How do you gather fire wood in deep snow.

[Jefferson]

The other day I planned to go out for a nice walk and to spend 2 nights in the snowy North Yorkshire Moors.
This 2 nighter turned into 1. This was because, i recieve a phone call from my grandad telling me the road I had parked my car on had been closed, this was due to the snow and I didn't fancy getting stuck.

On the one night I did spend out, I found it very difficult to find some decent dead, dry wood in the 1.5ft of snow.. I did manage it but I spent most of my day wandering trying to find wood rather than sitting back and listening to the wildlife.

So i thought that i would ask the question on here, as i am very aware that a lot of people have been and managed in much worse conditions...

Has anyone got any tips for me on how they gather fire wood in the snow?

Cheers, Dave

[FishyFolk]

I find myself something that is dead standing, chop it down and hope there is some dry wood in in it. But more often than not it's completely rotten and soaked trough. Else I go and rob one of the spruce plantations that is messing up the landscape here. The lower branches are often dead and dry, no matter what the weather is. So I chop off some of that.

[jus_young]

Look for standing dead wood i.e. trees that have died, showing signs of decay, but still standing upright. You could also look for broken branches that have been caught within the tree. These are generally drier than ones found on the ground due to the air circulation. Even dead branches that have not yet fallen but within reach could be considered fair game.


Rune got there as I was typing - great minds think alike :D

[OakAshandThorn]

I second Rune. Conifers are your best bet for dry wood, especially the spruces. Pine knots are also brilliant ;).

[SimonB]

Failing that, if there is only wood lying on the floor, chop it to get to the inner wood, which should be dry.

There are a few youtube vids about starting fires with wet wood... Well worth a watch.

[Jefferson]

Brilliant guys just what I wanted to hear! The problem I was having was finding the bigger stuff and this would have worked a treat! To be honest I don't know why I never thought of it. I'm going to go give it a try asap and get my self a nice strong fire on the go!
Cheers, Dave

[sam_acw]

Very easily. Most fallen trees don't fall flat on the ground but form a triangle. Either branches or the base of the trunk should be above the snow line. The bark ought to have kept the wood dry enough, especially birch.
A lot depends on the weather the snow's in. We've had about 3 weeks of constant snow so it's a foot deep where it's been left alone, deeper in drifts. However, the colder it is the easier dealing with the wood is. Once it's below -10 things start drying out a bit which helps.

[OakAshandThorn]

Very easily. Most fallen trees don't fall flat on the ground but form a triangle. Either branches or the base of the trunk should be above the snow line. The bark ought to have kept the wood dry enough, especially birch.
A lot depends on the weather the snow's in. We've had about 3 weeks of constant snow so it's a foot deep where it's been left alone, deeper in drifts. However, the colder it is the easier dealing with the wood is. Once it's below -10 things start drying out a bit which helps.
Strange...I've found that many dead-standing birches have very damp wood inside, especially in winter. The wood also seems to decay rapidly. Maybe it depends on the variety of birch and the thickness of the bark? :confused2:
I've noticed it mostly with Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), which grows all over the hillsides here. Lovely tree, though - it has a wonderful wintergreen fragrance in the inner bark and twigs :).

[sam_acw]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant fallen birches, especially those that fall in the wind. They seem to retain the integrity of the wood for quite a while as the only one's I strip for bark are in this state. I would agree with you that the dead standing ones decay quickly - they tend to break to stumps very fast. It also may be the case that the woods here contain a lot of birch in their margins so there's always a lot of fairly recently fallen birch.
I don't know which birch species is the most common here.

[OakAshandThorn]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant fallen birches, especially those that fall in the wind. They seem to retain the integrity of the wood for quite a while as the only one's I strip for bark are in this state. I would agree with you that the dead standing ones decay quickly - they tend to break to stumps very fast. It also may be the case that the woods here contain a lot of birch in their margins so there's always a lot of fairly recently fallen birch.
I don't know which birch species is the most common here.
Ah, OK :).
At least where I live in Connecticut, there are lots and lots of birch, but only occasionally will you find one fallen. You will, however, will find a ton of twigs and small branches from the trees scattered all over the place.
If I remember correctly, you probably have Silver (what we call "European White Birch" in the US) and Downy Birch in your neck of the woods ;).

[Colliewobble]

A lot depends on location though; up in the dales, and I would think the North York Moors, there aren't that many trees about on the tops! It could well be a case of collecting bits of whatever you see during the day and hopefully by the time you need a fire, you'll at least have enough to make a cuppa...

[FishyFolk]

Strange...I've found that many dead-standing birches have very damp wood inside, especially in winter. The wood also seems to decay rapidly. Maybe it depends on the variety of birch and the thickness of the bark? :confused2:
I've noticed it mostly with Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), which grows all over the hillsides here. Lovely tree, though - it has a wonderful wintergreen fragrance in the inner bark and twigs :).

I have the same experience. Most of trhe time birch is prettry much useless here, unless you come across a fallen one that the moose has stripped of bark, then the parts that stay above ground tend to dry out instead of rot.

Finding dry wood to burn in the birch forrest here is quite a nightmare. It's easy to make fire, but to keep it burning is a different story.

People actuall tend to haul with them a few logs of properly logged and dried birch wood into the forrest when they make fire. Specially if the kids are coming with. The little ones will be expecting to barbecue hot togs, and if dad cant get the fire going because all the wood in the forrrest is rotten and soaked, that simply won't do!

Anyway, with us when we go as a family, each one of us carry one log in the back pack. Enough to get a good fire going, and hopefully we can get some branches dry enough to burn when that is gone