One Hiker Survives; One Hiker Doesn’t; Winter Survival Tips

by James Buchanan
Every winter there are stories about people who wind up in survival situations, who failed to prepare. Sometimes people take poorly maintained roads in winter without tire chains like the James Kim family did in Oregon. Winter is not the time to risk a short cut going through a forest with no cell phone coverage. Sticking to the main roads and highways in winter is the best bet. If you do have to travel remote roads in winter, keep your vehicle well-maintained, carry tire chains and have lots of survival gear in the vehicle including food and blankets.
Checking the weather forecast before you travel is another necessity in winter. There are four hikers currently lost on Mount Ranier, who -unbelievably- went out before a monster snow storm, which blanketed the city of Seattle with snow. Ten to fifteen feet of snow fell at the altitude where the hikers were lost. None of them had snowshoes which are a necessity to get out of soft punchy snow. The weather forecast changed radically several times before that snowstorm, which shows the need to keep checking the forecast until the last minute and not to rely on a two day old forecast that was woefully mistaken. (more…)

















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