Getting prepared for sudden survival is simple

Because you never know when you'll need to stay warm and dry

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Perhaps nothing better illustrates the need to be prepared for sudden survival in the outdoors than what Eastern Washington University Outdoor Recreation professor Paul Green experienced one day when driving to meet his wife.

And it didn't even happen in the rugged outdoors, a place Green is right at home in spending his entire adult life directly connected to finding ways to enjoy – and survive – all that nature can offer for pleasure, or throw out as a challenge.

“Actually I've had to use mine, even in Spokane,” Green said as he related the story of an accident he was in where a car ran a stop sign and T-boned Green, spinning both cars around and forcing the other driver into a ditch.

Green was OK, but the people in the other car were shaken up and were unable to get out of their vehicle. For the most part it was just an every day average fender-bender, other than the fact that it was minus 20 degrees.

While the accident happened in a residential area, Green said it was the middle of the day and no one was home. And because of the extreme conditions, help from the police was not immediately possible.

“If I would have stayed in my average go-to-work clothes in 20-below-zero I only had a few minutes before everything was shutting down,” he said. He rendered aid to the reluctant couple that refused to get into his car where it was warm. “Without my gear I don't know how that would have shaken out,” Green said.

So not all winter survival stories come from naively following a shortcut across the mountains that is just fine in the summer, but a potential death trap in winter. Or relying on directions from a GPS that lead you down a road choked with snow.

Green says you never know when you're going to have a flat tire, an engine malfunction or, like the case of one of his students who spun out her truck and ran off the Fish Lake road. Because she had proper gear she was able to hitchhike back to Cheney.

“I'm just saying a certain amount of protection is important,” Green said. And that means having some simple items in the trunk of the car, or back of the SUV. “For winter, Green's car has three parkas in it and insulated boots. “Heads, hands and feet,” he said, are the first things to protect, adding that gloves and warm socks are crucial.

“You need your grippers (hands) your wheels (feet) and control center (head) to be warm and working,” Green said.

“I like a shovel or entrenching tool, first aid kit, road flare, flashlight, simple tools and a 55 gallon drum liner in my car,” he adds. “The drum liner is a multiple purpose tool. You can use it to lay on when digging out your car, a signal to attract attention, wind breaker and warmth for others and more.” The drum liners Green suggests are a special orange color that are easy to spot if one is caught out ion the woods.

Green illustrated how to turn the oversized bag into a quick shelter by carefully cutting a semi-circle in the side to create a shelter that covers your head yet allows you to see and breathe. He slipped it over his body and the cut “has a little porch on it,” that would divert the rain.

Depending on how much time a person spends outdoors, other items that are important include waterproof matches and cotton balls soaked in Vaseline and stored in a small container.

“REI matches are the absolute best,” he said. They are waterproof and windproof and called storm matches. “They are like the fake birthday candles that you can't blow out,” Green explained. Green said he can put the match in his mouth, light it and put it in water, pull it out and it will relight.

Winter recreationalists should consider taking a survival class ,Green said. Such classes cover snow shelters, signaling, staying warm, avalanche hazards of frostbite, hypothermia and more.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].