How to survive in the cold. Tips from Siberians: how to survive in the cold on a winter track How to survive in a severe frost

01.10.2020

How to survive in the cold

The unexpected frosts that suddenly appeared in no time proved to us

that we do not know how to live in winter. Unlearned! Guessing that winter probably has two or three more similar surprises in store for us, we have collected several anti-frost recipes for you. Everyone has suffered, one might say, from their own experience.

You should not move at an "allegro" pace, trying to reduce travel time. Walk smoothly and calmly, without speeding up or slowing down. Breathe through your nose, shallow and infrequent, in the same calm, measured rhythm. It is better to hide the chin and mouth in a collar or scarf, and you need to exhale in such a way that hot breath does not moisten their surface.

Wear glasses? The metal frame is dangerous because it can provoke frostbite of the bridge of the nose and temples. Therefore, 40 minutes before going outside, lubricate the bridge of the nose with the Rescuer balm or any greasy cream. Frostbite of the skin, resulting from prolonged contact with metal, takes a long time to pass, and spots may remain on the face, as from a burn.

When it's minus thirty outside, you notice that many details of clothing insidiously, even treacherously give off warmth to the frosty street. For example, gloves. Woolen or genuine leather, they simply refuse to warm the hands. In cold weather, it is better to replace them with old-fashioned two-layer mittens: the fingers, being all together, warm each other. and don't get cold. Woolen mittens are more effective than gloves, even with natural fur.

The best way to keep warm in the most severe frost is known under the code name "seven clothes". Even the thickest sweater (in a single quantity) will retain heat worse under a down jacket or fur coat than a shirt, thin sweater and jacket. Don't be shy about dressing like a cabbage! Multi-layered vestments will help you spend 7-10 minutes in the cold and reach the bus stop without much trouble.

There is an old anecdote on this subject.

On the street -25, A girl in nylon tights and a miniskirt is walking along the sidewalk. They say to her: “what are you doing, you will freeze everything to yourself !!” - So what, but BEAUTIFUL!

Next comes a man in a sheepskin coat and earflaps. They ask: “Why are you dressed as a homeless person?” - So what, but HEAT!

Another final recipe. Before going out into the bitter cold, stay for a minute or two at the entrance. Think: in the apartment plus twenty, on the street minus thirty - the temperature difference is as much as 50 degrees! This is a lot. Let the body find a temperature balance, and then calmly go out into the air.

P.S. And remember. Never, NEVER drink alcohol in the cold "to warm up." At first it seems to you that it has become warmer, but this feeling is illusory.

In fact, alcohol dilates blood vessels and hypothermia occurs much faster!

Many unforeseen situations can happen in life. One of these is the situation when you are left face to face with frost. Next, we will talk about how to survive in the cold - 15 tips. There are several situations in which a person may find himself in the cold.

How not to freeze in winter

Have you gone hiking and You have the advantage of going outside prepared and warmly dressed. Before such trips, you should prepare carefully and be prepared for the fact that you can get lost or something goes wrong. Here are some tips before you go camping.
Cloth. Dress like a cabbage. Put on more clothes: T-shirt, shirt, warm jacket and jacket. Wear mittens instead of gloves. Gloves can tighten your fingers and they will freeze much faster. It is recommended to keep fingers together. Shoes should be warm and with thick soles, preferably waterproof. Avoid shoes with tight laces, this will impede blood circulation in the body and significantly reduce the survival time in the cold. Wrap your face well with a scarf or any cloth. Ideally, if there is thermal underwear, it will help to keep warm longer.
20 minutes before going out, grease your face with an anti-barrier cream. It can be bought at any pharmacy. If there is no such cream, use a children's fat cream. This will create a protective film on the skin and prevent frostbite for longer.
Eat a hearty meal before going out. While your body is busy digesting food, the heat will remain as long as possible.
Bring a thermos of warm tea with you. You will need it in winter.
Remember to move as long as you are moving, you will stay conscious as long as possible. But do not overdo it, because the energy in such a situation is very important.
If it happened that on a snowy track in winter your car broke down and you were left unprepared in the middle of the road.
It is not recommended to go far from the car. Waiting for help near him is more prudent than wandering around the track. When the car has cooled down, you should not stay inside the iron box. The exception is strong winds. If the street is calm, then get out of the car and start acting.
It is necessary to build a kind of vacuum out of snow and a car and build a fire in the center. Going for firewood into the forest is impractical, so burn tires. One tire burns for about an hour. When they run out, burn everything that burns.
Do not forget to periodically move, squat. Staying at rest for a long time is not recommended.
Wrap yourself tightly in clothes, cloth, scarves, whatever you have. But do not overtighten the legs and other limbs.
Left in the winter on the street almost undressed and unprepared for this situation.
Don't stop moving. The best option is to run lightly in the direction of help. Don't run too fast, as this will tire you out quickly and will only hasten possible frostbite. Try to cover your face with clothes.
If you have a first aid kit, take an aspirin. Aspirin thins the blood and improves circulation
Do not drink alcoholic beverages. Under normal conditions, the human body constricts blood vessels in the cold to conserve heat. Alcohol expands them and reduces sensitivity. You will not realize that you have received frostbite, but you will freeze faster.
Do not smoke. Nicotine can cause vasospasm, which will accelerate frostbite.
Most importantly, don't panic and don't get discouraged. The mood of a person is very important in critical unpredictable situations.

Winter is a difficult time for a car, and what can we say about harsh winters in the Russian North, where temperatures of minus 40 are common. Here you need to prepare thoroughly for a long journey, otherwise you can pay not only with your health, but also with your life.

The Siberian edition "" shared tips on how to survive on the road in winter, left alone with a broken car, and what to take with you when going on a long journey.

Every year, tragic cases of death on the road are recorded, when people die not in road accidents, but from frost. A car breaks down, a mobile phone dies, and the unlucky driver finds himself on the verge of life and death, left alone on a winter highway. How to effectively prepare for a long road, so as not to be powerless in the face of the elements of winter and cold? Practical advice about this is given by employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and experienced truck drivers.

There is a law on a frosty road: the salvation of a freezing person depends only on him. No one is immune from force majeure, so you need to be prepared for anything. And for everyone who finds himself in a car that has stalled or stuck in the snow, the first thing to do is to call the rescue service number 112. Otherwise, you can only rely on relatives and friends who will start looking for the missing driver. In the cold, the ability to make a fire will save life: the life-giving warmth will help you survive the hours of waiting.

“The most important thing in such a situation is to maintain common sense. You need to think clearly, not get confused and be aware of what you are doing. In the most extreme and hopeless case, if you are already completely freezing - yes, you even slept your car! After all, you can buy a car, you can’t buy life, ”says Vitaly Ryabov, a truck driver with many years of experience.

In winter, before a long journey, you need to carefully prepare the car: stock up on fuel to the eyeballs, carefully check the engine and battery, be sure to fill in high-quality antifreeze, and also take care of the thermal insulation of the body and hood, and insulate the seats.

While preparing for the trip, you should carefully study the route, noting cafes and settlements on the route. At the same time, it should be taken into account that at the gas station you may not even be allowed to warm up, because the gas station staff may be prohibited from doing this, they risk money. In case of unforeseen situations, it is better to rely on a cafe and in no case go at random.

“To go, you need to know which way. Sometimes people go in the opposite direction from the settlement. If you don't know where to go, don't go. You can’t navigate offhand: if you look at that star, I’ll get home, ”continues the driver of the heavy truck Vitaly Ryabov.

In case of an emergency, put in your trunk things that you may need in an emergency: paper tape, candles, bedspreads or plastic film for windows, quilts, warm clothes, a sapper shovel, candles, a thermos with hot drinks.

Experienced drivers never leave the garage in winter without first taking with them fur outerwear, as well as gloves, a hat and shoes with fur, and quilted blankets. It will be useful to wear thermal underwear. Be sure to take care of food supplies. Take at least a couple of sandwiches, chocolate, high-calorie nuts with you. Be sure to bring a thermos of hot drinks with you. Check the first aid kit, put in it all the medicines that you may need in an emergency.

Before the trip, you need not only to replenish the account on the phone and charge the batteries, but also not to be lazy and be sure to warn relatives, friends or even neighbors. If you do not get in touch, they will be able to sound the alarm - and help will come to you faster. In the event of an emergency, first of all, call 112 - this is a single emergency call number for dialing from all mobile operators and landlines. Also, users of MTS and MegaFon mobile networks can dial numbers 010, 101, Beeline users - 001 and 101.

If the engine is still stalled, the driver can be saved by a fire near the car. Therefore, on the road in winter, you must definitely take matches, and even better, take an alcohol lamp and candles with you. In extreme cases, you can burn tires. In this case, you must be careful with open fire and do not kindle it in the immediate vicinity of the machine.

“This is elementary - in the glove compartment you should always have a lighter, a couple of boxes of matches. You can slowly burn rags, branches. You can dig up the snow and get the grass. In extreme cases, you can always start burning tires. The car has five wheels, one spare, start with it, - advises an experienced driver Vitaly Ryabov. - In case the lighter does not work and there is no spare fuel, you can get fuel from the tank. To do this, you will need a sharp object like a screwdriver and a bottle. You can pierce the tank, collect fuel, splash it on branches or grass and set it on fire. Or just buy a couple of bottles of brazier lighter fluid and carry it with you in the trunk.”

Hot drinks in case of emergency can only help to rub yourself with alcohol, this is only in the case when you are already warm. You can’t drink in the cold, because you can lose control of the situation or fall asleep.

You can insulate the car by pasting the doorways around the perimeter with wide paper tape. The car door seal is not airtight, and duct tape will help eliminate drafts. Curtain windows - heat escapes through the glass most quickly. This can be done with blankets, rags or plastic wrap. As a result, you will find yourself in a car, like a bear in a den.

“You need to turn to others for help: wave your hands, slow down cars that pass by. In extreme cases, you can put the car across the road, then they will stop for sure, ”advises Vitaly Ryabov.

There must be a sapper shovel in the trunk, with which you can dig out a car that has flown off the road, or warm it with snow in anticipation of help. To do this, throw a small snow shaft up to the door threshold, which will allow you to isolate the bottom of the car from cold air.

Good luck on winter roads!

Winter is a difficult time for a car, and what can we say about the harsh winters in the Russian North, where temperatures of minus 40 are common. Here you need to prepare thoroughly for a long journey, otherwise you can pay not only with your health, but also with your life.

The Siberian edition of Amurskaya Pravda shared tips on how to survive on the road in winter, left alone with a broken car, and what to take with you when going on a long journey.

“The most important thing in this situation is to keep your sanity. You need to think clearly, not get confused and be aware of what you are doing. In the most extreme and hopeless case, if you are already completely freezing - yes, you even slept your car! After all, you can buy a car, you can’t buy life, ”says Vitaly Ryabov, a truck driver with many years of experience.

“This is elementary - in the glove compartment you should always have a lighter, a couple of boxes of matches. You can slowly burn rags, branches. You can dig up the snow and get the grass. In extreme cases, you can always start burning tires. The car has five wheels, one spare, start with it, - advises an experienced driver Vitaly Ryabov. “In case the lighter didn’t work and there is no spare fuel, you can get fuel from the tank. To do this, you will need a sharp object like a screwdriver and a bottle. You can pierce the tank, collect fuel, splash it on branches or grass and set it on fire. Or just buy a couple of bottles of brazier lighter fluid and carry it with you in the trunk.”

Hot drinks in case of emergency can only help to rub yourself with alcohol, this is only in the case when you are already warm. You can’t drink in the cold, because you can lose control of the situation or fall asleep.

“You need to turn to others for help: wave your hands, slow down cars that pass by. In extreme cases, you can put the car across the road, then they will stop for sure, ”advises Vitaly Ryabov.

Good luck on winter roads!

The inhabitants of Oymyakon laugh at the Muscovites, who are freezing at -20°C, and advise how we should live in the cold. For them, a 30-degree frost is tantamount to a slight coolness. According to climatic norms, the average January temperature in Oymyakon is -55 degrees, in February the temperature is kept at -60 and below. (Oymyakon is located on the left bank of the Indigirka River at an altitude of 745 meters above sea level. According to a number of signs, the Oymyakon Valley is one of the most severe places for life on the planet, where, however, a permanent population of about five thousand people still lives).

We found a man who lived for many years in this place forgotten by God and people. Oleg Sukhomesov worked at the local airport as an air traffic controller.

- The car cannot be turned off in our frosts, - the interlocutor says. - For truckers, cars generally work for months without turning off the engine. If the engine stalls, and there is no help nearby, put out the light! After 2 hours of inactivity, an unstarted car will no longer move. But even with the engine running, the car freezes after a 4-hour parking, the wheels turn into stones. And the first hours it will move like an ice block. Drivers in this case slowly overcome the first few kilometers on wheels resembling the shape of an egg.

Gradually, the tires warm up and round off. In the worst case, the wheels can burst from frost. But this is a rare occurrence. But the iron frames of cars are constantly cracking. From shaking in severe frost, the plastic bumper crumbles. But the real trouble is if the stove breaks in the car. There are no options here - pull on more clothes and pull to the nearest village.

A broken stove is not so bad. A real natural disaster at Oymyakon is considered to be a failure in the power supply system.

- It is impossible to remember about failures with electricity without tears. It was like hell! Oleg continues. — We had our own diesel power plant at the airport. In my memory, she refused three times in the dead of winter. The entire male population was armed with blowtorches (burners) and began to save vital facilities such as a kindergarten, a shop, a club, an air terminal building, and a canteen. Since warm water did not circulate in the pipes, the pipes began to cool, and then freeze in narrow places. Throughout the airport there was a closed heating main - from house to house and so on. So, we started looking for where the pipe froze, then dug up that place and started warming it up. The work was carried out at -60 degrees. I would not wish such an adventure to an enemy - to run in the cold and breathe hot air from the cold until it burns inside ....

There is a hospital, a kindergarten, a school, a shop at the Pole of Cold. So not only strong-willed men survive in the bitter cold, but also fragile women with small children. By the way, Oymyakon schoolchildren envy Moscow students who, at -30, may not attend classes. And adults, in turn, are perplexed, reading reports of incidents - how can one die at -40?

— For us, -25 is like warm weather on the Black Sea, — Oleg laughs. - At this temperature, we raise our ears from our hats. Of course, it is dreary in Oymyakon in winter: the streets are deserted, because there is only 4 hours of light a day, and terrible colds force residents to warm themselves at home near the stove.

Last week, classes in schools were canceled in many regions of Russia due to severe frosts. The only region that was not affected by this decree turned out to be the pole of cold.

“When I once went to school, I remember that classes were canceled only once for us - then the air temperature dropped to -68,” Sukhomesov continues. “Today, the school is open only to -60 degrees, however, the children in the classes sit in their coats and warm the pens together with their breath so that they start writing.

In winter, Oymyakon residents prepare thoroughly for going out.

- If the temperature outside is minus 50, we leave the house in full ammunition. Jackets and hats are strictly made of natural fur, because everything artificial stands up like a stake and breaks in the cold,” Oleg continues. - A friend told me how his father decided in the winter to go to the dining room in a thin jacket without a fur coat. When in front of the dining room he pulled his hand out of his pocket to open the door, the right sleeve of his jacket broke off. We wear boots on our feet. These shoes are sewn from the skin of the lower part of the deer leg, which in Yakut is called kamus. So these skins for one pair of high fur boots need 10 pieces. As for clothing, it is desirable that the length of the fur coat reaches the boots. If the clothes are shorter, you can freeze your lower leg and knees. Only a hat made of mink, polar fox or fox warms the head.

One of the main attributes of clothing is a scarf.

— Residents of Oymyakon know very well that when it is very cold outdoors, it is necessary to breathe through a scarf so that at least some amount of warm air enters the lungs. The fact is that at very low temperatures, breathing becomes twice as frequent - this is due to the fact that in the cold the oxygen content is completely negligible. If you try to exhale the air into the street, then a rustling is heard in a second. Exhaled warm air instantly freezes and produces such a strange sound. Hard frosts decently burn the face. I have repeatedly froze my cheeks and nose. Tellingly, it's impossible to tell when you've got frostbite. In this case, it is necessary to rub the area affected by the cold with your hand. But the trace will still remain, and the frostbitten skin will peel off a little later. So there is only one protection in this case - a warm scarf. True, the eyes are very watery in the cold, and when tears flow, the place of the drip freezes twice as much.

Children and frost - it would seem that two things are incompatible. However, the Oymyakonians have their own way of protecting the little ones, developed over the years.

- We wrap children up to the fullest! It's a whole ritual! Oleg recalls. “Before taking our son outside, my wife and I put on warm underwear for him, woolen trousers on top, and in conclusion, third thick cotton trousers were pulled up to the chest. A thick sweater was worn over the body over a flannelette shirt. On the legs are knitted socks and felt boots. But that is not all. After all this, the child was wrapped in a fur coat. On the head is a hat, on top of which there is another one, also zigey. The son's hands were hidden in hare mittens, and his face was tightly tied with a scarf. Of the entire open part of the body, only his eyebrows and eyes remained. He could not go out into the street in this form on his own - his arms and legs did not move.

So all the parents carried their children in their arms, then loaded them onto sleds and took them to the garden, which was located on the territory of the airport. But before we put our son in the sled, we still heated the fur coat on the stove, which we laid on the wagon. Children used to be taken to the school, which was also located near the airport, on special buses equipped with an additional stove. Now there is no public transport in Oymyakon, and younger schoolchildren overcome a distance of 3 km on a sleigh.

In winter, we take children to school on sleds - there is no public transport in Oymyakon.

No matter how hard life is for the Oymyakon people, there are still some advantages at the Pole of Cold. For example, cold viruses bypass the old-timers of the region. Viruses die in the cold.

Indeed, colds are rare there. For 15 years I have never had a cold at all, I did not know what a runny nose and sore throat are. The fact is that in Oymyakon the air is very dry - you can easily freeze your nose, cheek, ear and still not catch a cold. We have no wind at all in winter. If at -60 the wind also rose, then the iron would crumble upon impact. Even though it broke without wind...

Is there life on Mars? This question is akin to - is there life at -60? It turns out there is. Oymyakon residents also celebrate holidays on a grand scale, and go fishing, and dive into the hole at Epiphany.

“Winter swimming, of course, is not welcome here, but in recent years people have begun to plunge into baptism,” says Oleg. - Imagine, on the street -55 and in front of you is a non-freezing channel, where the water temperature is 3 degrees. When the feet are dry, then on the ice you can walk to the water without problems. But after a person has plunged and climbed to the surface, his feet instantly freeze to the ice. In this case, it is necessary either to pour warm water on frozen feet, or to dive into the hole in light shoes in order to get out without any problems.

The favorite holiday of the Oymyakon people is the holiday of the North. On this day, Father Frost from Veliky Ustyug, Santak Claus from Lapland and the Yakut Santa Claus Chiskhan (keeper of the cold) come to the cold pole ...

Well, what a holiday in Russia without alcohol! Although with strong drinks at the pole of the north one must be extremely careful.

- Alcohol does not save from frost, rather the opposite! With a strong lack of oxygen in a drunken state, it is better not to lean out into the street at all. In Soviet times, there were practically no drinkers in Oymyakon. Now the problem of alcohol is very acute. Therefore, the already high mortality at the Pole of Cold has increased significantly. I remember one evening a neighbor came running to my house: “Get dressed soon, you can help lift a person out of the snow, it seems to be freezing.” I quickly put on my hat and coat and ran outside. I see someone growling in the snow, floundering. Outside, frost crackles, and all around is impenetrable darkness. We picked up that guy, dragged him to the nearest warm place - the airport boiler room. They called an ambulance. The patient sat in front of us all white - his face was completely frostbitten. In addition, he was without a hat and mittens. The fingers on the hands did not move at all, it was clear that they were finished, amputations could not be avoided. And that man, after frostbite, changed so outwardly that we could not even identify him. Later it turned out that the drunkard was the welder of our airport, whom I, of course, knew. After leaving the hospital, his entire face was peeled off, several layers of skin came off. And he did not allow the fingers on his hands to be amputated, but the nails all fell off, of course, it was a terrible sight.

By the way, no one drinks vodka in Oymyakon on the street. They say that a combustible liquid freezes in a few minutes.

- Vodka in the cold really freezes tightly. After all, we don’t even have mercury thermometers - they show the so-called “summer” temperature down to -45. Only alcohol thermometers that work flawlessly can withstand more severe cold!

No wonder they say that in Oymyakon the most ordinary things take on the most unusual forms. For example, one of the curious facts is that policemen in Oymyakon do not carry clubs with them, because they burst in the cold.

“Yes, you won’t meet policemen with batons in winter, because at first it will harden, like a wooden stick, and if you “attach” it, it will break,” Sukhomesov laughs. “The same thing happens with fish. In winter, fish are caught with nets that are placed under the ice. Pull the catch out into the cold - after 5 minutes you can hammer nails with this fish. Another interesting point is that after washing, the locals take out the laundry in the cold to freeze. After a few minutes, the hung clothes stand up like a stake. And after a couple of hours you need to bring it home. But this whole process must be very careful, because when removing the duvet cover or sheet from the rope, be prepared for the linen to break in half. I once fell off my shirt collar this way. It is not easy for animals in our area. Only horses and dogs hibernate outside. Cows go out into the yard only in spring, when it gets warmer to -30. At this time, special cow bras are put on the udder so that, God forbid, they do not get frostbite.

Oymyakon residents do not need refrigerators in winter. Freshly frozen fish, butter, meat and lingonberries are stored on the veranda of the house by the locals.

“We don’t chop meat in winter, but we cut it so that it doesn’t shatter into small pieces, like ice,” the man adds. “Drinking water is brought to the village by a special machine. Each inhabitant has a barrel in front of the house where this water is poured. The owner must in a matter of minutes have time to pour all the water from the barrel into buckets and take it home. Otherwise, the water will freeze, and the bottom of the barrel will tear out. But if the bottom has not yet been pulled out, then people take a crowbar and gouge the ice out of the barrel.

TIPS FROM OMYAKONS ON SURVIVING IN THE COLD

The best way to retain heat is 4-5 layers of clothing from different fabrics. This is how Oymyakonians would dress in severe frosts: a thick cotton suit, several thin, not very tight-fitting woolen pants and sweaters (2-3 thin sweaters warm much better than one thick one, since an air gap forms between them) and a suit or overalls from synthetic fabric.

The heat-shielding properties of clothing depend primarily on the type of fabric. The “fine-pored fabric” retains heat best of all - that is, the more “leaky” the clothes, the better it warms. For clarity, we give the figures characterizing the heat-shielding properties of the fabric. If we take the thermal conductivity of air as a unit, then the thermal conductivity of wool will be 6.1, silk - 19.2, and linen and cotton fabric - 29.9.

Shoes play an important role in winter conditions. To keep your feet warm, you need to make shoe covers from any material or wrap your feet with a piece of loose fabric. Then shove your feet into fur-lined boots and you won't mind the cold.

When leaving the heat in the cold, first stand outside until a state of slight freezing. Then come back to warmth. Warm up a little, but not completely, and then you can safely go about your business. Now you will hardly feel the cold - after the first exit, the body realized what was waiting for it, and thanks to the entry into the heat, it managed to acclimatize and tune in, but had not yet had time to relax. Thus, having lost 3-4 minutes, you will gain disproportionately more.

The term of resistance to low temperatures to a large extent depends on the psychological mood of a person. Scientists have proven that the panic fear of freezing accelerates the process of freezing. And, on the contrary, the psychological attitude “I’m not cold!” significantly increases the survival time in harsh conditions.(www.yaplakal.com)