Tips

This posting from alt.survival, by Noodle, is posted primarily to show the contrast between back packing in today's world, where shopping for granola bars and meeting fellows who are not desperate and starving, is the norm. Where good advice, it does not address the pole shift environment, which will be a different world.

Here are some tips that will keep you warm on that winter camping/survival night:

Make sure you have a sleeping bag that can handle the temperatures you are likely to encounter.

Always change out of the clothes you have been in all day ~ particularly your socks, which are damp with full-day's sweat. The moisture in the clothes will wick away your warmth if you don't bother to change.

Get warm before you get into the sleeping bag. A warm drink or some exercise will help boost your body's internal temperature. Remember ~ a sleeping bag doesn't warm you, it just traps your heat, so the warmer you are before you enter the bag, the warmer you'll stay while inside.

Drink plenty of fluids and eat a little something, such as an energy bar, before climbing into your bag.

Wear a hat or balaclava to sleep.

Bring a water bottle to bed with hot water in it.

Always use a sleeping pad under your bag. Most of the year, a single three-quarters length pad will suffice, but for hard-core winter hikes, stacking two full-length pads is suggested.

If you wake up cold in the night, do some isometric (muscle-tensing) exercises in your sleeping bag to get your blood flowing and your temperature up.

Keep your nose and mouth out of the bag, because the air you exhale will dampen the inside of the bag, greatly reducing its insulating properties.

The key to warm feet isn't in your socks, at least not entirely. If your dogs are barking because they’re frigid, try these toasty tricks.

Make sure your boots are big enough for you. If they're too small in the first place, you'll never improve the situation.

Properly waterproof your boots before you head out. Wet socks spell cold, pruny feet.

Layer, layer, layer: Wear a thin synthetic liner sock underneath a wool or synthetic hiking sock.

Put on a hat and gloves. Your body losing heat very quickly through the extremities, so by reducing the heat you lose from your head and hands will help keep your feet warmer.

Steer clear of alcohol and caffeine. Both dilate your blood vessels, making it harder to stay warm. Caffeine is also a diuretic (which means it'll make you pee more often) that will contribute to dehydration.

Drink fluids. A hot cup o' tea (herbal ~ remember, no caffeine) will warm you up, but the liquid will also rehydrate you ~ because dehydration impairs your ability to stay warm.

If your feet are wet and very cold and you have no replacement socks, then slide a plastic bag over your liner sock and put your hiking sock over the plastic bag. This very crudely simulates the effect of a Vapor Barrier Liner. Your feet will be wet, but warm.