In warm weather, you still have to be careful, but it is much easier to build and maintain the heat necessary to keep yourself alive; in cold weather, knowing how to generate and maintain heat is literally a life saver.

Here are some basic ideas for heat generation and maintenance.

Seek A Place Naturally Sheltered From Wind

Wind chill factor can rob you of heat and dramatically shorten the amount of time for frostbite to kick in. You want to be as far out of the wind as possible. Seek a leeward slope, a rock outcrop, a broad based tree, an area behind trees or bushes that can act as a natural windbreak. If you have a shovel, you can dig into a leeward slope and make it still more sheltered.

Light A Fire

It’s no mystery to anyone that fire is the best way to keep warm, and not only that, but it allows you to purify water and other objects, keep wild animals at bay, and cauterize wounds, so a soda can stove might be your best friend. Collecting the wood and chopping it will also generate body heat.

Get Dry

To survive the cold you need to keep your body dry and warm, in that order. Once your body is wet, regardless of the temperature, you lose body heat 20 times as fast. If you are cold and wet, your priority is to get dry, not warm. Dry and cold is better than wet and warm. Remove wet clothing and put on dry clothing underneath, as many layers as you have, then something waterproof on top or any kind of shelter if you have it.

If you have no dry clothes one of the best things to do is stay physically active. Building your shelter, working vigorously, will help.

One strange way to get dry in the middle of the frozen wastes without anything to wipe is to roll around in snow. The thought might frighten you, but snow absorbs water very fast. Even if you catch a cold, you will survive in the long run.

Snow Caves

Although it might seem counterintuitive, digging a cave under a snowy hill can prove to be a great shelter. It will take about an hour to dig it, but after you crawl inside, you will have enough warmth to survive the night. It won’t be warm, but it will be bearable. The closed walls will keep you away from blizzard and – importantly – from wind chill factor. Even if it’s too cold to fall asleep, your extremities won’t be freezing.

Urine

In a true life-or-death situation, every scrap of heat counts. You are going to have to pee at some point: Your own urine and a plastic bottle or a zip-lock plastic bag could save your life. You can preserve body heat by bottling your own urine and keeping the bottle close to your chest.

If you have a cover, may it be a blanket or an animal carcass, it will make a huge difference. create a quick-warmer with your own urine. It may not last long, but it will save your extremities from being completely frozen, and it might just be enough to spur you on to the next milestone.

Hopefully, none of us ever finds ourselves in a situation where collecting urine for warmth is a life-saving step!

But in a cold weather survival environment, any method of collecting and creating heat or building a shelter to allow for its collection is critical to survival.

To learn more about how to stay warm in a cold environment, check out My Family Survival Plan.

Featured Image via My Family Survival Plan