Editor’s Note: This post is another entry in the Prepper Writing Contest from Huples. If you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly win a $300 Amazon Gift Card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter today.
Currently enjoying the first real Winter storm of the season up here in Canada and I must say I really like it. Got me thinking about those things relating to Winter survival that are either not really talked about or, worse yet, ignored. I am assuming you do not have a massive solar array and geothermal power. I am also assuming you live in the snow belt meaning two to five months of Winter and arctic temperatures.
It is Snowing. A lot!
Here at work I just opened our Storm accommodation plan so staff can sleep overnight rather than risk life, limb, and fenders trying to get home as 20cm of snow falls (8 inches). They have the option to sleep in warm, dry, secure location and get a free meal voucher. Awesome deal but in SHTF when it snows hard it gets complex. Stay or go? I’d stay put until the obvious storm front has passed me by as I really will have no idea if the snow is stopping in an hour or going to keep dropping the next three days.
This means in the Winter season you always need to have a Winter bug in kit on you at all times you know you cannot easily get back to home base. You should always have a compass on you in SHTF as fog, rain, and snow can easily get you lost real fast even close to home base. This is my minimum gear I’d have on me if venturing any distance in the Winter season in Southern Ontario away from the home base.
- Emergency bivvy bag. Many makes of these are available. Get an expensive one you can reuse. In SHTF you cannot reorder from Amazon easily.
- Emergency stove and fuel. The goal here is to boil water for hot drinks and food and to get a bit of heat. I’d use my BioLite but a basic rocket stove made from an old number 10 tin can would work great. Carry fuel and ignition. Snow means getting a new supply might be impossible. The BioLite Wood Burning Campstove is expensive and heavy but really awesome on fuel usage and heat. It also charges a good light source (get the orange one not the blue version)
- The clothes I’d be wearing would be Winter proofed. Look up and learn how to dress for Arctic temperatures. I’d have extra gloves, hat, socks, and leg/arm thermal wrapped in the pack as well.
- Metal water container that can be used to boil water. Some emergency filters won’t work so well in minus temperatures however hard you suck on the ice!
- Emergency shovel. Dig a hole and then a ditch around the base so water will run away from you. Consider covering it to make a snow cave. Know how to do this safely.
- Those high calorie life boat rations and MREs would also be great in this situation. I’d want 5000 Cal minimum but 10000 Cal would be safer. Candies and a couple of boil in the bag meals will help with variety.
- A couple of Mylar survival blankets and a 6 by 10 piece of transparent plastic sheet. The better the survival shelter, the warmer you will be.
- 50 feet of paracord.
- Decent amount of duct tape
- Folding saw and a knife in case fuel is available
- Flash light that works without solar or batteries. Hand crank or squeeze (I use the BioLite for this one).
- Sun glasses
- Sun screen. I never use it except in the Winter. So easy to burn your face
At this point you are probably rolling your eyes but this kit is for my local conditions not for yours! Deep snow is a killer up here and will be much worse in SHTF. Mostly I won’t venture more than 2 miles from home base and this is my minimum carry is for extend trips beyond 10 miles in December through March. It would be a lot smaller for local sojourns. If you can safely get back to home base then get back to it. If unsure bug in and make camp until it is safe to walk home. What did I miss? What should I not carry? Let me know in the comments and why of course. I excluded snow shoes as I’d have them on if it had already snowed but would not carry them if it had not. I can make a pair using the folding saw, knife, and paracord if I had to.
Winter Storm in SHTF from your cozy bug in or bug out location
If you have prepped right and have been lucky then you should have adequate calories and comfort to survive the storm. If not then you are SOL. However these are some of my ideas that might be overlooked by some in SHTF.
Toilet Paper
I have loads of it but it will run out. The supply I have will be withdrawn from circulation after the first four weeks of SHTF. I will tell my girlfriend she has to let go of the past and embrace the now. Likely she will leave me at this point and I will have doubled my supply of white rice! The paper toilet paper will be strictly only for use if sick or in deep Winter (and her birthday. I’m not heartless). I have precut a large supply of linen toilet ‘paper’ from old jeans and shirts. In the warmer months that is what is used to wipe and polish. In deep Winter the ability not to have to wash the toilet rags will be an awesome asset (pun intended) and avoid a real problem in arctic temperatures.
Fuel
For me this will be wood. I plan worse case and SHTF forever. You need about 5 cords of wood to get through the Winter here but around my bug in home I can collect wood for sure 10 months of the year so this can be reduced. At my bug out cottage that drops to about 8-9 months of the year. Sure I can hack down standing dead trees but realistically how many of them will be close to me abode after a few months? Wood gathering and storing will be a continual endeavor all year-long. Collect birch and ignition materials will also be a yearlong activity. However if I can avoid chopping and processing wood when it is below minus 10C then I absolutely will. Sure that makes for great looking prepper videos but to me it means they did not prep smart.
Exercise in SHTF should be avoided and exercise in arctic temperatures should only be done in a life or death situation. Like the bears your plan should be to basically sleep through the worst of the Winter. Using wood from one or two years ago that has been stacked properly is a great idea but think for a moment. In SHTF you will probably use your entire stock of wood in the first year if you neglect to add to the supply each and every day. Like toilet paper you never, ever can store enough wood but try.
Fuel Storage
Fuel for me means wood. I do not expect gasoline or propane to be widely available in SHTF and do not construct my preps around anything that cannot be found or used 5 years down from the SHTF event(s). Wet wood needs to dry before use. Cold wood needs to be warmed before use as does kindling. You can, with effort, work around this but why even try? Your bug in or bug out place needs to be able to accommodate a large supply of wood and ignition material inside the place. Going outside in a storm is the last thing you will want to do and having an ample inside store means not opening the door and prewarmed and dry wood. Have lots of mouse and rat traps as the critters love wood piles. In the Spring store wood at least 30 feet from your shelter. Have a wheelbarrow to help move wood and water around when there is no snow.
Water
If safe to drink then snow can easily be melted provided you have lots of wood available. Remember to add unfrozen water to the pan and add snow slowly in small amounts and stir. If can and will burn if you just dump it into the hot pan. You need to use a window or an additional chimney to direct the steam outside your shelter. Water vapor gets everywhere and moisture can kill you in SHTF. Bang a few empty cans together and use aluminum foil to funnel the rising steam into the cans. Have it open through a window and use bubble wrap and duct tape to seal. Block the inside end with cloth when not creating steam.
You should have a lot of treated water stored year round but remember to move it inside the warm room before freezing starts to occur.
Home is where the hearth is
One room is your home in the deep Winter. Heat that one room and use plastic sheets and Mylar to reflect heat back into the room and trap heat in the room. Bubble wrap should have been hoarded for all the windows before SHTF. Hand plastic sheets on both sides of all the doors and avoid using them as much as possible. Stack soil and wood around the outsides of that inner room to add insulation but make sure it is in trash bags and is dry.
Set up a tent inside this room to sleep in but, as with the plastic sheets make sure there is zero risk of a fire or a melting happening. Have several fire extinguishers and a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm inside this room as well. If you cannot set up adequate ventilation do not use anything other than the fireplace to cook in. I’m using the BioLite as well as the fireplace but with the additional ventilation system for steam described above.
Plan how to gather more fuel and food in the warmer months. Figure out how to preserve that food for the next Winter. Keep mentally busy as Winter is not a great time to wander around outside when snow is on the ground. It takes far too much energy to do so and has a lot of risks.
The Roof
Have a suitably angled roof for your worst case snow fall activity. Sure you can go up a ladder and sweep it off but I can tell you a lot of elderly males get spinal injuries each and every year in Ontario from doing that. Have your roof renewed more frequently than you need as roofers will be in short supply in SHTF.
Winter SHTF is not all suffering, eh?
Can you skate and do you have frozen rivers and lakes near you? For most of Ontario’s history travel in the Winter was easier than in the Summer and this will happen again a few years into SHTF as the bridges fall and the roads fail. Good time to go out and meet the neighbors. Winter is a wonderland and a great time to think about ice fishing.
Keep a supply of pre SHTF goodies hidden away and some tinsel. December 25th or as near as you guess the date to be wrap up some presents using newspaper and eat some decent food. Sing carols and make merry. This birthday and special day celebration is what makes suffering through SHTF worth while. Never neglect to think about how to make yourself happy in SHTF even if most days it will be as awful as the weather is right now 🙂
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
The only observation/suggestion I can think of, is to consider Gorilla Tape in lieu of regular duct tape. When it gets too cold, many standard duct tapes will fail to adhere to surfaces, and even itself.
Thanks Bob. I have gorilla tape but went with generic for article.
Had another seven inches today. It’s glorious outside but the dogs hate it.
Picture from last year. I’ll take some tomorrow for those southerners with snow envy
I think most don’t realize how poorly most duct tape will adhere to surfaces and itself in sub-freezing weather.
For the past few days I’ve been working on a bug-out plan, but this blast of cold weather has changed my thinking a bit. While I understand that it may not be safe to stay in my suburban home then the SHTF, the danger may be far greater if I choose to bug out during a period of extreme cold weather. I think I’ll focus on supplies, fortifications, and a defensive plan, right here in the comfort of my home. Working on a “get-home” bag to keep in my car seems to be a good idea as well.
I’ve a pretty substantial GHB that lives in my car, specifically stocked with the expectation that my 40+ mile walk will not be a day and a half walk in the park. Lots of pieces of suburbia to avoid along with innumerable water hazards. So I plan for a week, but hope for a long day. My winter preps are heavier outerwear, and closed cell underwear added. The rest stays the same. I posted an article on it a fair while ago. It may be in the archives.
Two is one, one is none. No matter how insecure home is and however awesome the bug out location is make sure you can stay in both for a long time. Snow, zombies, a broken leg, etc might mean you have to stay in the home rather than head out.. We have GHB in the car. Cost is minimal. Cheap rice precooked from the supermarket, bottles of water, and rotate every so often. A couple of lifeboat ration packets and similar water. Very cheap knives. Extra clothes to supplement the clothes we have from old pile and thrift stores. It’ll… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more, that bugging out in a winter storm borders on lunacy. Unless you are being forced from your home by armed raiders shooting at your place, and your group is at risk.
How many hard cores are reasonably expected to assault your place during a sub-freezing storm?
If you really think you need to go, get the BOV, snowmobiles, ATVs, or snowshoes ready and break out as soon as the storm weakens or blows past.
naturally, i plan on moving and attacking during storms. your vision and hearing are all in my favor. infrared, thermal in the winter. i see you first. i will not be attacking you. but “they” might. normal folk will be hibernating, not displaying.
Hi Ed,
Respectfully you will not be doing that unless you have a snow mobile or a winterized tank available to you and then I will hear you coming. If you think snow shoes allow free and easy movement tactically and the ability to transport lots of loot you need to try moving around with actual snow on the ground not a smattering. I guess if you have access to a helicopter I am yours in shtf.
Please do not drink the ice nucleation you are calling snow. test. as of 1300 local, i filled a quart jar packed with the “snow”. been seeing these results since 2013. It has been 45 minutes and now the bottom of the snow is looking wet. just starting to get some water at bottom. while 33% of volume is gone. it is 69.4f in here. when gone, rather than the 1/6 water ratio in snow, this will be 1/3 full. whatever they put up there, it gathers and holds moisture amazingly. PH changes are occuring also and they plan to… Read more »
Can you write an article on this please?
Great article! Too many people are unprepared for an emergency situation, especially during the winter. A solar generator is always a good idea as well.
essentialsolargen.com
Hey Hup, have you considered building/buying a gasifier for either of your hooches? I’ve been looking at how to build one.
No. they seem to work great though. Going with a wood stove
Thansk for your information.
Dont forget a case of Life Straws, and a pocket saw that you can use for cutting firewood! Be prepared to hunt in the winter months, as well as the summer hunting, fishing and foraging. Berries and mushrooms make meals more enjoyable, as well as more nutritious. Buy a book on what mushrooms are safe to eat and what plants you can use, medicinal or for food.Always have extra shoes/boots..your feet ARE GOING TO GET WET..Theres no avoiding it. If you plan on bugging IN, just make sure you have a reliable wood stove that dont need electricity and you… Read more »