In Arctic, the pilot uses wire and a battery from his plane to generate heat and melt through the ice.

Your body takes a lot of energy away from maintaining your core temperature in order to melt snow, so avoid it unless you are dehydrating.

Signal for help in a way that can be seen from the sky, even a mirror will do.

Radios or transponders, especially those powered by a hand crank, are limited in range and direction. So you should regularly rotate transmission locations around your base camp.

• Ice is good for numbing pain, but avoid it when it’s so cold that frostbite can set in in record time.
• As the film Arctic shows, snow can be used to plug wounds preventing hemorrhage as it induces vasoconstriction. It can still cause frostbite but it might be better th...

Arctic explorers would carry their water bottles under their coats, on the ridge between their shoulders, right at the bases of their heads. That would keep it from melting without getting in the way of other stuff they had to carry.

In an Arctic landscape, you won’t run out of water. But you will run out of food. Getting to sea ice means you’re over water, which means you’re over fish.

• Dig down and then sideways to keep the shelter from collapsing. Snow is good at supporting itself.
• Make the shelter slightly bigger than the space you need for your body so your body has less air to warm
• Be sure to put down a pad, sleeping bag, or another layer of some kind b...