WINTER SURVIVAL

  By: Orion

  Winter in the Boreal Forest isn’t something to be taken lightly. I’ve been on many an early winter hunt when the temperature was far above freezing, with the sun shining brightly, when, mere minutes later, the temperature had plunged, and snow, driven by a bitter wind, had appeared as if out of nowhere.

  Being prepared for such an eventuality is part and parcel of living in the northern woods, or, as renowned Alberta survival expert Mors Kochanski calls it, the Spruce-Moose Forest.

  The right equipment and attitude can mean the difference between life and death, or, at the very least, the difference a truly miserable experience and an unexpected, relatively comfortable overnight stay in the wilderness.

  Experience surely dictates the amount and type of survival equipment needed. Two hundred years ago, an Algonquian hunter, if, along with his bow and arrows, had access to the ubiquitous blue tarp, a Swedish Firesteel and a good knife, would think that he was living in the lap of luxury.

  Most of us, however, don’t have the skills or experience of that long ago hunter and need a bit more in the realm of equipment to make any sudden emergencies more liveable. I’m not a minimalist when it comes to survival. I haven’t the skills to, as one of Pat McManus’ acquaintances did, build a Volkswagen Beetle out of birch bark and simply drive out.

  Myself, I need equipment. Not a lot, but I do need it. For instance, I can build a fire far, far, quicker with a Bic lighter, commercial tinder and an axe than I can with a bow drill, dry fungus and a sharp rock.

  Now lets look at the need for fire and shelter in an emergency scenario.

  Picture, if you will, a mid-winter hike, temperature just below freezing and the sun shining brightly. You’re crossing what you think is a snow covered meadow, when, suddenly, you break through crusted over muskeg, soaking yourself to the waist. While pulling yourself out, you sprain your wrist when you slip and fall forward after you try to brace yourself.

  You need a fire. Now!

  You make your way to dry ground and set about building a fire. The spruce trees on the high ground are loaded with small, dry dead branches under the live ones. You break these off and bring them to the spot you’re going to build your fire. Grab some of that old man’s beard hanging from the trees, too. You also notice a few dead trees about as thick as your forearm at the base. You drag a couple of these over. Collect any other dead pieces of wood you can find. Watch you don’t injure that wrist any more than you already have.

   OK, build that fire. You have the necessary skills to make a bow drill, but you have a bum wrist, so that’s out. Now what do you do?  

   Well, reach into you pants pocket, take out that Zip-Loc bag with the Bic lighter, firestarter and/or trioxane bar in it. Stick the lighter inside your outer clothing, under your armpit to warm it up.

  Meanwhile, kick the snow away down to bare ground as much as you can. Try kicking the majority of the snow in the direction the wind, if any, is coming from, to build a bit of a windbreak. Crumble some of the small dry branches in your good hand. Make a bed of the old man’s beard and place the crumbled tinder on top. Break a few thumb-sized pieces off the dead trees you dragged over. Protect your lighter from the wind and light your tinder. If needed, use some of your commercial tinder or a bit of trioxane bar.

  After it’s lit, slowly add some of the thumb-sized pieces on until you’ve got a decent blaze going. Now, place the small end of one of the dead trees into the fire. Feed the other on in at right angles to it. You can feed these to the fire as they burn away. Place some of the other dead wood on your fire.

  Pull out that blue tarp from your daypack, unfold it and place it in front of your fire. Get on the tarp and remove your wet clothing. Pull the fleece sweat pants, sweat shirt, socks, boot liners and towel from the trash bag they were wrapped in inside your daypack. Dry yourself off and don the dry clothing. Warm yourself by the fire while drying your boots. If necessary, wrap your boot liner clad feet with two halves of the garbage bag your spare clothes were in, thereby waterproofing the liners, allowing you to collect more firewood while your boots are drying.

  Unless you have a bottle of drinking water, pack the metal cup from your daypack with snow and place it by the fire to melt the snow. Don’t place it directly on the fire or too close before the snow melts or you’ll scorch and quite possibly even burn the cup.

  When you have enough hot water in the cup, add one of the packets of soup or broth from your emergency food supply and set the cup close enough to the fire to bring to a boil, while munching on one of your energy bars.

  If it’s close to getting dark, you’re going to be spending the night, so the best thing is to gather more wood and rig a lean-to shelter with your tarp, some dead trees and the 550 Para cord from your pack. An 8 X 12 foot tarp is large enough that you can fold it so you have a floor and sides as well as a roof. Use your hatchet to fell dead trees and to trim branches from your lean-to frame, holding the trees in the crook of your arm to avoid further injuries to your wrist. Place your lean-to close enough to the fire that you can feed it during the night without leaving your shelter.

  Now for firewood. Gather dry, dead wood, wrist to forearm size in diameter. Length doesn’t really matter, as you’ll be feeding it to your fire a bit at a time. If there are shorter pieces lying around, gather those, too. I once heard survival expert Les Stroud say, that the rule of thumb with firewood is, when at first you think you have enough for the night, triple that amount. In my experience, he’s absolutely correct.

  Of course, not all situations will be the same, some will be more difficult, some injuries and mishaps far worse. The situation I’ve just described is one that I actually experienced on what was to be a simple afternoon ptarmigan hunt in far northern Alberta.

  I didn’t tell anybody where I was going; nobody was expecting me anywhere until three days later, so I was completely on my own. If I hadn’t had the items I had with me, I’d have been toast. As it were, I spent an uncomfortable, but not unbearably so, night and then hiked the five or more miles back to my truck the next morning.

WINTER DAY HIKE EQUIPMENT LIST

This is what I consider adequate. Of course, other people have their own personal preferences.

1. Fire:

In a pocket - A Zip-Loc bag containing a Bic lighter, some commercial or homemade tinder (a very good friend of mine from Alaska swears by pieces of those artificial fireplace logs) and a trioxane fuel type bar in its wrapper.

Somewhere on your person – Strike anywhere matches in a waterproof case.

In your daypack – A box of waterproof/windproof matches.

On a key chain, knife lanyard or what-have-you, a Swedish Firesteel or magnesium bar with ferrocerium striker.

2. Dry Clothing:

I prefer sweat pants, sweatshirt, (polar fleece is good) merino wool socks, a change of underwear, wool felt boot liners and a wool watch cap all packed in a plastic trash bag.

3. Shelter:

In your daypack, an 8 X 12 foot nylon tarpaulin packed against the back of your daypack.

50 feet of 550 Para cord or something similar. 

4. Cutlery:

On your belt - A fixed blade knife of your choice.

In your pocket - A folding pocket knife such as a Victorinox Swiss Army knife of some type. If it has a saw, so much the better.

Optional - Multi-tool of some sort.

Chopping - Some type of axe or hatchet of a size you feel comfortable carrying and using.

Sawing wood - A folding or takedown saw.

5. A good, sturdy daypack containing:

Your extra clothing and shelter.

A good, heavy, metal cup. The larger the better.

A trioxane type stove and fuel. (I certainly wish I’d had one that day)

Zip-Loc bag containing - Dry soup packages, bouillon cubes or powder, drink mix, tea, instant coffee, energy bars, beef jerky, hard candy, etc.

First-aid kit.

Water bottle. Keeping hydrated in winter is just as important as in summer.

6. Direction Finding:

A good compass, such as a Silva Trekker. Learn how to use it.

Optional - A simple GPS can be a handy item.

Most of all get out and practice. Get the experience necessary to survive an unexpected mishap.

Practice fire building and practice building a tarp lean-to.

7. Protection:

A firearm of your choice, if you are so inclined, appropriate to your area and local laws.

As a final note, a pair of wrap-around sunglasses is a good addition, especially on overcast days. Not just to prevent snow blindness, they’re also great for giving you some contrast, making dips, hollows and holes easier to see.

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