Talk:Winterization and Fire Safety

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Donated clothing list- wants/ideas

User:Cmax1088 Today 9:47 am

There are a lot of things that would be helpful and brainstorming and asking for them may spur people to donate things they didn't think were useful or didn't think of themselves.

Scarves, hats, gloves.

All types of material, not just poly pro is useful. Wool!!! Fleece, down.

Gortex/nylon.

Also, not sure how people would respond but fur lined clothing is obviously very warm.

Tips for staying warm

Can we get someone knowledgeable in long-term winter camping to give advice on staying warm? I can provide a few starter suggestions:

-Stay well fed. Your body needs fuel to heat you. Hot food also takes less energy to digest.

-When nature calls, answer. Holding your bladder uses lots of energy and makes you colder.

-"Cotton kills". Wet cotton will make you colder than not wearing anything. This includes sweat, so cotton socks are particularly bad.

Good Idea, Greenmountain Colledge in VT would be a good place for advice. Our sons went there. We live in a geodesic dome every weekend all year. It has a woodstove but when it is out there is no heat. Here is what we have learned:-

1) Hot water bottles. The old fashioned british kind, not drinking ones. Very hot water in them will last almost all night,but empty in the morning so they don't freeze. You can buy for $10 to $15 amazon. You don't want the little ones used for enemas!

2) Keep layers you are not wearing inside your sleeping bag with you so they are warm in the morning.

3) Never get cold, or even close if you can help it. Take action at the first signs by jumping up and down, arms swinging, putting on more layers etc. Once you are cold it's much harder to warm up again.

Please add to the list. Farkas.aj 12:13, 25 October 2011 (EDT)

I have a fair amount of winter camping experience so thought I would chime in.

• The main thing I would add to the above is that exercise is not only good if start to feel cold. If you're active and burning calories doing something (anything!) you will stay much, much warmer. If you're burning calories it will typically feel ten, twenty, thirty degrees warmer than if you're standing still. I'd suggest working up group activity routines for days that are really cold. It really doesn't matter what it is--building things, walking, calisthenics. Just burn calories in a moderate to vigorous and especially in a sustained way.

• A good trick for staying warm at night is to eat something fatty before you go to sleep. Sausage, butter, maragine, etc. You'd be amazed at how good a stick of butter can taste on a really cold night! Also, if you're shivering in your sleeping bag, do isometric exercises. Tense your muscles, push your hands, arms, legs against each other--again, anything to burn calories. Of course, enough insulation and you won't have to worry about this.

• On cotton, I don't agree that it is worse than nothing. It's no good if it gets wet, it's not much good if it's damp. But it's fine if it's dry. If it's all you got, keep it on!

• When it snows, snow shelters are not hard to build and are amazingly warm. All the air in between the snow crystals is great insulation. A good guide is in Stephen Gorman's "Guide to Winter Camping," published by the AMC, just up the hill from you at 5 Joy st.--I bet they'd give you a copy. If you get the first edition (1994ish?)you even get to see pictures of me. My short and glorious modeling career.

• And of course, if all else fails, or even if it doesn't, find someone to cuddle up with.

• Keep up the good work. I am out in western Mass but paying attention from here, as are many others. You guys are the bomb. Thank you. Daniel Smith dss1209@gmail.com

Rodents

Rodents hate mint. We live outdoors year round at the weekend and after years of experimenting the only thing that worked, and totally got rid of mice, was mint oil diluted in a spray bottle,sprayed around the inside of our kitchen.