Bag? Made in the U.K. and seems to be an excellent
emergency cold weather survival bag. Could be used in your ditch bag to handle hypothermia.
http://www.blizzardsurvival.com
Survival training
– Last Updated: Dec-11-10 6:10 PM EST –
Research EXACTLY what it is that keeps you warm.
Putting an extremely thin layer of mylar foil on your body will do next to nothing if your lying directly on the ground. The ground acts a major "cold sink" literally sucking the heat energy out of your body. That's why people put branches, dry leaves, etc. to get their body off the ground.
http://www.countycomm.com/blanket.htm
Sidenote - mylar is extremely noisy as it will crackle , pop, and crunch with every move you make making sleeping difficult.
You'll be much much better off with a dry wool blanket or a synthetic blanket made of several layers. Anything that creates an "air pocket" of insulation.
http://preparedness.com/allweatblan.html
You will loose heat via conduction, convection, and radiating heat. Protect against those 3 as a set and you'll accomplish a level of comfort.
paddling
If you’re paddling in cold weather, you should be dressed for the temperatures. If you need hypothermia protection then the drysuit you’re wearing and the insulation layers under it will keep you warm out of the kayak too.
Bill H.
I was thinking more of gear used in
rescue of others, or if a person had to ditch without their gear on their boat. (I keep a ditch bag on the back of my PFD). For someone stranded, this blizzard bag seems to provides more heat than a cag, or emergency tent, or even being in a drysuit with fleece.
The product isn’t a single layer space blanket, and the company does recommend a layer of insulation between the ground and the pad. As for mylar making noise, I’ve spent a night using mylar and it wasn’t too bad…the point was being able to stay warm. Noise was the least of it.
Thanks for the replies.
Problem is that the under-drysuit
insulation sufficient to keep you alive and comfy on a cold overnight, may be way TOO warm for hard paddling during the “cold” day on the river.
The same applies for a long, cold swim. The under-drysuit insulation needed for such a swim may be way too much to be tolerated during ordinary paddling, even on a cold day.
The world is imperfect, and in such a world, perfect solutions may be impossible.
Multiple mylar sheets
I’ve also rigged a mylar blanket as a “heat reflector” behind the fire allowing heat to bounce into a shelter.
The cheap ones weigh very little and have multiple uses.
Signaling, wind break, rain roof, etc. etc.
Try a few out in various experimental scenarios before you really have to bet your life on them. Reinforcing them with some duct tape often helps them from tearing.
Having
Having been in numerous blizzards I laugh at those thin little coverings they sell. About the only way to really survive in a blizzard is to have a thick sleeping bag AND a way to keep it dry like sleeping in your car or wrapped in plastic in a snow cave. When sleeping on snow some kind of snow pad is also needed for underneath the bag or the cold comes through.
Figure on freezing to death with those thin blankets. They may be fine in temps of about 40 or higher.
price?
On the website, those blizzard bags appear to cost about $50! That seems like a lot for what is basically a mylar bag with some footwarmer pads inside.
I do carry a mylar survival bag in my first aid kit, and a polyethylene survival bag in the back of my PFD. I don’t have illusions about these things keeping me or anyone else warm in a Himilayan blizzard, but they’re so light that they’re good to have along. When it’s really cold I’ll carry a sleeping bag for emergencies, but for summer and fall paddling, when temps are moderate, but hypothermia is still an issue, I think a $5 emergency bag is worth having along.
outer shell …
– Last Updated: Dec-16-10 7:50 AM EST –
...... perhaps one of these Blizzaed bags would make a good outer shell over a reg. sleeping bag in a pinch ... water proof , wind proof , flexable , semi-durable , plus some extra degree of thermal retaining .
If for some reason you found yourself needing to be as protected from the weather as you could be , or just needing to get warmer quick , but no adequate shelter or other means readily available ... my guess is that you'd be glad you had one with you . Be a good first line of defense while preparing plan B .
I think they are a good idea and have multiple possibilities , 50. bucks for something that goes along as a back-up or EM. gear ain't bad . Bottom line is it could make a real big difference if needed . Anything that will help you get warmer and stay dry when needed is worth 50. bucks .
second that
For the meager space it takes up it wouldn’t be a bad item to have. If you had a bag you could supplement it with this.
energy
I was under the impression that laughing during a blizzard is a terrible waste of energy that may later be needed for ones survival.
I do keep a mylar bivy bag in my kit, though not that particular one…if indeed I do freeze to death at least I will be prepackaged and hopefully dry.
Freeze dried one could say…