How to survive in the Arctic

Surviving in the Arctic Circle will depend mostly on the gear you have and the situation you’re in, but no matter where exactly you are there are a number of things to learn to help increase your chances. knowledge is by far the most useful thing you can have to help you survive, so here is a quick breakdown of the Arctic Circle and what you need to do to survive there.

What exactly is the Arctic Circle?

The Arctic Circle is one of five major circles of latitude that separate the world’s climate zones. Everything above the latitude of 66.56083 degrees is known as being within the Arctic Circle. The countries that have territories within the circle are Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the US (Alaska only).

How cold can it get?

The average temperature is roughly the same for all countries since they are equal distances from the center of the circle. Average temperatures in the middle of winter can frequently get as low as -50°C, though it rarely passes this level. Spring and Autumn temperatures range between -30°C and 0°C, with the summer being surprisingly hot in some regions, with mid-summer temperatures regularly reaching 30°C during the middle of the day in areas of Russia and Canada.

So how do I survive in the Arctic Circle?

Don’t eat snow

Eating snow puts frozen water directly into the center of your body, causing your core temperature to drop much faster than normal, and anything that causes you to lose heat should be avoided at all costs.

Avoid capturing sweat

Hiking through the snow is hard work and even if the air temperature is well below freezing you’re still going to produce sweat. As soon as that warm liquid water hits the cold air it’s going to freeze, something that’s especially dangerous if it’s still trapped inside your clothing. To avoid this choose clothing that contains a good amount of air close to the skin, like a fleece or wool lining, something that can allow the moisture to escape without it being pressed against your skin. It’s often better to take a layer off when doing something that requires a lot of energy like shelter building, than to just keep all your clothes on and trap the sweat.

Watch your breath

It’s not nice to get a blast of frozen air constantly blowing into your face, so something to cover it with often becomes necessary. The water vapor in your breath will freeze instantly and form into frost, and even though it may be more comfortable to keep your face permanently covered, it’s also important to avoid creating a small frost catcher around your chin. The best way to avoid this is to create some air space between your mouth and whatever you have to cover your face with, or even have a small hole so you can breathe directly outside your clothing. This is especially important when sleeping, as constantly blowing into your sleeping bag for warmth will only create a layer of frost to form later in the night.

Dress in layers

If you have the luxury to choose your clothing before you get stuck in a survival situation then the best thing you can do is dress in layers. It’s better to have five layers of clothing instead of two bigger pieces that would make up the same weight and thickness, as more layers can increase the amount of air and comfort. Air heats up much faster than material does and having breathable layers closer to your skin will increase both warmth and comfort, as well as help moisture escape. The under-layers should be breathable and comfortable, the mid layers are your main insulating layers and the outer should be for protection against the weather.

Avoid the wind

Extremely cold climates can kill you faster than any other on Earth. You can die of thirst and heatstroke in as little as 24 hours in the right desert, but it could take less than 5 minutes before you pass out and freeze to death from an extreme blizzard. The wind carries heat away from your body while constantly hitting you with ice-cold air that’s being forced into the outer layer of your clothing, making it a priority to avoid. You will be much safer taking cover and waiting until it passes than to risk trekking through it.

Keep an eye on frostbite hot-spots

When a part of your body freezes it doesn’t actually “hurt” in the typical sense. If you were to somehow freeze a single finger when you’re in a warm environment it would indeed cause pain, but when your whole body is cold and violently shaking, your fingers and toes will simply just feel as cold as the rest of you. Eventually, the cold you can feel will start to become more bearable and then the affected area will simply go numb, at which point you’re in real trouble.

Frostbite doesn’t start to cause pain until it begins to thaw out, at which point the amount of pain felt is huge. The first things to freeze on people are almost always the toes, fingers, ears, and nose, so make sure that next time you feel something go slightly numb it isn’t starting to freeze.

Snow is an insulator

Since it won’t rain in the winter you don’t need to worry about making a shelter completely waterproof. In the event you need to make a shelter, snow should be shoveled onto the outside to create a wind-proof layer of protection that also helps to keep the heat in. The only thing you need to be careful of when using snow on your shelter is to make sure that nothing is going to drip on you during the night.

Try and maintain a high-fat and calorie diet

Field workers at the McMurdo research station in Antarctica eat between 4,000 and 6,000 calories per day, and drink at least 2 pints of water extra each day than they would in a normal climate. People don’t realize just how hard it is to move through an Arctic environment, with every single step you take being made harder by thick snow and heavy winds, and when you’re in a climate where you’d die if you collapsed from exhaustion its important to get the high energy levels needed to stop that from happening.

Never lose sight of the people you’re with

On a clear day, you can see for many miles, but during a blizzard, your visibility can drop to just a few feet. If you’re with other people then tying yourself to each other so no one wonders off is a good idea, with the best example of this being a man named Funatsu Keizo who almost died after becoming lost just a few feet from his tent after going to feed the dogs during a blizzard. The weather can turn VERY quickly in the Arctic, with a clear day turning into thick mist in a matter of minutes. These are the kind of conditions that see parties separated from each other after one leaves the other for some reason, so the best thing to do is not separate to begin with.

Don’t get wet

There’s only so much you can do to improve the amount of sweat within your clothing, but there’s much more you can do to avoid getting saturated. Should you ever have to cross a body of frozen water then make sure you don’t run into an area of weak ice, normally visible by its off-color. The strongest ice is normally clear, with white ice containing air bubbles, and is normally weaker. Any other strange appearance such as black or dirty-looking ice is normally an indicator that it isn’t going to be as strong as clear ice, but this is only a guideline as the strength of ice can be quite deceiving.

Cook whenever you can

Even if have nothing but water it’s still a good idea to get it nice and hot before you drink. Putting warm liquid directly into your body’s core will provide a very welcome warmth boost, and help increase your overall temperature making you less likely to develop frostbite.

Be prepared

Getting stranded in a survival situation is a good excuse not to be prepared, but if you have the option to get ready before you go then there’s no one to blame if things go wrong but you. When you have a destination in mind then research everything about it that could possibly be useful, and more importantly everything that could go wrong. It’s no good having the best survival gear in the world if you have no idea how to use it, so make sure to practice with what you have before heading out there.