It was a bad time for the weather to get really nasty. The angry, black clouds threatened snow and boiled over the nearby mountains as they headed toward us.

By Leon Pantenburg

My brother Mike and I were on an elk hunt, and had backpacked miles back from any road into Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest.

This emergency tarp shelter is quick to set up and the componants are easily-carried. In an emergency, you will probably not have the time and necessary skills to make a waterproof shelter out of native materials.

Because we had to go light, our only shelter was two blue plastic tarps. We looked around quickly, tied a line between two trees that were about 15 feet apart, and quickly set the 10-by-12-foot across it in an A-Frame fashion. We set the tarp so the uphill tree’s dripline would hit it about two feet downhill. We anchored the edges and corners with rocks.

The other tarp was placed inside as a ground cover. The uphill edges were raised with rocks, so water would flow around the sleeping bags, backpacks and rifles that were stacked on it.

TV survival shows to the contrary,  it is virtually impossible to make a waterproof shelter out of natural materials, even if you have the time, tools and practice! Even with a tarp, you must have some idea or plan on how to fashion a refuge from the elements.

Setting up our tarp shelter took less than five minutes, and then the wind and rain hit. For the next 15 hours, as the rain fell steadily, we slept, snoozed and talked. There was no interior condensation problem, and we could cook without danger of asphyxiation. Neither of us got wet or cold at all, and I doubt a tent could have served us as well.

I hiked the more than 200 miles of the John Muir Trail; two weeks and 100 or so miles through the Yellowstone backcountry, and completed several shorter mountain trips with only a tarp as my shelter. On these trips, my choice of shelter was made deliberately to lighten my backpack.

If you decide to go tarp camping, and use the A-Frame style, here’s what you need to take along:

A tarp, 50 feet of parachute cord or light rope and four aluminum tent stakes are the basis of a quick shelter.

• Knowledge: Learn functional knots to secure the cord at each end.
  Know your trees: find two about 15 to 20 feet apart, with a slight elevation difference, so any moisture will drain. Stand between these trees and look up to check for dead branches that could fall. Know how to improvise if there aren’t appropriate trees. Practice setting up this shelter before you head out!
• Large (My favorite size is about eight by ten foot) tarp with sturdy grommets at the corners and middle for the covering.
  
• Smaller, waterproof tarp, groundcloth or poncho for the floor. Remember to elevate the edges for water runoff
• Lots of parachute cord or light rope. Take a minimum of 25 feet. I always take about 100 feet. The cord is light, compact and you’ll always find a use for it!
• Four aluminum tent stakes. These can be used if there is a shortage of rocks in the area. They can also be helpful if you decide to modify the basic design

This tip came from my college roommate, Bob Patterson, of Mankato,  Mn. Bob camps year-round in the frozen north!

Place a smaller tarp or poncho inside the A-Frame, with the edges raised. This will provide a dry sleeping area, and will keep water from draining downhill onto your gear.

“One cold weather wrinkle on the A-Frame with no poncho is to stack pine boughs and moss on the outside and line the floor with pine boughs,” Bob wrote. “Then stuff it full of leaves, moss, or whatever, and burrow down inside of it like a squirrel’s nest.  It’s better than sitting up all night under a tree!”

If wet or nasty weather is anticipated, take along a tent appropriate for the season. If you are headed on a winter campout, or into an area with mosquitoes and/or the potential for creepy, crawly visitors at night, take a tent with mosquito netting

In other instances, though, the A -Frame tarp shelter may be all you need, and sometimes may be the best choice!

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

by Leon Pantenburg

Bend, Or. – If you get caught in the woods in deep snow and a storm is headed toward you, there won’t be much time to take shelter. You will need to know where to get out of the wind, how to make or find a quick shelter and how to ensure you are found by rescuers.

Boy Scouts and instructors examine a snow cave as part of the Tenth Annual Winter Survival Skills Day in Bend, Oregon.

That lesson is particularly important to learn in Central Oregon, where tourists flock to enjoy the snowmobiling, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and other winter sports.

Unfortunately, many people head out into the backcountry with no idea of the inherent danger, or how quickly they can end up in a potentially life-threatening situation.

The ability to make a quick survival shelter can save your life. That was the message last week to Boy Scouts from two veteran search and rescue volunteer instructors. Every year, Central Oregon Boy Scouts and guests participate in a day of winter survival training prior to the annual Fremont District winter campout “Freezoree.”

This year, at the tenth annual Winter Skills Day,  about 25 scouts, parents and guests focused on building emergency survival shelters. Instructors were Jim Prestwood and Todd Teicheira, both fathers of Eagle scouts, and Boy Scout volunteers with Bend’s Troop 18. They are also Search and Rescue volunteers.

An important part of making an effective survival shelter is to first understand that you are in a bad situation and then

This tree well would be a good place to dig an emergency shelter out of the wind.

slow down and weigh your options. A good exercise, one instructor told the scouts,  is to STOP: Stop, Think, Observe, Plan. Know your limitations and know what you can do.

“Be realistic. Even if you know how, have practiced and have the tools along, you won’t have time to make an igloo,” Teicheira said. “You may only have a few minutes before a white-out sets in. Look at the terrain and see how you can use it.”

Start by finding areas with piled-up drifts, tree wells, fallen logs, or other terrain features, he said, that show where the wind blows and piles up snow.

“Get behind a snow drift, fallen tree, in a tree well or some sort of terrain feature that is out of the wind,” he advises. “Get on the lee side, where there is a depression or less snow pile-up, and then start making your shelter.”

Don’t waste time trying to make a big, spacious emergency shelter, Prestwood said, because a smaller space will insulate more effectively, be warmer and be faster to make. Take along something to make a shelter with, such as a tarp or a quilted space blanket with grommets on the corners.

“Look around and figure out how you can combine your gear with the terrain features,” Prestwood suggests.

Quick combinations include digging down into a tree well and covering the opening with the tarp; digging a trench to cover with a tarp or space blanket, or making a three-sided dome out of  snow blocks.

This trench was dug in about five minutes. It will be covered with a tarp, and supported by cross-country skis and poles.

Once the shelter is complete, Prestwood recommends tying a bright handkerchief, flagging or something easily seen near the shelter. Then he suggests, get inside, out of the wind and hold your whistle in hand, ready to blow.

“The search and rescue people may be on snowmobiles. They might not be able to hear you yell over the engine noise, and through their helmets,” Prestwood said. “It may be hard for you to hear through your shelter, too, particularly if the wind in blowing. As soon as you hear an engine, blow your whistle and keep blowing.”

The searchers may see the markers before they find the shelter. Once they see some evidence of the lost person, Prestwood said, the usual protocol is to report the location on their radios and concentrate the search.

Both instructors carry small tarps, flagging, whistles, insulite backpacking sleeping pads, heavy duty space blankets with grommets at the corners, parachute cord, collapsible snow shovels and bivey sacks to make emergency shelters.

They also carry the Boy Scout  Ten Essentials gear, Prestwood said, which is the basis of all the gear they carry on winter rescues.

Scout volunteer Pat Simning tries out the snow block shelter he built in 30 minutes.

“We carry a lot of the same survival gear you scouts do when we go on a mission,”  Teicheira said.  “I got a lot of my start in wilderness survival training in scouts.”

Editor’s note: The best winter survival shelter suggestion would probably be to carry along a four-season winter tent whenever you venture into the backcountry! But most people won’t be burdened with that extra weight, so you better be prepared some other way!

For more information on survival common sense techniques, click on the highlighted words:

• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Write a note to let people know where you went, before you left.
• Take your Ten Essentials on every outing.
• Dress with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com