Captain Dave's Survival Guide
Winter Survival Guidelines
There are many items critical to surviving in cold temperatures. Here are a few basics:
Protect yourself from the wind; it can suck the heat out of your body faster than you can replace it. Good outerwear can protect you from the wind, as can physical shelter. If you don't have one, seek the other.
Keep your head and neck, hands, and feet covered and warm to avoid frostbite.
If your clothes are not warm enough, add insulation. Newspaper is a great wind breaker and insulator. It works in everything from your shoes to shirt. Dried grass and even leaves will also work. (Avoid damp leaves, obviously).
Dress in layers. A good thermal underwear for the inner layer, wool or other heavy pants and shirt, followed by your outer layer, preferably a jacket designed to prevent wind and moisture from entering while wicking I away from your body. On very cold days, use multiple middle layers, such as sweaters, fleece jacket liners, etc. Many high-end parkas include layers that can be removed or added based on the weather conditions.
Try to stay dry. Clothes with a nylon or other synthetic exterior are good for preventing both wind and moisture from entering while Gore-Tex is the industry standard for outer layers.
Try not to sweat, since this can cause excessive chilling when you stop. Remove a glove, unzip a few inches or expose part of your ear to cool off if you are exerting yourself and start to warm up to the point where you may perspire. If you must exert yourself, you can remove a layer or your hat entirely just be careful as it is a fine line to walk.
Do not sleep directly on the ground. The frozen ground cools you faster than the air, so pile branches, pine needles and/or a ground cloth under you.
Do not eat snow or suck ice to get water, it will lower your body temperature too fast. You do need plenty of liquids, however, so melt the ice and snow over a fire. If you have a canteen or water bottle, keep it under your exterior layer to keep the contents from freezing.
Eat plenty of food, if available, since your body will need energy to generate heat. Large meals will make you cold the following half hour, so nibble regularly rather than "sitting down" for a large meal. High carbohydrate foods and beverages are good while on the move, protein and fat are good after or before.
Winter Shelters
In the snow, your most basic shelter can be found at the base of a pine tree with lots of limbs. Lie down or sit with the wind at your back, and your back against the tree trunk. Pile plenty of branches under you to insulate you from the ground. Build up a wall of branches and snow around you, if possible. If you have a drop cloth or tarp, you can wrap yourself in it.
Even if there is no snow, the base of a pine tree with drooping boughs close to the ground can be a fairly sheltered location. You can also add other branches to improve your position, cut the wind, etc. If you are sheltering elsewhere these dry lower branches make good kindling and firewood, even though they will not burn as long as hardwoods.
In deep snow, you can dig a cave into a drift. You can also dig a deep trench and cover the top with branches and then snow. In either situation, dig a trench on the low end of the shelter where water (melting snow) can accumulate. You don't want to end up lying in a puddle. Remember, as long as you stay dry and are wearing warm clothes, snow can insulate you from the even-colder air and block the wind. A poorly designed snow cave can asphyxiate you, so be sure you have proper ventilation. Two small ventilation holes, one at each end, are better than one.
Speaking of caves, if you can find a small, uninhabited one, you're in luck. Caves offer protection against the wind, snow and rain and you can light a nice big fire just inside the entrance. Caves are also nice and defensible. But don't waste valuable time looking for one unless you know there is a cave in the area.
If you can't find a cave, look for an overhang/slanting cliff wall, it will offer you some protection from the wind and snow/rain. You can build a large fire in this scenario, something that isn't practical in the small snow caves.
If no wall is available, you can build one out of blocks of compacted snow, laying them out like bricks. Don't just make a straight wall; curve it so it offers even greater protection. If you're stuck for days, you can build an igloo by moving each layer of bricks in a few inches or so as you get near the top.
Another method is to make a pile of branches and cover it with mounds of snow, packed tightly into place. Then remove most of the inside branches to make room for yourself.
Another shelter can be built by bracing a fallen sapling or limb in the notch of a tree and piling branches against it at an angle. (Think of this lean-to as a tent, with the sapling as a ridge pole and the branches on the side as the tent sides.) Choose branches with plenty of leaves or needles, as these will catch the snow and stop the wind. This is even easier if you have a tarp with you an 8' x 10' tarp will make your lean-to much drier and help cut wind. A hatchet and some parachute cord or other string/rope can make it much easier to build this shelter.
Remember, these home-made shelters should not be large. You should be able to lie down in one and move slightly without knocking it over. But the bigger the space, the bigger the area you'll need to warm.
You can also build a huge pile of leaves and then borrow into the middle of it. The leaves provide insulation, assuming they are pretty dry. This does not work as well with wet leaves.
Avoid alcohol and nicotine in a cold weather emergency. Nicotine can actually increase your chances of frostbite while alcohol can mask the symptoms of hypothermia.
Frostbite and Hypothermia
Frostbite and hypothermia are both dangers to be aware of in cold weather survival situations. Hypothermia is the most dangerous and can actually take place in above freezing temperatures if an individual is poorly clothed or gets wet. Frostbite can result in the loss of extremities and does require freezing temperatures.
In either hypothermia or frostbite, prevention and avoidance are the best choices. Simply put, avoid dangerous winter conditions if you can. If not, have appropriate clothing and shelter available and use it. If you still get symptoms or early warning signs, get out of the cold before you treat the frostbite or hypothermia. If it is too late, build or find shelter to remove the cause of the condition, and then treat it.
Keep in mind as you read this section that Captain Dave is not a medical professional and see our links for more information on hypothermia and frostbite.
Hypothermia
When your body loses heat faster than it can produce it and your core temperature drops, you are in danger of hypothermia, which is literally the process of freezing to death. Mild hypothermia starts when your core (internal) body temperature drops from 98.7 to 96 degrees F. Moderate hypothermia kicks in at 95 degrees or below and severe hypothermia starts when your body temperature drops below 93 degrees, so you must act quickly at the first signs. The problem with hypothermia is that once it sets in, it can be very difficult to reverse in a survival situation, especially if you are on your own. They key is to prevent it from occurring by following the tips outlined above.
The first symptoms of impending hypothermia are goose bumps and feeling cold, followed by shivering. It starts with mild shivering and builds to uncontrolled shivering that grips your entire body. Take this as a warning sign and do something to warm up while you still can. If you are not wet, it can be as simple as standing up and doing some exercise so your body's muscles generate heat. You can also consumer warm beverages or move closer to a heat source, (which might be impossible in an emergency). If you are wet, remove wet clothes and dry yourself, preferably in a warm and dry environment. Then put on dry clothes or wrap yourself in warm blankets or a sleeping bag. Keep your head covered to prevent further heat loss.
Later stages of hypothermia include confusion, loss of motor skills, memory loss and slurred speech, followed by drowsiness leading to sleep from which you do not wake up. This is why early stages of hypothermia need to be addressed, even if traditional medical treatment is unavailable due to the emergency.
If you are with someone else who is experiencing hypothermia and you are not, the old outdoorsman trick of putting you both in a sleeping bag (usually naked so that the heat can transfer from you to the other individual) has merit. Just be sure that you do not give yourself hypothermia in the process.
Frostbite
Unlike hypothermia, frostbite usually affects portions of your body, not your entire system. Danger areas are exposed skin, including nose, ears, cheeks and chin, as well as extremities such as you fingers and toes. As your extremities get cold, your body slows and stops blood circulation to these areas to retain body heat in your core and they turn white or grayish yellow. The area may feel numb or waxy. When circulation returns, it is very painful. If circulation is cut off for too long, and if the affected areas are too cold for too long, amputation may be required. So while hypothermia is more deadly than frostbite, both are serious cold weather related conditions that are best avoided.
To treat signs of frostbite, warm the affected area gradually. (Do not rub snow on it; this is an old wives tale.) The best way is with warm, not hot, water (between 104 and 108 degrees F or 40 and 42 degrees C). Do not place the affected area too near a fire or other heat source as it may be so numb it can be burned before you realize it. If warm water is not available, you can place fingers under your arm pit or another warm body area.
