Winter Survival 2009

On February 7, 2009 Falls Brook Centre hosted participants from across New Brunswick and even Ontario for the first Forest Forum of 2009. Together we began to look a little closer at the winter forest environment. Jeff Butler of Northwoods Survival was the weekend survival guru, guiding us through a winter camping experience with an emphasis on survival skills.

This forest forum was a weekend to celebrate the winter forest, in which we learned to appreciate the beauty and bounty of New Brunswick under snow. The Acadian Forest presents us with a diverse array of flora and fauna, which, like us adapt to the four changing seasons that visit Carleton County. The forest becomes a completely different place from summer to winter. Hardwood trees lose their leaves, bears and red squirrels begin to hibernate, roots and plants that cover the ground in summer are now covered with a thick layer of winter snow and ice that lies over the land. The warm temperatures of summer are gone leaving less hours of sunlight and a frigid cold in the depth of winter that can lead to hypothermia and frost bite.

Saturday morning was jam packed with the essential information to prepare the wilderness enthusiasts with confidence and knowledge to become strong leaders in a winter survival situation. Butler reviewed the physiological needs of the body, appropriate clothing for winter excursions and how to pack a proper survival kit. He explained the uses of both the axe and saw. Learning the subtleties of the winter environment to look out for was invaluable. For example, walk to closely to a tree trunk covered in snow and you will fall deeper through the snow as the energy from the tree has warmed up that area of snow. Or if you build a fire beneath fir bows covered in snow you risk the possibility of that snow dumping on your head as it gets heavy and melts from the fire below.

The weather was warm, treating participants to plus zero temperatures and freezing rain. But this merely presented another outdoor survival reality, the necessity for fire. Finding dry wood in the winter time and lighting a fire in a survival situation with minimal tools are both difficult tasks. But, these are two reasons why learning firecraft was an essential aspect of the weekend. Where to find dry wood, different fire lays, which fungi work well as fire starter, etc.

Of the many different types of winter travel techniques, snowshoes were the favorite over the weekend with a dual purpose. Not only did they keep the winter travelers on top of the snow, they made excellent shovels in the sintering process of quinzee building. Sintering is the action of snow hardening and warming together after being thrown into the air. Essentially it is the friction of flake on flake that warms up the snow so that when it lands it hardens together making a pile of snow that settles into being the wall of a quinzee when dug out. The participants built the snow quinzees which they slept in that evening, a candle, raised bow beds and sleeping bags for warmth.

** Northwoods Survival is a family owned, community-based business whose ideology is to live what they teach, by demonstrating self-reliance and conscious environmental stewardship. For more information about whom they are please visit: www.northwoodssurvival.com

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