Monday Kit Tip - Group Shelters

This week's Monday kit tip is ideal for anyone who feels the cold when stopped for, say, lunch in classic winter conditions and ups your overall safety levels as well.


What is it? Simple, a group survival shelter also known as a bothy or blokka bag. Produced by a number of brands, group shelters are simple, waterproof and windproof bags that are large enough to cover a number of people.

Usually you take them out and use your packs both to sit on and to anchor the base of the shelter and stop it blowing away. The pack also insulates you from the ground. The big pluses of using a group shelter rather than individual survival bags are that you share body warmth and the interior of the bag heats up quickly as a result making it warm and comfy.

The other huge advantage is that sitting with your mates is a real morale booster if things to go wrong. You can chat, fight over emergency chocolate and so on.

Finally, group shelters are for more than just emergencies. They make fantastic temporary venues for group lunch stops in winter conditions when shared warmth and chat and food make for a comfortable haven even in quite brutal winter conditions.