I'm a big fan of small and lightweight. I also believe in eating my own dog food, that is to say, actually using the items in my kit under realistic conditions to see how they meet expectations. Last weekend it was down in the low teens with medium winds and gusts up to 40MPH, and there was still two inches of crusty snow left over from the pre-Christmas storm. On top of that I was still recovering from a cold. Obviously, this was the perfect time to test out my EDK.

I won't bore you with all the successes and failures (of which there were many of the latter). Instead I'll limit to things which should be of interest to you.

1. Scarf. Maybe this is obvious to you but it wasn't to me. I considered it a luxury item not worth of space in my kit. I quickly discovered my error as I tried to move around in gusty, 11*F winds with my parka partially open to avoid overheating.

2. Stove & Wind Screen. Spurred by my earlier garage success with my home-made SuperCat alcohol stove, I gave it a go outdoors in the wind. Short story: Failure. Over 20 minutes of burn time and 2 oz of grain alcohol with an improvised HD foil wind screen still could not turn snow into 14 oz of boiling water. I believe this can be overcome with a better stove/wind screen design.

Further comment: white coleman stove fuel might wind up being the best choice for winter cooking. The only problem might be the need to pre-heat the generator in order to light the stove. This can be accomplished with a small stripe of fire gel paste or even a tinder quick.

3. Mylar Emergency Blanket. While I (and most others) have one or more of these in our kits, I thought these would really only be good for some protection from wind and rain. I was quite surprised to find they do indeed do a great job of conserving body heat and make it noticeably warmer and more comfortable when no other shelter or warmth is available. The problem is that it's hard to wrap the slippery, crinkly material around you and it provides zero insulation from the cold ground. Nevertheless, I spend a very comfortable six hours dozing on-and-off sitting upright in a patio chair with nothing more than normal street clothes. some minor supplemental clothing from by EDK, and wrapped like a 6-foot baked potato in a generic Mylar blanket. I am also impressed by how durable these thin blankets are. I've used, folded and reused the same one a half dozen times now, even tied up the corners to make a wind break, and it shows no signs of wearing out.

I would recommend something like the AMK Emergency Bivvy for better protection, and in fact I have one in my kit but didn't want to sacrifice it on this research project. Of course a 4-seasons tent or Gortex winter bivvy plus a down mummy bag would be a more comfortable solution, but if you can't afford the weight and/or space, a Mylar blanket is better than nothing.