The challenges of winter weather demand that you make some smart changes to your usual EDC kit. Freezing temperatures, heavy clothing, and the heightened risk of exposure can complicate your usual routine.
Assess your favorite loadout and make sure you include all of the following items so you’ll be ready for the worst that Mother Nature can throw at you.
Fixed-blade Knife
A knife, any knife, is always a good choice for EDC, but winter, more than any other season, recommends a fixed blade. Cold, numb hands can struggle to open a folder, and a folding knife’s mechanism may stick with frost.
In these same conditions, a fixed-blade knife won’t let you down, and you’ll have an easy time concealing it if desired, thanks to your heavier winter wardrobe.
Also, don’t get hung up on the idea that you need to carry a big, beefy fixed-blade knife. Something small and nimble can work just as well for most jobs.
Warm Gloves or Mittens
This, I hope, should be obvious to most readers! Exposure is a very real risk, and more than any other parts of your body, your fingers will be the most prone to suffering frostnip or even frostbite. This is especially likely if you are sweaty or in wet conditions.
Keep your fingers warm and your hands protected with a good set of insulated gloves or, for better comfort and sharing of heat, mittens.
Warm Hat
Another totally obvious but crucially important component of any smart winter EDC. You lose tons of body heat through your head. Stop that from happening with a warm, insulated hat.
You can go crazy here if you want to: toboggans, beanies, ushankas, and more can all do a great job and look plenty stylish to boot.
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Handwarmers
A set of oxygen-activated chemical hand warmers might seem redundant if you’re already carrying gloves, but they really aren’t.
Consider that if you get into a legitimate survival situation or, for whatever reason, just get caught outdoors for any length of time, you are going to get cold, and your hands are going to get cold, numb, and useless pretty quickly, even with gloves.
Once your fingers go numb and unresponsive, you’re not going to be able to get much work done, and this can drastically hurt your chances for survival. An insulated pocket with one of these hand warmers in it will help keep your fingers warm and the blood flowing, and that will keep you working toward a solution.
Keep these handy just in case!
Flashlight
Another quintessential EDC item, flashlights bear special mention here since, in the wintertime, in most places around the globe, winter nights arrive earlier and last longer.
Choose a flashlight accordingly. You’ll want something with substantial battery life and, preferably, selectable output so you can make the most of the charge you have. Getting caught outdoors in the dark without a light always sucks, but it is even worse in the winter.
Another pro tip: choose lithium-based batteries, especially for your winter EDC light, because they lose very little charge overall due to low temperatures.
Insulated Bottle
Water is essential to life, but you can’t drink it if it’s frozen. Carrying an insulated bottle, like a thermos or Stanley brand model, will keep any liquid inside, well, liquid longer than a typical water bottle or canteen. These are especially important if you’re leaving the bottle in your vehicle while you go to work or out and about.
Even if you’re just carrying water, consider filling the bottle with warm water to further extend its useful life.
Chapstick
Low temperatures, low humidity, and blustery winds are all hell on exposed skin. Cracked, chapped lips are painful, annoying, and also look terrible. Chapstick or another lip balm will, if applied regularly, help stop this from happening.
Lighter
As mentioned previously, exposure is a major concern in the winter, and regardless of season, it is exposure that’s the number one threat to folks who are caught outdoors for whatever reason and whatever the scenario.
You must – must! – be able to get warm no matter what in the wintertime, and the surest and easiest way to do that is to build a fire. A decent supply of firewood or other material and a lighter will help you get a fire going even when minutes count.
Emergency Blanket
Emergency blankets look like flimsy, useless foil wrappers, but don’t be fooled: these ingenious inventions reflect up to 90% of all infrared energy, including body heat.
Whether wrapped around yourself or hung up as a reflector near your fire, these will help you stay much, much warmer than you would otherwise. Best of all, they fold up and pack down into a package that is scarcely bigger than a postcard.
Snow Shovel or E-Tool
Heavy snowfall always causes trouble. It invariably leads to accidents, pile-ups, and sometimes major traffic jams on the highways and interstates, and it can even trap folks inside their homes.
If you’re going out and about, a folding snow shovel or military-style entrenching tool is just the thing to help you free yourself or someone else.
Tom Marlowe practically grew up with a gun in his hand, and has held all kinds of jobs in the gun industry: range safety, sales, instruction and consulting, Tom has the experience to help civilian shooters figure out what will work best for them.