Cold Weather Gear Adaptations for SAR and Hiking

I wanted to chat some about making accommodations in your loadout for winter weather. This will mostly focus on a wilderness Search and Rescue application, but the concepts can, of course, be applied to recreational hiking in winter.

Granted, with the weather warming up, this post is pushing the envelope of 'a day late and a dollar short,' but since this is New Mexico, I'm betting we'll have at least one more solid snow between now and Memorial Day. Additionally, my SAR team just picked up a glut of new members, and this information might be useful.

As an aside for the curious, the photo above is of a tall hill/short mountain in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. At some point during various hard drive crashes and computer replacements, I've lost a lot of photos, and I seem to have a dearth of winter hiking pictures with which to illustrate this post. Someday I'll invest in a water resistant point-and-shoot camera and start taking pictures on my hikes again.

Cold weather operations in a mountain environment bring unique challenges. Specifically, maintaining body heat, traction on snow and ice, freezing of drinking water supplies, and avalanche risk. I'll address the first three items here. My avalanche rescue training begins and ends at 'avalanches suck,' so I don't feel qualified to address that issue. However, if you're going to be in the mountains in the winter, be aware of the danger, and avoid steep, snow-covered slopes. If you need to be in avalanche territory for whatever reason, get trained on avalanche rescue techniques and carry appropriate gear.

Moving on to the first and most obvious issue with winter operations: it's cold. Staying warm in a cold outdoor environment requires a delicate balance between not having enough clothing and freezing, or having too much clothing, perspiring excessively, getting wet, and then freezing. Thus, you want your cold weather protection to be in layers, rather than a single, heavy coat.

For a base layer, you want some kind of thermal underwear that is non-cotton, and fits closely enough to pull moisture away from your skin and pass it outward. By this I mean skin-tight. Loose long underwear does you no good. Material-wise, you basically have a choice between a synthetic like polyester, or wool. Wool is generally longer-lived and doesn't get smelly as quickly, but I find that it makes me itchy. Polyester is generally less expensive. I use a set of Cold-Pruf brand long johns from Sportsman's Warehouse, which I've found are as effective as anything offered by the high-end brands offered at REI. I can get a full set for about $30

Cold-Pruf brand long underwear

 My next layer is a Columbia Sportswear fleece vest of indeterminate model that I picked up years ago at the NM State SAR conference. Down to about 10 degrees F, this and the long johns, worn under my shell, is enough to keep me warm while moving. At some point I'll likely replace it with a synthetic insulated vest for space and weight savings, but it suits my purposes well enough for the time being.

Columbia fleece vest

 On top of the above layers goes my shell jacket. My current model is a Marmot Optima jacket, with Gore-Tex Paclite material. It's relatively lightweight and seems like a good shell, at least for the 6-ish months I've had it. The handwarmer pockets are lower than I'd like; they're covered by the hipbelt when I wear a pack. Additionally, I don't think the material breathes quite as well as the Mountain Hardwear DryQ Elite jacket I replaced with it, but it's not enough of a difference to really be a major issue, or even particularly noticeable.

Marmot Optima Gore-tex shell

In my limited experience, the vast majority of the shell jackets on the market are comparable. Some use Gore-Tex, some use the individual manufacturer's proprietary Gore-Tex-like fabric, but I haven't noticed a great deal of difference. If you get a shell from a reputable company, you're probably golden. When I need a new one, I tend to just grab whatever's cheapest on Sierra Trading Post.

Extremity protection

 On my head, I wear a cheap acrylic watch cap from Wal-Mart, as well as a homemade neck gaiter. All it is is a tube of stretchy fleece fabric that goes around the neck, and they sell for $10-20. I figured that since I had some fleece laying around anyways, I'd just stitch one up for myself. It keeps your neck warm, can be pulled up over the face, and helps keep drafts out of your jacket.

In very cold weather, I prefer mittens to fingered gloves. Having all your fingers in a single compartment allows them to warm one another, and there's room to toss a chemical hand-warmer in there as well. I find that the loss of dexterity is worth the trade-off, especially since most serious cold weather gloves are bulky enough that there isn't much improvement over mitts. Some folks like to wear a very thin liner glove underneath to keep their hands warm if they have to doff the mitten to perform some task, but I have yet to find a pair of liners I like well enough to wear.

I've added parachute cord loops to all of the above items so that I can clip them to one of the plastic carabiners on my backpack harness. I find this a little more secure than just stuffing gloves or a hat into my cargo pockets if I get warm while hiking, and I don't have to remove my pack to stow them.

Patagonia Micro Puff jacket

 In addition, I carry a Patagonia Micro Puff synthetic insulated jacket. This jacket is extremely warm, so much so that I rarely, if ever, wear it while I'm moving. Where it really shines is as an extra layer to throw on top of everything when we stop so I don't freeze. In SAR especially, it's not uncommon to be stopped in place for an extended period while working on a technical rescue, waiting for instructions from incident base, or working to stabilize and package a subject.

Wal-Mart puffy jacket

 Finally, I carry an insanely warm synthetic-filled jacket I bought for $20 at Wal-Mart. This is intended as a) clothing for a search subject, or b) an additional layer for me if I get to the point that I'm just absolutely freezing my butt off and cannot seem to get warm. It's a little heavier than a comparable jacket from a top-shelf outdoor company, but if it vanishes into the night it's not a financial problem to replace it.

Shell pants

I carry a pair of Mountain Hardwear shell pants, but frankly I don't often use them. The swish-swish as I walk makes me crazy, and in most cases, my legs stay warm enough without them. However, in the case of heavy rain, particularly cold or freezing rain, they're good to have, and they're really not that heavy.

Socks, boots, gaiters and traction devices

 To keep my feet warm, I wear thick wool socks. However, these are the same socks that I use year-round to hike in, because I like the extra padding offered. For winter operations I'd recommend a pair of full-leather boots rather than boots with fabric uppers, because they tend to be more waterproof. Mine are Cresta Hikers from L.L. Bean.

Knee-height waterproof gaiters are essential in deep snow to keep the snow out of your boots. Mine are Gore-Tex Crocodile gaiters from Outdoor Research. I've been using them every winter, on some pretty rough slogs, for the last 5 years. They're still going strong.

Moving on from cold and wet weather protection, and additional problem presented in winter operations is traction. Snow and ice are inherently slippery, and you won't be contributing to the search if you're doing the slip-and-slide all night, or if you fall and injure yourself. For packed snow or ice I use Kahtoola microspikes, which have some pretty aggressive steel spikes, and a good elastic ring to attach to your boots. I also see a lot of people using Yaktrax traction devices, which use a spring in lieu of spikes, and are thus kinder to hard surfaces. I prefer having a little more grip.

Snowshoes and poles

 In deep snow, snowshoes or cross-country skis are a necessity. Snowshoes can be awkward to walk in, so be sure to practice before you wear them on a mission. I don't like to wear mine unless the snow is over knee height, at which point lifting your feet high enough to clear it becomes an issue and it's less work to walk in snowshoes than it is to posthole.

Traction spikes

 A couple notes on snowshoe purchasing: first, look for a pair of snowshoes with aggressive spikes on the underside, otherwise they may end up acting as short skis and you'll go for a ride down a hill when you really didn't want to. Additionally, make sure to get a pair big enough to support the weight of you and your gear. Most snowshoe manufacturers advertise a flotation weight for their shoes; the bigger the shoe, the more weight it can support. Get ones that account for your body weight, plus the weight of any gear you're carrying, and add about a 10 pound allowance for team gear like ropes or litter parts.

Snow baskets

 A note on poles: when you select hiking poles, make sure they come with snow baskets, which are typically about 3-5" in diameter. These have the same effect as snowshoes; they spread the weight out and prevent the pole from just punching through the snow.

Hydration options

 Moving on to our final identified winter problem: frozen drinking water. In temperate weather, I'm a tremendous fan of camelbak-style hydration systems, as I find they make it much easier to stay hydrated. However, the hose is a very narrow column of water, typically exposed to the elements, and the water in it is very prone to freezing. Once that happens, there's no other practical way to drink the water in the bag, so it becomes dead weight and you're in danger of dehydration.

You can keep the tube from icing if you blow air into it every time you drink. However, if you forget to do so even once in freezing temperatures, it's too late to fix. Some retailers sell various insulation kits for hydration hoses. I've never used one, but the people I've known who owned them have said that they weren't very effective.

I tend to just replace my hydration bladder with water bottles in the wintertime. Rather than a nalgene bottle or canteen, I use 500 mL disposable bottles, so that if I lose or break one, I'm only out a couple cents instead of $10. I keep one in a belt pouch for easy access, and six more in my pack.

water bottle caddy

 To prevent them from shifting around and throwing off the weight distribution of my pack, I stitched up a carrier from 1" webbing and elastic. It attaches to the same clips that hold my hydration system in fairer weather, and keeps the bottles stabilized. I can then reach through the side zipper on my pack and slide one out when I empty the one on my belt.

The one on my belt I carry inverted, so if the water begins to freeze it does so starting at the bottom of the bottle. The ones in the pack really should be inverted as well, but that would have caused issues with access and the height of the water bottle stack. I figured that laying on the side was close enough.

Water carrier in pack

I carry certain emergency supplies, including fire starters and a disposable bivy sack, year-round. However, I wanted to emphasize that emergency shelter and a firestarting kit are crucial in wintertime; in some cases a fire can mean the difference between life and death for the search subject, a teammate, or you. Additionally, in a survival situation, a crackling fire is a tremendous morale booster, and also makes you more visible to searchers.

A final note: in hypothermia, the victim typically does not realize there is a problem. This is due to impairment of cerebral function caused by the decline in core body temperature. In extreme cases, this can lead to irrational behavior such as shedding clothing. You really should never hike alone, but this is particularly true in winter weather, since you may not have the cognitive function to save yourself if you become hypothermic.

From a SAR standpoint, keep an eye on your teammates. If someone starts acting funny, say something. If you're cold, call a halt and put on an extra layer, don't just tough it out. Don't get so focused on the mission that you fail to take care of yourself and become part of the problem.