AY Honors/Winter Camping/Answer Key

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1. Earn the Camp Craft Honor.

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2. Make up a complete list of necessary camping equipment for winter conditions, such as possible sub-zero (-18° C) temperatures, storms, and snow.

Clothing

See requirement 2 for an explanation of the types of clothing you should select and avoid.

Several thin layers of synthetic clothing.
Wind-proof shell, such as a parka.
Thin, synthetic socks (next to feet), with thick, wool socks over them.
Waterproof boots, such as Mukluks, or rubber boots. Avoid steel-toed or leather boots.
Gaiters to keep snow out of your boots.
Wind-proof mittens over wool gloves.
Wind-proof pants over wool or fleece pants. Do not wear jeans.
Down-filled vest.
Warm headgear. Your body loses most of its heat through the head, so keep it insulated!

Gear

Sleeping bag, rated for the expected temperatures
Compass, map, and flashlight. It is illegal to venture into some areas without these essential items!
Knife
Personal toiletries
First aid kit
Small tents are easier to heat than large ones (and your body is the furnace - see requirement 6 for more information).
Sled, snowshoes, or cross-country skis.
Rope
Camping stove - make sure your stove will work in cold temperatures. Propane, butane, and alcohol stoves can be difficult (or impossible) to light at low temperatures. Wood-fueled camping stoves such as the Trailstove or Littlebug stove are strongly advised.
Matches
Cooking gear and utensils.
Dining sets (plate, cup, cutlery).

3.Explain the principles of maintaining body warmth and dryness through the proper use of clothing and sleeping gear under all temperatures down to zero while traveling, resting, and sleeping.

The key to staying warm in the winter is to stay dry. This is done by dressing in layers which are easily vented. While snow shoeing, hiking, or cross country skiing, an individual generates an enormous amount of body heat. Unless the person is careful, the body will overheat, and the person will begin to perspire. When the person stops to rest, the perspiration will begin to chill the body. It is therefore imperative that the active person dress in layers. When the body begins to heat up, the outer jacket should be vented, which is to say, unzipped. If heat continues to build, the outer jacket should be removed. If this does not cool the body enough to end perspiration, another layer should be vented, and perhaps shed. Eventually, the clothing will match the person's level of activity, where enough body heat is generated to keep the person warm, but not sweaty. If it is snowing, sleeting, or raining, be sure the outermost layer is waterproof.

If a person finds that he (or she) has not controlled his (or her) perspiration sufficiently, it is important to change out of the sweat-soaked garments as soon as possible. For once the chills set in, they are difficult to overcome. Do not wear cotton garments for winter camping. Cotton will keep you warm only if it is kept perfectly dry, and keeping it perfectly dry is nearly impossible. Winter campers are quick to admonish that cotton kills. Instead wear woolen or synthetic garments.

When the day's exertion ends, it is time to start adding layers again. When it is finally time to go to bed, the winter camper should climb into a warm sleeping bag and zip up. Sleeping bags are generally given a temperature rating. It would be foolish to set out on a winter camping expedition with a $10.00 sleeping bag that is only good down to 40°F. Make sure the temperature rating matches the expected conditions, and reserve a little margin for bad forecasting. Also, don't forget that weather forecasts often do not cover higher elevations, so if you're hiking in mountainous areas, be aware of the conditions at the altitude you're going to be spending your time. Again, if perspiration begins, the bag should be partially unzipped to allow the air to cool the body before sweat does.

4. List and explain the characteristics of winter campsite selection.

Camp on the snow or on bare ground. Camping on snow leaves almost no environmental impact. Be mindful of animal tracks. You do not want to pitch camp on a trail used by animals - that would cut them off from their source of food or water.

Cold air sinks, so you want to avoid low ground. Ridges and mountaintops are exposed to the wind, so you will want to avoid those as well. If camping on a slope, the tent opening should be positioned so that it faces neither downhill nor uphill. In the evening as the sun sets and the air at the higher elevations cools, it will sink, creating a breeze blowing down from the mountain top. In the morning as the air at the lower elevations is heated by the sun, it will rise, creating a breeze blowing towards the mountain top. Though this air is warmer than the air at the top of the mountain, it is still quite cold, so you do not want your tent door facing it.

Avoid areas prone to avalanches. Look around for evidence of avalanche debris from the current season (chunks of disturbed snow) or from previous seasons (downed trees).

Consider where the sun will rise in the morning, and where the first light from it will fall. It would be a pity if you pitched your tent in the shadow of a mountain peak, while 100 meters away is s spot that will receive sunlight an hour earlier.

Choose a site with a nearby source of water. You might have to break through some ice to get to it, but once that's done, you will not want to haul it any farther than necessary. Water is heavy!

Watch for tree limbs, and do not camp beneath snow laden branches. The branches will either drop snow and ice on your tent, or they may even break off themselves.

5. Describe, or show where possible, the preparation of a level tent site in snow and pitch a tent in winter conditions.

The difficulty posed when pitching a tent in winter conditions is in anchoring the tent to the ground. Winter winds tend to be stronger than summer winds, so securely anchoring the tent is even more important. Meanwhile, the ground is frozen, making it difficult to drive stakes into it, or it is buried beneath several inches of snow.

If pitching a tent in snow, first stomp down an area as large as the tent. If the ground is not level, you can move snow from the high side to the low side, and add more snow from elsewhere to level it out. Pack it down as well as you can, and immediately smooth it out. Fluffy mounds of snow have a strange way of turning into bumpy chunks of ice very quickly, and they are exceedingly uncomfortable to sleep on.

Then lay the tent out, and anchor it before erecting the poles. As soon as you raise the tent, it will be susceptible to being swept away by the wind, and that is the reason for anchoring it before raising it. To anchor it, fill a bag with snow, ice, or rocks, tie it to the tent's anchor point, and bury it in the snow. Then pack the snow down firmly around the bag. Be sure to retrieve the bags when you break camp.

In deep snow, you can also excavate a kitchen by digging out a small area and building up walls with the snow you scoop out of the kitchen hole. Dig a path from the kitchen to the tents, and build snow chairs and tables too if you want. By submerging your kitchen below the snow, you get both your fire and your cook out of the wind. If you make it big enough to eat in, you get yourself and your dining companions out of the wind too.

If pitching a tent on bare ground, you can try to drive stakes into it, but if it is too frozen to allow this, you can again turn to anchoring the tent to weighted bags. Fill the bags with as many rocks as they will hold, and then pile more rocks on top of them. You can also tie the anchor points to fallen logs, but you will need to move the logs close to the tent for this to work well.

6. Prepare a balanced three-day menu to be used in your winter camping experience.

The key to eating on a winter camping is to provide lots of calories. If you are snowshoeing or cross country skiing, you will need at least double your normal caloric intake. Furthermore, you need to be aware that calories are what fuels your body's furnace, and this internal furnace is what generates the heat that your clothing traps. The body metabolizes calories to generate heat, so it needs something to work with.

That said, it is also important to eat a balanced diet. Be sure your menu contains plenty of vitamins and minerals and draws from all the food groups (Meat and beans, fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy). There is no need to eat like a pauper on a camp out, and indeed, many outdoorsmen find the meals to be the most satisfying aspect of winter camping. In a person's normal, sedentary life, excessive calories need to be carefully avoided, and this often means skipping dessert, sweets, or fatty foods. Not so on a winter camp out! You will need those calories, so pour them on! (Just be sure to back off again when you return to your sedentary ways.)

Winter camping also affords the opportunity to bring along foods that would normally spoil for lack of refrigeration. If the temperature is going to stay below 4°C, you can bring anything with you that requires refrigeration. If you are expecting the temperature to stay below freezing, you can bring frozen foods with you. If you are snowshoeing or skiing into the wilderness, you can cram all that extra food onto a sled and drag it behind you. It's easier to drag a sled than it is to shoulder a backpack, and you can carry a lot more weight too.

7. Know how to get water from snow.

Though snow is a form of water, it is foolish to eat it while it is still frozen, especially when spending an extended period of time in the cold. Eating snow can lower the body temperature, leading to chills at best, hypothermia and death at worst. That said, snow is still a great source of drinking water, so long as it is melted first. Pack snow into a pot and put it on the camp stove. Add 250 ml of liquid water to the pot of snow before heating it. If the only water you have in the pot is snow or ice, there will be air pockets. If there is nothing there to conduct the heat away from an aluminum pot, a stove can easily burn a hole in it, or scorch the inside (which will impart a bad taste to the water). The easiest way to get water for this purpose is to keep it in a bottle carried in an inside pocket near your skin. Your body heat will prevent it from freezing.

8. Know five safety rules of winter camping.

Do not embark on a winter camping expedition unless you have adequate equipment and provisions and are in good physical condition.
Never light a fire inside a tent.
Do not camp alone - use the buddy system. Frequently check your buddy for signs of frostbite and hypothermia.
Allow plenty of time to set up camp before it gets dark, especially if you plan to build a shelter from snow.
Check current conditions and know the weather forecast before setting out.
Always let someone outside your group know your itinerary - where you will go, what route you will take, and when you expect to return. Get a permit when camping in the back country and register with the ranger.
Wear a brightly colored outer layer so that you can be easily seen by other members of your party. This is essential if a snow storm blows in.
Do not overestimate the capabilities of your group.
Do not underestimate the dangers of winter conditions.

9. Explain the proper steps to take if stranded without equipment in winter conditions.

The most important action a person can take if stranded in winter conditions - with equipment or without - is to get to a shelter or build one. Most wilderness fatalities are a result of exposure to the elements - in other words, hypothermia.

If you are in a vehicle, stay with it. It makes an excellent shelter. If the vehicle gets buried in snow, do not run the engine, as this can force deadly carbon monoxide inside. It is better to shut off then engine and keep the doors and windows closed than to go outside and dig the car out. If the car gets buried in snow, it will add a layer of insulation and keep the inside warmer.

If in a snowy area without a vehicle, dig a snow cave. If in a forested area with a little snow, find a fallen tree and scoop the snow away from it, building a snow wall with the removed snow, and using the fallen tree as another wall. Often, a large fallen tree will raise a rootwad which provides an excellent starting point for building a shelter. First, the rootwad can be as high as 2.5 meters tall, and second, it will create a depression in the ground from whence it lifted its roots.

If in an area with no snow build a debris hut by piling up tree branches leaving a hollow space in the center of the pile. Cover the branches with leaf litter, dead grass, sod, and moss to keep the wind out and to provide insulation. Make your shelter as small as you can comfortably fit inside. This will create a smaller space to keep warn with your body heat.

If you can find a cave, take shelter inside that.

However you decide to provide yourself with shelter, stay put and wait for rescue. They will find you, and if you have conserved your energy and found (or built) a shelter, they will find you alive.

10. Show knowledge of and ability to prevent, recognize, and care for mild frostbite, hypothermia, mild snow blindness, and dehydration.

11. Spend a total of six days and nights in cold weather camping.

a. All nights should have temperature lows in the 40's (5° C).

We assume that this means the temperature should be below 49°F, which is 9.4°C. Below 40°F (4.4°C) is also acceptable.

Bring a thermometer with you on all your camp outs. If the temperature drops below 50°F, you can count that. If you wake up in the morning and find frost on the grass or on your tent, that counts too.

b. Two nights should have temperature lows below freezing (0° C).

Again, you should bring a thermometer on all your campouts. If you wake up in the morning and find frost on the tent or on the grass, that counts as a below freezing night.

c. All nights should be spent in tents, tarps, or the open.

We assume that an igloo, snow cave, or quinzhee would also qualify. This portion of the requirement is there so that the winter camper does not try to count a night in a cabin, recreational vehicle, or pop-up camper as a winter camping night.

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