by Leon Pantenburg
I’ve always been afraid of tornadoes, even before I heard of the Wicked Witch of the West and: “Surrender Dorothy!”

Anybody who grew up or lived near Gilbert, in Central Iowa, is familiar with the destructive, whirling wind patterns. The movie “Twister” was filmed about 40 miles away from our family farm, and all the locals can tell storm stories.

 One year, our neighbors lost their house to a funnel cloud. Across the road from them, a barn was blown away. But the grand-daddy of all Iowa tornadoes, though, happened on June 13, 1976, when a tornado rated F-5 by the National Weather Service hit nearby Jordon.

My Dad saw this funnel cloud headed in his direction when he was cultivating corn. He abandoned the tractor and ran for shelter.

My siblings were home on the family farm, and noticed the weather was hot and humid and everything was getting really still. Dad was cultivating in the cornfield and saw the funnel cloud. He abandoned the tractor and headed for the house.

“It was the first time I ever saw Dad run,” my brother Mike recalls. “As soon as he was in earshot he started yelling for us to get to the basement.”

The NWS indicated that the damage path of the Jordon tornado was roughly 880 yards wide and 21 miles long. The twister destroyed virtually every house and business building in Jordon, but all residents survived. The tornado was accompanied by an F-3 anticyclonic tornado a few miles away.

Shortly after the Jordon tornado, Dad built a concrete re-enforced storm shelter under the front porch. The neighbors were told where the shelter was, and were invited to take refuge there if need be. And, if the house was blown away, they would know where to look for survivors!

(If you want to build a tornado shelter, a good place to start is by reading the Federal Emergency Management Agency manual called “Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House,” FEMA-320. )Taking shelter from the storm: building a safe room inside your house : includes construction plans and cost estimates
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 I’m still afraid of tornados, and if you live in an area where tornadoes are possible, you should be too! You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to be prepared, so you will know what to do.

So what is the first step?

An approaching tornado is terrifying: Know what to do before hand, so you don't panic and make fatal mistakes.

Start by learning about tornadoes and what you can do to survive them. Here’s some suggestions from the FEMA:

Before the potential tornado, be alert to changing weather conditions.

• Listen to the national weather channel or to commercial radio or television newscasts for the latest information. You could also buy a Weather Radio Sima WX-200 Emergency Alert Radio
  that plays weather news all the time.
• Look for approaching storms
• Look for the following danger signs:
  • Dark, often greenish sky
  • Large hail
  • A large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if rotating)
  • Loud roar, similar to a freight train.

If you see approaching storms or any of the danger signs, be prepared to take shelter immediately.

Here’s a survival scenario learning exercise. You’re aware there is a storm watch with potential twisters, and you’re keeping a lookout.

Then someone spots a funnel cloud headed in your direction – what’s the first thing you need to do? (And don’t depend on others – in any crowd, in any urban or wilderness survival emergency, about 80 percent of the people there will have to be told what to do) Tornado awareness
.

One choice might be (Please bear with me if I’m starting to sound like a broken record!) to start with STOP (Stop, Think, Observe and Plan), the survival mindset exercise.

You can’t think if you have panicked, and you must force yourself to calm down. Then, make a plan.

That’s where the knowledge part of your wilderness survival gear comes in. Instead of drawing a blank about what to do next, remember this advice from the FEMA. These suggestions are part of your survival kit, and will give you an idea of how to respond.

When a weather advisory is broadcast, keep an eye out for trouble!

•  If you are in a building: Go to a pre-designated shelter area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside. Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck. Do not open windows.
• If you’re in a mobile home: Get out immediately and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or a storm shelter. Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes.
• If you’re outside with no shelter: Lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands. Be aware of the potential for flooding. Don’t get under an overpass or bridge. You are safer in a low, flat location.

 If you’re caught in a public building or school, FEMA suggests you get to an interior room or hall or the ground floor. Thunderstorms–tornadoes–lightning– : nature’s most violent storms : a preparedness guide including tornado safety information for schools (SuDoc C 55.108:T 42)
(It could be dark, so hopefully, you’ll have your keychain survival flashlight in your pockets. LRI Photon Freedom LED Keychain Micro-Light with Covert Nose
The person with the flashlight, who acts like he/she knows what he is doing automatically, becomes the leader. Know where you’re going!)

 Avoid halls that open to the outside, or any places with free-span ceiling that could collapse such as an auditorium or gym.

It’s not true that mobile home parks attract tornadoes. But, it is virtually impossible to secure a trailer to a foundation well enough for it to withstand tornado-speed winds.

Flying debris is responsible for most of the injuries related to tornadoes.

And above all, don’t do stupid things. Don’t stand in the yard videoing the approaching cloud – the flying debris can kill you before you realize you’re in danger. I’ve seen oat straw driven into a tractor tire, and a 78 phonograph stuck in a telephone pole by the force of tornado winds. Don’t waste time taking things out of your home if you have to evacuate.

In Iowa, with its precise road system laid out in square mile grids, many people would park during storms at a crossroads, with their vehicle engines idling. If they spotted a tornado, they would drive off at a 90 degree angle from the funnel cloud.

Exercising the wisdom of teenagers everywhere, some of my friends would gather at popular crossroads, just to have a chance at outrunning a storm. According to the NWS, the average speed of a tornado is about 30 mph, but they travel as fast as 70 mph, and they can change directions without warning.

The experts recommend that you never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas. Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safe shelter.

Farm kids were taught early to seek refuge in a culvert under the road if  they get caught in the open during a twister. I don’t know anybody who ever actually did that, but it seems like a good idea. If nothing else, the culvert would offer some protection from flying debris.

Basically, if you found a safe spot and hunkered down until the wind quit blowing, you should be OK. If you were in a building that blew down, emergency personnel will probably be on the scene shortly after the all clear sirens go off.

 Recovering from a disaster is usually a gradual process, according to FEMA. Safety is a primary issue, as are mental and physical well-being. Stay away from the rubble and don’t touch any fallen electrical wires.

Then, be thankful – you’ve experienced one of nature’s most dramatic and deadly displays. And you’re alive to tell the tale!

Recommended Reading:

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, 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.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg
  
  .

by Leon Pantenburg

I’m not sure how the early settlers along the Oregon Trail or the western frontier  got along without duct tape, WD-40 or trash bags, but life surely would have been easier with them!

Trash  bags, in particular, are included in all my survival kits. They have a multitude of uses, including being containers for picking up trash! But in an emergency,  when correctly used, trash bags can prove a quick, temporary shelter from the elements.

This 55-gallon trash can liner can provide a quick emergency shelter. (All photos by Peter Kummerfeldt)

I first noticed this trash bag shelter use  at an Iowa State University football game in the early 70s. The weather got really bad during the half, with snow, rain and wind. But one row of die-hard Cyclones pulled out a roll of plastic trash bags, cut holes for their heads and arms, and weathered the storm. I don’t recall how the football team did! 

Since then, I’ve taken shelter in trash bags on a variety of outdoor activities. Trash bags are particularly valuable on hunting trips, because a large bag gives you a place to lay meat while you’re butchering.

Obviously, if you anticipate bad weather, be prepared for it, stay home or take along a  lightweight, four season backpacking tent. ALPS Mountaineering Mystique 8- by 5-Foot Two- to Three-Person Lightweight Backpacking Tent .

But, c’mon, how many of you are going to lug around a tent on every outing? Most of us will carry it a time or two, and eventually, the tent will end up getting left at the trailhead. Then, some day late in the afternoon, you realize you’re lost or in a survival situation. You’ll have to  build some sort of shelter before it gets dark.

Reality shows to the contrary, you probably won’t be able to build a shelter out of natural materials, says survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt.

“I believe it is impossble for the survivor to build a waterproof, windproof shelter from natural materials,” Peter writes in Surviving a Wilderness Emergency.  “Shelters made from natural materials require time, natural resources, a cutting tool and a fully-functional survivor who has practiced building emergency shelters in the past! The survivor needs a waterproof, windproof shelter now!”

Large, heavy grade (3 or 4 mil) 55-gallon drum liners can make a good short term shelter. But don’t just crawl in and hunker down. Like any survival technique, you need to prepare and practice to use this shelter.

“Totally encapsulating yourself inside a plastic bag is not a good idea,” Peter advises. “Apart from the need for oxygen, the water vapor in the air you exhale, and your prespiration, will condense on the inner surfaces, and you will get quite wet.”

To avoid this problem, cut an opening in the closed end of the bag with your survival knife, SRK, Black Kraton Handle, Plain or the scissors  on your multi-tool Leatherman 831087 Wave Multitool and Monarch 300 Multitool/Flashlight Combo Set just large enough to allow you to pass your head through. The bag is then passed over your head until your face aligns with the hole and the moist air is exhaled outside.

To make the hole, Peter advises cutting the plastic at a 90-degree angle along a seam about five inches below one corner. The hole should be just big enough to pass your head through when you are getting too warm.

This shelter  technique very well. In Boy Scout Troop 18, we keep a roll of 45-gallon plastic bags from one of the local tire stores. Each scout takes one on hikes or campouts, in case they need to improvise a shelter, rain poncho or pack cover.   The smaller bags are just the right size  to cover the little guys from head to toe.

Trash bags for shelters are easy to come by. Your local hardware store will probably have contractor-grade 45 and 55 gallon bags. You can also look in the storage area. I found 55-gallon, 3-mill bright yellow bags, designed to cover furniture  for long term storage, that will work quite well as shelters.

Include an insulated pad for sitting upon, because the plastic bag doesn't have any insulation.

Color is another consideration. I prefer blaze orange or bright yellow to help rescuers find me. But if you want to avoid being found, just get the standard black color.  Get in the shade of a tree, under a black bag and you will be pretty well camoflauged. A large white bag, also in the shade of a tree, will allow you to blend in well with snow.

I carry several tire bags, along with an orange 55-gallon heavy duty bag as part of my Ten Essentials survival kit and my hunting gear. My orange bag already has a head hole cut. In a pinch, per Peter’s advice, I’ll stick my feet in a smaller bag, pull it up around my waist and pull the orange bag down over me.

Also, as recommended by Peter, I always carry a piece of insulite foam for sitting upon. The plastic bag provides no insulation, and the cold ground will suck the heat right out of you. The padded, warm seat will make waiting to be found much more comfortable!

Obviously, an emergency shelter is just that. It is designed  to be used in an emergency, and nobody ever claimed a trash bag shelter is the best choice under any and all circumstances.  But a trash bag is light, will give you a waterproof shelter from nasty weather, and is compact and light enough to be taken anywhere. Remember this thought when you’re putting together a survival kit, bug-out bag or a set of wilderness or urban survival tools: 

No piece of survival equipment is worth anything if you don’t have it with you!

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Build the Perfect Survival Kit

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, 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.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg
  

by Leon Pantenburg

In most cases, a properly-pitched and sited tarp shelter  works very well. The advantages of a tarp over a tent are primarily in the weight-savings category.  But in some instances and situations, a tarp may be the most effective shelter you can carry.

This basic A-Frame tarp shelter is a good design to improvise from. Make this the planned shelter and modify it to fit the terrain and your needs.

For years, I have included a tarp (along with some sort of survival knife) as part of my survival kit and  for shelter on backpacking and hunting trips. If I ever got wet or uncomfortable during the night on these excursions, it was because I either didn’t pitch a tarp at all, or was sloppy about securing it.

Most of my early backpacking was done with my college friend, John Nerness. An avid backpacker, John was also a design engineer for Lockheed Aircraft in Mountainview, CA. Subsequently, he brought his engineering expertise into making our shelter every night. We enjoyed the challenge of adapting to the environment through a tarp shelter!

When there was time, we came up with elaborately-tied and secured tent-like structures. In other instances,  we made do with whatever the terrain allowed. John sometimes used a “taco” design, which is a hasty shelter that isn’t  pitched or secured at all. To use a taco, all you do is find a sheltered, well-drained area, lay the tarp on the ground, and fold it up over you.

John commented via email about using a taco shelter:

“The taco is generally doable anywhere in an emergency. Condensation onto the bag might be of some concern, but if you lie in it so you are breathing to the open side, there will be less of that,” John wrote. “Also, at that point, you probably don’t have a lot of choices (and hopefully, don’t have a down bag!)”

We frequently used John's backpack as one shelter support, since it had a free-standing frame. When the edges of the tarp were secured, the pack made a great support.

Obviously, a taco design isn’t the best choice for open spaces where there is the potential of high winds. But again, you have to have a basic plan for a tarp shelter and improvise from there.

There are lessons to be learned from any experience, so just for fun, here’s some tarp-shelter excerpts from my early trail journals:

The Cloud Peak Primitive Area, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming: I graduated from Iowa State University in 1976, and went west for the summer. The first real backpacking trip I ever took was with college buddies Mike Leininger and John Nerness. The weather got really bad about three days into the wilderness area.

John took along a piece of visqueen to use as a tarp, and Mike and I had a backpacking tent. John’s tarp shelters proved to work better than our tent!

June 26, 1976: Mike and I woke about dawn when the tent fell in because

Sometimes, you don't need to pitch a tarp to make a shelter. The tarp, left, was used in a taco pattern - it was doubled over, then the "filling" - our equipment - was folded into the center. John slept in that setup in some really nasty weather in complete comfort.

of all the snow. It was a rude awakening, all the sudden being hit by a cold, soggy tent in the face.

We hollered and woke up John, and he put on his clothes and came and rescued us. I got outside and didn’t want to believe my eyes.

There was about three inches of snow all over everything and the sky looked quite threatening. Looking up to the mountains I could see they were completely snow-covered. They looked like the Himalayas. In the valley, the snow was hip-deep. We all looked at each other with the same thought: Where can we go from here?

If we stayed, we might get snowed on more and end up snowbound. While John cooked and Mike packed up the tent, I climbed up on a high rock and looked over the situation. The tops of the mountains looked clear but here was a lot of snow between us and them. Some of the drifts were eight feet deep.

While we discussed our options, a thick fog settled over the camp. We had taken several compass readings while we could still see landmarks. We took off, deciding to go over the peaks, because they were the only part of the landscape that wasn’t under snow.

Granite Peak, Beartooth Mountains, Montana

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 1977

(We were in the middle of an 11-day hike, cross-country, through the  Beartooths. On Aug. 3, we approached Granite Peak, with the idea of climbing it. As it turns out, common sense prevailed  and we didn’t attempt the summit!)

A much younger Leon outside a silver mine in the Beartooths that provided shelter one night

Hiked all day, trying to get to Granite Peak and had a few problems. The elevation was about 11,000 feet most of the time, and we’d walk about 10 feet, then have to stop and catch our breaths.

All day we were on the rock slides, so we had to hop from rock to rock to go anywhere. Usually the rocks were solid, but when we hit the glaciers, they were loose.

We reached the pass in front of Granite Peak and decided not to try it. It was very steep to the summit, and we would have needed technical equipment and skill . I was somewhat disappointed, because we were within 1,000 feet of the top. But it would have been really foolhardy to try climbing and I didn’t want to get stuck up there.

The trip down the pass was the most dangerous scrambling/climbing I’ve ever done. There was a glacier going all the way down the pass, and it was slippery and steep. We stayed off the ice as much as possible, because a slip could have been fatal.

This tarp shelter was made in the dark after descending from the pass near Granite Peak. The tarp was pitched using a boulder and John's pack (see above) for supports. It sheltered us from the all-night rain very well.

The rocks were loose, and about halfway down the slope, it started to rain. We couldn’t use our ponchos, because we couldn’t see our feet with them on. We both got soggy.

The last segment was really bad and dangerous. It was a sheer cliff and we had to descend it, clinging to the rocks with our fingertips and boot tips. Meanwhile, darkness was falling very rapidly. I picked my way along a rock slide, just barely able to see, but managed to get to the level ground just before dark.

The rain increased, and we barely got the tarp up in time. The ground was rocky, but I could have slept on a bed of nails. I fell asleep, too tired to even eat. I was really, really glad we didn’t attempt the summit!

Thursday, August 4

Rained all night, but the tarp kept us dry.  The condensation of our breathing and the humidity made the inside a little moist. (It rained steadily or was foggy for the next three days. But we slept comfortably at night and stayed dry under our various tarp shelters!)

December 24, 1977, Sheep Canyon, Death Valley National Monument

Got on the trail before 9 A.M. The hiking was fairly easy, but uphill all the way. The canyon had all the contours of an old river bed, and in places was lousy walking. The path was all loose rock, so the footing was unsure most of the time.

Leon, left, and John (taking photo) pitched their tarp in this Death Valley "forest" during Christmas of 1977.

We plodded along steadily. About 4 P.M., we stopped for supper and continued on. We were at the end of Sheep Canyon, so we climbed up the ridges until we finally decided to stop and camp.

Climbed to the top of one ridge and could see Mount Whitney and Funeral Peak. We’re in the Black Mountains and can see snow-covered mountains across the valley floor.

The only fairly level spot was in a creek bed. There were a few bushes around, but nothing to tie the tarp to. We used John’s pack at one end, and a tall rock for the other end of the shelter. It was quite comfortable.

On Christmas Day, my usual luck with weather manifested itself. It started to rain about 5 a.m.

As soon as we heard raindrops on the tarp, we packed up and hurried to higher ground to avoid any potential flash floods.  The rain didn’t last long. It was ridiculous – and funny – getting soaked in heavy rain in a place that averages 1.94 inches of precipitation annually. Some years, that area doesn’t get any rain.

(The most remote spot in Death Valley is the Ubehebe Crater, where John and I camped on Dec. 22, 1977. The GPS coordinates are: 11S 0460029E: 4095647N)

John was playing engineer when he rigged this shelter in the Beartooths. Leon is apparently cooking on the backpacking stove or contemplating something.

Leon under a hasty tarp shelter at Lassen National Forest in Northern California. The two trees at the head provided the main support, and a center line rope held up the middle.

by Leon Pantenburg

It was just supposed to be a quick, hour or so outing on cross-country skis. The day was beautiful; you got into the ground-covering groove and ended up going a lot further than planned. And why not? What a great day to be out in the backcountry!  Didn’t pay much attention to the clouds coming over the mountains, because you were having too much fun. Then, without much warning at all,  Mother Nature shows her other side and  turns vicious and deadly.

STOP, then look around to find an area out of the wind. The area on the right is probably the most sheltered.

The sky darkens, the wind starts to blow, and there’s that awful, sinking feeling that, somehow, you have really screwed up. The wind increases, blowing snow sideways and viability drops to nothing. You must do something immediately, because it will be only a few minutes before the full force of the storm hits.

You start to panic. Maybe the best plan is to turn and ski as fast as possible back toward your car….wherever that is…

Before you do anything: STOP (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan). Get off your feet, and calm down. Control the urge to act hastily. Accept the reality of the situation: you can’t possibly outrun the storm. You must make a shelter, quickly.

Here’s how to make a quick snow trench shelter with a tarp. You will need a tarp or quilted Space Blanket with corner grommets, Texsport Blue Reinforced Rip-Stop Polyethylene Tarps
a small snow shovel, Black Diamond Deploy 7 Shovel
an insulated backpacking sleeping pad,Stansport Pack-Lite Camping Pad
bright flagging Flagging Tape 1-3/16″ wide, Solid Colors, 14 to choose from
and a signal whistle. Fox 40 Micro 2 pack
 (All these items are essential if you are recreating in snowy back country.)  If you work effectively, it should take about five minutes to make a trench shelter that can save your life.

Here’s what to do when you’ve calmed down and can focus on the task at hand:

• Look around and decide where the wind is coming from. Find a snow drift, tree, thicket, terrain feature etc. to get out of the wind. You want to be on the lee (downwind) side of any windbreak where the least wind is.You’ll be able tell where that is by the depression, or the snowdrift in front of it.
  

  If the snow is compacted, you may be able to cut blocks, speeding up the excavation.

• Dig a trench, about waist deep, two-to-three feet wide, and six feet long. The entrance should be on the downwind side so the wind doesn’t blow directly into the shelter.
• Put your skis and poles across the trench to support the tarp. If available, you may want to also put some long tree boughs across the trench. If there is time, and enough boughs, line the floor.
• Stretch out the tarp on top of the skis and poles, and then shovel snow on all the edges to keep the covering from blowing off.
• Tie long streamers of flagging to trees around the shelter so it is easily visible.
• Get inside the trench, and hold your whistle in your hand.

Rescuers may be on snowmobiles, and may have difficulty hearing shouting over the wind, engine noise, two-way radio headsets and helmet liners. So, as soon as you hear engines, start blowing on your whistle, and keep blowing. The universal signal for distress is three spaced whistles. If you left a detailed note before you took off on the trip, your survival emergency should be over soon.

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive
Camping’s Forgotten Skills: Backwood Tips from a Boundary Waters Guide

Preparations before you leave can make any outdoor excursion safer, and there is no substitute for prior planning and learning the right skills. Here are some survival common sense tips that can help. Click on the highlighted words for more information and complete stories:

Place skis and poles over the trench, then cover with the tarp.

• 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 in clothing with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter. Know how to make an emergency shelter in all seasons.

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.

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. 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.Eureka Tetragon 5 Adventure 7-Foot by 5-Foot Two-Person Tent

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. Handbook of Knots: EXPANDED EDITION
  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. 6 ft. x 8 ft. Ultralight Backpacking Tarp
• Smaller, waterproof tarp, groundcloth or poncho for the floor. Remember to elevate the edges for water runoff Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Tarp-Poncho
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• 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! 50-Ft 550 Parachute Cord Military 7-Strand Camping Survival – COLOR MAY VARY
• 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 Sierra Designs Hex Peg Tent Stakes
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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 ponch 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 Eureka Solo Backcountry 1 Tent
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In other instances, though, the A -Frame tarp shelter may be all you need, and sometimes may be the best choice!

For more related Survival Common Sense tips, 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
  

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