Let's be real here, in Valheim you can die in any biome at any moment due to raid events, fall damage, drowning and enemies. Progressing while trying to avoid that is literally the goal of the game. If you didn't die in a very unlucky situation were you were fighting a wolf raid, 2 golems, somehow goblins and a troll in a blizzard, when should you die?

Not at all?

If you had a second portal down you could have just retrieved your gear while wearing your previous gear and it would have been a normal, inconvenient death.

Since you don't have another portal, it becomes much more annoying. And I have been there, the first time I entered the swamps I died 3 times and had to build 2 additional ships just to retrieve my gear and to finally be able to put a portal down.

This game is kinda supposed to be difficult sometimes and it's not always possible to avoid deaths.