Winter Bivouacs?

[Pylon]

A cadet has dropped the idea of a winter bivouac in my head and I've been wondering how good of an idea it might be?   Has anybody else in the Northeast run a winter bivouac?  (I mean, the kind where you're probably in the woods deep in snow?)  Has it been worth it for other units?

What kind of things would one focus on?  Winter survival skills obviously come to mind. 

[Eclipse]

Midway 6's unit and buddies do an "Ice Bowl" every year - other than the basic issues of winter survival, the majority of the training is standard CAP stuff.

Its in January, generally and gets a big turnout.

[SarDragon]

Check with Kirt Bowden on CS. He's done several.

[Becks]

We have a few winter bivouacs here, granted its SC winter sooo.

But surf on over to Sccadets.org, theres a few pages of pictures and descriptions of past events.

[CLB]

Yeah....winter here is 10 Jan to 1300 on 17 Jan. 

And it drops to a bone shivering 38 degrees......

Speaking of training, we typically take each task from a part of the GT manual and have a short training session on them.  Couple that with marches, river crossings, shelter setups and classes on land nav and we do alright. 

Even if it is 70 degrees  haha.  (But the water in that river is cold). 

[Al Sayre]

Did a couple in Upstate NY back in the 70's.  Everyone was so intent on trying not to freeze we didn't really accomplish much except some winter survival training...

[Bluelakes 13]

A picture is worth a thousand words (if you're cheap).

http://www.kalemis.com/cap/ice/page_9.htm

[Becks]

Whats that white stuff on the ground? 

[arajca]

Whats that white stuff on the ground? 

It's angel-s***, dude.

[Pylon]

Whats that white stuff on the ground? 

It's that stuff that, when you get an inch of it, it shuts down your entire infrastructure.     

[carnold1836]

I will just make the comment that I make to my squadron when bringing up the issue of an FTX and the feasibility of going into the woods.

The freakin' Boy Scouts do it every month!!!

Now I understand that an FTX is a lot more grueling than the average scout campout, I've done both being an Eagle Scout in my former life and now in CAP: http://www.cap.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&nodeID=6192&newsID=2439&year=2006&month=11

But even going out aver 4 to 5 months is doable even if it is 18" of snow and your warmer if you are buried in a snow bank than in your tent. I would do it just make sure you have plenty of cold weather gear for all attending, we don't want to reenact the Battle of the Bulge in the NE.

Good luck and keep warm.

[Becks]

Whats that white stuff on the ground? 

It's that stuff that, when you get an inch of it, it shuts down your entire infrastructure.     

haha yes and how I love when that happens.  Having been raised in Wisconsin I can only laugh when we get an inch down here and its close to a state emergency

[BillB]

In Florida, we call that white stuff on the ground...beach sand

[Becks]

In Florida, we call that white stuff on the ground...beach sand

Much more desirable than snow in my opinion.

[Chris Jacobs]

It is never that white and pretty here.  here in Oregon we refer to it as Cascade Concrete.  The snow most of the time has a good layer of ice on it so it is really hard snow.  i really wish we could get some good snow for once.

[MAJOR DISASTER]

They have a Semi-Winter Bivouac (March time frame) in the Finger Lakes Area of New York State. It serves to training in less than ideal conditions. Sometimes the WX is spring and sometimes its snow and cold. Either way, I already have cadets wanting to sign up. They have a good time and the training is great.
For us in Upstate NY, the conditions are very normal for 6 months out of the year. You never know what type of WX you are going to be working in, so be prepared for the worst.

[fyrfitrmedic]

 PAWG holds two winter schools each February, one at HMRS and one at a western PA location. The Basic class provides a good 'taste' of winter field operations. It's typical Pennsylvania though; the weather can vary pretty widely in February.

Winter School information will appear at http://pawg.cap.gov/hawk/winter_school.htm when the HMRS site is updated to reflect the 2007 schedule.

[Matt]

In Florida, we call that white stuff on the ground...beach sand

Much more desirable than snow in my opinion.

Traitor to Wisconsin!

[Pylon]

They have a Semi-Winter Bivouac (March time frame) in the Finger Lakes Area of New York State. It serves to training in less than ideal conditions. Sometimes the WX is spring and sometimes its snow and cold. Either way, I already have cadets wanting to sign up. They have a good time and the training is great.
For us in Upstate NY, the conditions are very normal for 6 months out of the year. You never know what type of WX you are going to be working in, so be prepared for the worst.

Cool!  It would be great if you let us know in Central NY Group when you guys were planning on that, if you wouldn't mind additional participants!  I know at least some of our people would be interested, but perhaps not enough to warrant running our own?   

[Becks]

In Florida, we call that white stuff on the ground...beach sand

Much more desirable than snow in my opinion.

Traitor to Wisconsin!

Haha dont worry my old service coat still has the 62'nd on the sleeve