How Mountain Men sleep and live in their winter camps on the most freezing nights

Five months. Twenty, thirty, even forty degrees below zero. No cabin, no supply line, no backup plan. This is how the mountain men of the Rocky Mountains actually survived winter, and the real answer has less to do with toughness than you'd think. In this video from Cabin 8, we follow the trappers who answered a St. Louis newspaper ad in 1823 and went up the Missouri River, then stayed alive through some of the harshest winters on the continent. Sources and people mentioned: Osborne Russell, Joe Meek, Jim Bridger, Robert Newell, the Shoshone, Flathead, and Nez Perce. If stories from the American frontier are your thing, hit subscribe. New ones land here every week. And tell me in the comments: could you have made it to spring? 00:00 Intro 01:05 The Rockies And The Rise Of The Beaver Trade 02:41 Choosing The Perfect Winter Camp 04:24 Wintering With Native Allies 05:30 Skin Lodges And Makeshift Shelters 09:06 Buffalo Robes And Sleeping In Sub-Zero Cold 11:06 Wolverine Fur And Other Cold-Weather Tricks 11:56 Busy Idleness In Winter Camp 14:04 Pemmican, Boudins, And Lean Winter Food 16:00 Jim Bridger's Winter Mistake 17:26 Fire Steel And The Rocky Mountain College 20:47 The End Of The Fur Trade 22:14 Outro