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Winter Survival Training, Norway Jan 07. by Lt R Mark Jameson
One of the major challenges to the expedition, apart from the actual kayaking, is the harshness of the environment we are paddling in. I had an opportunity to refresh some basic survival skills so jumped at the chance to go to Norway for a 1 week course.
Two metres of snow and -10ºC temperatures welcomed us and after a day of kit issue then introductory lectures we got stuck straight in with the practical skills. To survive in a Norwegian Arctic winter environment the first priorities are fire then shelter. This is because during the long nights the temperature plummets and in poor weather the wind and snow can cause hypothermia and frostbite within hours even with warm clothing on.
Of these, in a woodland area, fire is best way to create heat that can sustain life through the night. We had to learn how to find dry wood from the heart of a pine or spruce tree, collect fire lighting materials such as birch bark, that lights even if soaking wet, and lastly how to stop the fire, once lit, disappearing down into a 2m hole as it melts through the snow beneath it! Not to be recommended in your living room but our instructor demonstrated in the classroom how to make a controlled fire on snow (just adding the shovel so that he could carry it outdoors after the demo was complete). Soon we were outside in the woods each lighting our own fires and rapidly learning all the techniques which were to prove most useful later on the course.
In a more exposed snow and ice landscape such as Antarctica, fire is not possible as there is almost no vegetation. Here, similar to the high plateaus of Norway, the priority becomes shelter and the skill of being able to dig a snow hole quickly if caught out is essential. Again we found ourselves copying the instructors and each digging a one man snow cave and an hour later we were cozily eating lunch. This is because once sheltered out of the wind the wind chill effect reduces to nothing and as you dig the hole you dig upwards in order to create a differential between the cold floor and the relatively warmer ceiling. We were given thermometers to measure the difference and the space beneath out feet was freezing and that by our heads almost 5ºC. Not exactly Costa del Sol but certainly warm enough to survive the night where temperatures can be as low as -30ºC or more and the wind can freeze exposed flesh in minutes.
Up until now we had been transported by BVs which are the equivalent of a snow landrover (4x4). Moving by foot in waist high snow is incredibly exhausting and it took us nearly an hour to cover less than 200m as we floundered about. The trick is to learn how to build your own snowshoes from small bendy birchwood and parachute cord. It is not easy but the 2-3 hours it takes pays dividends almost immediately and the next day we continued the march far more successfully covering 3km in about an hour. Not quick, but a vast improvement on the day before. This was the introduction to the practical outdoors phase of the course where we had to survive 2 nights on our own, first in a Woodland Shelter and then in a Queencee Hut.
The
Woodland Shelter was the coldest and only a fire close by made
the night bearable. It took a while to make and provided
protection from the wind and the snow however, without a fire
it would have been much more uncomfortable. The next night we
built, in pairs, a different type of is temporary shelter, the
Queencee Hut. This is made by piling snow into a big pile,
stamping it down and leaving it to freeze. Then you dig a snowhole in the pile, complete with a cold soak pit and sleeping platform. The same temperature benefits as the previous emergency snowhole became apparent and most of us spent a much warmer and hence more comfortable night.
The last morning we finished off by lighting a smoke signal to attract the attention of a rescue aircraft and we had also earlier practiced how to use Day and Night flares. Red smoke against the snow is a great colour to see from a long way away in the daytime and a bright white flare works best at night. You just have to remember to stand upwind as you set them off!
We had survived.
Even though some of the techniques learned depend on woodlands and therefore will not be appropriate to the Antarctic, the basic principles are the same and to practice building temporary snow shelters was really useful. The Inuit (Eskimo) in Canada and Greenland can build an igloo from ice blocks in hours but they have years of practice so for the non local a basic snow hole or Queencee Hut is better. The neat trick of making an Inuit snow lantern with a candle inside that glows and doesn’t blow out is really cool and I’ll make one down South to show how clever and effective they are. Until then……….
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