Arctic Environment Minimum EDC
“Don’t overpack, and bring a sleeping bag.” The term, which originated among military personnel who were tasked with dragging 150-pound packs over icy terrain, is applicable to winter campers and polar travelers of all types and backgrounds.
While going through twenty-degree terrain during the day, you may be able to keep your core temperature stable, but keeping warm when temps dip far below zero and you’ve stopped moving for the night will be considerably more difficult to do.
If you’re not sure, take a chance.
To be able to transport more of the huge, bulky objects you’ll need for warmth, pack your belongings on a slant-bottomed sled. In comparison to carrying supplies through snow and ice, pulling goods will use less energy, which is crucial since being as efficient as possible with your energy expenditure will help you remain one step ahead of hypothermia, which is a life-threatening condition.
Provisions and Equipment
When it comes to antagonism toward human existence, the Arctic climate is second only to searing deserts in its ruthlessness. It cannot be emphasized how important it is to prepare for the harsh temperatures and food and fuel requirements of an arctic setting, even if you are unlikely to find yourself in one by mistake. It is necessary to do research.
Learn about the temperature ranges, avalanche dangers, and weather patterns in order to properly prepare and plan your itinerary for your journey. A compass, a GPS device, and maps are among the navigational tools that should be carried. If one fails, the others may step in to provide as a fallback option.
Eye protection is essential, since the reflection of dazzling sunshine off white snow may make navigating difficult in poor visibility. Risks include eye strain and photokeratitis, a severe optical sunburn that is also known as sun blindness.
If circumstances become inaccessible by ski, a snow anchor and a pair of snowshoes serve as backup plans. Snowshoes disperse body weight over the broad, webbed bottom of the shoe, minimizing the amount of sinking that occurs in heavy drifts of soft powder.. If the snow is up to your waistline, you should consider extending the length of your sleeves and a few feet.
Add Your Heading Text Here
A snow anchor might be the gear that helps you to halt your slide down a steep slope if the circumstances grow even more hazardous. Preparing for a trip requires familiarizing yourself with one. In addition to a snow saw and shovel, which are the multi-purpose tools equal to the Kukri knife you’d take in the jungle, you’ll need to catch your food, construct a shelter, and overcome an unforeseen hurdle.
An additional layer of protection against the elements, such as a cold-weather tent and a highly insulated sleeping bag, is required for low-temperature sleeping. To avoid a night of tossing and turning (or worse), you must keep as much of your body heat as possible within your body.
It’s best to lie on a thick sleeping pad to avoid being exposed to the chilly ground, which will function as a sponge for the valuable heat you’re releasing. A “smother” or fire blanket may serve the same purpose while also providing critical insulation when you need to warm up fast.
A few lighted candles may raise the temperature inside a tent or snow shelter by a few degrees, but they must be extinguished before you retire for the night in order to avoid the possibility of a forest fire.
There must be a plentiful supply of food. In low-temperature situations, the body uses approximately twice as much fuel as it does in higher-temperature environments, necessitating the consumption of dense, high-fat, and abundant food sources. Pack high-fat items such as peanut butter, bacon grease, almonds, and chocolate in addition to prepared dehydrated meals and energy bars.
When your metabolic system is working hard to convert food into heat that keeps you alive, there is no such thing as eating too many calories! In addition to the energy used by towing a heavy sled and maybe hiking over long distances, you’ll experience intense hunger and, if your calorie intake is inadequate, you’ll lose a lot of weight fast.
Plan to take at least 5,000 calories per day for best health, and bring along a few additional emergency rations in case of an unexpected emergency situation.
A given is the presence of water filtering technologies. While it is possible to ingest snow and ice without filtering in an emergency with low danger , filtration is typically suggested, especially if the water is originating from streams or lakes.
Camping specialty stores provide a large selection of cold-weather gear that can improve your degree of comfort, but consider the benefits of adding more things against the extra weight they will add to your load before making a purchase.
Clothing
When it comes to defending yourself against the elements, a layered system that absorbs body heat while keeping out wind and cold is your most effective weapon.
The performance of puffy, porous layers of fleece and down is compromised if they are not adequately sealed off, which is why a high-performance outer shell is essential.
Invest in a cold-weather jacket made of a material similar to Gore-Tex that retains heat while being somewhat breathable; unlike zero-porosity textiles, this breathability aids in wicking perspiration away from the body during active activities.
In a cold environment, it is critical to keep not only warm but also dry, since a layer of moisture on the skin would soon freeze if exposed to the cold.
Vasoconstriction, which occurs when blood supply is cut off in order to avoid heat loss via wet feet, which syphon heat away twenty-five times quicker than dry feet, may induce tissue death very quickly in wet socks in particular. Cotton is deadly, even in warm, moist areas (see page 54). Knit socks made of moisture-wicking wool are a must-have for combating trench foot.
Drinking Water from the Arctic
Getting food and warmth will be difficult to come by when hiking through an icy environment, but one thing you can be certain of is that you will not be thirsty. As long as there is snow and ice on the ground, there will be plenty of opportunities to stay hydrated. And they’re often incredibly pure in their intentions as well.
Hypothermia, the most serious threat in arctic situations, may be exacerbated by ingesting snow or ice, which are both cold substances that can lower your core temperature as they travel through your neck, which is one of the body’s most sensitive heat-loss zones.
The carotid arteries in the neck constantly pump a huge quantity of warm blood directly to the brain, and the jugular vein returns that blood back to the heart through the carotid artery.
The real estate on your body at that point is some of its most precious.
Take Pure Water from the Environment:
Collecting Pure Water from the Environment Despite the fact that heating water to boiling point is always the safest course of action when it comes to purification, fresh snow and ice gathered from places devoid of standing water or other evident sources of contamination may be ingested with reasonable assurance in most cases.
Cold temperatures are fatal to the majority of bacteria present in the source water.
Ice is preferable than snow in the following situations. Unlike snow, which is mostly composed of air, the former has a higher fluid density.
Heat from the body or fire may be used to melt ice; see below. The use of your body heat to melt ice into potable water when possible can save you money on fuel in a glacier setting.
No matter how chilly the surroundings is, if you dress in layers, you’ll be able to emit large quantities of body heat while traveling. Place ice in a water bottle and allow it to melt between layers of clothes, being sure to avoid the brachial arteries that run through the armpits and the femoral arteries that run through the inner thighs, which are important conduits for a substantial amount of the body’s blood flow.
Keep your body heat conserved and turn to melting ice with a fire after you’ve been stopped
