how to stay warm on a winter night

**trax** · 07-26-2007, 01:00 PM

If you try the rock burying thing under any frozen ground or snow, that's what you're going to wake up in, a a very cold puddle. The rocks will retain their initial heat for a couple of hours and then cool down, colder it is faster they cool obviously, but they'll still be warmer than anything else around you. Just beware of where you're placing them. It's one of the famous scenes in the movie Jeremiah Johnson where the old guy is teaching Redford how to be a mountain man. They would have both woke up in cold puddles. Rocks don't explode when wet from the outside, you could use rocks from rivers. many kinds of rock are porous and have moisture or sand trapped within them. The lighter materials heat faster than the surrounding rock, expand and having nowhere to go, bang! explosion. A good rule of thumb is harder and smoother rocks, less porous material, less chance of explosion. I think the best suggestion I saw here was building the fire and blocking one side of it, you can use logs, a piece of canvas or tarp at a safe distance and the heat deflects into your shelter.

**trax** · 07-26-2007, 03:08 PM

How to stay warm on a winter night? Crosby Stills Nash and Young...."if you can't be with the one you love--love the one you're with."

Body heat...mmmm....

**BillHay** · 07-26-2007, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by bear

This type of fire is called a reflector fire. The ideal sleeping shelter is a lean-to with its back to the wind and a reflector fire directing heat into the shelter. It is a good idea to gather three times as much wood as you think you will need. When rain or snow is not a threat, a reflector fire directing heat toward a large rock or dirt bank that is blocking the wind can make for a warm place to sleep. The heat is reflected toward the rock or bank and then back onto you. Now you have heat reflecting on you from both sides.

But with the shelter situated to the wind in this manner, you will be choked with smoke while the fire burns . Beware the eddy effect of the wind! The firebed is an incredible way to keep warm on a winter night. If its not working for you then I suggest your doing it incorrectly.

**woodzman** · 07-26-2007, 09:29 PM

I have spent a few winter nights in the woods without a shelter by building two body length fires and sleeping between them. I won't say I had fun, but I managed to stay warm enough and sleep some between fire feedings.

**owl_girl** · 07-26-2007, 09:57 PM

...Cuddle

**woodzman** · 07-26-2007, 10:11 PM

I like your idea better.

**donny h** · 07-26-2007, 11:02 PM

My tips for staying warm on a winters night, these are really backpacking tips but they roughly apply to survival:

Cotton kills. Go wool or synthetic where ever you can.

Eat someting high in fat/calories just before bedtime. Your bodies furnace needs fuel to create heat. This one may be hard for some folks that are kept awake by late snacks, but I swear by it. Chocolate is my favorite. I heard one story of M&Ms going for $1 apiece on Everest.

Generate some body heat before jumping into bed. Jump around, run in place, do some jumping jacks or pushups, the object is to get the blood flowing without actually working up a sweat. Your sleeping gear can't retain heat if there isn't any heat to begin with.

If you are in a decent sleeping bag and it's not extremely cold, then strip down. I've tried both ways many times, I swear I'm warmer in my skivvies in a decent bag than fully dressed in the same bag. It does take a while for body heat to warm up the loft in the bag, a specially marked wide-mouthed hydration bag insures I don't have to leave the bag during the night.

I left the most crucial one for last: Cover your head. Seriously. There's an old saying (Intuit?), "If your feet are cold put on a hat". No efforts to warm yourself will have much success if your bare head is exposed to the chilly air. Find a beanie you can sleep in, and store it in your sleeping bag.

Random thoughts: I tried sleeping in a pit with heated rocks one time, with fair results. It was in the breezy desert, near the middle of a large valley, in sand. I dug a hole deep enough that once the fire warmed rocks were buried in sand, there was room enough for me in the pit and to still be sheltered from the wind.

It worked until the predawn hours when the heat went out of the rocks, then it was ridiculously cold in my little pit. Later I learned about cold air settling in valleys and low pockets, I think the warmed rock principal was sound that night, but my location was flawed.

One time after that, I helped a dude tend his fire for his sweat lodge, and he heated rocks in a roaring oak fire, all day long. I think the lesson I learned was if you want a whole lot of heat in the rocks, it takes a whole lot of fire.

Exploding rocks are the real deal, avoid using rocks gathered from any drainage, pick the ones on high ground, or rocks from existing rings may be dry. Lava rocks are safest. Wear eye-protection (even if you know the rocks are dry), and don't linger at the fire where you're warming them up.

**Sarge47** · 07-26-2007, 11:25 PM

I use the Military fleece/polyproprolene long johns, I can also add sweatshirts & pants if I have to, I like fleece jackets as an inner layer as well.

**Strider** · 07-29-2007, 07:22 PM

Then number one thing to staying warm is to keep your hands, feet, and head warm, at the least. These are the primary heat producers and if they are cold, you are cold; but, if these are warm, you will also be warm. As for methods, if you have some time on your hands, make a good sized fire and get a good bed of coals. Dig a ditch in the soil/sand about 6 inches deep. (not too close, not too deep) Make sure to clear everything away around the hole for about a meter. (maybe more) Then, scoop the coals off of the fire (leave some if you want a fire too) and into the pit, and spread evenly. The best way to do this is with a mess kit (if you have one) or a few large pieces of bark. On the other hand, you can just heat some rocks AROUND, not IN (explosion if in fire) the fier and bury those. The best way for this is if you have a bunch of flat pieces. Lastly, if you don't care to do this type of work, get two or three strong sticks and lean the at a 70-80 degree angle away from you on the other side of the fire, and pile up smaller sticks across these, making a reflection fire. (Make several if you have time... the more the warmer it is)

**Sarge47** · 07-29-2007, 08:41 PM

Here's something I picked up off of one of Discovery's shows and it worked!

If you're laying down and you start feeling cold start tensing all your muscles, then release. Do this over & over again. It helps keep the blood moving.

**trax** · 07-30-2007, 12:46 PM

Have you all been making the assumption that you've got something to move those hot rocks with? The ones that are going to leave you in a puddle anyway? Because I've been to a whole lot of sweatlodges and we use a pitchfork to carry in the rocks. Second and third degree burns on the hands aren't conducive to doing a really good job of surviving. What Strider said about staying warm has validity, a wool hat can save your life in colder climates, we lose 80% of our body heat through our heads, hands and feet are next. I guess that was a couple of questions, but I have one more....owl_girl...cuddle? You wanna go hiking in the cold sometime soon?

Go Wolfpack

**Strider** · 07-30-2007, 01:37 PM

Well, if you are like in the arctic and really desperate for warmth... you can find a large animal, slice open it's underside, and crawl inside. Leave the big organs because they will be warm... cover the opening mostly except for a few air holes... of course, I've never done thins, just read about it...
Of course, I'm probably gonna be thought of as a nut because of this... for a better idea, go up a few to my first post.

**owl_girl** · 07-30-2007, 02:36 PM

Lol trax..

**trax** · 07-30-2007, 02:37 PM

north, that is. Any bodies of water farther north than that are almost always cold enough all year round to cause hypothermia to set in. Getting on to dry land initially will make it worse if there's even a breeze. Lakes, specially big ones, don't change their overall temperature much through the year. It just takes them too long to warm up. You don't have to be in the high arctic to be concerned with the effects and if you've got a bullet to kill a large animal with, you've got gunpowder to start a fire with as well.

If you're somewhere where there is thick moss, you can dig out a "grave sized" patch and it'll lift away in a huge block, like down and pull the moss over yourself and it'll keep you alive. Unpleasant as h###, but I know a guy who saved his own life that way.

**Sarge47** · 07-30-2007, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Strider

Well, if you are like in the arctic and really desperate for warmth... you can find a large animal, slice open it's underside, and crawl inside. Leave the big organs because they will be warm... cover the opening mostly except for a few air holes... of curse, I've never done thins, just read about it... other ppl have though, and it has saved a few lives...

Didn't I see that on an old "Star Wars" episode once?

**Strider** · 07-30-2007, 03:12 PM

I dunno sarge... I'm not a star wars fan much... might've though... i like history and i remember that the Indians crossing the bering strait killed mammoths for warmth, some to make clothes, others just to crawl inside...

**trax** · 07-30-2007, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

Didn't I see that on an old "Star Wars" episode once?

Just using the force makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, on a completely different note, owl-girl...grab your boots!!

**nell67** · 07-30-2007, 07:06 PM

owl-girl LOL u asked for that hehehe!!!!

**trax** · 07-31-2007, 12:08 PM

If you're with someone else and staying warm just to survive is an issue, huddling and cuddling will help plenty in keeping you warm enough to stay alive.

**nell67** · 07-31-2007, 05:08 PM

yup ,I knoew ,its why if someone fall into frozen water the first thing you should do is remove clothing from both the victom and yourself and get as close as you can to help warm them up.