Surviving cold emergencies, like falling through ice

We’re in the middle of one of the most dangerous times of the year for cold related emergencies.

Clothes that are appropriate for going 20 feet from a warm house to a soon-to-be-warm car and 100 yards from the warm car into a warm store aren’t appropriate when you have an accident or the car breaks down and you need to stay warm for an hour or more.

And a crisp afternoon hike in light clothing can quickly turn into a bone-chilling situation as soon as the sun starts to go down.  It’s even worse if you run into rain or slip and fall into a creek.

You don’t want to dress for a worst-case scenario all of the time, but the normal clothes that people wear just won’t do the job if supplemental heat goes away.

I grew up in Nebraska in blizzard country and I’ve always had blizzard survival kits in our cars with extra clothes, blankets, food, candles, etc.

A lot of the gear is very similar now to how it was 30+ years ago, but there are a few items that have improved dramatically.

Mylar blankets are one of them.

The old style of mylar blankets tore easily…both when you used them and in the packaging if they rode around in a vehicle for too long.

New mylar blankets are plasticized and flexible.  They can be made into sleeping bag/bivvys and are small enough to fit in a cargo pocket or coat pocket.

Today, I’m going to show you how a pocket survival bivvy can help you in one of the worst winter survival events….breaking through ice and getting soaked with freezing water in sub-freezing temperatures.

There’s a few things to remember about cold weather survival.

First, you’ve got more time than you think before you go unconscious and less time than you think before you start having physiological changes.

In water, you’ve got several minutes before you go unconscious.  10 or more if you stay calm.

But your hardwired reflex when going into cold water is to hyperventilate.  This can be disastrous if your mouth is under water and it can accelerate the panic process.  The key is to calm yourself and control your breathing.  Get control (this may take a minute), and then take action.

Depending on your body and your state before going into the water, your hands could work for a minute or more before blood is redirected to the core and you lose a lot of your hand function.

Once you’re cold, it’s a matter of adding heat to the body and retaining the heat you generate.

The Pocket Survival Bivvy will help with retention…reflecting 80% or more of your heat back to your body.

Removing wet clothing will also help with retention.  You don’t want to waste your heat warming wet clothes.

To add heat, you can exercise, drink warm, sweet liquids, get to a heated house, heated car, warm up with a fire, chemical heat packs, hand/body warmers, a hot water bottle, or use skin to skin contact with someone who is still warm.

Of all of these, the Pocket Survival Bivvy is the easiest to have with you at all times.  That’s why I carry them in my hiking/hunting pack and have them in each of our vehicles…even my quad.

Check out special pricing on them by going >HERE<

To see the 2nd video where I stay in the water for about a minute to show some of the symptoms of cold water shock, click >HERE<

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