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.