The ONLY Gear That Matters When You're COLD and WET!

Check out Garage Grown Gear: geni.us/m2tzeVo Gear I used on this trip: Rain Jacket: geni.us/7BYPG Umbrella: geni.us/pDMZsn2 Rain Kilt: geni.us/tlqM8cr Rain Cover: geni.us/AN73 Dry Bag: geni.us/T0CN9Ll Tent: geni.us/9VI3GLm Tarp: geni.us/VSed Sleep System: geni.us/ft1U Sleep Pad (Nemo Tensor All Season. Still Unreleased) Pack: geni.us/3pBiA Cook Pot: geni.us/yfCYqCh Stove: geni.us/3MrUHA Trowel: geni.us/evIJfd Battery Pack: geni.us/uVqBML HeadLamp: geni.us/3ThMg Nikwax to reapply DWR coatings: geni.us/zc43

This is one reason I will not go stoveless or no-cook on a trail. Even if you need to spend a couple hours in your bag warming up....a hot beverage, even hot water, will go a LONG way toward restoring body temp and morale after a day of walking in the cold rain.

Many years ago, I read an account of a trout fisherman that froze to death in the snow after falling into the water and getting wet. They traced his steps. And saw where he had tried to start a fire two or three times, but apparently his hands were shaking so bad he couldn’t strike the matches. They figured he could have survived if he had pulled the thermos of hot coffee out of the back of his backpack, and drank some before he tried to start the fire, I’ve never forgotten that story.

I went to survival school in the military. (Fairchild AFB) You can survive a cold rainy night with just a way to get yourself off the wet ground, a poncho, and some birthday candles. Did it suck? Massively. Did I get good sleep? No Was I ok in the morning? Yes Have heat/fire always available. There is no reason not to carry something. Even a can of sterno is far better than nothing. If you can heat water, your chances of making it just went up. Adding something to the water, like cocco with sugar, can give you both heat and fuel to recover. Then, you can work on a better plan to go forward. Military survival is not camping. It is how not to die when outside, with an option for very angry people chasing you. Backpacking is fun that can turn into much less fun if things go bad. Both are subject to a simple rule. Don't be stupid. From experience, I know that stupid hurts.... Great video. Thanks

Its insane how close discomfort and danger are to eachother

Over 50 years ago, when I was just a teenager, my friends and I would go camping in the rain just for fun. We would get someone's parents to drive us up into the mountains and leave us for several days. Back then we didn't have all the fancy gear available these days, plus we didn't have the money to buy it anyway. But we were teens with all that energy. We learned fast that keeping dry was the most important thing. And learning where to find dry stuff to burn was the second most important thing. Even though we all had white gas camp stoves, like Primus stoves, they were just good for heating food and drink. It was really a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Today, at nearly 68 years old, it would be much harder to learn. So now I always keep dry blankets in my vehicles, usually some food, and if I'm driving somewhere that I might get stuck I make damn sure that I have warm stuff for all the folks in the vehicle, usually sleeping bags, with enough food and water for 3 days. It may seem silly but about 15 years ago one of my customers lost a brother who froze to death in his car on a Chicago city street. His battery apparently froze and the car wouldn't start. So I'm prepared when driving over Cascade mountain passes. Staying dry and having dry stuff to change into or get into, will keep you warm and save your life.

If this was me, I would have taken a zero day with a good book in the tent... Rain on the tent is a beautiful sound... Kilometers can be made up over the following days.

I'm glad you were safe. For the future, eat something before you dive into your sleeping bag. You need fuel to warm back up. It doesn't require starting up your stove. As a Wilderness First Responder who assisted a hypothermic companion, I can tell you that works. And if you can stay at your site and wait out the weather, all the better. I hunkered for two days in a New Zealand storm and it made all the difference.

When backpacking in cold and wet conditions nothing beats alpaca wool. Any wool will retain at lest 60% of its insulating properties even when wet. However, alpaca wool is lighter, insulates better, and sheds water better than merino. Merino is better for tight weaves that block the wind, but for backpacking alpaca wool rules. With alpaca wool gear even if the worst possible thing happens and you get soaked to the bone, you will still have the ability to retain heat. I recently went on a solo Uinta Highline trek with rain and/or thunderstorms on 6 out of the 8 days, with 3 days where it almost didn't stop raining, including powerful wind, driving rain, and thunderstorms as I crossed high mountain passes. I wore a merino wool long sleeve shirt, and alpaca sweater, and possum down gloves with a waterproof nylon poncho and Frog Togg pants for rain gear. The alpaca sweater never got more than slightly damp, and combined with my wool shirt (and poncho to block the wind) kept me super warm in every weather. My poncho was not a breathable fabric, but it didn't have to be because ponchos vent so inherently well (sometimes too well in the wind). Alpaca wool isn't as lightweight as down, but it is close. Plus the additional safety from hypothermia in wet conditions that you get from wool makes it well worth a few extra ounces.

I enjoyed this more "narrative approach" to talking about gear, lessons, and experience. More like this, please! ❤🙏

Just a word about rain gear: yeah, the tall brush might've quickened the process, but "wet-out" happens eventually with breathable rain gear. The water-repelling nature of fabrics like GoreTex or other breathable membranes is due to its very close-knit matrix-like structure. The water's surface tension in its liquid form prevents it from leaking through the weave but in it's gaseous form (perspiration), it can escape because unlike a liquid, a gas doesn't have surface tension. But that only works up to a certain point. As water accumulates on the fabric, its weight starts pressing it more and more into the fabric, until the pressure defeats the surface tension of the droplets and "forces" the water between the fibers. At this point, water starts wicking into the fabric from the original point / points of ingress. Rubbing against vegetation helps this process as the contact surface pushes the water into the fabric.

The part of this experience that was particularly dangerous was the lack of ability to think clearly. Like Mike Tyson said, “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.” That’s the punch in the face from hypothermia. Clearly, you know all the right things to do, the issue was not being capable of thinking of them in the moment. That’s what kills people. Glad you made it!

Survival tip. Carry a beeswax candle or two. That way when you started to be too cold you could have wrapped that tarp around you and burn the candle on the ground. You could regain some control over your temp and get a little more dry before giving it to the bag. There are several videos about using candle to create micro environment like this. Even the heat from a couple of small tea candles in a Altoids tin under a tarp can give you enough to begin thinking clearly again.

The waterproof coating on the jackets did not rub off. They do not rub off in perfectly uniform fashion as shown. This was a coating failure. Many of these coatings are good for a time but with constant exposure to water they will simply no longer work. Sad fact is, many of the things we would like to think work, do not. Goretex is one of them. Various rain gear is another. I've had rain gear fail on a couple occasions and I wasn't going through spots that would theoretically rub off the coating. Hypothermia: Cooling of the body's core. In a situation where you begin to feel cold, as in first signs of shivering etc, you are at the first stage of hypothermia. This is the easiest stage to solve it so this is the time to call the ball and fix it. It only gets harder and more dangerous from here on. 1. Get out of wind and or rain 2. Get out of wet clothes. You are better naked than in wet clothing 3. Remember, it is the body core temp cooling down. If you can drink a hot beverage do so. However, if you are so far gone that you cannot quickly get the beverage made, then you may have to go directly to warming in your sleeping bag. 4. Eat some food for fuel. Fats are good here. 5. A dry sleeping bag is critical here. Get all wet clothes off, even if it means having none. Get in the dry bag and keep it snug against you. If you have an emergency blanket, wrap that around you too but be very careful of condensation on the inside of the foil. It could ruin your dry environment. Since you probably don't have a Wiggy's bag, you will want to prioritize keeping your bag dry. 6. If able, heat water to not only drink, but to keep in your water bottle so you can keep it in your bag as a heater. When you are recovering you will come to a place where you are essentially no longer cold and feel better. Now, WAIT longer. Your body is still in the building back phase. Packing up and getting back out into the cold right away will result in quicker relapse.

I'm on blood thinners for a medical condition and found myself in the backwoods one night when a really, really unseasonable cold front hit. I was in a hammock and started shivering uncontrollably. You're right on the edge of panic. For some reason, one of the guys I was with had a few dozen glove warmers still in his pack from a previous trip. I was literally shoving a half dozen into my bag at a time to get enough heat to stop shivering. I'd fall asleep and then wake up shivering... and a half dozen more got shoved in. I did that all night to get through the night. When I got back, I upgraded my bag and bought a couple of Swiss military wool blankets. One gets tied down over the top of my bag now. I don't care about the bulk - I have no desire to ever repeat a night like that again. Thanks for the video.

If this happens again with the shivering, eat snacks to stimulate thermogenesis and have some sort of fire or hand warmers. Once you get hypothermic even to a low degree you can depend as much on your body heat to warm up a sleeping bag. That's why you want an external heat source since your internal heat isn't up to par. Even lighting your stove in a tent can help and hand warmers can be put on your left armpit or left side of neck due to the arteries. But snacks in those situation should not be underestimated because of the thermogenic factor. It would have helped y'all to stop shivering much faster. I imagine you know most if not all of these things but I still feel it's my obligation to say these things. I've been hypothermic before while alone in 27°F temperature at 12 a.m. in the woods so I know how serious it is and how much snacks help in those situations. And I had all the equipment and knowledge to avoid that but I was being reckless and was overconfident.

One of your best videos yet. A sober reminder that both hypo and hyperthermia are bigger killers than bears. So many great and practical insights in this video. Thankyou 😃👍🇦🇺

I would say most important is wool base layer. I always take a wool beanie, gloves, spare wool socks and underwear as well as an extra wool shirt. Also, a puffy jacket is essential but NEEDS TO BE KEPT DRY! So a fully waterproof dry bag is super important. I know a lot of people just like trash-compactor bags or packliners, but I always use completely watertight compression dry bags to pack my gear in.

Boil water and fill it in a metal water bottle (or thick plastic bottle which can stand the heat) Wrap a towel around the hot bottle and put it in your sleeping bag. It keeps warm for 5 to 7 hours. In very cold winter conditions I use 2 of these bottles

Been there done that, got the pneumonia. Getting wet on a camping trip is horribly miserable. Great video, you got very lucky with the bear. Thanks.