Lost or Separated – Winter Backpacking

How to avoid getting lost or separated from the group

The first safety rule of winter backpacking is: Never go alone. For the same reasons you don’t head out into the backcountry alone, you don’t separate from the group. Simple things can escalate quickly into emergencies—your tent blows away, you fall through the snow, your stove doesn’t light, etc. In a group, these issues can be managed, and you can complete the trip.

group hiking — Stay with the group. You’ll be safer and have more fun.

Intentional Separation from the Group

Despite the obvious wisdom of staying with the group, hikers often choose to separate from the group. Based on past experiences, there are six reasons hikers have chosen to separate from the group:

They can’t keep up
They are too exhausted to continue
The route is too challenging
They have an illness or injury
They have missing and damaged gear

In some instances, the organizer alters plans for the entire group to accommodate the person experiencing difficulties, or another team member chooses to join them. Rarely, the group continues, and the person turns back alone. Ideally, if a person chooses not to continue with the group, they should camp near the trail, at an agreed-upon location, rather than return to the trailhead or continue to the destination. It is important to stay at the agree upon location and not relocate. The group will then return to the agreed spot the next day and rejoin the hiker. Because trailheads can attract car thieves, camping in the wilderness is safer. It is the closest spot to the group and closest to the intended destination.

The Separation Decision Process

In instances when intentional separation has happened, factors have mitigated dangerous consequences, such as

The person was close to the trailhead and had transportation
There was no snow
The weather was not extreme
The person was accompanied by someone else
The person was an experienced winter backpacker

The experience and abilities of the hiker and the group’s likely response need to be carefully considered in the decision-making process.

It might seem that the organizer can lay down a policy that, if for any reason, a person can’t complete the trip or decides to turn back, the whole group will do the same to stay together. However, the majority of these problems occur in the first mile of the trip, and the hiker who cannot continue can safely return. If you cancel the trip for everyone in a way that seems unnecessary or unreasonable, you risk losing control of the group. The abilities of hikers vary, and your control the decisions of other team members has limits. Attendees have the gear and know the plan. They also have the freedom to make their own decisions. That is, there is a possibility of other team members responding however they want and incurring additional risks. For those reasons, it is preferable to have a more flexible approach for arriving at a group decision on how to handle challenges.

Also, it is better if attendees don’t think they have control over the entire group. If attendees have the perception that they could be left to solo camp until the group returns, they are more likely to show up prepared and not overestimate their abilities.

There will be situations when no one wants to turn around, but as an organizer, you can see that members of the group should not continue for safety reasons, and you simply have to persuade the that person or the whole group to change plans, and possibly cancelling the whole event. For example, I have had team members who showed up without the ability to stay dry or necessary gear to change out of wet clothing at camp. To prevent hypothermia, the event had to be cancelled. The problem didn’t become apparent until three miles into the trip, and it was evident that they were soaked and had no way to solve the problem at camp.

Planning Is Critical

To illustrate how things can go wrong, imagine this hypothetical plan: A group of backpackers will hike to a specific destination. The route is only three miles to camp. Later in the day, two additional hikers will join the group separately. The weather is cloudy with low visibility. There is a ski resort nearby providing cell reception, but it isn’t reliable. The group has an InReach, but the second group doesn’t. The first group sets up camp, and the second group doesn’t arrive. It is winter, and the sun sets early. It is cloudy and windy. Visibility is low. Someone in the first group thinks the second group may have taken a wrong turn and ended up in an avalanche-prone area nearby. Two hikers decide to take avi-gear and go search for them. Others decide to stay at camp. This decision causes the first group to be separated, and the hikers who are conducting the search are in an avalanche-prone area without all their gear. It gets late, and the search party doesn’t return to camp. Eventually, the people who stayed at the camp decide to call Mountain Rescue, but are told no rescue is possible because of the high winds and low visibility. The rescue will have to wait until late the following day. What do you do?

Three preventable things went wrong. First, the group was separated before the event even began. Second, more hikers became separated from both the first group and their essential gear. Third, they was no reliable way for the separated hikers to communicate.

For more about the limitations of Mountain Rescue, see
Mountain Rescue—What to Expect

Unintentional separation from the group

There are ways a person can become unintentionally separated from the group. In some instances, they may not be lost, but may realize they are too far from the group to correct their situation until the next day. It is unlikely, but also possible that they may become separated and realize they are lost.

Ways to prevent getting separated from the group:

Never get too far ahead of the group. This is the number one reason hikers get separated and lost from the group in winter conditions.
Stay within visual and audible distance of the group while hiking.
Stay behind the navigator and in front of the sweeper.
Let the group know: If you are stopping for a break or to pee while the group is hiking, let someone know. Let the group know if you are taking a stroll away from camp (what direction you are going and how long you expect to be gone).
Never leave essential gear: Never leave the camp and your gear without taking your headlamp, a whistle, and a GPS with you.
Take someone with you if you leave the camp.

Separated but know your location: In most situations, lost hikers can use GPS apps to determine their location and the route necessary to correct their mistake and reconnect at the intended destination or a new destination the next day. They can also communicate with other team members using a phone with a satellite connection or a personal locator beacon, such as an InReach. Communicating with the group will allow both groups to agree on a plan to reconnect. If there is no way to communicate and decide where to meet, always plan to meet at the “last seen point”—the place where the group was last together before the split up.

Separated and don’t know your location: The worst situation is being lost with no certain knowledge of where you are and how to find the group or your way back. The battery on your phone and/or InReach is dead. You don’t have a power bank to recharge them. You don’t have a compass and map, or you don’t know how to use them. The wind is blowing away the group’s snowshoe tracks, and the clouds are concealing the mountain peaks and landmarks. How do you respond?

The STOP Acronym

The STOP acronym, which stands for Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan, is a widely recommended practice in various outdoor and survival contexts, including hiking and wilderness safety. Its purpose is to help individuals make rational decisions and take appropriate actions when they realize they are lost. The point is to stay calm and stay where you are. Do not act hastily or run about. Look around and notice the landscape features around you. Access your situations. Ask yourself, how many days of food do you have? Do you have shelter? Are you injured? How long have you been lost? How fast were you traveling? Try to estimate how far you are from the trailhead, or how long it took you to hike to your location. Then make a plan. Start by marking your current location. If you leave the location, for example, to seek higher ground (trails are more easily spotted looking down a slope than up a slope), make sure you are marking your path and can identify a way back to where you originally discovered you were lost.

What to do when you are lost

Follow the STOP method (Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan)
Stay where you are.
If you can communicate with your phone, call the group and work out a plan.
Yell for help three times in every direction and occassional repeat.
- If you are near a loud stream, mark a path away from the stream and yell from that location.
- Yell “HELP” rather than call out a name. This way, anyone who hears you understands you are in trouble.
- Keep yelling even if you hear no response. You may be heard even if you can’t hear their reply.
- If someone yells back, stay where you are and let them come to you. Keep yelling. Sounds echo, and people may struggle to identify the correct direction. Let them work it out.
Use a whistle if you have one. Blow the whistle 3 times in every direction. Many backpacks have an emergency whistle built into the sternum strap. Whistle sounds are easier to sustain than yelling and travel further.
Stay in open areas where you can be seen.
Utilize any bright fabric to help with your discovery.
If it is windy, set up your tent and get out of the wind. Do not allow yourself to be exposed for too long. Layer up. Yell “HELP” and stay where you are.
If you leave the point where you realized you are lost, always mark your way so you can get back to that point.
Look for indications of a trail such as bridges, ribbons, or intersection signage. Trees that fall over trails are often cut so the section blocking the trail can be removed. These cut sections can be spotted even when the trail is concealed by snow.
More up a slope for a better view. It is easier to spot a trail that is below you on a slope than above you.
Determine the cardinal directions. On a sunny day, you can place a meter-long stick (3 feet) in the ground. Mark the shadow every 15 minutes until you have marked it 5 times. Draw a line from the first mark to the last. The line points west at the first mark and East at the last mark. When your left arm is pointing west and your right arm is pointing East, you are facing North. At night, use the North Star to determine the cardinal directions. Notice which landscape features (peaks, valleys, rivers, etc.) align with North, West, South, and East.
The rescuer will start their search from the “point last seen.” For this reason, you should stay where you are so that you do not move further from the point last seen by mistake.
If you leave your location, create a marker indicating that you were at that spot. Leave a message or note if possible.
Leave markers along your route to help rescuers find you.
Follow trails and/or streams downhill. In most instances, this will lead you to a road or civilization. There are very few areas that are far from unused roads.
Trails can often be identified even where there is snow on the ground. Look for openings in the trees and human-made contours on slopes.
Be sure to take notice of your own footprint so you can recognize it if you encounter it on the trail.

Getting separated from your gear

Whatever you do, never separate from your gear in extreme weather. If you are going up a peak in winter, always carry your pack with you. If you get separated from your gear, the likelihood of death increases significantly in winter if you get lost.

A hiker reached the rim of Mount St Helens, set down his pack, and then the cornice below him collapsed and he plummeted 1,200 feet down into the crater. He survived the fall and tried to climb out, but fell again and died. If he had his gear, he might have been able to call for help and keep himself safe from hypothermia. If you have your gear, you can get out of the wind and cold and secure yourself until help arrives.

Should you build a fire?

Evaluate your situation carefully before building a fire. A fire can help rescuers discover your location. Sometimes, trying to build a fire in wet winter conditions is more hazardous than helpful. You risk falling into a tree well or getting wet during the wood-collecting process, which increases the risks of Snow Immersion Suffocation (SIS) and hypothermia. Only attempt to build a fire if you believe you can do it safely and it will aid in your discovery. Take care not to expose yourself to additional risks in the process. If you have your gear, extra fuel, and food, you will likely not need a fire. You will probably be discovered in 48 hours or less.

If you have a headlamp, you can use it to signal any aircraft searching for you. Shine the bright white light out across the snow and at the aircraft. Use the emergency flashing red light feature on the headlamp, too. Mirrors can also be used to signal air rescue.

Search and Rescue: What to expect.

For information about Mountain Rescue, see Mountain Rescue—What to Expect.

Let us know your thoughts and suggestions

Have I overlooked anything? I’m always looking for new ways to improve safety. Please share your ideas, experiences, and challenges below. Your comments and questions are welcome.