1. Get Oriented
You shouldn't venture on so much as a day trip without your compass, and perhaps a GPS unit if your trip is taking you into the back country. Even skilled backpackers can become disoriented quickly in whiteout conditions, and if you're in hilly terrain, you risk injury or death if you walk off a cliff.
2. Snow Shelter
If you find yourself unintentionally spending the night in winter conditions without shelter preparations, attempt to build a snow shelter. If you encounter bad weather when backpacking in an area with evergreens, you may discover a ready-made shelter under the lower branches of the tree, which traps the snow. Otherwise, you can dig a snow cave into the hillside, making sure to equip your cave with a ventilation hole to prevent toxic carbon monoxide buildup.
3. Wear a Hat for Cold Toes
Backpackers often worry about protecting their digits in extreme temperatures, but a bigger concern in winter weather is heat loss through the head. If you leave your head uncovered in frigid conditions, you can say goodbye to as much as 70 percent of your body heat as it rushes off into the ether. It's important to protect your toes and fingers from frostbite, but if your toes are cold, you should be wearing a hat.
4. Layering Essentials
If you must spend the night in freezing conditions or hunker down through a whiteout, wear every layer you have in your backpack. If you brought a sleeping bag, sleep with your head outside of the bag to prevent moisture from condensing in the bag from your breath, but place your hiking footwear in the bag so it won't be frozen in the morning. When you start moving, remove layers just before you break a sweat so you won't become clammy.
5. Don't Eat Liquids
Although your body may require as much as 5000 calories per day if you're backpacking in winter snow conditions, the real threat to survival is hydration. Even if you're snowed into a shelter and expending little energy, you lose a large amount of moisture through condensation as you breathe, and your kidneys require water to process wastes. It's imperative that backpackers dealing with severe winter conditions not eat snow for hydration. This can bring on rapid hypothermia, from which it's difficult to recover. Instead, lay a black garbage bag in a depression you carve in the ground in a sunny area, and fill it with clean snow. The sun's warmth will melt enough snow to drink.
Member Comments