Re: MtMan-List: Need some thoughts on an article

NIce... and painfully familiar. there's nothing quite like a frozen
oil skin cloth over your blankets to embrace the morning is there?
morning duty is brutal... but it does add dimension when you read
passages like this one... FWIW, there isn't a blanket thick enough to
satisfy on an icy morning... Ruxton's and all of them become painfully
thin during the course of a mountain night... but you're right about a
shell to hold in the heat.

On Aug 4, 2008, at 10:29 PM, Wynn wrote:

> George Ruxton Wild Life in the Rocky Mountains in 1841. He was
> coming north out of Mexico on what was probably a spy mission for
> britian. he was in Colorado:
>
> Although they made every attempt to drink, the mules actually
> kneeling in their endeavors to reach the water, I was obliged to
> give it them, one after the other, from a small tin cup which held
> half a pint, and from which the thirsty animals greedily drank.
>
> This tedious process occupied me more than an hour, after which
> there was another hour's work in hunting for wood, and packing it on
> our backs into camp. Before we had a fire going it was late in the
> night, and almost midnight before we had found a little grass and
> picketed the animals; all of which duties at last being effected, We
> cooked our collops of antelope-meat, smoked a pipe, and rolled
> ourselves in our blankets before the fire. All night long the camp
> was surrounded by wolves, which approached within a few feet of the
> fire, and their eyes shone like coals as they hovered in the bushes,
> attracted by the savory smell of the roasting venison. . . . .
>
> The cold was so intense that I blanketed all my animals, and even
> then expected that some of the mules would have perished; for it
> snowed heavily during the night, and the storm ended in a watery
> sleet, which froze as soon as it fell, and in the morning the
> animals were covered with a sheet of ice. We ourselves suffered
> extremely, turning constantly, and rolling almost into the embers of
> the scanty fire; and towards daybreak I really thought I should have
> frozen bodily. My bedding consisted of two blankets -one of them a
> very thin one, which was all I had between my body and the snow; and
> the other, first soaked with the sleet and afterwards frozen stiff
> and hard, was more like a board than a blanket, and was in that
> state no protection against the cold. It is well known that the
> coldest period of the twenty-four hours is that immediately
> preceding the dawn of day. At this time one is generally awakened by
> the sensation of death-like chill, which penetrates into the very
> bones; and as the fire is by this time usually extinguished, or
> merely smouldering in the ashes, the duty of replenishing is a very
> trying process. To creep out of the blanket and face the cutting
> blast requires no little resolution; and, if there be more than one
> person in the camp, the horrible moment is put off by the first
> roused, in hopes that someone else will awaken and perform the duty.
> However, should the coughs and hems succeed in rousing all, it is
> ten to one but that all, with a blank look at the cheerless
> prospect, cover their heads with the blanket, and with a groan,
> cuddling into a ball, resettle themselves to sleep, leaving the most
> chilly victim to perform the office.
>
>
>
>
> Jacob Fowler also told of watching Indian children play for hours on
> the ice of a river completely naked.
>
>
> Personal experience:
>
> You need a tarp or something to cut the wind because wool blankets
> are insulation but they need something to stop the wind. Quality
> blankets cut down the number you need to keep warm. Buffalo robes
> are great but they are often short for us tall guys. I sleep dressed
> with mocs, dry preferably. It is a habit when there is often horses
> in camp and fast rescues in the pitch dark are sometimes required.
>
> Taking the time to dig down to ground instead of sleeping on the
> snow and getting everything wrapped up good so you don't kick out in
> the night can make a big difference. My 12 year old son has five
> winter camps under his belt already. Some were two nights in a row.
> They were done without sleeping bags, or other modern stuff, instead
> with tarps, blankets, robes, fires and on the first year a tipi. It
> sometimes changes the meaning of respecting your elders.
>
> Wynn
>