Winter Survival - Any ideas?

[payne]

Hello everyone!
I'm not sure if you remember me: I used to post about some adventures of mine, be it survival-related, or simple travel-related.
I just came back from a 2-years-long hitchhiking trip from Montreal to Alaska, down to Argentina, and back up to Ecuador. Absolutely wonderful.

Anyways, every winter that I am back home, in Montreal, I tend to invite a bunch of friends to come and practice some survival skills further up north in Quebec.
This will be the 5th season we do it. Some have showed up almost every year, which is nice.

I am looking forward to gathering some ideas from you.
Here are some of the activities we used to do:
- Build a primitive shelter to spend a night in (that is a requisite to showing to those events). We have done Lean-to's, A-frames, and quimzys, so far. We highly enjoy doing the quimzys, but it'd be nice to have a variant. I've been thinking about a raised-floor wooden shelter (the main thing is trying to keep off the ground during the night... and Fir Branches, from my experience, aren't exactly enough).
- Start a fire with certain extra restrictions added in (only with a magnesium bar, bow-drill, 5 matches, etc.)
- Winter fishing through a hole on the frozen lake
- Primitive snowshoe making
- Setting up traps in the woods

And non-survival related activities such as hockey on the lake, snowball fights, and what not.

Anyways... any shelter or fire related propositions? Or anything else?

Thank you!

[crashdive123]

Good to see you back Payne. While it may take a little longer - at tepee or yurt might be a fun project for your group.

[madmax]

If your snow is right...an igloo?

[kyratshooter]

Ahh, your first two replies are from guys in Florida!

The ones of us up here in snow country are all huddles around the fire under some form of roof.

you might look into a Moors Kochenski type "super shelter", or even the plastic house done by some Russian guy a few years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGSC8iYhC7k

[madmax]

LOL. Yeah yeah Kyrat. Doncha know most everybody in FL is from up north.

...I've never built an igloo before though...

[hunter63]

Well, Good to see you made it....has been a while, always kind of wondered how you were fairing.

Would interested to hear what you used for shelters in your travels?

The shelters you are planning...semi permanent? ...or just a night or two?.....tarps, tents.... natural materials available?...pine/fir/dead falls?

Tipis or Wikiup's seem to me the best bet as done properly are able to have a central fire pit.....and can be natural materials...(takes a long time to gather covering material.

[payne]

I have had 3 different tents throughout my travels:

1) MEC Camper-2
2) MSR Hubba-Hubba
3) MARMOT (can't remember which one)

All of them are 2-persons tent, 3-seasons.
#1 would often have its poles or zippers break quickly, but was cheap.
#2 was absolutely amazing. Very compact and lightweight. 2 doors. Great pole-design and fastest set-up I've seen for a tent. After a year and a half enduring the Latin American harsh sun, though, it lost a bit of its waterproofness. Which is when someone ended up destroying, and that's where #3 comes in.
#3 was expensive for not such a good quality, but was somewhat the best choice available to me in Ecuador. Weirder design. Weird waterproof cover measurements that make it so that you actually need to use the strings and what not to keep the water from coming in (the MSR would be absolutely fine without any extra work to prevent water from getting inside).

The Hubba-Hubba is the absolute best tent I have ever stumbled upon. Highly recommended. Definitely worth the price if you plan on living inside it, as I did.

-------------

The shelters we'll build are meant for max 2 nights.
Material-wise, we're talking birch and fir majorly. And some other tree with a nice leaf that doesn't fall off easily in the winter, burns very well, and is somewhat waterproof so even though it's covered in ice, it will pick up in flames very nicely. I can't remember the name of that tree, though.

[madmax]

+1 on the Hubba Hubba.

[hunter63]

If you are not bringing a tarp, I think I would stay with a simple lean two...with off ground platform.
Moors Kochenski type "super shelter seems to be a lot of work and materials....as well as tarps.....more suited to long term stay.

[Rick]

Give each one an "injury" they must deal with such as broken fingers (can only use one hand), broken arm, injured back. Those would be real life scenarios that anyone of us might have to deal with. Try starting a fire with only one hand if all you have are matches or knife and fero rod. Splint your own arm then perform some task. You get the idea.

[Billofthenorth]

How about a field expedient sauna? Any good survivalist needs to know how to deal with the grueling ordeal of 100+ degree steamy temperatures in mid-winter.

[payne]

I like the last two ideas. Thank you!

I also added "Change mushroom hunting" as an activity since there is a decent amount of birch trees around.

[NE Survival]

If snow allows, a snow drift cave. I've never tried one but I'm sure it would work out.

[Antonyraison]

I dont know anything about snow survival, hahah it doesn't really snow here in Southern africa, and if it does its in very remote parts maybe a foot of it at most.
However I have some suggestions for other activities on your list;

* fire making with bow drill, using all natural materials ,even for the string, and not using a knife, just stone tools to make it - Seems very challenging.
*run a simulated search and rescue ; assign teams, and pick some one to have an injury, then you must search for him/her.. and assess situation, and treat wounds with what you have, i.e broken leg, possible spine damage,etc (whatever you want) maybe you would even need them too build a stretcher?
* split people in teams, get them to make signal fires, and see which team gets their signal fire going first, ie which was light 1st and was smoking enough to draw attention.

[1stimestar]

Hey welcome back! I often wondered what ever happened to you.

[kappydell]

If your snow is right...an igloo?

How about a snow cave...easier. Especially if some kind soul snow-blows some nice deep artificial drifts to play with! I made one once in my front yard by blowing up some garbage bags with air to make air bladders, piling them up and snow blowing damp snow over the top about 1 foot thick. Waited for it to freeze over a couple nights to firm up the 'drift' then dug thru and popped the air bladders & pulled them out. Result? A snow cave! (I didn't have any good drifts to spare for a natural snow cave. The best one was in front of my door and I had to dig my way thru it to get out of the house...LOL...no seriously. So I made a fake drift.

[LowKey]

I wonder what Payne has been up to these days. Hasn't been around for the past 9 months.

[Graf]

I winter camp in Michigan, I buy tents at garage sales cut the majority of the floor out and use a pit fire. I zip a short length of 2” pvc in the door for ventilation. 1 year I heated the ground up with fire and was able to make the frozen ground diggable and made a Dakota fire pit that worked great. I usally cover the outside of the tent with old army wool blankets for insulation. To keep off the ground I use army cots. For the fishing part I use tip ups so I can do other things while trying to catch fish.

[kyratshooter]

Paye is probably somewhere in Tahiti smoking mushrooms and soaking up the sun.

And I just about guarantee he got the trip over there being paid for working on a cruise ship and he is living on nothing while being hosted by the local natives.

You can do that when you are 19.

[1stimestar]

Aw yes, he's probably "living the dream".