Sub-arctic/arctic survival when SHTF.

I was thinking of bugging out north when the poo poo hits.
I always felt that there were more positives than negatives to living in the cold.

Anyone else interested in bugging out cold?
Any tips?

I created this thread because I knew I couldn't be the only one interested in living in the cold in economic collapse or any other disaster. I want to obtain as much information as possible about sub arctic and arctic.

A lot of us hate the heat anyways.

reply to post by Segador


Ray Mears would be good company:

reply to post by Segador


Well I would definetly try it first. The cold isn't for everybody and I think a lot of city people really don't understand just how cold it can get in some parts of the country. Especially artic conditions. I live in Alaska but I refuse to even travel to a place like Fairbanks in the winter because of how cold it gets. If you don't leave your car running 24/7 during the really cold breaks your car WILL freeze even with a block heater. Imagine walking down the street to your neighbors house, even that can be life threatening in some of those conditions it gets that cold. You might want to rethink the Artic my friend!

reply to post by Segador


It is easier to survive here than it is in many area's. We have ample game, fish and food that is easy to acquire if you know what you are doing.

You don't have to go far enough to the North to deal with the frigid winters. For instance here in South Central Alaska, the winters are milder than they are in many of the Lower 48 States. They are longer and our summers are more of extended springs morphing into early falls, but life is abundant and food easy to get.

A simple greenhouse, a Moose (one of the healthiest, most nutritious foods nature has to offer) and a few fishing trips a year and you have ample food. Subsistence living is even legal here and many live that way.

If a SHTF scenario was something that could cause increased cloud cover going north would probably be suicide.
Large scale volcanic eruptions.
space body impact of a sort.
Nuclear winter.

Or are we talking about government strife SHTF scenarios?

No thanks. The cold is not my friend. Give me the tropics and a nice warm beach. I can fish, crab, shrimp, and dive for lobsters. Many fruits grow wild like oranges, dates, and bananas. The sea is my lover, winter is a harsh mistress my friend.

Originally posted by snowen20
If a SHTF scenario was something that could cause increased cloud cover going north would probably be suicide.
Large scale volcanic eruptions.
space body impact of a sort.
Nuclear winter.

Or are we talking about government strife SHTF scenarios?

Government caused, economic collapse, stuff like that.
And from what I hear Alaska is an excellent outdoorsmans paradise, I was considering moving up there or somewhere in Canada.

You have to be one motivated mo'fo to ride a full winter out in the arctic my friend. Do you have that mojo? if you do I'll suggest going deep into a crash course about hunting / fishing / shelter / fire building in such extremes.

As people will tell you, food is abundant but when that winter comes, you will have to be so ready for it you'd think your storage shed was a supermarket. Its not for the faint hearted but can clearly be done for generations if you utilise native aboriginal skills.

My best advice to you is to take a two week camping trip up here in the Canadian prairies mid-January...

It'll give you a crash course on just how friggin cold it can get, what it's like trying to chop wood when your eyelashes are sticking to your eyelids and your mitts are sticking to the axe and the wood is rock hard. How to start a fire and not melt the 3 feet of snow surrounding your firepit. How to pitch a tent when you can no longer feel your fingertips. The monotonous procedure of removing layers of clothing so as to not sweat and then having to put them back on so as to not freeze and then taking them back off so as to not sweat...

And then of course comes the fun of trying to chop through 2 feet of ice in order to catch your supper and how to keep that fishing hole from freezing over while you sit there for an hour hoping for a walleye to bite...

And lastly, but most importantly...

What to do when the beer bottle sticks to your lips.

Originally posted by Segador

Originally posted by snowen20
If a SHTF scenario was something that could cause increased cloud cover going north would probably be suicide.
Large scale volcanic eruptions.
space body impact of a sort.
Nuclear winter.

Or are we talking about government strife SHTF scenarios?

Government caused, economic collapse, stuff like that.
And from what I hear Alaska is an excellent outdoorsmans paradise, I was considering moving up there or somewhere in Canada.

There are some civilian arctic and high angle survival courses you can take. i strongly recommend doing that before going balls to the wall in a crappy scenario. Take a look at the link below.

The Real Freaking Deal