Winter Backpacking Tips
by: Steve Gillman
Winter backpacking can mean your footprints are the only ones out there. That adds to the beauty of the experience, but also to the danger. Alone and in a cold enviroment, it's important to know what to do in an emergency. Learning a few basic cold weather survival skills can save your life.
Fire Making
Imagine slipping into a stream and soaking everything with you, when you are more than a day from the nearest road and it's below freezing out. What would you do? Start a fire, of course, but can you?
Always carry waterproof matches, and practice starting a fire in the cold BEFORE you go winter backpacking. Learn which tinders work even when wet. Birch bark, for example, will burn when wet, and so will sap from pines and spruces. You may have only minutes before your fingers get too cold to function, so speed is of the essence.
Winter Backpacking - Survival Shelters
You'll probably have a tent with you, but you still may want to learn shelter building using snow blocks. Sometimes you can stomp out blocks without tools, using your feet, and then liff them from beneath. Just play around in your backyard until you get the hang of it. In an emergency, or if the weather turns extremely cold, you may want to put your tent behind a wall of snow blocks, to stop the wind.
If it isn't raining, a quick survival shelter for warmth is a pile of dry leaves, grass, braken ferns or other plants. I once collected enough dried grass from a frozen swamp in thirty minutes to make a pile several feet thick. I slept warmly in the middle of it (half the insulating grass above, half below) with just a jacket, despite below freezing temperatures.
Staying Dry
You can be wet and warm when it far below freezing, as long as you are active. The moment you stop moving, however, you start to lose your body heat. Once you get chilled through, it is difficult to get warm again. Hypothermia (a lowered body temperature) kills many people every year.
If you get wet, try to get dry before you go to sleep. Put dry clothes on if you have them, and use a fire to dry any wet clothes. Earlier in the day, you may be able to hang damp clothes on your pack to dry in the sun. Often when it is coldest, the air is dryer.
Try not to sweat. Adjust your layers, removing and adding shirts, sweaters and jackets as necessary to keep from getting too hot or too cold. Sweat, and clothes damp with sweat, will cause you to lose body heat fast once you stop moving. Stay dry to stay warm.
There are many other cold weather survival skills that you may want to learn. (You can generate heat by eating fatty foods, for example.) You don't need to know hundreds of skills and techniques, but why not learn a few basics, like the ones above, before your next winter backpacking trip?
About The Author
Steve Gillman is a long-time advocate of lightweight backpacking. For more on winter backpacking, plus tips, photos, stories and a new Wilderness Survival Guide, visit The Ultralight Backpacking Site: http://www.The-Ultralight-Site.com/wilderness-survival-guide.html.
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Preventing Rape
Preventing Rape
by: Robert Young
If you are in immediate danger of being raped, here are some things that you can do.
Make a loud noise - Carry a whistle or scream "police" to attract attention.
Run - Only run if there is somewhere safe to run to.
If there is no where to go, you may aggravate the assailant further by running.
Stall - Speak calmly and rationally.
Try not to plead, cry, or show that you're scared.
This may be the reaction that he is looking for.
Urinate or vomit - Do anything that you can to repulse the assailant.
Tell him that you have a STD or AIDS.
Fight - Women who resist attacks and act quickly are less likely to be raped than those who are passive.
The optimum time to react is in the first 20 seconds when the body releases chemicals in the blood that help to put up a fight.
Be cautious if he has a weapon.
Keep alert - Even though it will...
Preventing Rape
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Making Clothes For Backpacking
by: Steve Gillman
Making clothes? If you enjoy backpacking AND sewing, go for it. As for myself, I started buying gear again after the first hundred tedious hours of sewing . Then I discovered that there are some backpacking clothes you can make cheaply and quickly.
Making Hand Warmers
Stick your hands inside a pair of socks and mark where your fingertips and thumb-tip are, using a pen or marker. Then cut holes where the marks are. You now have hand warmers that leave your fingers free. Mine weigh about an ounce, but this depends on the socks that you use. You can use these under other gloves or mittens in colder weather, and when you remove your mittens to tie your shoes, you won't totally expose your hands.
Instant Insulated Vest
Buy 1/2" poly batting at any fabric store. I bought mine at Walmart. This is the stuff that is used to make pillows, stuffed animals and quilts. It comes as a big sheet,...
Making Clothes For Backpacking
Clothes > Making Clothes For Backpacking
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Go Discount Shopping Before You Pack
by: Chris Robertson
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The first step in organizing your travel is to invest in good luggage. If you're a frequent traveler, quality luggage will hold up well over the course of your journeys. If you're a weekend or vacation traveler, your luggage will last for years and you won't have to worry that the materials will crack or degrade.
The next step for...
Go Discount Shopping Before You Pack
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7 Must Haves For A Beach Vacation Wardrobe
7 Must Haves For A Beach Vacation Wardrobe
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7 Must Haves For A Beach Vacation Wardrobe
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Winter Dog Agility Training
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Yes, its cold outside, but don't stop your dog's agility training. Depending on where you live, there might be snow on the ground from November through March, but thats no reason to give up your agility training. Bring your training indoors, right at your own home.
Get creative with your training locations. Do you have a hallway, basement, or garage? Then you have a place to train! Before it snows and your...
Clothes Winter Dog Agility Training Winter Backpacking Tips potty training
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Investing Is About Discipline
by: Kevin Bauer
Investing is about Discipline
If you don't have discipline then walk away from the idea of being rich. You see, getting rich without discipline is relying on the lottery or your favorite pony ambling past the finish line in front. And how likely is that...?
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Investing Is About Discipline Clothes life insurance
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Las Vegas Party Theme Ideas
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by: Dee Schrock
Bring the fun and excitement of Las Vegas, baby, to your home and friends by hosting a As Vegas-themed party! Throw on your boas and top hats to host in Vegas style!
Activity Ideas
* Give each guest poker chips, play money, and dice when they arrive.
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Clothes > Las Vegas Party Theme Ideas
Honey, I Eliminated The Mortgage Interest Deduction ? Plan 2
Honey, I Eliminated The Mortgage Interest Deduction ? Plan 2
by: Dan Lewis
A bipartisan committee has made two recommendations to President Bush regarding tax reform. In this article, we take a look at the second option.
Tax Reform
A year ago or so, President Bush decided to spend his political capitol on tax reform and fixing social security. Social security reform went down in flames, so now it is time to see if tax reform is an option.
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