While these young men made an initial mistake that got them lost, they managed to remain calm and focused on survival. Creating a snow cave, starting a fire, etc. are all useful skills and as this example clearly shows can help to keep you alive.

Another aspect of preparedness is learning from our mistakes and other’s examples. In this case, if they had their avalanche beacon and some other gear, (perhaps some EDC items, or an emergency kit)  they would have been located much sooner or not been lost in the first place, and been more comfortable while waiting for rescue.

Read the article and absorb any information you can so you can use that information if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

To With more than half the country being inundated by massive snow and ice storms and much of the rest of the country having below freezing temperatures, people are at a very high risk for Hypothermia.  Knowing what Hypothermia is and how to treat it not only prepares you to help yourself but most importantly, to help others.  I’ve consulted several resources to try to put together a very comprehensive overview of Hypothermia.  Those resources include the Mayo Clinic, my EMT Training Manuals, the CDC Guidelines for Hypothermia and the State of Alaska Cold Injuries Guidelines (Alaska knows more about Hypothermia than anybody, their standards are what we use here for Search and Rescue).

Hopefully you’ll find this summary easy to understand and helpful.  If you come across someone experiencing Hypothermia you really need to know ahead of time how to deal with it!

Hypothermia

Hypothermia is an emergency condition that occurs when the body is losing heat faster than it can generate or acquire it.  This results is a slow and steady decrease in core body temperature.  As the core temp drops below 95 degrees you begin to enter Hypothermia.  The body attempts to adjust to this heat loss by reducing perspiration and circulation to the skin – shutting down avenues by which the body usually gets rid of excess heat.  The body will try to compensate for heat loss by attempting to generate heat on its own by using muscular activity in the form of shivering by increasing the rate at which internal fuel (food) is burned.

Failure to get proper treatment for Hypothermia will result in death.

Signs and Symptoms of Hypothermia

• Shivering – Uncontrollable and constant.  Shivering is the body’s automatic defense against losing heat, it is how the body attempts to warm itself
• Clumsiness or loss of coordination
• Slurred speech or mumbling
• Confusion or difficulty thinking
• Poor decision making – such as removing clothes because the person thinks they’re too hot
• Drowsiness or very low energy
• Apathy towards their condition
• Progressive loss of consciousness
• Weak Pulse
• Shallow Breathing

Hypothermia comes on slowly and because it causes confusion, the victim is usually unaware of their condition.

General Principles of Hypothermia

1. The body is actually protecting itself and its vital systems by going into Hypothermia.  Without taking these protective measures, the heart would fail and the person would die much sooner.
2. Because the body has taken protective measures to protect itself, resuscitation efforts should be maintained beyond those for normothermic patients.
3. In severe Hypothermia cardiac instability is an issue.  Physical stimuli such as jostling, exercise and chest compressions can cause ventricular fibrillation (heart attack) in a cold heart that is functioning effectively.
4. In severe Hypothermia, compressions (CPR) should only be performed when functional cardiac activity is fully absent.  The pulse can be extremely difficult to feel and should be attempted for a prolonged amount of time (at least 45 seconds).
5. Cardiac tissue in severe Hypothermia is resistant to defibrillation and anti-dysrhythmia medications.  These procedures are generally withheld until core temp has been raised to at least 86 degrees.

Treatment of Hypothermia

Basic Treatment for Hypothermia

1. Prevent further heat loss
   1. Insulate from the ground
   2. Protect from the wind, eliminate evaporative heat loss by removing wet clothing
   3. Insulate the patient, including the head and neck
   4. Cover the patient with a vapor barrier (blue tarp, emergency blanket, large piece of plastic, etc)
   5. Move the patient to a warm environment
2. Call 911, request an ambulance
3. Do not give alcohol or permit patient to use tobacco

Treatment for Mild Hypothermia

1. Follow procedures for Basic Treatment
2. If there is no way to get to a medical facility, or it will be more than 30 minutes rewarm the patient with the following methods:
   1. Fuel their shivering with a very sugary drink (sugar content is more important than hot drinks)
   2. Do not allow the patient to drink liquids unless the patient is capable of swallowing
   3. Apply heat to areas of high surface heat transfer including the underarms, sides of the chest wall, the neck and groin.
   4. Place the patient in a sleeping bag and provide close skin-to-skin contact
   5. Consider a warm shower or bath for the patient
   6. Mild exercise such as walking or stepping up and down on an object will produce heat and may be helpful

Treatment for Severe Hypothermia (with signs of life)

1. Treat patient very gently, do not rub or manipulate extremities.
2. If clothes are wet, cut them off
3. Treat for Basic and Mild Hypothermia except:
   1. Do not allow the patient to sit or stand until rewarmed (do not put in a bath)
   2. Do not give the patient oral fluids or foods
   3. Do not attempt to increase heat production through exercise
   4. Take to a hospital as soon as possible

Treatment for Severe Hypothermia (with NO signs of life)

1. Treat as outlined in Severe Hypothermia WITH signs of Life
2. Check for signs of breathing (coughing, chest movement, etc) for 60 seconds.  If patient is not breathing and does not have signs of circulation give 3 minutes of ventilation.
3. Check for signs of breathing and circulation for 60 seconds.  If there are none, goto step 2
4. Use mouth to mask breathing
5. Transfer to a medical facility as soon as possible

With that in mind, we have discussed what else we can do in my family to increase our ability to stay warm inside (because my wife sure doesn’t want to go out).  Beyond just comfort in the dark months, my southern CA native wife is petrified of the idea of being without power/heat, and our ability to deal with that.

So among our Winter preparation (and Christmas present) plans, we’ve been looking at improving all things snuggly in the house.  We want to focus on making sure we can stay warmer during the night, especially since our home does not have any form of off-grid heating beyond our portable means.  With three children, we want to make sure they are well covered, and avoid the need to share our bed.

With that in mind, I figured it would be good to make a post about some of the factors we’ve considered in outfitting our home with more blankets.  From purchasing to fabricating, there are several things you need to look at when selecting yours.

Material

One of the first things to discuss about blankets is the material they will use.  Different materials can make a lot of difference in how well they work, how much they cost, and whether you are willing to use them.

Cotton

Most of us likely have cotton sheets on our bed, and for good reason.  It’s really comfy, and often cheaper (unless you are buying something really fancy).  You also likely have blankets that incorporate some amount of cotton exactly for those reasons.  Whether it’s the outside of a comforter, or making up a quilt, cotton is common, and very useful to have something comfortable.  There are some cons to cotton however; the main being that it does not work well if it gets wet.

Synthetic

Modern textiles such as Polyester, Acrylic, and others are attempts to reproduce many of the features of cotton, at a cheaper price.  They often avoid problems such as shrinking when washed, but are not always as nice as the real thing.  The main liabilities I’ve seen to these are often fragility because of cheap construction, or that they can melt if they get too close to flame.  This of course is more of an issue if you think about candles or lanterns being used in an emergency.

Fleece

Microfleece, Polarfleece, and related fabrics are a modern synthetic material that was developed as a synthetic alternative to wool.  While it might not surpass wool in all areas, it does very well in a lot.  It also has several advantages in it’s own right.  Fleece itself is comparatively inexpensive to wool, is Hydrophobic, very lightweight, and allows perspiration to pass through even when wet.

However, it is not perfect.  Being a petroleum-based product, it is flammable so make sure you get something to treat it for fire resistance.  It also easily generates a lot of static electricity, so be careful when wearing it and dealing with any fuel sources.  Also there are varying qualities of material, and cheaper ones can easily tear, pill, and generally fall apart.

Wool

Wool has been the king of cold-weather gear forever, for very good reasons.  Nature has created a perfect form of winter protection from each of the animals we might get wool from to protect the wearer.  Wool can keep you warm even when wet, if frozen can be the best wind protection you can get, and more.  As for cons, I know my biggest one is that most wools, especially cheap ones cause me to itch until I’m losing skin, and of course the cost for good wool is astronomical.

Making

One thing we’ve done to help our blanket situation is make some of our own.  Now we don’t have the room to set up for quilting, much less the long time to dedicate to it.  But if you do, that’s one of the amazing skills that could do your family a lot of good.  Barring the quilting lifestyle, we’ve learned some other types of blankets we can make with our lower skill level.  My wife has a favorite type of ‘no-sew’ fleece blanket that she has produced for several of us, and quite a few Christmas presents.  And seriously, there isn’t much better on a nice snowy Christmas morning that opening up a warm comfy blanket!  For the cost of whatever size and type of fleece she wants to get, she can quickly make something that our kids can each keep on their bed (and do they ever love theirs), and keeps them quite warm for just a single blanket.

Afghan

One of the more popular types of often homemade blankets that I remember from my childhood in the Afghan blanket.  These are crocheted or knitted blankets of yarn.  While they don’t score points on the windproof scale (large holes in the design), they are wonderful additions when layering on a bed, or having around on the couch.

Quilts

Mrs. Bill Stagg with state quilt, Pie Town, New Mexico (via WikiMedia Commons)

Now quilts, these scare me.  Why?  Because have you ever encountered quilters talking shop?  Listen, I’m one of those hard-core computer geeks that loves to get into the details of what he does, and I’ve got nothing on some of the quilters I’ve known.  If my wife got the quilting bug, my office would be quickly taken over to make room for the construction of quilts.

That said, this old-world craft is an amazing skill, producing some of the best blankets there are.  In my non-quilting-certified summary, a quilt is basically a sandwich of material, a shell filled with ‘batting’ (the nice stuffing inside).  They can be sewn or tied together following a couple different styles, and the work going into them tends to drive people to really invest some quality time in creating wonderful patterns and designs in the quilt itself.

And for any of you readers that are of the quilting lifestyle, hey, we’d love your article submissions about it!

Our youngest daughter has a beautiful quilt given by her grandmother, it’s an excellent example of how a blanket (quilt in this case) can be a practical gift.

Buying

While we *love* our homemade blankets, we do want more.  Just a single blanket is nice in the winter when the thermostat is still keeping things at that point where my wife just *grumbles* about the temperature.  However in a time of need we will require more.  So we’ve been shopping around for potential family Christmas presents with blankets in mind.  Here are a few types to consider.

Surplus

The armies of the world have been making various types of wool blankets for years to keep the troops warm during the ‘cold’ war.  And of course, these are now all available throughout the internet, and the various catalogs and surplus stores everywhere.  Prices have gone up over the years on these, but there are still many types around in the sub $20 range, but they can vary greatly.  Most of these will be the common twin size, perfect for an individual bed, stuffing in your sleeping bag, or similar usage.  I took one with me to college and kept it under my fitted sheet, keeping the underside a little warmer.

What you need to look for in a surplus wool blanket is first, how used is it.  Some are new, some, not so much.  And it is wool, so you have to be careful cleaning it.  After that, check out what type of blend it is.  Different countries used different amounts of wool, from 50%, to some even 100%.  What makes up the other amount?  Some are cotton, some might be synthetic.  If you are planning on taking this camping in the snow, avoid a cotton one of course.  The price of the blanket will often reflect the wool percentage, which then also effects the overall weight, form 2.5lbs, up to 4 on  a single twin sized blanket.

OD Wool Blanket -US Army Style

Fox Outdoor, Misc., $17.75

But maybe you want something a bit larger, or like me, you really want something a lot more comfortable.  The wool quality in the surplus blankets sure isn’t Cashmere or anything nice.  So while we have some of these blankets, we want a little more.  This goes doubly so when my wife explains that ‘dirty gray’ surplus colors just don’t go with the decorations she has planned.

Hudsons Bay

The king of the wool blankets is the legendary Hudsons Bay blanket.  These blankets were created by the Hudsons Bay corporation, and used by mountain men when trading with natives.  They are the ones who came up with a standard point system that is still used today.  Each blanket would have a series of bars sewn into a corner defining what size/weight the blanket was.

Nowadays the blankets are a licensed brand, made in the US by Woolrich.  You can pick from the original colors, or they of course have fancier newer designs to fit every form of chic my wife wants.  What is nice though, is that with the shockingly high price tag that I see, I can always remember that they actually use those really nice types of wool that aren’t cheap enough for the military.  As somebody who gets hive’s from wrapping in a surplus blanket, I like that I can cuddle with one of these, and actually feel comfort.  They also last forever, of a quality level that you can have with your through the years, much like good quilts can get handed down between generations.

Woolrich 72 by 90-Inch Hudson Bay 4 Point Blanket, Natural with Multi Stripes

Woolrich Home, Misc., $259.00

While Hudsons Bay brand is a well known name, there are some other manufacturers creating blankets of similar quality (but also price) out there.  Reputable manufacturers such as Pendleton have equally comfortable coverings in a variety of styles.  Before buying from a different manufacturer than one of these well-known brands I would try to find a local source to get an actual feel for the blanket.  If I’m spending that much money, I have to make sure it’s worth it, and not just slightly above surplus material, steel wool, or carpet feel.

Down Comforters

Another important addition to the blanket world is the comforter.  From the ultra-cheap, purely synthetic, to fancy down-filled these puffy bags of air are important.  Why? because they work, that air in there is holding in the heat, which is why sleeping bags have used them as a basis for years.  Down, like wool, has been used because it is what nature created for the purpose.  It was a natural resource that farmers could harvest each year to get warmer.  Modern synthetic versions can improve in certain respects, by providing less expensive alternatives for those of us with realistic budgets, as well as being able to clean them at home.

Electric Blankets

I can’t go without mentioning this.  This is one blanket that my wife considers one of the greatest gifts I ever gave her.  Every Winter night I get a nice reminder of how amazing the blanket is.  Now, is an electric blanket something we can just count on for emergency preparedness?  Of course not, if the power goes out, then it’s just a slightly thin fleece blanket.  However, the blanket is very useful for the preparedness-minded person in other ways.  First off, with the blanket on our bed we are able to lower our thermostat to a much lower level than we used to, heating only our bed itself is a far better deal than heating the whole house.  This practice is something that is very good to get used to, because it helps you conserve your resources far better in the event of a real emergency.

Sunbeam Royal Nights Heated Blanket, Twin, Mushroom

Sunbeam, Kitchen, $59.99

Usage

Of course most of our blankets wind up covering us on the bed during the winter, but remember to always have some extras.  If you are comfortable with your blankets when the heat is on, you’ll obviously need more when there is no power.  But there are also other uses you might want some for.  I keep an extra surplus blanket in my car kit during the winter, in case I get stuck.  Not only is it great to keep you warm if you are stuck in the car, but a cheap surplus blanket is a great thing to kneel down on when changing a flat tire on the side of the road.  I’ve even wound up using one for extra traction on a very stuck car, and while very hard on the blanket, it actually stood up just fine to the abuse.

The blankets are also great to help cover windows, or doorways to enclose rooms in your house to retain heat during a power outage.  This segmenting/partitioning lowers the actual area you need to heat, and the thicker the sheet (like wool), the more efficient it is.

After spending so long typing this, I think I now hear the ominous sounds of the jaws-theme, as my wife approaches with ice-clad hands and feet.  So before their more than magnetic attraction to my natural heat production causes me to shriek in pain, let me finish by encouraging you too to look into adding to your selection of warmth retaining bedding.  From surplus blankets, to ultra-high-end wool blankets, homemade fleece, to large quilt projects, there is a vast selection of blankets that you can add to your bed.  Or in this season of giving, why not consider a blanket.  An emergency preparedness item that can go well even with the most uptight person you know.

Phil’s Series on Winter Driving: [1 (Prepping Your Vehicle), 2 (Gear Supplements), 3 (Driving Tips)]

Building a Vehicle Emergency Kit – Do you have what you need in your car if you were stranded?

My top things to always remember:

• Never drive with less than half a tank of gas.  You don’t want to get stranded because traffic is stopped for hours, especially in a storm
• Make sure your tires are in good condition.  The best thing you can do to make sure your car stays in the correct direction on the road.
• Know your routes.  If you know a road isn’t safe, take some alternates that you know.
• Have your “get home bag” ready.  You never know when you might be on the wrong side of a roadblock from an accident, or plowing.  Who knows what worse could happen.  Be ready to sit it out, no matter the conditions.
• Just *having* chains won’t do you much good if you don’t know how/when to use them.

Our physical needs prioritized – The Rule of 3′s

1. 3 minutes without Air or Blood
2. 3 hours without Shelter/Warmth
3. 3 days without Water
4. 3 weeks without Food

But, you won’t be bleeding or without air in every emergency situation so this list is not perfectly prioritized and it is lacking some priorities.

One of the biggest challenges to becoming prepared is, “Where Do I Start” and “What Are My Priorities?”  Phil has shared his Evacuation Preparedness List which took a tremendous amount of time and experience to evaluate, prepare and share with all of us. Some people might become overwhelmed looking at a list like this because it could take years to afford everything on this list, or indecision as to where to start could lead to not doing anything. Phil intended his list to be “all inclusive” and then pared down to personal needs/skills/desires. So where to start?

Start With The Priorities. Priorities create a framework against which to evaluate each preparedness item and idea. With each item you consider adding to your list to acquire, learn or do, ask yourself, “Do I have higher priorities than this that I haven’t taken care of yet?” For example: What good will your food storage be if you freeze to death the first day or die from some other cause weeks before you would have starved to death? What will kill your fragile fleshy body the fastest? Take care of these priorities first. Your priorities may be different than mine, but you must have in your mind a priority framework so that everything you learn and evaluate makes sense and has a prioritized place.

I submit the following list of Priorities for your consideration. Over the past week I have contemplated the following list and the Rule of 3′s above. I have re-arranged the lists, questioned each item, combined them, etc. and finally whole-heartedly accepted the list below as my own priority framework. I learned the list below from Jim Phillips, but now I have completely internalized this list and it is now mine, exactly as I learned it.

Emergency Preparedness Priorities:

1. Clothing
2. Water
3. Sanitation
4. Special Needs

Clothing
I would submit that Utahns in general are less prepared in this area than any other area of preparedness. Clothing is your first layer of protection against danger. You can quickly be in trouble and even die at 60° F if you become wet and cold. It only takes 3 hours or less to die in the cold and 93% of Utahns (yes I did calculate this) live where cold is the norm for most of the year. Just today, mid-June, ice fell from the sky at my house. More people die above freezing than below zero because we just simply are not prepared to live, not just visit for a few hours, but live 24/7/365 in the cold without the heated boxes we live and transport ourselves in. Clothing is our protection, our portable shelter and our heat source. Proper clothing is the least expensive, longest term, universal solution for dealing with the cold. It is only without proper clothing that we must use shelter, fire, etc.

Water
3 days without water. That’s all we get whether we are in an emergency situation or not. I would submit that this is the second area where Utahns are least prepared. We need clean water with us, we must know how to find it,  we must be able to collect it, we must know how to purify it and have the tools/expertise to do so.

Sanitation
1 day to several weeks. Sanitation includes protection from anything we might contract through the air or by touching. It also includes the elimination of fecal matter or anything else that would endanger our health. Even if it takes several weeks to die from lack of sanitation, you still died and all your other preps become worthless. Sanitation is much more than toilet paper and disposing of bodily waste. We must have the knowledge, skill and products to sanitize surfaces, keep from touching unsanitary objects and disposing of dead animals/bodies. Sanitation is a frequently avoided subject since, well, it is an uncomfortable subject. Talking about manly tools is cool. Talking about food storage is, comfortable. Sanitation? Uncomfortable, but essential. Get over it. Become an expert. Protect yourself and your family. Sanitation is a priority no matter what the emergency is.

Previous sanitation posts include DIY Homemade Sanitizer and Pandemic Quarantine Preparedness.

Special Needs
Some people might die within minutes or hours without electricity to keep life-support machines working or critical medications. You can bleed to death in 3 minutes or less. Personal protection may be the top priority is some scenarios. As you evaluate your personal life-sustaining needs, is there something that is absolutely essential to your survival? For some people there may not be any Special Needs.

What is missing? In Utah where Emergency Preparedness=Food Storage, I’m sure there are many that believe food is a priority. Food is not a life-saving priority! It takes 30-40 days to starve to death depending on who you ask (but yes you will get progressively weaker). In the majority of emergency scenarios, things will be fairly normal within 30 days. The chance of starving to death in most emergencies is slim to none. I personally have gone 8 days without eating. I’m still alive.  My point is very simple. If you haven’t taken care of the other priorities, you won’t be alive long enough to even touch your food storage.

Now that I have risked offending everyone reading this, food storage IS important. Being able to produce, acquire and grow food IS very important. Everyone SHOULD have a 2-year supply of food. I am just submitting for your consideration that a 2-year supply of food will be worthless if you haven’t taken care of the other priorities first.

Emergency scenarios fall into two categories, stay-at-home or evacuation. When prioritizing your list of things to learn, acquire, etc. remember to consider both scenarios to ensure you are protected whether at home or away.

My challenge for you is to establish  your own priority framework, re-prioritize your own “lists” against this framework and then acquire, do, learn those items on your list according to your priorities. From my experience this exercise will transform your lists into becoming manageable and less stressful as things are done in “order”. You will also find that you will be less inclined to buy everything someone says you “need” to become prepared as you compare each item against your priority framework.

I told her that I wanted to see if I could make her warm on this trip.  While on the way home she reported that she was quite warm the entire trip with one exception – her feet were freezing in her boots most of the time.  She identified for herself that she really does need to wear wool socks next time.

I wanted to try a couple improvisation ideas – basically how you could use summer camping gear to successfully  keep 4 people (my 3 older kids and I) warm and protected in the winter.   What I wanted to figure out was if putting a small tent in a large tent would keep you warm.  Let me explain.

Tent-Within-A-Tent

If you notice in the picture above, the orange fly covered tent is an 8 man, double dome, summer or 3-season tent.  It is far from sealed up – without the fly on it the only roof is netting – which is great in the summer!  We took two tents, one four and another eight man, and placed the smaller inside the larger tent.  If you look closely at the next picture you’ll see the ‘tent within a tent’ concept.

It’s a little difficult to tell, but the picture is actually taken from within the 8 man tent.  What you’re seeing in the background is actually a 4 man dome tent.

The concept we’re working with is to create an insulating air buffer between the inner 4 man tent (the sleeping tent) and the outer 8 man (protective shell) tent.  By heating the air inside the sleeping tent and also heating the air within the shell tent, we should be able to be within the sleeping tent while continually heating the shell tent and maintain a warm temperature within the sleeping tent.  This proved to be true.

The temperature outside got down to -5 Fahrenheit.  The only problem we had as it got further below freezing was that our propane heater could not keep up with the colder external temps.  It got a little chilly  inside the sleeping tent around 3 in the morning – but that’s because up until then I had been sleeping with my sleeping bag unzipped.  My kids, who stayed in their sleeping bags through the night, didn’t notice that it had gotten cold through the night.  They were actually sleeping in summer bags and did not complain about the cold at all.  With a bigger propane heater, like the Big Buddy that Wade recommends (we were using the smaller Buddy model), I think the temperature would have stayed steady.

The end result of the tent test is that by using the tent-within-a-tent concept we were able to stay very warm in summer sleeping bags in -5 degree weather with a small propane heater.  A word of caution and clarification: as I mentioned above, the shell tent is a very ‘loose’ tent – there is a very high level of air exchange even with the fly on.  Be very careful using this method with a tight tent.  You could subject yourself to carbon monoxide poisoning and death.  As a safety measure, we had a carbon monoxide monitor inside the sleeping tent.

Wall to Wall Carpeting

One of the other issues with snow camping, especially in a summer tent, is the thin floor liner.  There is no insulation at all and sitting or standing barefoot in the outer room leaves only a few millimeters of material between you and the snow.  If you notice in the top picture, there is a large tarp underneath the tent.  This adds a little bit more protection from the snow but, we wanted to be able to sit comfortably in the front room of the tent (we brought 4 chairs and a table with us so we could eat and visit in the warmth of the tent).  To accommodate bare feet in the front room, we cut a piece of carpet that completely covered the floor from front to back and side to side.  You can see the brown carpet in the following picture:

With the tarp pictured below deliberately sticking out several feet in front of the snow to act as a porch, we were able to keep most of the snow from being tracked into the tent.  With several lights and a lantern inside both the shell tent and the sleeping tent we were able to spend a nice, comfortable evening in the front room visiting.  In the morning we were able to move about and get dressed to go outside in the warmth of the front room without tripping over sleeping bags, people and other stuff.

I’ve used many methods over the years for camping in the snow.  This is the first time I’ve tried using summer camping gear to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures.  I’m very happy with the results!  The next time we try this it will be with a Big Buddy heater – or we’ll just use the wall tents I’m planning on buying this year :)

Hopefully some of these techniques can be useful to you.  They demonstrate that it is possible to stay warm in the winter without the more expensive winter shelters and gear.  If it ever become necessary to survive with your family in the winter, preparing to use some of these techniques may be a life saver for you.

Do you have any other ideas or experience with using summer camping gear in the winter?  Please let us know!