Emergency Bivy Sacks

After reading Forestgnome's comment on the Champney Falls thread, "Kudos to a guide named Kayla who happened to be on the trail with a large group. She placed a plastic sheet and a jacket over him which kept him warm until help arrived. He was partially in the stream water where he landed so he was getting chilled. When we removed the sheet/jacket to check his injuries he started to shake from the cold, so the plastic definately helped him. He was there for a long time before help arrived."

I was wondering if anyone has used the $30 bivy sacks.

Brian and I were on Jefferson two weeks ago and had to sit at the summit for a couple of hours waiting for some traversers to come through. It was not raining, but we were in moist cloud cover. We had sweated on our climb up. As we sat by the big cairn, our fingers started turning waxy white-ish/yellow and we began shivering. As an experiment, I took out my bivy sack and climbed into it to see if it would make a difference, since I've carried it for a couple of years and never used it. It didn't seem to. Of course, the real answer was to get up and moving, and that did the trick in under ten minutes.

Any thoughts?

I learned on my OB course that you should never get in the bag while you are cold and shivering. Run around or in place, do jumping jacks, and when you warm up jump in the bag and keep it closed tight.


It's very difficult and could even be impossible (depending on temps) to warm up if you get in your bag while you are cold.

Makes sense, Maddy. I guess, then, if you come across an injured person who is down, getting them warmer, even if you can't move them, is the first line of defense. But Forestgnome's experience showed it was helpful to the young man who was wet and shivering.

erugs said:

Makes sense, Maddy. I guess, then, if you come across an injured person who is down, getting them warmer, even if you can't move them, is the first line of defense. But Forestgnome's experience showed it was helpful to the young man who was wet and shivering.

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Perhaps you can't warm up an immobilized victim, but at least you can reduce his cooling rate. (Shock can be a major hazard to an accident victim--keeping the victim warm is an important factor in minimizing the risk.)

In this case, the victim was in running water so simply diverting the water was a big help.

Doug

The cheapest emergency bivy is a large plastic garbage bag or two.

I used an emergency bivy as a wind-break at my (winter) emergency scene while waiting for the evac crew to arrive. (We simply wrapped it around me--I didn't try to get in it.) There was a light breeze and it was helpful.

Doug

I carry a Blizzard Emergency Bag since Tim Seaver started a thread on them several years ago. Before the emergency bag, I carried the Adventure Medical emergency bivy along with an emergency tarp.

Kevin Rooney said:

I carry a Blizzard Emergency Bag since Tim Seaver started a thread on them several years ago. Before the emergency bag, I carried the Adventure Medical emergency bivy along with an emergency tarp.

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I have the previous-generation Adventure Medical Thermal Bivy that I usually keep in my pack. At 8 oz., it's not bad, but I like the look of that sub-4 oz. Emergency Bivy.

What was your reason for switching to the Blizzard bag, which looks to be almost 14 oz.? (Not that weight is *everything*, but if you can get similar results from a lighter product...)

Regardless of what bivy bag/tarp you use, it's key to get the person off the ground, by putting them on an Ensolite pad, Thermarest...hell, even just sitting them on their pack is better than sitting on the ground.

J.Dub said:

What was your reason for switching to the Blizzard bag, which looks to be almost 14 oz.? (Not that weight is *everything*, but if you can get similar results from a lighter product...)

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Did you read the link in my first post? The Blizzard bag is a sleeping bag, not a bivy. Big difference.

The Blizzard is used by the military, by SAR units, etc.