Sunday, January 22, 2023

Winter Survival for Tommy...Part Two©

 

 


Here is Part Two of the four parts series.  It could have been titled “Stay Warm and Dry”.  To read part one click HERE.– Author’s Note.

 

In a winter survival situation, the most important thing to do is to stay as warm and dry as possible.

37oF (3oC) with rain and gusty wind is vastly different from 0oF (-18oC) with howling winds and whiteouts and so are the survival challenges that you will need to overcome.  There is more than one type of winter environment, there is the “wet-cold” climate and there is the “dry-cold”, and each has its own dangers.  Depending on the region in which you are forced to survive you might need to deal with one or the other, or both and different days!

 

Wet-cold climates are those in which the temperatures are always near freezing, and do not normally falling below 14o F (-10o C).  The ground will thaw during the day and will turn to mud covered with slush and the snow will be wet, at night the ground and the snow will refreeze.  It can be hard to stay dry under these conditions.  And dry-cold climates are those in which the temperatures are always below  freezing, and do not normally rise above 14o F (-10o C).  The ground is always frozen, and the snow will be dry, day and night in these areas.

 

How do you get cold?

 

Your body loses heat through four processes, convection, conduction, radiation, and evaporation.

 

Convection or wind chill can cool you very quickly.  Alan E. Course, in The Best About Backpacking, wrote “a two-mile-an-hour breeze can drag down body temperature as effectively as a twenty-mile gale if the victim’s clothes are wet”.  Your body will lose between 10% to 15% of its heat through convection.

 

Conduction is the loss of your body heat to the world around you, to the ground, if you are sitting or sleeping on the snow or ground, to the air around you, or to water if you are swimming or immersed in it.  Body heat is lost to the air at temperatures lower than 68°F (20°C), and your body will lose about 2% of its heat by air conduction.  However, you lose body heat to water about 25 times faster than to the air, so you can lose body heat very quickly if you are in cold water or wearing wet clothing.

 

Radiation is the process of heat moving away from your body, like heat leaving a hot stove, and usually occurs in air temperatures lower than 68°F (20°C).  The body loses 65% of its heat through radiation.

 

Evaporation of water from your skin if you are sweating, or from your clothing if it is wet will cool you.  During heavy exercise, your body will shed 85% of its heat by sweating.  Also, you lose some body heat through respiration (breathing).  Heat loss by evaporation and respiration will increase in dry or windy conditions.

 

How to stay warm...

 

Soldier’s Handbook for Individual Operations & Survival in Cold Weather Areas TC 21-3, page 7.


Dirty clothes are cold clothes, because dirt and grease clog the insulating air spaces and reduce your clothes overall ability to insulate you from the cold.  In most survival situations today, you will be rescued long before your inner and outer layers need to be cleaned, in long-term survival situations, or if you get grease and oil on your outer layers, that won’t be the case and you will need to wash them.

 

You need to stay comfortably cold and as Les Stroud says, “If you sweat, you die!”   So, don’t overexert and overheat.  I you are working up a sweat, remove some layers, before your clothes become damp.

 

An excerpt from the Polar Manual, page 149.


Comfortably cold is when you are neither too warm nor too cold, you’re just right, maybe a little bit cool, and you are not perspiring.  You can keep comfortably cold by reducing or increasing your activity level as you become too hot or too cold.  But the best way to stay comfortably cold in the outdoors is by layering your clothes, and by loosening, removing, or adding layers as you warm up or cool down. 

 

An excerpt from the Polar Manual, page 47.


For more read “Comfortably Cold, What’s That?©”, HERE.

  

Layering your clothes, wicks away sweat, adjusts insulation, and protects against wind, rain, and snow.  It allows you to make quick adjustments based on changes in the weather and your level of activity by adding or removing layers.  It is always better to underdress and be too cool, than to overdress, be too hot.  

 

There are three layers, and each layer has its own job.

·       The Base layer or under layer is the most important as it is against your skin and keeps you dry, it should of dry fast fabrics, like wool, synthetics, or silk. 

·       The Middle layer, or insulating layer, helps you retain heat by trapping warmed air close to your body and it should be made of wool, fleece or goose down. 

·       The Outer layer is sometimes also called, the shell layer, and it is the weather-proof layer or rain gear. 

 

An excerpt from the Polar Manual, page 30.


Also, make sure that each layer is sized larger than the one under it so that the clothes fit loosely, because tight clothes make it more likely that you will become cold or frostbitten.

 

For more on layering your clothes, read “The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number One ©”, HERE.

  

William S. Carlson, an early Arctic explorer said that to “Keep dry is the first rule of the North1.  That means not sweating or not getting your clothes accidently wet.

 

An excerpt from Naval Arctic Operations Manual: Part 1 General Information, pages 161.


During the winter, but any time really, you must stay dry to stay warm, because water will cool you between 25 to 32 times faster than air2. 

 

An excerpt from the Polar Manual, page 47.


If you don’t stay warm and dry you can suffer frostbite, immersion foot or hypothermia, and hypothermia, or exposure as it is also called, is one of the leading causes of death in the wilderness!

 

What is Hypothermia...

 

From A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, by the Coast Guard, page 7.


According to the USDA Forest Service, “Hypothermia is the progressive mental and physical collapse that accompanies the cooling of the inner core of the human body.  It is caused by exposure to cold, is aggravated by wet, wind, and exhaustion3.

 

Hypothermia is the lowering of your body’s core temperature to 95oF (35oC) or below and is often caused by a combination of three factors, cold or quickly changing temperatures, strong winds, or being wet, either from rain, sweat or being immersed in cold water: it has three stages, mild, moderate, and severe. 

 

·       Mild Hypothermia is when your core body temperature falls from 98.6o (37oC) to between 95o and 90oF (35o to 32oC).  The symptoms of mild hypothermia are intense, but controllable shivering and cold numb hands or the “fumbles”3. 

 

·       Moderate Hypothermia is when your core body temperature falls from 90o to 86oF (32o to 30oC).  The symptoms of moderate hypothermia are uncontrollable shivering, confusion and movements that become slow and labored, and slurred speech -- look for the “stumbles”, the “mumbles”, and the “grumbles”.

 

·       Severe Hypothermia is when your core body temperature drops to between 86o and 78oF (30o to 25oC).  The symptoms are extremely cold skin, sleepiness or unconsciousness and a pulse that is irregular or difficult to find.

 

For more read “Hypothermia, It Can Happen Any Time, Anywhere ©”, HERE.

 

What is immersion foot?

 

A mild case of immersion foot or as it is also known “trench foot”, from Wikimedia HERE.


In the winter, wet feet and hands are frozen feet and hands, and frozen feet and hands spell disaster!  Even if it isn’t below freezing, wet feet or hands can lead to “immersion-foot”, which is also known, “trench foot”, is a non-freezing cold injury (NFCI), that can happen either the hands or feet, but often affects the feet.  It is caused by long exposure to wet, cold, but not necessarily freezing conditions,  with temperatures of 32 to 59°F (0 to 15°C)4. 

 

Like any cold injury, it is aggravated by wind and windchill, when wet boots or gloves and evaporation combine to cool the surface of your hands, feet, and ankles.  This cooling causes the body to shut-off the blood flow to the skin surface and to the tissue just below the skin of your hands, feet, and ankles, causing them to look white, waxy, and dead.  If untreated, immersion foot can lead to serious and painful complications, such as gangrene.

 

Survivors of accidents and others who are exposed to cold, wet conditions for days without removing wet boots and socks or gloves risk immersion foot.

 



For more about immersion foot, read “Accidental Lessons … Boots Freeze!©”, HERE and “Survival Tips From Jack London, Part One©”, HERE.

 

What is frostbite?

 

Mountaineer Nigel Vardy being treated for frostbite, from Wikimedia, HERE.


Watch out for frostbite, which will appear as a wooden or waxy, gray, or white patch.  It most commonly occurs on the hands, feet, nose, cheeks, forehead, and ears.  Frostbite results from the freezing of exposed skin and is a disabling injury but is not likely to be fatal.5

 

Four Tips for keeping the heat in

   


Tip 1Huddle close with the other survivors to share body heat.  Keep your huddle always moving because moving will keep you warm.  If you have no warm clothing or gloves, claps hands energetically once an hour.  If you are by yourself, exercise by tensing and relaxing your muscles, this will also keep your body warm and the blood circulating throughout your body. 

 

       


Tip 2: The loss of heat from your body depends on the air temperature and the square of the wind speed and is called windchill.  So, stay OUT of the wind, and avoid windchill.  Windchill makes already cold temperatures FEEL even colder, because the wind steals away your body heat through convection.  When there is little to no wind, a layer of warm remains around your body to help you stay warm.  When it's windy, or breezy, the moving air blows away that insulating, warm layer, quickening your heat loss, and making you feel colder. 

 


So, ALWAYS shelter from the wind!

 

    


Tip 3Preventing frostbite and immersion foot is easier than treating it. 

 

To check for frostbite, wrinkle your face, wriggle your toes, and clench your hands, if it feels like there are stiff patches, it might be frostbite. 

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival PAM (Air) 226, by the Air Ministry, 1953.


Remember if it hurts, it isn’t frozen, because frozen patches have no feeling, however this doesn’t mean you should ignore the situation.

 

To treat frostbite on your face, warm it with an un-mittened hand; for frostbitten hands slide the un-mittened hand inside your shirt against your skin; for frostbitten feet, take off your boots and socks, and slide your feet up inside your partner’s shirt against their skin.

 

An excerpt from Naval Arctic Operations, page 167.


To prevent immersion foot, keep your circulation moving to your hands and feet, by clapping your hands, stomping your feet, moving around, and staying dry. 

 

An excerpt from Army Talks, Vol. III, No. 5, February 10, 1945.


To treat immersion foot, to either the feet or the hands, if your socks or gloves get wet, change into dry ones as soon as possible.  Also, have a set routine to dry, warm, massage and inspect your hands and feet daily.

 

An excerpt from Army Talks, Vol. III, No. 5, February 10, 1945.


       


Tip 4: Put on a hat, since heat loss from your bare head can be up to 33% at 60oF (15oC), up to 50% at 40oF (4oC) and up to 75% at 5oF (-15oC)6.  And keep your hands and feet dry and warm.

 

An excerpt from the Polar Manual, page 37.


Wear mittens or gloves and protect your hands, because if your hands freeze or are injured, you are helpless, and survival becomes very difficult.  And don’t forget your feet, being disabled in the wilderness is remedy for disaster.

 

       


Tip 5Protect your eyes from snow blindness.  Snow blindness, or photokeratitis, is caused by UV rays sunburning the corneas of your eyes.  It is very painful, and is often experienced snowfields, particularly at high altitudes.  So, be prepared and always have a pair of with retaining straps.  In an emergency, if you don’t have a pair UV rated, wrap-around sunglasses, you could blacken your cheekbones and your face below your eyes with Chapstick© or Vaseline® mixed with charcoal to reduce glare and the UV rays reflecting into your eyes.  You could also tie a bandanna or piece of cloth, with eye slits cut into it, over your eyes, when possible, choose a dark colored bandana or piece of cloth.  You could even fold a piece of duct tape back over itself and cut eye slits into to make a pair of Inuit style snow goggles.

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival PAM (Air) 226, by the Air Ministry, 1953, page 54.

 

“Make Your Own Snow Goggles!”, by the Bowdoin Arctic Museum, HERE.

Beware of snow blindness, An excerpt from the Polar Manual, 1953, page 67.


For more on making “slit goggles”, read “The Survival Uses of Aluminum Foil ©, HERE.

 

       


Tip 6: To stay dry, don’t sit in the snow and ALWAYS brush off any snow or ice from your clothes, before entering a shelter or approaching a fire.

 

An excerpt from Arctic Survival PAM (Air) 226, by the Air Ministry, 1953, page 57.


Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Winter Survival for Tommy...Part Three©”, where we will talk about improvising for survival, using plane parts, calling for help and signaling for rescue.

 



I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

  

1 From Naval Arctic Operations Manual: Part 1 General Information, p. 157

2 Wilderness Survival states that the heat loss is 32 times and A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival says that the heat loss from being wet is 25 times that of when you are dry.

 

From Wilderness Survival, by Ministry of Forests, page 46; and A Pocket Guide to Cold Water Survival, by Coast Guard, Department of Transportation, page 12.

 

3 USDA Forest Service, “Exposure/Hypothermia”

 

4 “Nonfreezing cold water (trench foot) and warm water immersion injuries”, by Ken Zafren, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FAWM

 

5“Frostbite: Emergency care and prevention”, by Ken Zafren, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, FAWM

 

6 Polar Manual, Fourth Edition, by Captain Earland E. Hedblom, MC, USN, page 37

  

 

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