VE6AB Mobile Ops
When Your Stranded
If you look through my various galleries, especially my ham radio galleries, when it comes to emergency preparedness, I mention being prepared for all emergencies that could arise while travelling down roads less travelled where you possibly become stranded for whatever the reason.
With the temperatures across southern Alberta dipping to -30 Celsius overnight lately, my mobile is loaded with everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to keeping me safe if I find myself stranded possibly because my truck has become stuck in the snow, or the engine has quit for whatever reason and wont start, or sitting out a blizzard, or....well you get it.
This snapshot shows some of the fire making materials that you would find in my survival pack including a 36 hour survival candle keeping the inside of your vehicle reasonably comfortable while waiting it out. Of course it goes without saying you would be equipped with winter clothes like a parka, snow-pants and snow-boots including mitts while waiting it out.
Also included is a small cooking pot for melting snow in to keep yourself hydrated while being stranded. I have both a gas-stove and a back-up esbit-pellet stove in my pack for melting snow, or to prepare food if required that would come from my supply of freeze-dried meal packages kept in my survival pack as well.
I read an interesting story about survival recently, where a 29 year-old traveler in Washington state finding the Interstate closed due to snow plugging the highway, decided to take a different route based on a route supplied by his GPS device (his one mistake). That proved to be a big mistake when he found himself stuck in deep snow on a high-mountain road that was not plowed in the winter.
With snacks for several days and the means for melting snow to keep himself hydrated, his survival skills kicked in allowing him to survive for 7 days while everyone was out looking for him. The interesting thing is that his cellphone became wet while trying to get his vehicle unstuck, and to dry it out he placed the phone in a plastic bag with chemical handwarmers as seen in my photo. After two days the phone dried out and came back to life allowing him to access phone service from a high vantage point where he got an emergency operator on the line just long enough for his location to be pinged to a cell-tower.
In short order he was located and lifted off the mountain by helicopter. He was in good shape and had no need to go to a hospital to be checked out. His mother commented when interviewed that as a kid he was always reading survival magazines and books and practicing these skills, the skills that kept him safe for 7 days while stranded out in the cold.
Expand the photo for a closer look.....
