On tonight's new Dual Survival episode, Cody and Joe will be trying to survive right smack in the middle of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft territory- the mountains of Colorado! The episode, titled "Rocky Mountain High," is described on Discovery Channel's episode guide as:
"Stranded at over 9,000 feet above sea level in the snow-covered Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Cody and Joe battle temperatures of negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit in an effort to fight off hypothermia, and stay alive long enough to get spotted by passing aircraft."
I will be very curious to see what they do to survive. The biggest enemy in the Colorado Rockies is wind. In many areas of the high country, windstorms of 30-60mph can rage for weeks on end, and gusts can be very extreme.
The town that's closest to us clocked an incredible 109mph wind gust last year, and 110mph the year prior, just to give you an idea. Longs Peak, where I just did a winter backpacking trip, has recorded wind gusts of 200mph at the summit.
This wind is dangerous and will cause hypothermia quickly. It also makes shelter construction more difficult, since it can easily blow down a shelter that's not extremely well constructed. It can also blow away cold weather survival gear like your cap and mitts if you take them off and forget to anchor them down.
I'm also curious to see if they use fatwood to start an emergency fire like we outlined in our "Wilderness Survival: An easy way to find Fatwood in the Rockies and Beyond...." article, or utilize a Space Tarp, which in my experience has kept me warm in temperatures down to -30 F, when combined with a small fire and some pine boughs for ground insulation to sit on.
Either way, it should be an interesting show!
No comments:
Post a Comment