An emergency shelter is the piece of kit you carry on every walk and hope to bring home unused. It is there for the hours when a day goes wrong: a twisted ankle a long way from the road, mist that comes down faster than the forecast said, a friend who is too cold and tired to go on. This guide sets out the kinds, from a foil blanket to a tarp, what each will and will not do, what Mountain Rescue says to carry on a hill day, and how to use one. Its safety advice comes from the rescue teams and the NHS, named as it goes, and it says what they all say: a shelter never takes the place of calling for help.
What an emergency shelter is for, and what it is not
An emergency shelter has one job: to keep the wind and rain off someone who has to stay still outdoors for longer than they meant to. Staying still is the point: walking, your body makes plenty of heat; sitting on a cold hillside, far less, and wind and wet carry it away. A shelter slows the loss and buys time until help arrives or the weather clears.
It helps to be just as clear about what it is not:
- It is not a tent. The shelters in emergency shelters have no poles, no proper groundsheet and no ventilation. They are for the night that goes wrong, not a night you planned. For a planned night out, take a small tent: see 1-man tents and backpacking and trekking tents.
- It is not a sleeping bag. Reflective film has no padding. It holds in the warmth you already have; it adds none of its own.
- It is not a substitute for the right clothes. Mountain Rescue England and Wales lists suitable clothing and footwear, spare clothing, and a hat and gloves even in summer. A shelter works with your clothes, not instead of them.
- It is not a reason to keep going. The same advice says to plan the route, check the weather and be ready to turn back if the weather or the conditions turn against you, even if it means giving up a trip you have planned for a long time. A bag in the rucksack does not change that.
- It is never instead of calling for help. If someone is hurt, lost or too cold to carry on, call 999 as set out below. The shelter is what you wait in while help comes.
The Shelters department has lighter cover for many jobs; this guide is about the emergency end of it.
Foil blankets, survival bags and bivvy bags
These are the smallest shelters: something you wrap round you or climb into. Three kinds are often muddled.
Foil blankets
A foil blanket, sometimes called a space blanket, is a flat sheet of thin reflective film, like the ones handed out at the end of a marathon. It reflects the warmth your body gives off back towards you and keeps off the wind. Its weakness is that it is a flat sheet. In a wind it is hard to keep wrapped round you, and it is easy to end up with the blanket over you while you lie on the cold ground. It is far better than nothing, but on a hill a bag you climb into stays round you. One of the emergency bags here, the Emergency Sleeping Bag Survival Bivy Sack with Compass, is sold as both: its maker lists it as an emergency blanket, ground cover, rescue signal, poncho, rain tarp or sun shade as well as a bag.
Survival bags
A survival bag is big enough to climb into whole, in your clothes. Rescuers often mention the large orange plastic kind: Mike Margeson of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, writing a safety brief for the Met Office's mountain forecast pages, says he keeps one in the bottom of his rucksack. The emergency bags in this shop are the reflective kind, made of mylar or aluminium-coated PE film, which the makers say reflects up to 90% of your body heat:
- Emergency Sleeping Bag Survival Bivy Sack with Compass. Film: mylar, about 26 microns thick. Folded: 6 by 6 by 8cm. Weight: 110g. Comes with: a compass and a pouch with a strap for a rucksack.
- Emergency Sleeping Bag, Waterproof Mylar Thermal Survival Blanket. Film: PE with an aluminium coating. Size: 213 by 91cm in orange, 200 by 120cm in green or camouflage. Weight: 4.2 ounces, about 120g.
- Emergency Sleeping Bag Survival Blanket, Thermal Mylar Bivy Sack. Film: aluminised PE, which its maker calls thicker and more flexible than standard survival blankets. Colours: orange or green.
Check the length against yourself in your clothes and boots: a bag you cannot pull up to your chin sitting down leaves your shoulders in the wind.
Bivvy bags
A bivvy bag is a waterproof bag you sleep in, and the name covers two quite different things. One is the emergency bag above. The other is a bivvy cover, which goes over your own sleeping bag to keep it dry and clean when you sleep out on purpose. The Tyvek Bivy Bag here is the second kind. It is made of DuPont Tyvek, white, which its maker describes as waterproof and breathable, with a ventilated design to cut condensation. Type A is 180 by 145cm with no head cover and weighs 135g; Type B is 230 by 90cm with a head cover and weighs 200g; both pack to 16 by 8.5cm. It is a cover only, and the sleeping bag is not included. Both kinds are in survival bivvy bags. Anglers use the word for something else again, a fishing shelter, which the guide to fishing and ice-fishing tents explains.
Breathable or not
Reflective film does not let moisture through. The damp from your breath and skin collects on the inside, so after a few hours your clothes and the inside of the bag will be wet. For a few hours waiting for help that matters far less than staying out of the wind. Keep your face near the opening so your breath goes out of the bag, not into it. The Tyvek cover breathes, which is why it suits night after night over a sleeping bag you need to keep dry.
Which colour
Orange, if you might need to be found. Scottish Mountain Rescue suggests a bright-coloured waterproof jacket so that you can be seen in an emergency, and several makers here say their bright orange helps rescuers spot you in poor light. Green and camouflage blend in, and one maker offers camouflage on purpose. Keep those for woodland, not the hill.
Tube tents and emergency tents
A tube tent is the next size up: a long tube of reflective film, open at both ends, with a cord that runs through it to make a ridge. Tie the cord between two trees, or a tree and a fence post, and the tube hangs from it in an A shape. You sit or lie inside on the lower half of the tube, and your own weight and your rucksack hold the floor down.
The emergency tents in this shop are all two-person tube tents. Each is a tube of mylar or mylar-type film 59 by 98.4 inches, about 150 by 250cm, with a ridge rope, and the makers say the inside reflects up to 90% of body heat. Several are sold as reusable, with a coating their makers call tear and puncture resistant. One, the 2-Person Emergency Tent, Waterproof Thermal Survival Shelter, is made of 28 micron mylar, which its maker calls extra thick, with a bright orange outside and a thermal mylar lining. They come in orange, green or silver. See emergency shelters, and aluminium foil tents, which also has foil ground mats from 75 by 200cm to 200 by 200cm to put under you.
What a tube tent cannot do
- Close its ends. The ends are open, so a tube pitched side-on to the wind is a wind tunnel. Turn one end into the wind and block it with a rucksack.
- Stand on its own. It needs something to tie the ridge cord to. On a bare hillside with no tree, post or wall, you use it as a big bag and sit inside it.
- Keep the ground's cold off you. The floor is one layer of film. Sit on something.
Group shelters
Mountain rescuers also carry a group shelter, sometimes called a bothy bag: a large fabric shelter that several people pull over their heads and sit inside, holding it down with their weight. Scottish Mountain Rescue lists one as essential alongside a survival bag. This shop does not sell group shelters. The two-person tube tents are the nearest thing here, and for a group walking together a proper group shelter is worth buying from an outdoor shop.
Tarps as shelter
A tarp is a sheet of waterproof fabric with loops and eyelets round the edge, tied to trees or propped on poles to make a roof. For a planned night out, many walkers sleep under one with a bivvy cover beneath it, as the guide to backpacking and trekking tents and the guide to wild camping in the UK explain. As an emergency shelter a tarp asks more of you than a bag does: time, cord, something to tie to, and hands that still work. On an open hill in driving rain a bag is quicker; a tarp earns its weight in woodland or as a roof over a group waiting together.
Pitching one quickly
- For rain, run a ridge line between two trees and hang the tarp over it as an A-frame, so the water runs off both sides. Pull the lines tight so it cannot pool.
- For wind, pitch it low and drop one edge right to the ground on the side the wind comes from, with you sitting in the lee.
- Practise at home, not in a gale with cold fingers.
The tarps here
The lightest tarp in tarps and tarp shelters is a 15D nylon one of about 160g, and a 310g flysheet in 20D silicone-coated nylon pitches on two trekking poles. Their waterproof ratings run from 1,500mm on the 310g flysheet to 5,000mm on the 15D tarp. Most are sold as the sheet alone, and on several, poles, pegs and ropes are not included, so pack guy lines and a few pegs with it. Never light a fire or a stove under a tarp: even the flame-retardant one here is, in its maker's words, not fireproof.
Hammock tents need two strong trees and time to hang, so they are for a planned night in the woods, not an emergency.
What to carry on a hill day, and where it goes in the pack
This list comes from the rescue teams themselves, not from the shop. Most of it is not sold here, so it says what to pack, not what to buy.
What Mountain Rescue England and Wales says to take
- Suitable clothing and footwear, with spare clothing, a hat and gloves, even in summer.
- Plenty of food and water for the day.
- A map and compass. If you use a GPS, it should have the correct map and grid data.
- A torch and a head torch.
- A whistle.
- A first aid kit with any medication you need.
- A phone, charged before you set out. The team points out that many accidents happen late in the day, when phones and people are low on power.
What Scottish Mountain Rescue adds
Scottish Mountain Rescue calls a whistle, a head torch with spare batteries or, better, a spare torch, a survival bag, a group shelter, a first aid kit and a mobile phone essential. It suggests a Personal Locator Beacon if you walk alone, waterproof jacket and trousers, and a waterproof map and compass, because cold drains a phone's battery. One of its rescuers, writing about winter, packs a survival bag, a group shelter and a short length of roll mat together, with a spare warm jacket and a dry bag of spare hat, socks and gloves. His test for any winter trip is whether he has the kit to survive twenty-four hours on the hill if something goes wrong.
Where it goes in the pack
Rescuers differ on the detail. Mike Margeson keeps his survival bag in the bottom of his rucksack, out of the way until it is needed. The Scottish rescuer keeps his survival bag, group shelter and roll mat together, and puts the things he needs often or in a hurry in pockets he can reach quickly. Both know exactly where it is. So keep the bag in the same place every trip, keep the whistle and torch where you can reach them without unpacking, and keep spare clothes dry in a waterproof bag. The camping checklist has the full list for a night out.
Before you go
Mountain Rescue England and Wales asks you to plan the route for the time of year, and to leave your start and finish points, your expected time back and your contact details with someone reliable.
emergencySMS
emergencySMS lets you contact 999 by text. Relay UK, which runs it, says it is for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired. Mountain Rescue England and Wales recommends that walkers register too, and Scottish Mountain Rescue notes that it helps where the signal is weak. Texts are accepted only from phones that have registered, so do it before you need it:
- Text the word register to 999.
- Read the reply that comes back, and text yes.
- Wait for the text that says your phone is registered. If it does not come, check with your network that it supports emergencySMS.
- Register again if you change your number.
Relay UK says to use it only if you have no other option, because it takes longer than a voice call and a reply can take a couple of minutes. In an emergency, Mountain Rescue England and Wales says to put Police, what has happened and where you are in the text.
Using one: getting out of the wind and off the ground
If you have to stop, decide early, while everyone is still warm.
1. Call for help if anyone needs it
Mountain Rescue England and Wales says to dial 999 or 112 and ask for the Police, then for Mountain Rescue. In Scotland it is the same: 999, Police Scotland, then Mountain Rescue. Have these ready before you call:
- Where you are, with a grid reference if you can, or a named place.
- The name, gender and age of anyone hurt.
- What the injuries or the emergency are.
- How many people are in your party.
- Your mobile number.
Then stay where you are until the rescue team contacts you. If you need to call 999 again, go through the whole procedure again. If there is no signal, Mountain Rescue England and Wales gives the signal for help as six good long blasts on a whistle in a minute, then a minute's silence, repeated until someone reaches you. It says a torch can be used to signal too.
2. Get out of the wind
Look for the nearest shelter from the wind: behind a wall, a bank, a boulder or a block of trees. The NHS advice for someone who may have hypothermia starts the same way: move them indoors or to a sheltered spot as soon as possible.
3. Get off the ground
Cold ground draws heat out of you faster than the air does, so put something between you and it before anything else: your rucksack, a sit mat, a coiled rope, spare clothes or a foil mat. Sit on it rather than lying flat, so less of you touches the ground. See groundsheets and footprints for foil mats light enough to carry.
4. Put on everything, then get in
Put on every dry layer you have, and a hat and gloves, first: the bag only holds in warmth you already have. If clothes are soaked and you have dry ones, change. Then get into the survival bag or tube tent and pull it up to your chin, with your face near the opening. If there are two or more of you, sit close together.
5. Eat, drink and keep talking
The NHS says someone with hypothermia who is fully awake can have a warm drink, with no alcohol, and sugary food such as chocolate, and that you should keep them awake by talking to them and stay with them until help arrives.
The signs of hypothermia
The NHS lists these signs:
- Shivering.
- Pale, cold, dry skin, with skin or lips turning blue or grey. On dark skin this can be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet.
- Slurred speech.
- Slow breathing.
- Tiredness or confusion.
The NHS says to call 999 if you think someone has hypothermia. While you wait, take off wet clothing and wrap them in a blanket, sleeping bag or dry towel, covering the head. Do not use a hot water bottle, a hot bath or a heat lamp, do not rub their arms, legs, hands or feet, and do not give them alcohol.
Afterwards
Several makers sell theirs as reusable: check it for holes, dry it and refold it, and replace it if in doubt.
Questions people ask
Is a foil blanket enough on its own?
It slows heat loss, but only from the warmth you already have. Put on dry layers first, get off the ground, and use the blanket or bag over them. On a hill, a bag you climb into works better than a flat blanket.
Should I carry a survival bag or a tube tent?
Walking alone, a bag: it is smaller and goes round you in a minute. Walking as a pair, a two-person tube tent covers you both where there is something to tie it to. Scottish Mountain Rescue counts a survival bag as essential either way.
Can I sleep out in an emergency bag on purpose?
Not comfortably. It has no padding and gets wet inside. For a planned night, use a proper sleeping bag inside a breathable bivvy cover, or a small tent, and read the wild camping guide first.
I can hear and speak. Should I register for emergencySMS?
Mountain Rescue England and Wales recommends that walkers register. Relay UK built it for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired, and says to use it only when you have no other option, so call 999 whenever a call will connect.
Where to go next
- To carry in case: emergency shelters, survival bivvy bags and aluminium foil tents.
- For a roof you pitch: tarps and tarp shelters, hammock tents and guy lines.
- For a night you plan: 1-man tents, hiking tents and backpacking and trekking tents.
- Read on: backpacking and trekking tents, wild camping in the UK and winter camping and hot tents.
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