Stranded amid winter's wrath: How to survive in the cold when no one is around to help

The lost cannot becomethe found, whicha72-year-old pilot discoveredthis week atop afrozen Manitobalake, unless theyknow how to survive when winter howlsits worst.

When the engine ofyour aircraft sputters or your snowmobile runs out of fuel, experts say it's vital tohave the means to procure shelter, water and warmth before findinga way out.

Randy Antonio,a founding member of the Winnipeg Search and Rescue Association, teaches survivalclasses. He sayspeople who relish outdoor trips in the wintercan become complacent abouttheir safetyand that's when problems can arise.

"I kind of joke around a little bit with statistics," he said, "and I'll say, statistically, that 100 per cent of the people that we rescued had no intention of getting lost or hurt that day."

"It can't happen to me," he said of people's thinking, "but sometimes it does."

Survival experts offer several tips onhow to cope with becoming stranded in the bitter cold:

1. Plan accordingly

No trip into the wilderness should be consideredwithout a trusted person knowing where the explorer isheading and when theyintend to get there.

"If you've gone missing and nobody's going to miss you for a day or two or three, the odds of having a good outcome are reduced significantly," said Dave Lussier, president of Search and Rescue Manitoba.

To pinpoint rescuers to theirexact location, Rick Shone, who owns Wilderness Supply in Winnipeg,recommends a satellite communicator that works when cellphones will not. The device ensures a missing person'slocation can be communicated to the authorities immediately.

Pilot stranded on frozen lake for 52 hours describes his ordeal

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A bathroom break turned into a missing person report for a 72-year-old pilot, who became stranded on a remote, frozen northern Manitoba lake.

An emergency kit with all the essentials is a must for any person embarking on a winter excursion.

The necessitiescan include, but aren't limited to, a knife, lighter, first aid equipment anddehydrated food.

"You should ask yourself if you have the equipment and experience to survive the night," said Gordon Giesbrecht, a University of Manitoba professor who is a leading researcher inhypothermia.

2. Be protected from the elements

After you're clear of immediate danger and have addressedany injuries, you should shieldyourself from the chill as soon as possible.

Dig into your survival pak for a hatchet or knifeand take fromyour surroundingsto create some kind of shelter. You can even yank pieces from the malfunctioned vehicle that got you into the wilderness to guard from the bitter cold.

It's key to start a firein the first few hours.

Sherman Kong, who operates survival courses in Winnipeg through his company Maple Leaf Survival,said no one should count on their ability to improvise a fire from, say, two pieces of wood.He recommends people bring whatever cannot be replicated in nature, since they won't know the conditionof themselves or their environment if an emergency strikes.

That's because thereisn't time to waste, he said.

"You can die much quicker from exposure than you can from dehydration and that's inextreme heat or cold, maybe you have like three hours," Kong said."Shelter would be the first thing that you'd want to get squared away."

He added it's important to focus onwarmth.

Wear layers,forgo cotton garments which absorb waterand opt for boots over shoes, experts say.

It's abalancing act to even stay warm, Kong said. Feel free to peel back layers when sweating, but don't move excessively, as too much sweat reduces the insultating value of clothing.

3. Food and drink not a top priority

Don't eat the snow whenyou're stranded and don't know when help is coming. It actually drainsbody heat to munch on snow, survival experts say. Rather, bring equipment to boil the snowand use thatas your drinking source.

They also suggest dehydrated meal rationsor energy bars toact assustenance. Bring asnare trap as well to catch small game.

But shelter is a bigger concern than having anything to eat, Kong says, noting people can survive for relatively long periods without food and water.

"It's roughly three days without water and roughly three weeks without food," he said.

4. Call for help

These survival tips should be taken seriously because help will not come immediately, no matter how quickly the search begins.

"There's always a delay in getting to you, so you need to be prepared to hunker down and take care of your own needs," Antonio said.

Without any other mechanism to alert the authorities, bring flares or use thefire you've cooked up toincrease your chances of being spotted.

5. Escape thefrigid water

While the immediate instinct is to escape a frigid body of water as soon as you fall in, Giesbrecht implores people to calm down first.

He saidabody enters into shock, sothrashing around in the water orgasping for air doesn't help. That first minute is criticial to anychances of survival, he said.

"You start to panic and then you hyperventilate even moreit just becomes a vicious circle," Giesbrecht said.

Once you're calm, swim back to the area where you dropped in and extend yourbody horizontally to drag yourselfonto the ice. Giesbrechtsaid yanking yourself up likeyou're jumping out ofa poolisn't practical because of the extra water you're carrying and your depleting energy.

You only have about 10 minutes to get yourself out of the water, Giesbrecht said. After that time lapses, he advises people to hang onto the ice and wait, hopefully for a rescuer. Yourarms may freeze to the ice beforeconsciousness is lost in about an hour, he said.

6. Stay put in a stranded car

Don't go anywhere if you find yourself stranded in a vehicle.

Too many people wander away in a search for help that proves futile, Lussier said.

"They try and walk to what they think might bea farmhouse or somewhere where they can get help and they don't make it," he said.

"And then perhaps you get back to your vehicle and your fingers are frozen and you're not even able to open up the door."

He recommendsstaying in your vehicle and turning it on periodically to heat up your shelter, but only if your exhaust pipe isn't covered withsnow.

Inside the vehicle, always keep warm clothes, blankets and fire-starting tools in case of emergency.

7. Attitude matters

You can be as prepared as possible for surviving in the worst of elements, but it won't matter if you don'texecute when it matters most.

Kong recalls a member of the military freaking out when water surrounded the cockpit of her submerged aircraft during a training exercise, yet she knew everything she needed to do to escape.

"If you're panicking, you lose the ability to think," he said.

Kong said the necessary knowledge andequipmentcan only go so far without the right mindset.