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#22287 - 12/05/03 02:49 PM winter survival questions
Anonymous
Unregistered


Well, it's that time of year again. Catonsville, MD (where I go to school) had 10 inches of snow dumped on it overnight. I figure now is as good a time as any to ask a few questions I've been meaning to ask for a while...

Aside from the usual emergency stuff kept in a car, what other things would you guys recommend for winter?

What is the best way to store stuff in a car? Is freezing weather an issue with storage?

Any cool new stuff for cold weather survival?

Any other thoughts about winter survival, especially in a (sub)urban area?

-Chris

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#22288 - 12/05/03 02:52 PM Re: winter survival questions
Anonymous
Unregistered


sand
shovel
traction mats, chains or both
Spare car battery or atleast a jumper kit
Sleeping bag or wool blankets
Full coverall type snow suit for the driver atleast with boots, socks, gloves and hat - you may have to walk for it.


The rest of a normal vehicle kit.

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#22289 - 12/05/03 03:02 PM Re: winter survival questions
Anonymous
Unregistered


This topic was (very) briefly touched on in a round about way on a thread over on the other forum "Around the Campfire". The thread was called "A Mental Exercise in Planning" and is currently near the bottom of page two of the thread lists.

Not sure if its what you had in mind though.

Just my tuppence...

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#22290 - 12/05/03 06:41 PM Re: winter survival questions
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1206
Loc: Germany
Iīd recommend a swab, scrapers for the windows, saw dust instead of sand (the weight is lighter and it seems to give better grip). There should be defroster for the locks in your pocket.
Freezing weather is an issue for some items, keep them in a bag and take with you when drive (unless you have a garage).
Make sure to keep your car in good repair.
_________________________
If it isnīt broken, it doesnīt have enough features yet.

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#22291 - 12/05/03 07:59 PM Re: winter survival questions
Greg_Sackett Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 12/14/01
Posts: 225
Loc: KC, MO
Phi,

As a fellow Marylander (Frederick), I know what you mean. It took me 2 hours to drive to Baltimore to work this morning. My bag in my truck always has my "car kit" in it, which has stuff like shovel, FAK, emergency blankets, etc. I always make sure a heavy wool blanket is in the vehicles during the winter though. I saw alot of vehicles in the ditches this morning, and waiting around to get pulled out of a ditch can be a pretty cold proposition. Chemical hot packs are small and useful as well.

The main thing you would have to worry about freezing is any water you have stored (I carry fresh everyday to work anyway, so I don't store it in the vehicle). If you do store it, just make sure the container can handle it without rupturing and leaking.

If you drive a truck and want extra weight in the back, take some bags of cat litter or sand for added traction.

The best preparation is probably controlling your speed and not getting into trouble in the first place, which alot of the folks around here seem to forget...

Have fun shovelling...

Greg

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#22292 - 12/05/03 11:11 PM Re: winter survival questions
aardwolfe Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 08/22/01
Posts: 924
Loc: St. John's, Newfoundland
Depends to a certain extent on how cold it will get (worst case). My brother was a doctor in Inuvik for a year; he still has the $600 sleeping bag that he carried in the trunk of his car. (Had to use it once; he and his wife were driving back from Aklavik when both front tires shattered from the cold.)

Most of us are unlikely to encounter temperatures in the minus 60 degree range, though. Around Calgary, 20 below (-4 F) is fairly common, and 30 below (Celsius; about -22 Fahrenheit) is not unheard of; In Edmonton it gets even colder, I'm sure I remember -35 one New Year's eve, and my other brother used to live even farther north, in Slave Lake and Grande Prairie, where he's seen -40.)

In any event, don't ever underestimate cold weather. A co-worker lost his 19-year old son two weeks ago after the boy decided to walk home from a friend's house. The temperature was -20 (-4 F) with a windchill factor of -30 (-22F); he was wearing a suede jacket over a T-shirt. (Yeah, in Canada it's considered macho to underdress for the weather.) Searchers found his body several hours later; he was only 100 yards from a row of houses. Because the distance was so short (2 kilometres, or 1.2 miles) and he'd walked it numerous times in the past without incident, he probably didn't give the weather the respect it deserved.

Curiously enough, I encountered some surprises on this front last night. I went to my usual Thursday night meeting with Saint John Ambulance, and nobody else showed up. So I decided to fill in helping at the Festival of Lights, an outdoor light display that the town of Airdrie puts on.

What I found:

1. If you have survival gear, make sure it's readily accessible. Clawing around in the trunk with frozen fingers, in the dark, trying to find your gloves is not fun, especially if they're hidden beneath the spare tire, jumper cables, etc.

2. Have a good pair of winter boots, and make sure there's a quality pair of wool socks (or equivalent) crammed inside them. I had gone to the meeting straight from work and was wearing dress shoes with thin nylon socks. I put the boots over the dress socks and my feet were fairly warm, even when walking around; but in a serious survival situation, I would have wanted wool socks.

3. Just as you never assume a gun is unloaded, never assume a survival kit is full. I normally do keep heavy socks crammed inside my boots and was surprised and disturbed to not find them there when I needed them.

4. Keep at least a good pair of thermal long-johns in your vehicle at all times. I have a pair of tear-away windpants but they were buried under the junk in my back seat and I didn't see them in the dark, so I ended up doing without. Not a critical error, as there was a heated volunteer trailer, the concessions area was sheltered and had propane heater going, and the First Aid post (where I was working) had a small electrical heater and was well insulated. But if I had been stranded on a deserted road with my car broken down, it might have been a very different matter. A thermal undershirt, a sweater, a good wool watch cap/tuque, and a parka or overcoat are also things you should have.

6. If you get a chance, try going outside in the coldest weather you can find for an hour or so. Make sure your survival clothing is actually warm enough. Think about how you would actually build a fire in seriously cold weather. Think about what you would have to do in a survival situation, what order you would want to do them in, and how being cold and miserable would affect you. (It occurred to me last night that building a campfire with frozen fingers and trying to start a fire with a mag-flint block and a ball of cotton wool wouldn't be that much fun. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

5. A good flashlight with an on-off switch is very important. I normally carry a Photon I on my key chain, but operating it with heavy gloves was not an option, and taking the gloves off for more than a few minutes was even less of one.
_________________________
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."
-Plutarch

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#22293 - 12/06/03 02:50 AM Re: winter survival questions
Nomad Offline
Addict

Registered: 05/04/02
Posts: 493
Loc: Just wandering around.
Some observations learned in 30 years of living in Maine.

I find that old snowmobile tracks, cut to managable size, make excellent (and free) traction mats. I have mine cut to the width of my pick-up bed and keep them under the cross bed tool box. Leave them there year around. Work well in mud too.

Sit in your vehicle with the engine off for about an hour some cold dark night. You will be motivated to learn a great deal about cold weather survival. Put some styrofoam under your feet. Makes a huge difference to have insulation there.

Keep a small folding shovel inside the vehicle. If you go off the road into deep snow, you may have to dig your way out via one of the windows. You won't be able to open the doors.

For the same reason, keep your survival gear in the passenger compartment, not in the trunk. If you are unable to get out of the vehicle, having food, blankets etc in the trunk will do you no good whatever.

Always dress for the weather, or at least carry sufficient clothing to be safe outside whenever you travel. Each year, people die in Maine because they were just running to grandma's down the road a bit when the went off the road.
they make the trip in a light sweater a hundred times without incident. But......just once........something happens.

If at all possible, call your destination before you leave. If you go off the road into the bush, you may not be noticed by other drivers. In a snow storm your tracks will be covered in minutes,especially if there is a wind. If you don't show up in a reasonable amount of time, at least someone will know your route and can take some action to help you.

Always think about what might happen as you drive. Not only does it keep your mind occupied and alert, you are much more inclined to take winter travel seriously. Reality is better than imagination. You might just take the time to re-check your survival gear.

Move to someplace warm....

Nomad. Now near Tampa Fla <smirk>.
_________________________
...........From Nomad.........Been "on the road" since '97

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#22294 - 12/06/03 04:07 AM Re: winter survival questions
Anonymous
Unregistered


Thanks everybody for all the great responses. I'm gonna add some salt and sawdust/sand to what I carry in my trunk. Something I got in the habbit of carrying with me last winter was a Coughlan's Solid fuel stove. I figure if worse comes to worse, it's not a bad way of getting a fire started, and could make an extended stay in the car a bit more bearable (with proper ventilation of course). another thing that can be of help is some good rope or a length of cable or chain....a few years ago (as I recall, it was my first excursion into serious winter driving), I got spun around and ended up in a grassy median. I had no traction. A guy in a Jeep drove by and stopped. He had some rope and he pulled me out. One of those things like jumper cables...you can't count on someone else having it.

-Chris

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#22295 - 12/08/03 03:37 PM Re: winter survival questions
paramedicpete Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/09/02
Posts: 1920
Loc: Frederick, Maryland
Clay kitty litter works well for providing traction, a little lighter and coarser than sand. Not too expensive and readily available from the supermarket when they have sold out of salt. Pete

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#22296 - 12/08/03 05:13 PM Re: winter survival questions
Hutch66 Offline
new member

Registered: 10/12/02
Posts: 148
Loc: Virginia, USA
Yeah, us Jeep drivers take some sort of wierd pleasure in pulling people out of mud/snow/whatever. I'm pretty sure it's some sort of genetic defect.

If you haven't alrealy got one, I'd suggest an actual tow strap as opposed to a rope or chain (you can get them at Walmart.) The other vehicle has to overcome the resistance of the snow/mud that you're stuck in plus the weight of your car, and might be pulling it uphill if you go into a ditch. Ropes tend to break at very inopportune times, and chains break and then turn into missiles.

For what it's worth,

Chris.


Edited by Hutch66 (12/08/03 05:17 PM)

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