Emergency bivy protocol

viking5 wrote: www.alpkit.com/hunka

@viking5, do you have any personal experience with this piece of kit/brand? It seems pretty good and at good value for money. Gets Pretty good reviews

viking5 wrote: I was just browsing that site after Ghaz sent the link.

I'm confused - what did I do

Ok - that makes sense

That's what happens when sharing links off a google search...

FYI... pick up this review of MSR bivy

MSR E-Bivy is an ultra light, extremely compact (size of a coke can) four season beef master. Sounds amazing right? Well if you don’t care about comfort then this bivvy is for you.

This is an emergency shelter, a great one, but there’s no way I would use this as my primary bivvy bag. Don’t be tempted to use this as your ultra light hiking bivy as it is pretty tight inside, there is no mosquito net, and it has condensation issues. This is an emergency shelter – nothing more.

This is something you could carry with you in your day sack in case you get into difficulties on a long hike. The weight is astonishingly low and you won’t notice it.

The floor is coated with silnylon to fight against dew, frost, and light rain. If you are looking for something to use when the weather turns nasty on your hike home then this is the bivy for you. It’s super light weight and packs so small you won’t mind adding this toy to your pack.

Okay

I have now spent several nights on top of the berg, in just about all conditions (except an actual blizzard) with absolutely nothing. All have been self induced, on a light weight push to see how far I can go carrying nothing at all, and all have been solo.

So, fault number 1: stupid idiot...
And, fault number 2: no body heat to share

A few tricks that will definitely help out:
- keep moving if possible. Body heat makes an amazing difference. Also, a 6 hour bivvy can be desperately long, so anything you can do to cut the bivvy time down will help
- get down to lower altitudes, even just some of the way down a pass or deeper into the Lesotho valleys
- get out of wind and rain (duh)
- I have on occasions used one of those small, silly space blankets that is 2 microns thick. I learnt after a while to take a layer of clothing off, wrap space blanket around me and then put layer back on. Outer layer holds it in place. Useful if you forgot the tape at home
- if you do stop, remember the trick of emptying out you backpack and using as insulation from ground. With most overnight sized bags, you could probably unzip the bottom pouch and crawl half-way through so it surrounds your core area
- pushups work pretty well to help generate some heat
- I have never done a bivvy with dry socks available. Experience has shown that wet socks are warmer on my feet than nothing, presumably because the innermost section of sock eventually dries out even if outer section is still a swamp. I take my shoes off for comfort and put them under my body to help insulate me from ground
- If you do not have a beanie, keep you sun cap on to retain heat on head, even if you have to turn it around yankee style so it is not in the way of your headlamp

It also makes a BIG difference how tired you are at the start of the night. Last weekend, I started out from Sentinel Car Park wearing shorts and 2 layers of thermal underwear and was sweating at 5:30am on one of the coldest nights in the berg so far this year. By Saturday night, I had been going hard all day. I doubled the clothing and was cold by 6pm. I was never warm again even when I got home to sleeping bag, purely because I had exhausted myself to a point where body heat was no longer a thing my mind wanted to do.

It will also make a difference to "plan" ahead. If you know you will be forced to bivvy, then, while it is still warm, rest and eat up. Take snacks out of the main pack and put into side pockets, dress up while still warm and stuff like that. Then, when it is cold and dark, you can keep moving as long as possible, can eat without stopping and a few things like that to make it more pleasant.

Oh, it took me over 5 attempts before I actually got it right and was able to get through a night wearing peanuts with enough motivation to consider pushing on the next day. Not because I did not know the above tips upfront, but just because it can be very unpleasant out there. Your mind will be in for an education, so make the most of it

I also end my bivvy about 4am and get moving again. By now, you will be so cold that you will not loose any extra heat by moving around, and the mental gain of knowing you are now doing something constructive is invaluable. It is soon about to get light, your body clock will awaken and the sunshine will get you jumping for joy. Look forward to it, you are now through the worst of it

Thanks Andrew for this insightful write-up.

Also quite enjoyable and humorous to read. I nearly fell of my chair when reading about the "With most overnight sized bags, you could probably unzip the bottom pouch and crawl half-way through so it surrounds your core area"

Has anyone ever used a Bothy Bag ? Seems like a good idea and it could work quite well.

Anyone ever used one of these survival bivvys?
Survive Outdoors Longer
Blizzard Survival Bag