Bad benightings

My worst case scenario is getting stuck out overnight on a day hike, with a cold and probably wet night. My backup is a poncho and an AMK bivy-style space blanket. If I can't pitch the poncho, I can wrap it around me and hole up under a tree or behind a rock. If it isn't blowing, I can make a bed of evergreen boughs or leaf litter along with my pack for insulation, pitch the poncho and climb in the bivy sack with all my clothes on. If possible, I can build a fire too. I do know how to make emergency shelter from forest debris and branches.

Any time I step off the pavement I have the following with me:

Poncho
Space-blanket bivy sack
A small roll of light line
Matches
Firesteel
Mini-bic
Tinder Quick tabs
A spare layer appropriate to the season:
*a Power Stretch vest for "height-of-summer" hot weather
*a Power stretch hoodie for the next step cooler
*a synthetic insulated jacket or vest for slightly colder stuff
Light gloves
Fleece beanie
First aid kit
Spare medication
Sunscreen and DEET
Headlamp
Small LED flashlight
3.5" folding knife
Whistle
Map and compass

I would usually be wearing a long sleeve base layer top, synthetic pants, windshirt and a Tilley hat, briefs, socks and low-top hiking shoes. It I'm taking off on a predictably rainy day, add a rain shell and pants. There is a spare pair of socks in there somewhere.

I think the kit listed above would give anyone a fighting chance in moderately, cold weather and more so with a fire possible. If I were going above treeline in winter conditions, I would be adding a lot more insulation and shelter options.

And someone always knows where I'm going and a return/check-in time.

> The real hard question is – how would you do it if you were injured?

Don't forget — if you are seriously injured you are almost certainly also in shock — i.e. generating less body heat than usual.

A while back 3 of us came across two guys who where in bad way from the onset of hypothermia, they where absolutely soaked to the skin as they had no proper rain gear and where wandering around a big peak in the fog, also they where dehydrated as there was no water sources at all in the area. We got them warmed up, fed and hydrated and brought them down off the mountain.

They where in a fairly remote area and didn't have clue where they where, when we found them they where heading for some fairly serious cliffs.

The funny thing was that the reason they knew to head to us is they heard someone shouting in the frog and headed towards the voice, it turns out it was me cajoling one of our group to get in to a Bothy bag to eat their lunch and warm themselves up (they had refused for 5 minutes saying they wouldn't fit)

If it is TRULY too windy to pitch a tent then wrap it around you or crawl in after inserting your pad and sleeping bag.

With my TT Moment tent I can't imagine it being so windy I can't pitch that wonderfully aerodynamic shelter.

Provided you have trees around you, I don't see why it would be too windy to set up a tarp. Sit on top of the thing, find a tab, scoot over to the tree with trying to keep the tarp contained under your knees, tie to tree. Then find the other tab and tie off, stand up, and walk over the other tree and tighten down. You have to just ignore how floppy it is while you are trying to set it up. Try and snag each one of the tabs while they are flopping like crazy and stake down. There you have an A-frame set up. You would probably want the stretchy band things that let the lines flex in the wind and prevent the tarp from ripping.
I will admit that I am not that great at setting up tarps yet, this is mostly from what I have seen others do and accomplish with tarps.

Pitching a tarp in high wind is just the first part of the job. Having it stay put for the night is the other part. If it is dark and raining hard, you are cold, wet, tired and scared, you might not do the best job. Finding a site that isn't a creek or bog or has dangerous trees might be a challenge too. It is really good to think about these things ahead of time!

In NZ if there are trees around you large enough to tie off to you are still bebeath 'the bushline', usually about 1400m.

However a lot of the best trails and huts are higher than this and many of the fitter outdoorsfolk spend a lot of time up on 'the tops'. Sub-bush line survival is realitively straight forward (very rare that hikers succumb to the elements in the bush) compared to the trouble one can find oneself in up higher.

In a few favourable spots in Scotland there are trees at 1500' but but more generally the treeline is less than ~500', so we don't depend on trees for anything.
If the weather turns bad then lose altitude fast – it's always less windy and less cold lower down.

Its the same in Ireland also.

Treeline is highly variable with rain/snowfall and terrain, but is more like 5000 feet in Washington. Shoulder season snowfall can get you here, as well as getting soaked with cold rain. Weather prediction on major storms is good, but the micro-climate changes that can be troublesome. Rainfall can vary by 50" a year in 20 miles. If the Jet Stream shifts here, there can be sudden weather changes that bring in colder air and bad surprises.

Those 40F-45F days with rain and high humidity are ripe conditions for hypothermia, with perspiration and precip coming at you from both sides of your clothing. If you get caught in wet snow, you can be working hard to post hole through it and get soaked from the inside.

If it is well below freezing here, say 20F, it tends to be clear and dry with more pleasant hiking.

Craig,

Thanks for taking the brunt of the punishment on this topic. Our mountain rescue teams respond to all sorts of situations. Playing the "what if" game and being prepared are critical to mountaineering. Don't fear the mountain, but respect what it can throw at us.

All of our rescue subjects didn't think it would happen to them. The most important thing you can bring on a trip to increase your odds of survival has yet to be mentioned. Bring a friend. Go through scenarios with and without another person to provide aid. It will become very obvious.

Above treeline in a storm is an unforgiving place. Many times that is exactly when we get called to go "hiking". As a rescuer we face these conditions regularly. My preferred option is to keep moving, but not always possible due to many factors already mentioned. For us it is usually that we have found our subject and must stay with him/her. Here are some of my lessons learned.

+2 for the right extra clothes. This is essential to push on in a storm or to hunker down. A couple of extra pounds in clothes can offset the lack of sleeping bag given that you have an appropriate shelter.

+2 for a windproof, waterproof, breathable, expedient shelter.
+2 for bivy or bothy bag.
0 for tent since nobody carries then on day hikes.
-1 for tarps. I know this will cause many responses, but not appropriate in this case.
-1 for mylar type bags (including Blizzard Bag). Your shelter has to survive the emergency.
-3 for space blankets. Will not keep the wind out. They can help inside of another shelter.

+2 for a lightweight foam pad. Remember this is a day hike. I carry a 1/4" (39" x 19") that weighs 4 oz on rescues.

Safety comes before weight savings, but our team travels lightweight.

David

Fantastic to hear from someone who actually operates in above-treeline storms regularly.

By 'extra clothing' (and considering it given that everyone has high and low hardshell) I'm guessing you rate fleece as the best insulating material in a storm? What about for hats/balaclavas/etc? Gloves? Socks?

"+2 for a windproof, waterproof, breathable, expedient shelter."

What kinds of shelters do you mean(given that you mention bothys and bivys seperately in the next line)?

Hi David,

Brilliant advice, much appreciated.
I have a Blizzard bag and it us very durable and can be reused, have you seen them yourself?

Cheers,

Stephen

My son and I found ourselves in this situation this last spring near Loch Moran. We have been out hiking for 3 days in steady mist and rain. On the second to last planned day of travel, he weather turned nasty. It started with heavy rain and wind, and our first thought was to continue walking until the conditions let up. It soon became obvious that the conditions were just getting worse so we stopped and put our shelter. Winds were about 40 – 50 mph with strong gusts. We took our time and worked together to pitch our pyramid (goLite shangri-la 3).

When we finally got in, everything was soaked including the insides of the pyramid. We took out our little camp towels and started wiping everything down, wringing them out and then back to work wiping (many will recommend to dump the camp towel from your gear list, but in this case they proved invaluable). Took us about 45 – 60 minutes to dry everything (yes we put up the inner bug-net and in hindsight that was a big mistake – bathtub floor was a bath tub).

Rain turned to snow and winds picked up over night (dumped about 2 feet of snow). I have to admit with the way the tarp was being buffeted by the wind, I kept reviewing in my mind what I would do if a stake came out or a tie-down ripped. I did not take the strong centre pole that came with the pyramid to save weight, and instead chose to use the lower two halves of my hiking poles with an adapter, and as I watched them bend and shake, I was starting to think that was a bad decision.

At 3 am the interior of the pyramid got much smaller when it collapsed. I first thought (incorrectly, groggy from little sleep) the stakes had pulled free. In reality, the snow load had just cased the sections of my trekking poles to collapse. I should have got up and cleared some snow load (next time I will), but instead just re-extended my poles to regain my internal space – bad decision as they were to collapse two more times in the night.

The next morning we had to decide if we were going to continue with the day's planned 25 km to the bothy or bail out. The bailing options would mean a very long walk to the nearest train station, but it would at least be mostly road walking and with a little luck we could hitch a ride. That turned out to be the better choice as we were driven into Inverness by some trail-angels and made it back to London that night. We were to later find out that search and rescue were called out 3 or 4 times in our exact area for people caught out unprepared.

All this to say that I don't necessarily accept the premise that this thread started out with (namely you can't pitch a shelter in extreme conditions), and that in reality with suitable gear (does not need to be perfect), some experience (my son and I gained much good and bad from our trip), the correct decisions (not the bathtub floor!) and some luck, you should be able to weather some extreme conditions.

My clothing changes with the seasons, but It is always driven by the worst possible conditions for the trip. It is not uncommon the have snow in the middle of summer above treeline. The reason I responded to this thread, was that mountain rescues routinely have both of your conditions in the same trip. Search and rescue often require us to hike through the night in these conditions to reach/find the victim. During this first phase we only chose to hunker down as a last resort. We need to get to the victim ASAP. This requires an excellent hardshell jacket and pants. Fleece is a excellent choice for warmth while moving. In these conditions, a hat and face mask or balaclava, gloves, and goggles make me almost invincible :) The goal here is to remain fully functional in the worst of conditions. Covering all exposed skin is really important. These clothes are more than I see UL hikers using and provide a much larger safety margin.

The second phase of the rescue usually involves some waiting with the victim. This is when the shelter is critical. I built a 2-3 man bivy to allow us to easily warm a hypothermic victim. We rarely carry a sleeping bag since we don't get a lot of chances to sleep. We do carry a bivy sack, and we have all the clothes from the first phase to help stay warm inside the bivy. Having a small foam pad or a pack to sit on important. This is when my down sweater get used (many times by the victim or his buddies). Since we are no longer moving, down is a great choice.

The key to being able to push on or to hunker down, is to have quality gear.

@ Steven: We bought a Blizzard bag for our rescue group. A 1 pound down bag or quilt and a bivy is a better option.

@ Paul: Your shangri-la 3 is a lot more shelter than a simple tarp. It can be pitched to the ground to keep the wind out. Condensation is a problem when fully sealed up. I have had a lot of such "learning opportunites". Those are the memories I draw on to visualize the conditions I might face.

I took Craig's question to be a day hike. If you are on a planned ovenight trip, the safety margin can be much greater since you have shelter and a sleeping bag. In either case, summit fever can be very costly to you, or your loved ones. Know when to retreat. The mountain will always be there to try again.

Hi David,

If I waa backpacking I would have a tent and sleeping bag, the Blizzard bag is just for day hikes.

Cheers,

Stephen, I thought this was also your shelter. With the bothy and the foam pad included, it will add some warmth.
We took or Blizzard bag out and played with it. It doesn't really seam to loft up much. I actually find the top fabric I use to be warmer than to cold layers of Mylar. Have you had a chance to try the bag yet? I like my large bivy because I can use it as a 2-3 man bivy or breathable bothy bag.

I have slept in it once David and it was a bit damp but manageable with synthetic clothing.

The Blizzard bag is made of 3 layers which catches air in between.

A lot of SAR and armed forces use them.

What was the weather when you slept in the Blizzard bag? It great to hear actual experience with a product..
My biggest problem with mylar type products is durability. I have seen far too many "emergency" bags not make it through the emergency before they are torn to shreds.

Hi Dave,

It was actually in a covered shelter so was not exposed to wind and rain but it was cold (problay 35f) I slept fine with a medium weight synthetic jacket, I did have ear plugs with me as they bag is a bit noisy, for me durability is not an issue with it, they are very strong.

Cheers.