Winter survival clothes

[Kelly Alwood]

I spent last week in upstate New York teaching a winter survival class. Our students did very well. This was the coldest I have ever been out in the wilderness. It got down to -19, and -37 with windchill. I had never slept out that cold before.
During the class, we had a lot of work to do during the day to survive the night. Shelter building, fire making and maintainance, food procurement, water procurement and purification, and a bunch more. The NEED for excellent clothes was painfully obvious in that temperature. So I would just like to post my experience with some clothes that worked. As many were tried this week.
The first is the Army "Mickey Mouse" boots (white). These performed exceptionally well, as always. They are in my opinion the best boot for the buck, and I believe the best cold weather boot of all.
The next piece was the Army mittens with the fur lined backs. No cold fingers at -37 deg. Amazing.
Next I used the King of the Mountain wool coat and pants. With only the poly pro long john under the pants, I stayed completely warm and protected. I was laying on the ground, with no chill or discumfort. Very quiet and non restrained movement. The "tree stand" coat was just as impressive. I used my shmog to cover my neck and face, and a fleece hat.
Many other products and brands of gear were used this week, and most all big name brands failed. North face products did not impress any of us present. The gloves had all users with cold and NUMB stinginh hannds. Terrible. All of the other boots failed to keep feet and toes warm except a name brand pair of muck luks.
Just wanted to pass this on to you all for you consideration.

[AZ Prepper]

Could you please give more specific descriptions (links and/or pictures) to the clothing that worked? We'd like to see what they look like, the costs, etc. so we have a more exact idea of what we might consider getting that has proven itself in your above scenario. Thanks for posting this information! This is the kind of post that makes this place so valuable!
(If you'd like help, just PM me the details and I'll find pics on the net to post)

[Kelly Alwood]

Ok. Here is the gear that really performed in the extreme cold.
US Army mittens with fur back, then Steger Mukluks, then US Army mickey mouse boots white, as black is not as cold rated, then the Bumwarmer pants by King of the Mountain( the best cold weather pants I have ever warn), and the Bowman jacket by King of the Mountain.
I have rarely been so impressed with a piece of gear before. These items performed at a truly exceptional level. To include comfort and durability.
www.uspreppers.com you can find all the good stuff here.....

[Ether15:34]

Kelly,

It's my understanding that there were several brands of sleeping bags used. Can you tell us how the Wiggy's held out, and how long they were used?

[Kelly Alwood]

Ah yes..you beat me to it..Im waiting on the pics to arrive, however I can give the low down on the sleeping gear used. Half the class had Wiggy's. The bags not rated for extreme temps didnt even come close. They slept outside for two nights in the bags. I would say they did ok warmth wise, but they must be dried out during the day. Which is very tricky at -20 and lower. They must be completely opened up and hung over the fire on a rack to dry. Very high maintainance. Terrible problems occure if they are not dried out. they will freeze. Until you climb in, and your body heat melts the ice and you get to sleep in a wet bag all night. All the bags used had a pad, mat, tarp, or blanket under them.
I used a Foam bag from www.comfortinthecold.com The basecamp model.
It was the most comfortable bag I have ever slept in. Very nice. It was warm. This bag wisks away moisture from your body like under armor. Your bag will stay dry! That is the biggest problem with sleeping bags, they retain moisture (sweat). After a short while your bag will start and continue to loose insulating value. Your bag gets colder and colder every night. Not good. The Foam bag dries itself all night long. You never feel wet or sweaty.
It performed very impressively. And just a short while ago our friend did an experiment with the Wiggy's bag. He slept in it for six nights straight. He weighed the bag before he started, and then at the end of the sixth night. The bag was 1.5 pounds heavier after only six nights in the bag. A tragedy for the insulation value.
I got my bag in the fall last year, and have not used another bag since. I now have three of them for the family. I am completely satisfied with the bag.

[Kelly Alwood]

OK. I have a link to buy all the gear listed in the above thread.
http://extremecoldweathergear.com/
I also have some pics of it in use last week in extreme (more than -20F) temps.

[Jacob M.]

What a cool post!

There is now a Poor Man's version of the Foam Sleeping bag you used, making it more available for those who can't afford the really nice $797.00 bag from ComfortintheCold.com.

They are built with the same materials and craftsmanship, minus all the bells and whistles in the custom bags. An image is included below, as well as a pics of ComforintheCold's new bag "The Rapture".

Prices range from $380 for the XL to $350 for a small. They come with a moisture handling pad as well.

[Jacob M.]

Kelly,

Have you seen how the Foam Clothing performs in the cold?

This video is of a freezer test pitting two clothing systems against each other. One is the military's ECWEC system vs. a homemade 1/2" foam clothing system. The test takes place in a commercial freezer warehouse that's maintained at -8 degrees, and lasts for 4 hours, 45 minutes. At the beginning of the test the foam system is saturated with 2 litters of water, the ECWEC system is dry. The results of the test are pretty cool (no pun intended)

Enjoy! Select "Freezer Test"
http://redhotlogo.com/index_files/Page301.htm

[hcardwell93]

My family is into snowmobiling and the gear used to keep us warm is amazing for the price! 0 degrees at 80 mph and you still stay warm. I have not used it for camping yet, but so far it seems pretty amazing.