7 tips to survive cold

Your plane just crashed in a snowy, cold area. By chance, you survived, but you're alone... Here are 7 advices to survive cold.

1. Build a shelter in snow. This may seem paradoxical, but the snow may prove to be one of your best protections against wind and snowdrifts. Build a fence about 20 centimeters thick, and inside, try to scrape the snow under the ground level, to capture heat from the ground.

2. Knowing how to stay warm. It may lose its vital heat in many ways, and we must warn that. If you are traveling in a remote area, put in your suitcase windproof clothing. Ideally, the jacket should have a collar and a drawstring at the waist in order to tighten. You can lose up to 50% of our body heat due to radiation from the head to the neck, so be sure to keep your hat and wear a scarf, a scarf or a turtleneck around your neck. Sweating is another way to lose heat, so wear several layers and remove as many as needed to prevent overheating. The bottom layer next to your skin should be made of fabrics such as polypropylene, thermax or silk, which absorb perspiration off your skin (cotton is forbidden). A middle layer of wool or polypropylene - these materials retain both heat when there is sweat - will help trap the air inside your clothing and insulate your body. The final outer layer should be such that the Gore-Tex material, synthetic whose pores allow water vapor to escape while preventing liquid water to drain

3. Pay attention and treat early signs of frostbite. If the skin of your cheeks, your ears, your nose, your fingers or toes redness or if you feel numbness or tingling, it is certainly the first signs of frostbite, a condition in which ice crystals form in the skin or deeper tissues. If this occurs, heat water to a temperature between 37 and 40 degrees and immerse the affected parts. You can also use the warmth of a companion, provided that it is not excessively cooled. Do not rub and do not massage you as this can cause tissue damage.

4. Disinfect water before drinking. You may also find liquid water sources or frozen in abundance around you. But unless you want to risk the arrival of a disease transmitted by water as Giardia, you need to treat the water. If you do not have purification kit or water filter specially designed to eliminate microbes, the use of common products such as chlorine or bleach-four drops for fourth - disinfect water almost 30 minutes. The most foolproof method, however, is to boil water for 20 minutes.

5. Be careful with the quantities. Do not do like the reckless young Alaska in the history of Jack London "To Build a Fire", which ignores warnings of an old man and ventured outside only by a day when the temperature is -25 degrees , and is found frozen to death. The Community Risk of the University of Alaska management team suggests to never leave your camp unless you are with another person minimum. Also, if you leave the place where your plane crashed, make sure to leave a note explaining where you went on to describe the direction so that rescuers have better chances to find you.

6. Be careful with ice. Frozen lake, the river or the stream may seem strong enough to cross on foot, but if you go through the ice, you will encounter serious problems. Do not even think of getting away with passing over unless the temperature is 20 degrees or below, and check your way before with an ice chisel, a stick, or other tool that you can use to tap the surface and test its strength. If it sounds hollow when you type, choose another path. Remember also that the ice weakened by the repeated passage, so if you follow a route already taken by someone, pay attention to cracking.

7. Learn how to repel a bear. Make a lot of noise, and fold your jacket around your body, with hands raised above your head, getting bigger and more intimidating. Face the bear, and do not run, it will push the bear to chase you. If the bear approaches you or grabs you in spite of everything, you will still want to lie down in a fetal position to fake death. As emphasized in the University of Alaska Guide: "It was recognized that this technique works with brown bears. However, its effectiveness has not been demonstrated with the aggressive black bear."

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Be Safe, Be Strong, Be a Survivalist.

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