Winter Is Coming-Check Your Gear!!

With the sun setting earlier and the temperatures dipping as we head into fall and eventually winter you should be sure and check all of the gear you will be using for your cold weather adventures.

Tune the skis, check the clothing for wear and tear, sharpen the ice axes, and make sure you can find both gloves!!

One of the most overlooked aspect of season change is your survival gear, especially the Ten Essentials. This is the time of year when I like to set it all out, from my personal survival kit to my ditch kit and vehicle first aid. Winter brings new dangers that require a separate list of equipment.

For my personal survival kit I check and change the following:
Signal: Check that the whistle has not cracked, and signal mirror is in working order, and add red Kool-Aid for signaling in snow.

Fire: I check that my lighter is full and still works in cold weather (a lot of gas station butane lighters falter in extreme cold) and that I have adequate tender often I will switch to Vaseline coated cotton balls because the Vaseline can be used for cold and wind cracked skin as well! I also will add a small piece of heavy duty aluminum foil to the pack for a fire base.

Food: I switch out the Powerbars to Clif bars because a frozen Powerbar will easily break a tooth whereas the frozen chunky Clif bar is easier to snap apart. And the Clif bars take longer to digest for more inner warmth.

Tools: I lube my multi-tool or knife and ensure the blades are sharp, and make sure I have 25′ of 550 or parachute cord as well, because I use it for everything I often will have shortened it a great deal over the summer.

Clothing: I add a balaclava or Buff as well as a few hand warmers and wool glove liners. And I sometimes switch out my sun glasses for glacier style glasses to protect my eyes from reflected light off of snow.

I also make sure I reread about land navigation in snowy conditions and try and get out to build shelters in winter conditions as soon as we have some snow on the ground.

For those of you still using metal whistles or whistles with cork or plastic balls in them the cork will break apart and the plastic ball can shatter!! You have been warned!

Be sure and try to use all of your gear with gloves on. Things change rapidly and in cold temperatures you definitely don’t want to have to remove gloves to utilize your survival gear!!

The worst time to realize you are hazy on your survival skills is during a survival situation, so be sure and study up and be prepared.