Nuclear Weapons and Radioactive Dangers

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons that mankind has ever created. They have a destructive capability that excites all other weapons. Nuclear weapons creates both enormous amount of thermal energy, a blast wave, initial radiation and radioactive fallout plus and electromagnetic pulse. There are many potential delivery systems like air craft, missiles, bombs, cruise missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Many of the US and Russian weapons are based on strategic submarines. Modern intercontinental ballistic missiles can in some cases carry more than one nuclear war head, this means that one missile can strike more than one target. This is often referred to as multiply independently targetable reentry vehicles or MIRVs. This means that both Russia and the US can have several hundred nuclear warheads on each strategic submarine. The strategic submarines mean that even if an surprise attack against the US or Russia would be successful they could retaliate with hundred, maybe even thousands of nuclear weapons against an attacker. The possibility to destroy an enemy in case of an attack is called MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction.

Radiation
Three types of different radiation is the major problem in Nuclear or radiological scenario: Alfa particles, Beta particles and Gamma rays. Alfa particles have a very low penetration power; they can’t penetrate the skin on the body. But if you inhale Alfa particles into your lungs, drink contaminated water, eat contaminated food or have a cut in your skin you may suffer serious damage from Alfa particles. Beta particles have a slightly higher penetration capability and can cause damage to unprotected skin that resembles the kind of wounds you attract from burn damages. Regular clothing gives some protection but the best protection is some kind of rubber or plastic clothing. Gamma rays have a very high penetration power and the cant really be stopped, the radiation dose can only be reduced by various materials. Materials with a high density like lead or concrete gives the best protection against gamma rays. Neutron radiation is similar to gamma rays with a high penetration.

Radiation Sickness
Radiation causes damage to the cells of the body, if the dose of radiation is big enough the person will become sick, even die if the dose is big enough. The chance of contracting cancer and tumors also increases if persons are submitted to radiation. Early symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, being tiered and vomiting.

Protection
A gasmask prevents radioactive Alfa and Beta particles from entering your body trough the lungs. If a nuclear or radiological situation would happen cover up with anything you can find, normal cloths is better than nothing, then get into cover as fast as you can. A basement in a building or fallout shelter is the best option. If no such cover is available, pick the most central location on the ground floors in a building. Use the same routine as with chemical warfare; close all windows, doors and ventilation. Use tape or whatever you can find to make the protection better. Clean your entire body to remove as much radioactive particles as possible. Find out where your nearest fallout shelter or Bomb shelter is located.

Treatment
There is prophylactic treatment that can be used in advance to exposure. Iodide tablets decreases the amount of radiation that the body accumulates by preventing radiation from being absorbed and then leave the body with the urine. This is only reduces some of the effects, it doesn’t prevent them. The immune system often gets severally damaged as an effect of radiation poisoning, often resulting in fatal infections. In the case of an attack with nuclear weapons many surviving people will suffer burn damages from thermal radiation as well as radiation burns, this will make people even more vulnerable to infection. Antibiotics are often given after exposure to prevent infections. Keep all wounds clean and covered.

Dirty Bombs
There is a possibility that radiological materials could be spread by being attached to a conventional bomb to cause even more damage to people. If highly radioactive material like depleted fuel from a nuclear power plant is used there would be a major problem for those how attempt to construct the bomb to actually survive making of the bomb. I have been unable to find any case where a “dirty bomb” has been used.

High Attitude Electro Magnetic Pulse (HEMP)
A nuclear explosion that takes place above 30000m creates a powerful electromagnetic pulse. A explosion that triggered high enough could take out most of the electronic systems and communication system in almost the entire continental United States or the European Union. An electromagnetic pulse has no direct effect on people. William R. Forchten describes a scenario like this in he’s fictional book “One Second After”.

Events involving Nuclear Weapons and Radiological Materials
1942 The Manhattan Project gets started with the objective of creating nuclear weapons. In July 1945 the first nuclear bomb called “Trinity” was tested in New Mexico.

1945 The Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked with nuclear weapons. The weapons used was relatively weak in comparison to the weapons of today (15 and 20 kilotons), but still about 200.000 died of the total population that was less than 500.000. This is the only cases where nuclear weapons been used against an enemy in history.

1952 The US tests the first hydrogen bomb in history named “Mike”, the bomb had an explosive force about 10,5 Megatons.

1952 there was a partial meltdown of the NRX research reactor in Canada. Most of the radioactive leakage was contained within the building housing the reactor.

1961 The Soviet Union tested the most powerful nuclear weapon in history: Tsar Bomba. The nuclear weapon had an explosive force about 60 megatons, 3 megatons is equal to all explosives used in the entire Second World War. 1 Megaton equals 1000 kilotons of explosive force. 1 kiloton equals 1000 tons of TNT. So Hiroshima equaled: 15.000 tons, Tsar Bomba 60.000.000 tons of TNT.

1961 the nuclear reactor aboard the Soviet Strategic Submarine K-19 malfunctions and almost has a complete meltdown. Radioactive cooling water leaks from the reactor. A total meltdown was prevented but eight of the crew later died from radiation sickness.

1962 The Soviet Union placed nuclear weapons and missiles on Cuba. An armed confrontation that could have lead to a nuclear war was very close but could be diverted. This incident is often referred to as The Cuban Missile Crisis. I strongly recommend the book “Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow that analysis the crisis from three different perspectives. There is also a movie about the event called “Thirteen days”.

1967 The US reached its peak in number of nuclear warheads at around 32.500 warheads.

1969 there was a partial meltdown in a small reactor in Lucens, Switzerland. The area containing the reactor was contaminated but no human was exposed. No one died as a result of the incident.

1979 The Three Mile Island accident was the most serious incident in American history until today. There was conflicting information about the accident the first days, there was some radioactive fallout but no one died as direct result. However the fallout may have caused some fatalities from cancer.

1981 Israeli aircraft bombs the Osiraq research reactor in Iraq.

1986 Mordechai Vanunu reveals evidence of Israel’s nuclear weapons program to the British press. He was kidnapped in Rome by Israel intelligence agents and brought back to Israel where he was tried for espionage and treason. He was imprisoned for 18 years and released in 2004. Israel has never gone public with their possession of nuclear weapons.

1986 The Soviet Union reaches its peak with about 45.000 nuclear warheads.

1986 there was a meltdown at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. 56 died as direct result and hundreds of thousands was exposed to radiation. How many of these that have or will die as a result of cancer is a debated question. Many other countries also got affected by radioactive fallout. This is the worst accident at nuclear power plants until this day.

Sometime during the end of the 1980:s South Africa destroyed all its nuclear weapons. South Africa is the only nuclear power that completely destroyed their nuclear weapons, this was made public 1991.

1999 there was an incident at the Tokaimura nuclear waste storage facility in Japan. It caused radioactive leakage that killed two of the employees.

2006 North Korea makes its first nuclear weapon test. Most information indicates that this was a test with a weapon of relatively weak warhead.

In 2006 the Russian journalist Alexander Litvinenko dies after he’s been poisoned with the radioactive material polonium.

Russia has continued to develop missile systems after the end of the Cold War. One of the current missile projects Bulava are designed to penetrate missile defense systems. The Bulava missiles is intended to be carried by a new Russian class of submarines, the Borei class that is under development.

2011 A massive earthquake outside the coast of Japan results in a devastating Tsunami that resulted in massive physical destruction to the east coast of Japan. The Tsunami knocks out the back-up generators and cooling system at the Nuclear Power plant at Fukushima, during the process of trying to cool the reactors with seawater explosions and radioactive fallout has followed. The full extent of damage and radioactive fallout is still not known.

The Situation Today
Existing nuclear powers: The United States and Russia are the most powerful nuclear powers in the world, they have still have around 10.000 warheads per country. France, The United Kingdom, China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea also have nuclear weapons but not nearly as many as the US and Russia. South Africa used to have nuclear weapons but have chosen to destroy their weapons.

There is a possibility that terrorist could get there hand on a nuclear weapon but it would be very hard for a terrorist group to build a weapon from scratch. It’s my belief that the weapon would have to be either supplied by a state or stolen from a state. The security measures surrounding nuclear weapons would make that highly unlikely, but not impossible. The bombs have to be activated, if this is done wrong the modern weapons will seize to function and the process to reset them is complicated, this can often only be done at the installation where they were built. And if a weapons would be stolen the country would chase the people how had stolen it with all resources of a modern state.

If a country would supply a nuclear weapon to terrorist group there is a very high risk that the weapon would be traced back to country that supplied it and the country would most likely face massive retaliation. A terrorist attack with a high attitude EMP is even more unlikely because of need for an advanced missile as well as a nuclear war head.

US Defensive Systems
The US withdrew from the Anti Ballistic Missile treaty 2002 and has some operational systems that can intercept ballistic missiles and some that are under development. The sea based Aegis system is designed to shoot down air craft and incoming ship to ship missiles and is being developed further for this purpose. There is also the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 System that uses missiles. The THAAD system is designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles as they re-enter earths atmosphere, the entire system is mobile and be moved by transport planes. MEADS is also an ongoing project involving US, Germany and Italy. The Airborne Laser (ABL) is a project to shot down missiles with a laser mounted in aircraft, this system is under development. The ABL system and THAAD system has been covered on the show “Future Weapons” on the Discovery channel for anyone looking for more information. How effective ballistic defense systems would really be is hard to say.

There is also stationary equipment to detect radioactive particles and radiation at US port, airports, many major cities and at important installations. So even if a non state actor could get their hands on nuclear weapons it would be hard to smuggle it into the US and there is a real chance it could be intercepted before reaching its target. In addition to this almost every modern country has a series of automatic stationary systems spread over the country that can detect radioactive fallout in an early stage. This is one of the lessons learned from Chernobyl.

The use of nuclear weapons is in my opinion a very low probability scenario but the most disastrous scenarios that could ever happen.

If you want to learn about how triage is planned to work after a nuclear incident I recommend that you check out the report “The “RTR” Medical Response System for Nuclear and Radiological Mass-Casualty Incidents”.

The Threat from Chemical Warfare

Chemical Warfare
Weapons of Mass Destruction are often divided in to three categories: NBC: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare. As a first step in covering the different kinds of Weapons of Mass Destruction I’m going to write about chemical warfare. Chemical weapons have different kinds of effects, but normally they kill, injure or incapacitates. Nerve agents are the most lethal of the chemical weapons. They are extremely poisonous, have no color and only a weak scent. If they are inhaled they may kill in a matter of minutes, many of the nerve agents may penetrated the skin, and in this case it may be up to half an hour before symptoms appear. To be protected against nerve agents a full body suit is required and a gasmask. To protect against nerve agents there is an also prophylactic tablet that can be taken before exposure and auto injectors that may be taken after exposure.

Examples of Events and Large Scale Accidents
1914-1918 During The First World War chemical weapons was used extensively by both sides and over a million were injured and over one hundred thousand killed by this type of weapon.

1939-1945 During the Second World War Poisonous gas was used in the Nazi concentration camps on a massive scale as one way of many to kill millions. Both the US and Germany has large stockpiles of chemical weapons, but they never came in to use during the Second World War.

1955-1975 During the Vietnam War chemical agents were used by the American forces to clear areas from vegetation, the most famous of these chemicals agents was Agent Orange.

1980-1988 The war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980:s was one of the most violent conflicts of the Cold War, both sides used chemical weapons in the war. The war was the first conflict when nerve gas was used as weapons of war.

1984 the worst chemical accident in history to place in the city Bhopal in India. The accident happened at night and around 2500 died and around 50000 was injured. The chemical agents were a leakage from a factory producing pesticides. Large scale chemical accidents are unusual but small scale accident is more common.

Saddam Hussein’s regime used nerve gas and mustard gas against the Kurdish city Halabja 1988 after the Iran-Iraq war, an attack that killed thousands of civilians and many more was injured. When the first Gulf War started 1991 there was a big fear that Iraq would use chemical weapons against the coalition forces. This was a much pressured situation for the Iraqi regime but they still chose not to employ chemical weapons.

1995 The Attack against the Tokyo Subway by the sect Aum Shinrikyo is the most devastating attack with a nerve gas by a non state actor in history. The delivery system was very primitive but the attack still killed twelve persons and injured a couple of thousands. The Cult had also attacked another Japanese city in 1994 where seven was killed and a couple of hundred was injured.

2002 Russian forces employed a chemical agent to incapacitate both the Chechnya rebels and the hostages in a Moscow theater. Over 100 hostages died as a result.

2003 The fear that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was an important factor when the decision was made to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein’s regime 2003.

Teargas or mace is often used a riot control agent in various countries. Teargas is normally not lethal and incapacities the people how get affected by the gas. The difference between the level of exposure that incapacitates people and the level that is lethal is very big. For a dose to be lethal exposure must normally take place within a closed are without circulation of the air. This is the chemical weapon that you are most likely to get exposed to in my opinion. Normally the symptoms from the gases are gone within half an hour.

Transports of Chemical Agents
A potential risk comes from chemical agents that are being transported. The containers are constructed to withstand accidents so serious consequences are unusual, but nothing is perfect and accident in a high density populated area could have disastrous consequences. Transport of dangerous chemical agents is also a potential target for antagonistic attacks like terrorism or crime.

The Threat Today
Chemical Weapon Conventions means that both the US and Russia are reducing and will completely remove their possession of lethal chemical weapons. The US has stopped the production of chemical weapons 1990 and both the US and Russia is reducing their stockpiles but the progress is slow. The last figures I’ve seen indicates that the US has about 22800 tons of chemical agents and Russia about 40000 tons of chemical agents. The US Stockpile mostly contains VX, Mustard gas and Sarin, The Russian stockpile around 80% nerve agents.

Other countries that are believed to have chemical weapons or the capacity to manufacture them are: Egypt, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, China, India, Burma, North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Algeria and Libya.

The threat may increase because of the increased knowledge in the world and access to recipes for different chemical weapons, especially trough the internet. This can mean that non state actors may create this kind of weapons easier than before. There are still big problems to spread these kinds of weapons in large scale, something that the attacks in Tokyo showed.

How to Protect Yourself
If you are in a area that is directly the first indications you will get is most likely symptoms from different person around, maybe even from yourself. This first signs YOU have to take seriously and get into safety. If a large scale attack with chemical weapons would take place in an area where you are its important that you try to get away from the affected area or get inside a building for some protection. Put on cloths to protect exposed skin and cover your mouth with and some cloth to reduce the exposure. The direction of the wind is one of the absolutely most important factors; don’t try to escape in the same direction as the wind. There is sophisticated equipment for detection; many potential targets in the US have automatic detection equipment that will give an early warning quickly in case of an attack. If you suspect that an attack is under way, turn on your radio and listen to messages from government agencies.

If you are at home or another building when an attack with chemical weapons, an accident at a chemical industry or transport would take place; close all doors and windows. Then close all ventilation and use tape, towels or whatever you to stop make doors and windows more secure. Preparing for this and practicing for this in my opinion the most important step you can take as a private citizen. Also learn where the nearest shelters with a protection for the public can be found. A gasmask may be a good addition, but in a worst case scenario where a military nerve agent would be used it doesn’t offer enough protection. If you do chose to buy a gasmask the most important part is that it’s airtight and fits your face, the best way to try this is to take part in an exercise where mace is being used. To protect the rest of your body you can improvise protection by using plastic or rubber clothing and use tape to seal the areas where the clothing meet. Remember that you have to safely dispose of the clothing you been wearing and wash your body very careful if you been exposed to chemical agents.

Attacks with chemical weapons are in my opinion a low probability scenario that could have really high consequences. But there are some examples of chemical weapons being used by non state actors.

I would like to thank the member Isopsycho from Survialist boards for some additional advice about how you can protect yourself from chemical agents. I also would like to recommend the book "Weapons of Mass Destruction" by Mary Byrd Davis & Arthur H. Purcell as good reference book on the subject.

2012

In the survivalist movement there is allot of focus on scenarios that would mean The End Of The World As We Know It, this is often referred to as TEOTWAWKI. Doomsday scenarios has long been a focus in the media. Many popular movie like Terminator, The Matrix, I am Legend, Dawn of the Dead, Independence Day, Armageddon, Deep Impact, Red Dawn, The Happening, Escape from New York, Waterworld, The Day After Tomorrow and the last one in a long series: 2012 have been about this kind of events. Popular TV shows like Jericho, Jeremiah and V also describes the world from an apocalyptic scenario. In books this is also a popular theme, William R. Forstchens book “One Second After” about an EMP attack against the United States and James Wesley, Rawles book “Patriots: A novel of survival in the coming collapse” has become popular books. Even the popular author Neil Strauss most famous for his book “The Game” has in he’s latest book “Emergency: This book can save your life” written about his experience becoming a survivalist. A movie have also been made based on Cormac McCarthys book "The Road".

Will the world as we know it come to an end 2012?
It’s impossible to make an analysis covering all possible scenarios that could happen and make a risk assessment from there. I will try to focus on different kind of scenarios and threats and make analysis from area to area. The first areas that I will cover will be the most devastating weapons that mankind has its arsenal: Weapons of mass destruction. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is often divided into chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, the first analysis will be about chemical weapons, when they been used in history and how you can protect yourself in a worst case scenario.

I am personally not of the belief that the world as we know it will come to a sudden end 2012, nor that it will anytime soon. In this blog I will try to cover as many areas of potential risk as possible. It’s my belief that risk comes from specific threats that can be traced back to different factors, not from a specific day in history. The year 1999 many feared what would happen when the new day came and it was January first 2000. The day came and the world moved on as usual. You can never know anything for sure, but it’s my belief that this will be the case in 2012 as well.

How you can reduce your own vulnerability

In the part about risk assessment you can get some basic ideas of how to identify and categorize different form of possible crisis and survival situations. This part will be a general guide to what can help you to reduce your own vulnerability to this kind of events. Most survival handbooks focus on water, food, shelter and fire. It’s my belief that you’re true capacity to survive and cope with a crisis depends on more factors than that.

Health
Health is in my opinion the most important aspect of your life. Your diet, your exercise, your physical and psychological wellbeing is the most fundamental for your survival. This is a part of your life that you have to keep working on all the time. Think about what you eat and try to eat as healthy as you possibly can. Cut down on sugar, fast food and sweeteners. You don’t want overweight or diabetes in your normal life or in a survival situation. In a long term survival situation diabetes can be a lethal condition if the access to insulin disappears. Your teeth are also a critical part: Take good care of them, use floss and fluoride. This may seem as boring aspects of crisis preparedness or survival but in a real survival situation a damaged tooth can become a lethal infection: If you have any problems with your teeth go to a dentist and get them fixed. Try to exercise at least three times each week.

Another important part of your health is stress management. If your level of stress is too high the effect might be a stroke or heart attack. Modern life is stressful so you must find ways to cope with it. Get a hobby to help you relax and think about something else for a while. Find something that you like to do, no matter if it’s hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, climbing, kayaking, skiing, dancing, sports or meditation. The important part is that it works for you. And don’t try to skip this part of your health; you won’t save time by burning yourself out.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills
Knowledge and skills is something that you will always carry with you, you can have the best equipment that money can buy, but if you don’t know how to use it – it’s useless. One of the skills that I think is most important is some basic medical skills like first aid and CPR. Take a course and bring your friends or family, it’s just as important that they can help you. This kind of skills need constant refreshment: Try to take a course once every five years. What other skills that’s important depends on your particular situation but the ability to make fire, collect and purify water and make shelter is a good start. Don’t forget to include skills that can help you in your everyday life or help you get a job. Make a list of what skills that would be useful and what skills that you always wanted to learn and start working from there.

Equipment and Gear
Some basic equipment in combination with skills can make a huge difference in a crisis or survival situation if you know how to use and have the ability to improvise. I have some basic suggestions in the blog post Get The Ability To Cope With A Crisis and the blog post Equipment List For Your Home - Checklist.

Your Social Network
Your social network is one of the absolutely most important parts of your personal security. You can have perfect health, knowledge and skills and all equipment you could ever need – but if you don’t have someone that can help you in time of need your vulnerability in a crisis situation or survival situation is much higher. Your friends, partner and family is the most natural part, but people from works and other contacts is also very important.

Your Geographical Setting
Your geographical setting is also a very important part, some parts of the world has a higher degree of natural disasters than others. If you live in a area where natural disasters is a common problem you can reduce the consequences of a natural disaster by choosing a place where you live that offers the maximum amount of protection possible. For example: If you live in a area where flooding can be a problem, try to find a place that is located high enough so it won’t get affected. If storms are a common problem find a place where the surrounding area gives some protection against powerful wind. The very house where you live is also a important part, a stone structure is much less likely to be damaged than a fragile mobile home. The coast line offers a great view, but remember that the coast regions often gets hit hardest from hurricanes and other extreme weather.

Your Economical Situation
Your economical situation is also a critical aspect. Very few people have the economical resources or income that gives them the possibility to buy everything they want and still have money over. The first thing I recommend you to do is to start saving money. I suggest that you try to put keep about 20% of your income every month: 5% into a emergency situation fund that you don’t use unless there really is an emergency, 10% as investment fund that you can use if a good opportunity to buy something really useful for a good price would come along and 5% for vacations and entertainment. The last part is an important part of your health: You need the opportunity to relax and recharge your batteries, don’t just spend your money on equipment and physical objects. I suggest that you might invest some of the money in your emergency fund into gold or silver.

Start to keep a record off what you are buying and how you are spending your money, do that for three months and you will start discovering things about yourself that may not have been aware of. This also gives you an idea about where you can save money and how can plan your economy better.
Unemployment is a real risk for most of the population and if you find yourself in this position you want to have the best possibilities that you can to get a new, or even a better job. First off all: Take your job seriously and work hard. Don’t be a slacker, you want everybody you ever worked with to get such a good impression of you that they would recommend you for a job. Try to learn new aspects of your job, ask for some extra responsibility and take courses that give you even more knowledge about what you do. If you can I recommend that you start taking courses after work or get an extra job. Even if there is people at work you don’t like, treat them right and try to get know the people you work with: They are an excellent resource for future possibilities. Never stop learning.

Understanding The Risks In Your Everyday Life
The most common risk that you face is dangers in your everyday life. Traffic accidents are one of the worst killers, when you get out into traffic use your seatbelt and focus on what you are doing. It’s very easy to get distracted or wondering of with your mind. Don’t talk on the phone or send text messages and keep the volume on your stereo down so that you can hear what’s going on around you. The number of dead from all terrorist attacks is nothing compared to the deaths in traffic. If you ride a bike: Use a helmet and make sure that you can be seen at night.

Fire is another big danger: Make sure that your home is as safe as it possibly can be, get a fire alarm, make sure that you have a exit strategy and train this strategy with your family. It’s just like in sports or the military: practice makes perfect. If you get the opportunity I strongly that you take a course and learn how to use a fire extinguisher and how to extinguish a burning person with a blanket. And when you have done this: Get a fire extinguisher for your home. If you have many family members take the course together, you are a team.

It’s also important that you start thinking about risks that you accept as a part of normal life. Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs is directly bad for your health and in combination with a activities like driving or water sports they may be lethal. Alcohol and different drugs are a part of everyday life for most people, but it’s important that you keep your using of them on a reasonable level and don’t get into dangerous activities when you’re under the influence. Other simple thing like spending too much time in the sun can cause skin cancer: Use sun screen and cover up. For more information see the article about Risk Assessments.

Scandinavian Survival Equipment

I would to take the opportunity to recommend some survival equipment from the part of the world where I come from: Scandinavia.


First off all I would like to recommend the knives from Mora. They have some of the best knives you find for the money. Especially the model Mora 2000 is a really great knife, I used it for hunting, hiking and fishing and it never let me down. The new knife from Mora named Bushcraft basically has the same blade as the Mora 2000 with a new more ergonomic handle.


Secondly I would like to recommend the knives from Fällkniven, especially the models Fällkniven F1 and Fällkniven S1. It’s one of the best survival knives you can find, but they are rather expensive. Go with the Kydex sheaths instead of the leather ones. The leather sheaths are too heavy and unpractical.

The Bivanorak from Hilleberg is designed as a survival shelter for Swedish Air Force Pilots. It works as a poncho, emergency shelter, sleeping bag cover and bivy bag. The company Helsport also makes a similar product with the named Fjellduk.


The Murriikka is a slightly concave cast iron wok plate with tripod. It’s excellent for cooking food over an open fire. I use it every spring out in the wild and it’s a great way of cooking food for an entire family.


The axes and hatchets from Gränsfors Bruk have a very high quality and have hand forged blades. I especially like the Hunters axe and Wildlife Hatchet.


Klättermusen makes some of the best survival and emergency clothing that’s out there. The jackets and trousers that they make may not be the most beautiful and they are very expensive. But they offer excellent quality and function.

The Norwegian company Aclima makes high quality and reasonably priced base layers. The WoolNet series offers excellent insulation and great transportation of moisture even if the looks of the base layers may not be ideal for showing yourself in public. In short great performance and reasonable price but  not the most esthetic choice.