I hate the cold. I really, really, really hate the cold. Yet some how Ive chosen to live a life without central heating in substandard living conditions. Why do they call it "Adventure" when that really means being cold and miserable and in constant danger. Ive almost frozen to death twice. My first hallucination experience was from one of these events. Ive also lived in a van for 2 alberta winters and one more in a truck camper. Add to that 4 winters in Whistler BC in a school bus and another winter wile I was young, on Cortez Island in a cabin with no calking between the logs....And my present house royally sucks during cold snaps like we just went through. This would traumatise many suburban home types and send them running back to the city but experience has gotten me begrudgingly used to it.....so I want to share a few cold weather tips Ive learned along the way to help you incase your heat goes out in a cold snap....or your electricity and gas goes out for good.
Mrs C5 shakes her head at me every time I accidentally tuck my T shirt or a sweater into my pants without thinking. Big Fashion no no, especially if you find yourself dating and hope to ever get nookie again...But nookie be damned. When its too cold to get fully undressed for nookie anyhow....these are some tips. Ive been in my cap for the last 4 days. Its really gong to need a wash. I find sleeping in it comforting and sometimes sleep in a hoodie for the same reason. Yesterday, I finished my dork attire by breaking down and tucked my pant legs into my socks. The only people you see nowdays with this fashion attire are military guys and old farmers.
The technical term is called Shingling. Clothing is worn like shingles. Its meant to trap warm pockets of air in wile keeping snow out. Your T shirt is tucked into your long johns. Then your second top layer goes over your long johns or poly propylene layer and is tucked into your pants, the sweater goes over your pants and might be tucked into your snow pants. The jacket goes over top. Repeat this at every entrance. The point is also that cold air or snow doesn't make it to your skin. Important things to remember are that none of your layers are tight. This cuts off blood circulating heat. Loose clothing also creates air pockets for further insolation.
Before talking more about clothing. I want to extend this further out to a few other things. Bedding. Im going to give you a YT vid. Im not a fan of the channel but his bed looked remarkably like mine in the van and bus pay special attention to the last part of the video about under blankets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_p2APOtA0M&list=PLC3D30DCE07442DD7
In desperately cold times, I would also recommend setting up your dome tent inside your house and sleeping inside that. Put blankets over that. This keeps your body heat in. Same goes if you chose to survive in a camper or mobile home or car. If possible, pull it into a barn or build a covered structure around it. The extreme of extreme would be to build a room within a room creating space insolation. I was exposed to this concept as a child reading the book, The Last Canadian, In wich they knocked down the wall of one cabin to use a tractor to push a smaller building inside of it. Space insolation.
A few other tips. Wool blankets also cover windows under the curtains (or over doors). Bubble wrap also works well in widows and can also be multi layered into pillows to be taken in or out at need. We heat rocks on the stove and place them in bed or put them under our feet as a source of mobile heat.
Back to clothes. I like technical gear. I used to work at the first Coast Mountain Sports back in the day before it got sold out the corporation that ruined it. Tec gear is light and designed to work in extreme conditions. Unfortunately its also temperamental and wont last long in "Extended" situations. A gortex jacket is a fantastic shell to keep the weather out of your layers. Unfortunately, It must be cleaned regularly to keep the pours unclogged and must be re silicone each time because the gortex doesn't work if water doesn't bead off the nylon. Clearly, this is a problem in a long term disaster or you are crawling in mud, doing construction or working on an engine block. Poly prop works great for wisking water (Ive even worn it in rivers and oceans when I had no other choice. It keeps a slightly warmer layer of water against your skin as a layer against the outer cold water). For long term durability, though heavier, wool is better. I love surplus military sweaters. Some of mine look like Frankenstein because of how often Ive sewn them up to get another year out of them. Same goes for surplus german military wool pants though I find they fall apart fast. Rubber coats are better for rough wear. In extreme rain, I have taken to wearing a an old gortex shell to keep blown rain out and still breath so I don't sweat inside...but with a rubberised trench coat over it to keep the mass of the water flowing off me. It looks dorky but it works together. Ive also developed a LOVE affair with hoodies. Thank you Black Block...and construction workers. It fully surrounds the head and back of the neck. A ball cap helps keep a hood out of your eyes. Quik up or down for temperature control so I don't sweat. You do not want to sweat in cold weather. The use of layers instead of one big jacket is how you avoid this. Adjust the amount of layers . Easier to take off a layer or put it back on than to freeze in a sweat soaked Tshirt and Parka. Cotton is bad, M'cay. Tight boots or gloves are also bad. Keep blood flowing. That all I got at the moment. Im sure I will remember more after I hit submit.
Well, Its finally warmed up enough that I can peel myself out of few layer and burn them on the lawn wile getting into the shower. Im sure MrsC5 will be over joyed with this.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
As for clothing in cold conditions, I got something from the lady's point of view:
Since the winters are getting colder and colder here every year and I had to spent 4 hours outside every day (to get to work) during the last -26°C winter, my mom knitted some kind of tube for me that I put under my jacket. It was rather loose and made with little gaps in between to keep warm air in. It fit from my chest to the middle of my thighs and it was sooo helpful.
I mean not that it was pleasent suddenly to be out there so long, but it was managable this way.
And I think if it's not pink like mine, it will work for them boys, too 😛
In terms of heat regulation I fell in love with something when I spend the winter in Copenhagen: gaiters ( at least I hope that's the word, dictionary says so XD - those tubes made out of wool that you can pull over your lower arms and shins). I mean, if you start sweating, you don't even need to take off any of the top layers, just grab the seam and pull it off, also folds very well in a backpack or even the pockets of your jacket.
Big Fashion no no, especially if you find yourself dating and hope to ever get nookie again...But nookie be damned. When its too cold to get fully undressed for nookie anyhow...
I adore you! I hope she keeps you, man. You're a winner.
Foragers walk around like that, too, because nothing works as well for c-h-i-g-g-a-r-s who apparently never read that they won't climb past pyrethrin-dipped clothing and won't touch DEET. (And who never read that mouthwash, 180 proof alcohol, H2O2, white vinegar, and nail polish remover will all kill them faster than nail polish -- btw, suggestions obviously never made by people who shave their legs daily.)
One thing that can help at night, in a pack for under a bedroll or under a mattress or mattress pad in a real bed, is to use reflective Mylar emergency blankets or the reflective windshield block meant to help keep cars cooler in summer.
In a regular bed, putting it below the pad or mattress helps leave a layer of insulating, but still allows the heat to be bounced back up.
Same goes for backpacking trips - under the sleeping bag, unless the sleeping bag is too efficient, in which case inside the bivy or shell but with the liner or inner bag between the body and the reflector. They make some lined with cloth that are sturdier than the thin sheets that fold up to be the size of a deck of cards.
You can also use them over the top of a four-poster bed (a canopy bed with heavy-weight drapes available being a classier way to build or buy a permanent fix, especially with layers of thick insulating material and dark materials that will help absorb and hold heat and an outer layer that is less permeable).
Or you can prop them up opposite a fire from you, reflecting the heat back towards you (faster and less work than building a log or brush wall opposite a lean-to shelter from natural material or hung to add an insulating air and weather pad around a backpacking bivy).
That also works with polished metal slid behind a wood stove in a house, but only on tile or brick or metal and against brick or tile or metal. No wood, no drywall, no carpet, or I'm not responsible. And try to watch dogs if they lick the walls 'cause they're the special kinds and kids, always.