeping bag(s) are for severe cold, preserably insulated with polyester batting. Wool blankets trap less dead air for their weight and so are less effective insulation. Also, wool handles water up to a point were as polyester is hydrophic.

Nothing wrong with water purification chems, but melted snow is extremely unlikely to need them.

Your body need calories to generate heat, That means you should have a plentiful supply of food - as easy to prepare as possible. Might as well be something you like.

Have drinking water too. Its more convenient. Exept in severe cpold, it shlould stay liquid in the vehicle. Stored in metal containers it can be thawed.

As I recall, Kim got lost and refused to go back. He kept going until he was stuck. He then did almost nothing right (like burn tires for thier thick, black smoke when ther was an aitr search) and wandered off and died. Luck was more helpful to his wide and kids. Read a good book on the mental requirements of surviival and take that knowledge with you so you don't die of stupid. Heck, take the book. Dull pages can help start a fire.
 
Lojack won't do jack for you in the OP's scenario. It's no replacement for a proper personal locator beacon, such as a SPOT Tracker. There are LOTS of locators on the market, it's a booming business with the adventure travel craze that seems to be going on. In motorcycling, we have a saying "dress for the crash, not for the ride" -- same is true of winter travel. Don't sprint to the car in your jammies and slippers turn the heater full blast and hope for the best. Bring enough apparel that you can be outdoors in bad weather indefinitely.
 
another thing that just bumped into my brain since you mentioned it Thomas. it takes less heat energy to melt ice than snow for a given volume of water. so even a pack of bottled water in the back is fine when frozen, you can either cut the bottle apart to melt the ice inside, or do a double boiler rig to easily get the water. you don't really want to be drinking warm water (unless you are at the point where you are no longer providing your own heat) and any health risk from the plastic is negotiable compared to death by dehydration. you could even tuck a few into your parka while working to keep you cool, and take advantage of the waste heat, or stick a couple over the vents while warming the car with the engine, you had a full tank right? And lastly you could heat them directly on the fire if it came to that.
 
We used to keep a kit handy in our vehicle that included some military rations (can be stored for a long time and do not need cooking), a Keltec Sub2000 folding carbine and ammo (9mm that folds up small enough to put in a small case so it is always there, but out of the way), water, a manual compass, GPS, cell phone charger (remember GPS can sometimes not connect due to cloud cover and cell phones may be out of coverage), tea, matches, magnesium bar, knife, small hatchet (the Bear Grylls hatchet is perfect) metal cups, SPACE BLANKETS (these can keep you very warm but take up very little storage space), coveralls (for a change of clothes or for layering), and it all fits into a small school backpack.
 
Roadracer, be careful with your terms. SPOT and InReach are not "Proper locator beacons" they are on a different system than the 406Mhz PLBs. They are very reliable, and have good coverage in the US. HOWEVER, they are not a stash and forget piece of gear, you need to maintain the batteries, and pay the fees. I think you probably know the difference, but a lot of people get advice just from google searches to forums, and I think its important that we maintain the differences between the systems, so people don't get wrong advice. Its nit pickey and pedantic I know, but it could be the thing between life and death for someone.
 
Speaking of easy to find they make reflective tape that could be used to mark (with a large X or SOS) your vehicles roof. Being visible and standing out is good so a white car in a snowy climate would be a bad choice.

LoJack or other brands of vehicle tracking systems could be very useful. The difference between remote tracking and PLB's is who triggers the system. With the PLB you trigger an alert. Anybody with access to the tracking system on the other hand would be able track you down when you don't show up or check in. If you are indisposed for whatever reason this could be very useful. Say you get trapped in a wreck or you pass out.

For the record gas cars run better than diesel and electric is useless at extreme temps. Ethanol gas mixes are not great in cold weather and there are different mix ratios for summer and winter driving. If you have summer fuel left in your tank come winter you will have problems. This also applies to gas and diesel cars. Same if you do not install the winter grill things that limit air flow to the engine, it will no struggle to stay warm at speed. I rotate summer and winter tires seasonally.

The commom sense things like don't leave your car, turn around if lost or unsure about driving conditions, and avoiding travel all together on bad roads and conditions are worth thinking about.

You can get a aftermarket webasto parking heater installed in your car if you intend to use it as shelter. They do not run down the battery and will keep things toasty warm without running the engine.
 
Road flares. We carry them in all our vehicles. Good for not only letting someone know where you are, but also for starting a fire in less than ideal conditions.
 
If it hasn't been said flare gun with flares, proper tires and tire inflator (helps a lot when stuck) a good radio, spot or some other emergency locator beacon, and if in a truck weigh the bed down with sand, rock,firewood, Ect to give you more traction in the rear.
 
I hate to ask the obvious, but how about turn around and drive back the way you came? I assume the vehicle died or ran out of gas in which case I would bring 5 gallons of gas. I carry a lot in the truck in the event I have a breakdown, but I generally don't plan on staying more than one night. If snowed in I would walk back on the same road I came in on as at least I know the general time it took to get me from where I knew my location to now I am lost.
Items in the truck I keep
thermal blanket
extra shirt, socks and shorts
mora
axe
corona saw
matches
lighter
fire stell
metal water bottle
flares
backpack
4 bottle of water
4 packages of crackers with cheese or PB
road flares
wire
50 ft of cord
multi tool
hats
meds- aspirin & benadryl
 
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