Outdoor Life magazine has an interesting survey on its site this week. The site has posted five different outdoor scenarios where an emergency occurs and gives you four options as to how you would respond.  The following is a sample scenario based on one posted by the magazine. See how you do.

You’re camping in the higher elevations of the Cascade Mountains when a sudden snow storm blasts into the area, dropping the temperatures dramatically and blanketing the ground with snow.  The wind picks up to a point where trees begin to fall and block exit routes down the mountain.  You are essentially trapped in your camp site area.  What would you do?

1. Avoid getting trapped by starting to hike out as soon as possible

2. Organize your camping gear, inventory your survival equipment and wait it out in your cabin or tent.

3. Continue with your camping activities (hiking, fishing, hunting) 

4. Gather a surplus of firewood and get a fire going ASAP

ANSWER
The correct answers are #2 and #4. Trying to hike out of the area, potentially many, many miles to the next best road, would put you and your fellow campers at risk of injuries or frost-bite, potentially death. And #3 is simply foolish.

Your first concern in any sort of survival situation should be to make sure everyone with you is safe. Find shelter, build a fire and assess how much equipment you have to sustain you for a potentially long time in the mountain snow.  In the end, waiting out the storm is the best option.

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Tags: survival gear, winter camping

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Camping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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