                               
                               SNOW CAMOUFLAGE
                               By Ken Kanowsky  
                    (American Survival Guide, January 1997)


Camouflage; to disguise; to conceal 
            under false semblance; 
            also to create a false 
            apperance of.


If you are like me, you probably have at least one set of "cammies"
hanging in your closet or crammed into your bugout kit.  More than
likely they are factory dyed with a variety of greens, browns, 
blacks and grays, which is good, as most foliage and terrains are 
composed of these colors.  There is one terrain for which they are
totally unsuited however.

Whether your "boonie suit" is GI Woodland, Tigerstripe, ASAT, or
Desert Storm, depending on them to conceal you in a snowy winter
landscape could have tragic consequences.  Simply put, most 
camouflage clothing reveals rather than conceals when it comes 
to snow! I saw a dramatic example of this last season, when a
heavily camouflaged bowhunter carefully stalked past me. This
fellow knew his stuff, he moved slow, low and silent, sticking
to the shadows, using terrain and vegetation for cover.  He
should have been as invisible as a ghost in his fall foliage
camo and face paint, but he stuck out like a sore thumb, and
I had seen him from 150 yards away!  Why?  Eight inches of 
snow had whitened the landscape, knocking the last leaves to 
the ground and creating a white backdrop, the camo and tactics 
that worked so well before snow fell were completely defeated.
I too was improperly dressed for my snowy surroundings and I 
determined to research the subject of snow camo and find out
what did and didn't work.

In Human and animal vision the eye and brain work together to 
interpret the visible environment.  The eye records the scene 
and the brain sorts out the information recieved. One of the 
major tasks is the identification and separation of individual
objects in a given scene.  This separation is done in many
ways using different portions of the brain.  Factors such
as Outline, shape, texture, reflectance, relative size,
movement, contrast and color are the basic factors in this
procedure. In other words, the more you clash with your 
background, the easier you are to spot!  This was the bowhunter's
problem, while in a brush pile that matched his camo he was
invisible, but once "backlit" by a little snow he instantly
clashed and was identified.

Fortunately, for those of us who wish to remain unseen, snow 
is also one of the best environments to "get lost" in. Snow
has several qualities that make it easy to blend with; it
has a fairly uniform texture, color and brightness. Snow
also alters the terrain and vegetation reducing contrasting 
shapes to a more uniform series of rounded humps.  This raises 
a question though.  What does one wear in an area with partial 
snow cover?  Partial white?  The U.S. Army thought so when I 
was in the service, but I wasn't convinced.  I wanted a camo 
system that would work up close and personal.

I enlisted my friend, Chuck, to model a variety of camouflage 
clothing set against the winter backdrop of a local pine forest.

The snow had long fallen from the tree limbs and the underbrush,
creating ideal conditions to test the "partial white" theory.
Since pine forests feature lighter shades of green and brown
than your average fir forest, I thought one of the marsh cattail
patterns used by waterfowl hunters would blend with the tree 
trunks and underbrush.  This proved not to be the case, the
shade of the camo colors were lighter than the vegetation and 
darker than the snow, the worst possible combination!  Even 
with Chuck hunkered down, the pattern proved to be the least 
effective we tested.

Chuck next donned and old USMC camo fatigue blouse and white
pants, this was a successful color match with the vegetation,
but the tree branches were many feet above his head.  If
as little as 10 percent of Chuck's upper torso was visible,
it was outlined by the snow, I had no trouble spotting him,
but I noted that the lower portion of his body (dressed in 
snow camo) was invisible.

Shelving the "partial white" phase we moved on to the final 
portion of our experiment.  Fully suited up in former West 
German snow camo and wearing a field expedient face veil,
Chuck melted into the background.  At distances of 15 feet, 
parts of Chuck seemed to disappear.  At a distance of 150
feet, with Chuck standing in an exposed area, I repeatedly
lost his position, when Chuck hunkered down he became just
another snow drift in the forest.

WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE--- There are several principles at work
that explain why snow camo is so effective.  One principle 
tells how a subject which reflects an equal amount of light 
as it's background "disappears" to the viewer's eye.  Another
relates that, when a field of snow is illuminated from above,
the light is reflected back by every snow crystal in 
mulitple direstions effectively eliminating shadows which
define the terrain and give the viewer a sense of scale and
depth.  A third principle observes that when a viewer sees 
two unrelated objects, that share characteristics (such as
texture, color and brightness), in very near proximity of
each other, the viewer's mind assumes that the two objects
are a single larger object.  I believe this is what Chuck
just melted away, even when partially outlined against dark
brush, my mind just dismissed Chuck as part of the snow.

In practical terms this means that bright sun offers excellent
concealment as well as cloudy days.  The only way to betray
your location is to silhouette yourself or to maneuver
when the sun is low on the horizon, in which case the shadows 
cast by you and your tracks are easily spotted.  If you 
must move, do so when the sun is low on the horizon, keep 
the sun at your back, losing yourself in the sun's glare.

The advantages that such a level of concealment offers
are obvious to the readers of ASG, but to make snow camo 
really work it is important to camo your hands, head and
face.  Rifles web gear and packs need white camo as well.
In our test, the face veil and rifle sock was made of an 
old piece of muslin, but a wool or polar fleece face mask would
have provided better protection from the cold.  Paint, tape
or a white zipped cover would have been and improvement on 
the rifle.

Snow suits can be made at home from white sheets or coveralls,
those of you who wish to make their own should make their 
suits several sizes larger than their normal clothes to 
accommodate the layered cold weather clothing worn underneath,
be sure to include white hoods.  Commercially made snow
camo is also available, or you can go with surplus items like
mine.

My West German suit was new surplus, it features excellent
materials, design and construction while selling at very 
reasonable cost.  Though only a cotton shell, I prefer these
surplus suits as they are designed to keep snow out even while
crawling on your belly, a feature most other suits lack!

I believe that the results of my experiment can be applied to 
most snow conditions, whether deep in a hemlock forest or in 
patchy snow on the great plains you are better off with full
snow camo.

One final thought:  Playing in the snow on a bright sunny day 
is not the same as spending days and nights in a bitter cold
environment.  You need winter survival skills , high quality 
boots and excellent protective clothing.
