According to outdoor survival experts, the most important necessity for survival is shelter.  When you are in the outdoors, think of what you are wearing as a type of shelter.  For your survival it is necessary to be shielded against the elements in some manner.  In the cold, your main concerns are to keep your body temperature up to prevent hypothermia and to keep it covered sufficiently so that you don’t experience Jack Frost(Bite).  If you will be spending any amount of time outdoors in winter conditions, you need to plan for your stay as if it will be longer than you had expected.  This is wise because you can never be sure when you might get stuck outdoors due to your car breaking down, somehow getting lost in the wilderness, and other unforeseen scenarios.  How many people have you seen that are way under dressed when they venture outside the doors of their home?  Are you guilty of it?  I have been at times.  We are in a hurry and we have to get someplace quickly and we won’t be gone for long, so we just basically go in our pajamas and slip on some flip flops and it’s the middle of winter!  We have little if any protection if we were to meet up with an emergency situation that called for spending an extended period of time in the outdoors.  Well, it’s not that cold outside we reason.  But the mountain lake water isn’t that cold either when we just dip our hand in it for a couple of seconds.  What happens when it turns into minutes, or hours?  You get the picture.

Keeping dry is part of keeping warm.  When we are wet and cold outside this threatens our survival even more.  It’s comparable to  when the temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit outside and then with the windchill factor it’s 80 below (not quite, but seemingly so).  It’s imperative when you are in the outdoors, especially in the wintertime, that you keep dry.  If you find yourself wet, get indoors quickly and change clothes and dry off before you venture back out again.

When you go outdoors, pay particular attention to your most sensitive areas that you know from experience get the coldest.  It can make an outdoor trip miserable if you aren’t adequately prepared for the environment because you haven’t dressed appropriately.  For me, I know that my feet, hands, and ears are pretty critical.  Is it the same for you, or is it your Rudolph nose?  I make certain that these areas have extra protection.  If you don’t have good, warm wool socks to protect your toesies, wear two or three regular pair.  Keep your head covered.  Your ears aren’t a good thing to lose.  Mike Tyson proved that to Evander Holyfield.  Ears can be easily frostbitten.  And for heaven sakes, have a good pair of gloves!  The Hot Hands in the video that I mention are great little additions, too.  Sometimes if your fingers get a little nippy, you can warm them up a little by crossing your arms across your body and placing your hands where the sun don’t shine– under your armpits, silly.

If you are over prepared and over dressed, you have the advantage in surviving in the outdoors.  You can’t put more “shelter” on if you don’t have it with you, but you can take some off it you have too much on.  So layering your clothing is critical.  And wool is a great thing to have because it drys more quickly than other materials.

I’m sure you’ve heard this somewhere before, but– Boom Shacka Laka, Star Wars, and Chewbacca– stay warm and dry in the outdoors so you can be safe and survive!

Related Posts:

What Are Your Survival Priorities?
Outdoor Survival: Knowing Where You Are; Telling Time by the Sun!
Fire Starting for Survival
Emergency Preparedness: Vital Emergency Supplies