I concur on your observations and thought I would share some random and lengthy views and experiences on cold weather survival and the basic ability to function in a cold environment. I am sure others on the forum have thoughts and experiences (military, hunting, winter sports, etc.) that would benefit us all, as we often brain storm and discuss what out PSKs and other equipment we carry would allow us to do and not do under various conditions.

Several years ago, 6 members of our team decided to take an adverse weather rescue-training course in Altoona, PA during the month of January. Keep in mind we were all experienced and had hundreds of hours of technical rescue training during daylight. In the early evening we had a couple of hours of “classroom” training centered around recognizing and treating hypothermia, dressing appropriately, mental conditioning and specific rescue techniques for cold weather environments. We then proceeded to the site, about a 1-hour drive; the temperature was around 10 F with winds steady at 15 mph and gusts approaching 25 mph. There was around 16-18 inches of snow on the ground and we were expecting and did receive additional snow and freezing rain. We arrived at the site around 10pm and started with some basic skills (knot trying, rappelling, self-rescue, etc.), which took about 2-21/2 hours, at least twice our normal time. We took a break and around 1am we started with rescue scenarios, all of which took at least twice our normal time. Our lighting did not function well in the cold, much of our equipment froze solid and several of the team were beginning to experience mild to moderate hypothermia. By dawn as we were completing our last scenario, we were making significant mistakes, arguing with each other and were completely worn out mentally and physically. The whole point up to that time was to take us to beyond our normal limits and stress us out to the point of mental and physical collapse, which the instructor achieved. We went back to our lodging and slept as much as biological clocks would allow, which in actuality was very little. We once a gain meet in the early evening to discuss the previous night’s experiences and what we could do to prevent a similar experience. Our discussions centered around using alternative equipment, such as replacing our chemical lights sticks which did not work well due to the cold, replacing alkaline batteries with lithium ones and having multiple backups, so we could rotate our lighting sources. Some of the guys went out and bought different clothing and we brought along some high-energy snacks. We also change our game plan, trying to keep on a rotational basis, at least 1 or 2 guys in reserve as much as possible, to have fresh minds and bodies to tackle various portion of the scenarios. Although the weather was not as severe the second night and therefore we were not stressed in quite the same way, we still felt all of the scenarios went much smoother. While I realize this was rescue training and not a pure survival situation, there are still parallels to be drawn between the two experiences. I do not believe a PSK in and of itself will be sufficient to allow you to survive for very long in very cold conditions. If venturing out in these conditions, you must take in to account the slowed thought processes and reduced physical functioning. In these situations, I would place high-energy foods/snacks high on the list. We have discussed many times the importance of layering and the proper selection of clothing materials; a search of previous threads of these discussions should be paramount this time of the year. Pete