16 ms·

The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

437 points by BlackJack 14y ago

actalavistababy 14y ago
I stopped reading once I saw "Fahrenheits". Fahrenheit and imperial system is what Microsoft is to software: non-compliance with internationally agreed standards.
- recursive 14y ago
  Your loss.
bjhoops1 14y ago
Great use of the first person - this made me physically uncomfortable. Much more so than third would have.
- aheilbut 14y ago
  It's actually using the second person.
  - bjhoops1 14y ago
    Haha doh. That would be what I meant.
    - jstclair 14y ago
      No, that's what you meant.
- samspot 14y ago
  I also found this to be one of the most intense things I've ever read.
lectrick 14y ago
Read this a while back but this passage: "In 1980, 16 shipwrecked Danish fishermen were hauled to safety after an hour and a half in the frigid North Sea. They then walked across the deck of the rescue ship, stepped below for a hot drink, and dropped dead, all 16 of them." Damn!
- dalke 14y ago
  As far as I can tell, this is an urban legend. That is, several people have looked for an account of this in the Danish papers, and found nothing. Here's one such person's report: http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15jz7b/til_in_1980_16_stranded_and_frozen_danish/c7ngjc4 http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15jz7b/til_in... The closest match was to "Other classic examples of post-immersion collapse include the survivors of the SS Empire Howard (Lee, 1971). The Captain of the ship, Capt Downey, reported: "everyone was conscious when taken out of the water but many lost consciousness when taken into the warmth of the trawler. Nine (out of 12) died shortly after being rescued", where "The SS Empire Howard was sunk by a U-boat on 16, April, 1942.
dmor 14y ago
This topic makes me think of the Jack London story "To Build a Fire", which is one of my favorites. http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html Also timely, one of our power users at Referly just made a preparedness kit list for winter driving. I probably should have had some of this when driving alone in the Sierra Nevadas last month. http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae0507511e2b5ab22000a1db8fa http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae050...
- tomrod 14y ago
  My thoughts exactly
- username3 14y ago
  This topic makes me think of 2012 American adventure drama film co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, and Dermot Mulroney "The Grey", which is based on the short story Ghost Walker by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Carnahan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film)
danso 14y ago
FYI this is from Jan. 1997. I remember reading it in one of those "Best Sports/Nature/Science Writing" anthologies back in school...a great piece, obviously if I still recall it 15 years later
pixie_ 14y ago
What's amazing to me is Eskimos lived without fire.
- dalke 14y ago
  Where did you get that information? The Inuit traditionally use a qulliq/kudlik (a lamp fueled by seal oil) for light, heat, etc. and everything I can find now says that it's not something introduced in the last couple of hundred years. For example, http://books.google.se/books?id=G49CwQpozoUC&pg=PA29&dq=qulliq&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BNPdUN75HqaM4AT_loDYCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=qulliq&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=G49CwQpozoUC&pg=PA29&#38... says that Inuit were curious why people were hunting whales for oil for light, when they knew that seal oil was better for the qulliq. Ahh, even better. The Dorset culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture - 500 BCE–1500 CE) used soapstone lamps very much like the the qulliq for heat.
  - pixie_ 14y ago
    Can you find anything that says fire was a necessity for survival for paleo-eskimo cultures because I remember reading it wasn't, but I'm having trouble googling a source for or against it.
    - dalke 14y ago
      I don't know about "necessity". Only that it was part of the Dorset culture for 2,000 years, and used by even earlier Arctic cultures. A search for "dorset soapstone lamps" finds plenty of examples that lamps were used, and even pictures of the archeological finds of such lamps. http://books.google.se/books?id=kGWuMa6sRYsC&pg=PA372&lpg=PA372&dq=dorset+soapstone+lamps&source=bl&ots=ZImDaKdXpQ&sig=Ap2s3Uz_Sp9vE8HAA9uMDEzaXF4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TDXeUNCtJ8eI4ATuhoAI&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=dorset%20soapstone%20lamps&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=kGWuMa6sRYsC&pg=PA372&#3... says "Winter light and heat were supplied by soapstone lamps ... The previous Dorset inhabitants of Arctic Canada had used soapstone lamps for some 2,000 years. ... Soapstone cooking pots ... " http://books.google.se/books?id=iBCc5bQlP1wC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=dorset+soapstone+lamps&source=bl&ots=z_GbeAHokB&sig=rtWdCJjalkEz4VyrjmLsdclPh3U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aTbeUNLhNuWn4gTR4oGIAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=dorset%20soapstone%20lamps&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=iBCc5bQlP1wC&pg=PA179&#3... has "The most conspicuous difference between Saqqaq and Dorset sites lies in the occurrence of fire-cracked rocks. These are common in Saqqaq sites ... During the Dorset culture, the heating of winter dwellings relied on the use of soapstone lamps." (Note that "Saqqaq culture existed from around 2500 BCE until about 800 BCE", so is before Dorset, pushing back the use of fire even further.) Or for a regular HTML link, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/dorset-culture http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/dorset-cultu... says "Dorset culture, 500 BC-1500 AD, is known archaeologically from most coastal regions of arctic Canada. The Dorset people were descended from Palaeoeskimos of the PRE-DORSET CULTURE. Compared to their ancestors, the Dorset people had a more successful economy and lived in more permanent houses built of snow and turf and heated with soapstone oil lamps."
jbellis 14y ago
Found an update on the toddler who froze in 1994: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/kosolofski-anniversary.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/...
jstanley 14y ago
This is an excellent read indeed.
bane 14y ago
Just to tie this back to the tech industry and why relying on GPS only can be dangerous http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim
- jbellis 14y ago
  Did you read what you linked? "Because of Mr. Kim's background as a technology analyst, observers speculated that the family had used online mapping to find their route. However, Mrs. Kim told state police that they had used a paper road map, an account supported by the Oregon State Police, which reported that the Kims had used an official State of Oregon highway map."
  - yock 14y ago
    It's still relevant to the posted article, though perhaps not exactly for the reasons stated.
  - bane 14y ago
    No I didn't, I the original search for him and his family and the immediate aftermath that there was a great deal of discussion about them getting lost due to following a bad GPS route.
    - pm90 14y ago
      I don't think they used GPS though. But here is another story where the GPS was misleading (Disclaimer: It was pointed out to me by another hn reader, although I don't know exactly who): http://www.usaprepares.com/survival/husband-died-just-six-miles-from-help-after-he-and-wife-got-lost-in-wild-because-of-gps-he-died-trying-to-raise-alarm-but-she-survived-for-seven-weeks-by-staying-put http://www.usaprepares.com/survival/husband-died-just-six-mi...
      - bane 14y ago
        I might be mixed up on it. Gosh it's hard to imagine that was six years ago.
freehunter 14y ago
Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, sometimes right beneath your tires. What was wet a second ago is now frozen, and you can't see the difference. The snow starts to pile up, and a gust of wind pushes you right off the road and into an irrigation ditch. The best 4x4 in the world won't get you out now. And good luck using your cell phone: the areas where this is most likely to happen often have no cell service, or the cell service is only for Verizon phones (too bad you have AT&T, and the FCC forced them to sell off their overlapping network in that area). Four wheel drive won't help. Locking differentials won't help. All wheel drive won't help. All of these require even faintest bit of traction, and you don't have it. People think I'm weird for having a CB radio in my truck, but last winter during an ice storm I went off the road. Literally all of the county's emergency crews were busy taking care of other ditch parties. I called out on my CB for the local off-roading enthusiasts, and 15 minutes later a snowmobile arrived with a winch. I paid $30 to the man for his help (though he insisted he didn't need payment), and I was back on the road. The CB cost me $250; how much would a tow truck have cost? This article should be read by everyone who has to travel in winter conditions. Seems like every winter I hear the obituary on the news of people who go off the road and try to hoof it somewhere miles away in a normal winter jacket, jeans, and boots. I keep a snowmobile suit in my truck during the winter. One thing I would have added is something along the lines of "and you knew you couldn't stay in your car with the heat running waiting for help, you'd die from the exhaust fumes". I think that's more common than freezing to death.
- astral303 14y ago
  The conditions you describe are tough. Going off the road in an ice storm sucks. Love your CB and snow suit suggestions. The following is not commentary on your situation, but tips to reduce chance of getting stuck: 1. I strongly recommend running a set of good snow tires, no matter whether you have an AWD Subaru or a 4x4 truck or a FWD Corolla. Yes, truck snow tires exist. The reason is that the rubber compound is much much softer on these tires, and it stays soft when the temperatures drop. All-season tires are much harder in cold temperatures. The tread is also cut into much smaller blocks (known as siping), the edges of which help bite into the ice. While ice is slippery no matter what, the difference in the grip level between a typical all season tire and a good snow tire is very significant. We are talking 3x the stopping distance. I've seen it on glare ice. Now, if you really want to be protected, you must buy good studded snow tires. A set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7's will make ice seem almost like wet pavement. The amount of ice grip you have with those is unbelievable. The downside is the increased tire noise. 2. Practice controlling skids on ice or snow: practice countersteer, practice NOT hitting the brakes, practice using throttle. If you can practice this to make it second nature, or at least not foreign, this can make the difference between you spinning and not. Get out to a snowy parking lot, start turning, let off throttle, then yank the e-brake (and put it down right away). You should start experiencing a spin at this point. No matter what, train yourself to immediately countersteer, such that your front wheels are pointed to where you want the car to go and not where the car is facing. Now, while countersteering every time, compare the following 3 situations after starting the spin: A. Counterseteer & do nothing with brake or gas. Simply get your feet off the pedals. B. Countersteer & hit the brakes. C. Countersteer & apply gas. You must actually experience each of these to believe it, but you will learn that it is "C", applying gas, which will get you back in line the soonest. You will notice that as soon as you give it gas, the spin will stop or slow down significantly. You will notice that if you hit the brakes, you spin much further than if you were to simply let go off all the controls. This is counter-intuitive, but basically if you start spinning on ice on a straight road and you have a FWD/AWD car, applying some throttle will often stop your spin, whereas hitting the brakes almost guarantees a spin. It's worth practicing, if you can. The reason has to do with weight transfer. Your car's traction at each end is determined by the amount of weight. When you accelerate, you decrease traction up front and you increase traction in the rear. Lifting off throttle increases front end traction and decreases rear end traction, a little. Hitting the brakes massively decreases rear end traction and massively increases front end bite.
bkanber 14y ago
This was terrifying, I think because of its sheer realism. Nobody expects they're going to die when they decide to get out of their car and trek to the cabin in the dead of night. But it sneaks up on you through a series of small mis-steps and you could pay with your life for those little mistakes. Should've stayed with the car. Should've called for help. Once he got out, he should've stayed on the road instead of cutting through the woods. Should've ditched the skis once they broke. Should've exerted himself less. Lots of little should-haves like those are what can kill someone who's not prepared for and experienced with harsh conditions.
debacle 14y ago
Being cold and being deathly cold are two different things. I've only gotten mild frostbite once, but I'd never want to have it again. The skin blackens and peels, and itches like nothing I've ever experienced before.
- ghaff 14y ago
  Frostbite and hypothermia are two different things and often happen under different conditions. As noted, you can get hypothermia in (relatively) mild temperatures if you're wet, tired, dehydrated, etc. Frostbite tends to be the result of colder temperatures often in conjunction with wind. But, yes, both are bad. I've also had fairly mild frostbite of the ear lobes (a pretty common place) and it's not fun. The thing to be aware of though is that it doesn't have to be especially cold to get hypothermic. In cold weather hiking, some of the conditions you need to be most careful in are 35 degree or so rain.
  - debacle 14y ago
    I've been lucky enough to never experience real hypothermia first hand.
- TheCapn 14y ago
  Mild frostbite != blackened skin. I'm curious of what situation you got yourself into because that sounded fairly serious.
  - debacle 14y ago
    My pants got stolen while I was attending life guard classes. I had to walk home in ~30 degree weather in the snow in wet swim trunks. I sometimes make bad decisions.
danso 14y ago
This bit about how certain groups of people have somehow developed different responses to cold is fascinating: Were you a Norwegian fisherman or Inuit hunter, both of whom frequently work gloveless in the cold, your chilled hands would open their surface capillaries periodically to allow surges of warm blood to pass into them and maintain their flexibility. This phenomenon, known as the hunter's response, can elevate a 35-degree skin temperature to 50 degrees within seven or eight minutes. Other human adaptations to the cold are more mysterious. Tibetan Buddhist monks can raise the skin temperature of their hands and feet by 15 degrees through meditation. Australian aborigines, who once slept on the ground, unclothed, on near-freezing nights, would slip into a light hypothermic state, suppressing shivering until the rising sun rewarmed them. You have no such defenses, having spent your days at a keyboard in a climate-controlled office. Only after about ten minutes of hard climbing, as your body temperature rises, does blood start seeping back into your fingers. Sweat trickles down your sternum and spine.
- freehunter 14y ago
  You can notice this effect in your life as well. I don't know where you live, but I know here in the north, 40F is "freezing" cold in November for many people. And when March rolls around, 40F is cause for breaking out the t-shirts. Your body will adapt to the cold to a certain degree. I think I saw it explained on a reddit "ask science" post some time ago, but I cannot remember the physiological details of these temporary adaptations to climate patterns.
  - waterlesscloud 14y ago
    I wonder if it's physical or at least partially psychological. I live in Los Angeles and my brother lives in Flagstaff. Every year at the holidays, I go spend a week with him and his family. In Flagstaff there can be entire days below freezing and the nights can easily reach single digits F. When I'm there and it's 25 F, I'm fine. Toodle along like normal. Come back to LA and it's 50 and I shiver. Same outfits even. It's the strangest thing. Maybe altitude? FLG is 7000 ft and LAX is more or less sea level. I dunno.
arrrg 14y ago
Somehow this reminded me of this excellent story: http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html
afandian 14y ago
I spent the whole article translating those temperatures into Centigrade. Kind of broke the flow.
- jablan 14y ago
  Seriously, has anybody created a decent userscript or browser extension to fight this problem yet? I had no luck searching for one.
  - TheCapn 14y ago
    If you're quick at math here's a fairly accurate way: F->C: Subtract 30, divide by 2. C->F: Double it & Add 30. Often known as the "Bob & Doug McKenzie method" from around here it makes for fast conversions since the actual conversion (°F - 32) * 5 / 9 = °C is close enough when dealing in the normal temperature range of weather.
    - hfsktr 14y ago
      That's really interesting and something I will have to remember. My friend is from the UK so when we talk about temps (they don't get the winter we get in my area of the US) I try to convert it. I've been counting along increments of 1.5 in whichever direction from 0 C or 32 F. I probably made it a .5 for mental calculating. Just out of curiosity I tried yours and it even works with minus temperatures, although a bit confusing at first. Yours are exactly the reason I read the comments on posts. edit: to make it a bit clearer
- corin_ 14y ago
  Edit, ignore the following: Worst was where they switched without even mentioning it. One paragraph they're still using F and said "The lowest recorded core temperature in a surviving adult is 60.8 degrees.", then the very next paragraph, with no talk of changing units, they talked about people dying "though temperatures never fell below freezing and ranged as high as 45". Just because the second story happened in England..?
  - 14y ago
shaydoc 14y ago
That was a fantastic read. Incredible journey to hypothermia and back. The description of the feeling of burning is unreal! What is even better is the incredible knowledge of how to revive a patient from this state. I belief these techniques are used in heart bypass operations ?
- sanotehu 14y ago
  Yes, they are indeed. As a medical student I had the privilege of seeing a heart valve being installed. They are a witness to how far medicine has progressed since the days of barber surgeons. The blood is taken out of your body through the femoral vein (under the skin between your hip and your nether regions), taken through the perfusion machine and pumped back into the femoral artery. Because at this stage the heart will have been stopped, the high pressure in the femoral artery makes blood flow backwards up the aorta, where it supplies oxygenated blood from the machine to the whole body. At one stage the flow has to be switched off in order to sew the metal valve onto the top of the aorta. In preparation for this, the blood leaving the perfusion machine is chilled (I'm not sure to what temperature). This slows the body's metabolism down and would cause hypothermic stupor if the patient had not already been under anaesthetic. I was told by the perfusionist that this gave the surgeons around an hour of extra operating time before the brain's oxygen content dropped to dangerous levels. All this is of course monitored by the anaesthetist and the perfusionist. The hypothermia will be reversed during the process of reviving the patient. With the advent of endovascular procedures, this sort of surgery is becoming a rarity. It's much easier to pass a small tube up the aorta and inflate the narrowed artery from the inside than it is to open up the chest and sew a new blood vessel onto the heart. Of course, the medicine's more boring but it's all about getting a good outcome for the patient, isn't it?
  - gonzo 14y ago
    As a medical student you'll appreciate that I have a 3-4" stint replacing a section of my aorta, starting about 1mm away from the aortic root. This to repair an ascending aortic dissection that terminates in my left iliac. I walked out of the hospital, but the recovery was a PITA. My core temp got down to 18C (65-66F) for over an hour. (According to the surgical notes I was on the heart lung machine for over 4 hours, and without perfusion for 45 minutes.)
billyjobob 14y ago
How old is this article? It seems to use the old Fahrenheit temperature scale. I'm sure my grandfather would understand those temperatures but for myself I had to convert each one into modern units. Eventually I couldn't be bothered and stopped reading.
- recursive 14y ago
  New Fahrenheit is the same as old Fahrenheit. In other words, it never changed.
  - lectrick 14y ago
    Unless you are joking, I think he was characterizing Fahrenheit itself as old, not saying there was a separate, "old Fahrenheit" scale.
  - bitwize 14y ago
    Fahrenheit is old. Celsius is modern. The real avant-garde give all temperatures in kelvins...
    - walrus 14y ago
      Quit living in the past. We use Planck temperature now.
- lectrick 14y ago
  Frankly I'd rather use a system where 0 degrees is "fucking cold" and 100 degrees is "fucking hot", but neither fatally so, with 100 different steps in between.
  - mpyne 14y ago
    Meh, I've stopped trying to ever argue stuff like this. There is simply a large class of people who will never believe in l10n if it involves en_US, only if it's any other country or region in the world.
- 14y ago
tomrod 14y ago
A tip: http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-traction-in-the-snow http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-tracti... Always know your resources available!
- gav 14y ago
  I used to carry kitty litter in the trunk of my car when I lived in Vermont. Throwing a couple of handfuls under your tires would give enough traction to get going on ice.
- TheCapn 14y ago
  Although that is sound advice in the event you're caught in a small rift of snow, it will mean nothing when hitting a ditch that sinks your car to the frame in snow which is often the case in situations that the story illustrates.
- 314l5926 14y ago
  Have somebody used it, ever? I did, once. Tyres just throws mats under the car, without much movement. If there's no friction between tyres and ice, there would be not friction between mats and ice, either. However, it could help on the snow or sand.
Sam_Odio 14y ago
I carry a PLB at all times in my vehicle [1]. In the US this device will summon rescue via satellite. I recommend it for anyone who spends time in remote areas. If you value your life at $1MM and there's a 1 in 3500 chance [2] that summoning emergency services in a remote area will save your life then this is a helpful risk-mitigating tool [3]. 1. http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Locator/dp/B0064UE5AG http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Loca... 2. $280 / $1MM ~ 1/3500. 3. A useful metric might be 911 calls, of which there are 240 million in 2008[4], for the US population of 305 million. If you assume 5% of the calls are life-or-death, that your daily odds of needing to call in remote areas are the same as the country mean, that you spend 5 days a year in remote areas, and a 5-year useful life for the device, then there is a 0.2% chance the device will save your life. 240/310 * .05 * 5/365 * 5 ~ 0.002 4. http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html
- dkarl 14y ago
  I carry one of those when I go backpacking. The satellite transmission they send to summon rescue includes your GPS position, and they also serve as short-range beacons to help rescuers zero in on you when they get close. That can be crucial if the PLB can't get a GPS lock, because rescuers might only know that you're located somewhere along miles of road or trail. If you're unconscious and out of site a few yards from the trail, the beacon might be the only way for them to find you fast enough to help.
- jzwinck 14y ago
  Your statistics are seriously flawed. For example, your math in point 2 assumes you will certainly find yourself in a life threatening situation while carrying the device. And your point 3 probably vastly overestimates the fraction of life-or-death calls.
  - Sam_Odio 14y ago
    Your statistics are seriously flawed. Actually, I think you a) misunderstood the claim in point 2, and b) take issue with the assumptions - not the math/statistics - in point 3. your math in point 2 assumes you will certainly find yourself in a life threatening situation while carrying the device. In point 2 the likelihood of a life threatening situation was not assumed or calculated (that's point 3). The conclusion, restated: If there's a 1/3500 chance you'll be able to effectively use the device to save your life, you're breaking even while mitigating risk. And your point 3 probably vastly overestimates the fraction of life-or-death calls. You've stated that I've made assumptions and you're right - which is why they're labeled as such. Feel free to suggest yours.
mberning 14y ago
I read this years ago and it really stuck with me. Now when I venture out into inclement weather I always load up the car with blankets, water, food, ratchet straps, and other emergency supplies.
andyl 14y ago
I teach search and rescue people how to travel on skis or snowshoes and live in winter mountains. If you are prepared, you can stay out in sub-zero for days and days very comfortably. A key skill is constant regulation of your body temperature. You never want to become too hot/sweaty or too cold. If too cold - get into shelter, drink something hot, eat carbs, add clothes, move faster. If too hot - remove clothes, or move slower. Fix temperature problems immediately - never tough it out. Common mistakes: people get distracted by gadgets, or they get impatient and start to wander. Then they lose awareness of their body temperature, and become hypothermic. Once you get hypothermic, things fall apart fast. If you do winter travel in remote areas, carry warm clothes, water and food. Then if you get stuck, be patient and steady. Follow this advice, and the odds of freezing to death go way down! :-)
- kaiuhl 14y ago
  I agree with all of this advice. The article describes one type of winter danger (extreme cold), but there's another equally dangerous condition it doesn't deal with — temperatures right around freezing. A friend and I ended a snowcamping trip a day early yesterday because temperatures were ±32º morning and night. The result of the temperature staying just below or at freezing is that you get very wet. You get very wet just doing mundane tasks like shoveling snow because your body heat needs to shift the temperature of snow on your clothing by just a few degrees to melt. Being slightly unprepared for a night in these conditions is just as dangerous as being in the arctic (where you may be cold, but you'll definitely be dry).
- smosher 14y ago
  The one time I fount myself at risk of hypothermia was because I had overestimated the cold. I put on too many layers which kept me nice and warm. But exertion in that warmth caused me to break a sweat. By the time I got where I was going things were just bad enough to make me feel like I had learned a lesson.
  - ciupicri 14y ago
    I can't say that I've been in extreme cold or dressed with lots of clothes, but I always undress in order to prevent (too much) sweat. Then I dress back as soon as I'm getting cold.
deleted 14y ago
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pdog 14y ago
Anyone else find the second-person narrative distracting?
funkaster 14y ago
Some time ago, during the winter we went to visit the Atacama Desert with my wife (she was born there). We rented a small car and my wife told me "are you sure this will work at 4,000 meters high? (13,100 feet)" - we were going to be travelling around some small towns and one of the roads reached that altitude. Stupidly enough, I replied to her "sure... these are modern cars, with fuel injection and smart oxygenation". The roads were covered with snow, and suddenly we got stuck in a snow-covered road. Being a firefighter (trained in rescue) I had some idea of what I had to do... but of course, no shovel or any other tool to remove the snow. For 1 hour or so I tried to remove the snow with no luck. I got into the car, told my wife that the smartest thing would be to stay in the car. If necessary, the fuel in the car would keep us worm for days. After some time, a car came down the road and helped us out... only to get stucked again, this time because the car actually got de-oxygenated at exactly 4,000 meters... Luckily this time the same car was behind us for a few minutes and we could push the car until the downhill. Now we tell the story with friends and laugh about it. But if you ever go to some place that you have a slight chance of getting stuck in the snow: pack a shovel or at least make sure you have the fuel tank full. And never get out of the car wandering to find something.
fastball 14y ago
> by Peter Stark Apt.
cullenking 14y ago
One thing I have started doing when I go on any outdoor treks, even just a day of snowboarding, is carrying a portable amateur radio. I program in the local repeaters if there are some (not always an option depending on area) which greatly extends range if necessary. Not as good as a PLB in some ways, but superior in others. For example, I can call for help without bringing in the whole cavalry.
nwmcsween 14y ago
Great writing, the story was somewhat interesting but the writing was great.
deleted 14y ago
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jaequery 14y ago
good read, but more of a reddit material than a HN
krymise 14y ago
I had a philosophy professor who taught Existentialism, and he told us the story of how he almost froze to death while hiking . How he started to hallucinate that death himself had come to take him away. Eventually, he said he became calm and accepted his fate, and that freezing to death wasn't a bad way to go. Too bad he retired that semester, what an interesting guy.
CapitalistCartr 14y ago
I used to routinely go out in the bitter cold in Wyoming. Wearing lots of military-issue clothing. Dressed and behaving as the military recommended, I found -40 to be quite tolerable. Coming from Florida, without the military training, I'd have been dead.
domojesse 14y ago
This older (not that the article we were reading wasn't from 2002) article is very similar: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthandwellbeing.health1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthand...
phigcch 14y ago
It is actually quite amazing what it is possible to survive. The hypothermia "record", so to speak, was broken shortly after this article was written. See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bagenholm/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bage...
protomyth 14y ago
Handy tip, best "snow shovel" for digging yourself out is a grain shovel. Keep one in your car in winter.
watt 14y ago
"You sweat, you die". That's what I have learned watching those survival shows (Survivorman, etc)

437 points by BlackJack 14y ago

I stopped reading once I saw "Fahrenheits". Fahrenheit and imperial system is what Microsoft is to software: non-compliance with internationally agreed standards.

recursive 14y ago
Your loss.

bjhoops1 14y ago

Great use of the first person - this made me physically uncomfortable. Much more so than third would have.

aheilbut 14y ago
It's actually using the second person.
- bjhoops1 14y ago
  Haha doh. That would be what I meant.
  - jstclair 14y ago
    No, that's what you meant.
samspot 14y ago
I also found this to be one of the most intense things I've ever read.

lectrick 14y ago

Read this a while back but this passage: "In 1980, 16 shipwrecked Danish fishermen were hauled to safety after an hour and a half in the frigid North Sea. They then walked across the deck of the rescue ship, stepped below for a hot drink, and dropped dead, all 16 of them." Damn!

dalke 14y ago
As far as I can tell, this is an urban legend. That is, several people have looked for an account of this in the Danish papers, and found nothing. Here's one such person's report: http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15jz7b/til_in_1980_16_stranded_and_frozen_danish/c7ngjc4 http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/15jz7b/til_in... The closest match was to "Other classic examples of post-immersion collapse include the survivors of the SS Empire Howard (Lee, 1971). The Captain of the ship, Capt Downey, reported: "everyone was conscious when taken out of the water but many lost consciousness when taken into the warmth of the trawler. Nine (out of 12) died shortly after being rescued", where "The SS Empire Howard was sunk by a U-boat on 16, April, 1942.

dmor 14y ago

This topic makes me think of the Jack London story "To Build a Fire", which is one of my favorites. http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html Also timely, one of our power users at Referly just made a preparedness kit list for winter driving. I probably should have had some of this when driving alone in the Sierra Nevadas last month. http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae0507511e2b5ab22000a1db8fa http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae050...

tomrod 14y ago
My thoughts exactly
username3 14y ago
This topic makes me think of 2012 American adventure drama film co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, and Dermot Mulroney "The Grey", which is based on the short story Ghost Walker by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Carnahan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_(film)

danso 14y ago

FYI this is from Jan. 1997. I remember reading it in one of those "Best Sports/Nature/Science Writing" anthologies back in school...a great piece, obviously if I still recall it 15 years later

pixie_ 14y ago

What's amazing to me is Eskimos lived without fire.

dalke 14y ago
Where did you get that information? The Inuit traditionally use a qulliq/kudlik (a lamp fueled by seal oil) for light, heat, etc. and everything I can find now says that it's not something introduced in the last couple of hundred years. For example, http://books.google.se/books?id=G49CwQpozoUC&pg=PA29&dq=qulliq&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BNPdUN75HqaM4AT_loDYCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=qulliq&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=G49CwQpozoUC&pg=PA29&#38... says that Inuit were curious why people were hunting whales for oil for light, when they knew that seal oil was better for the qulliq. Ahh, even better. The Dorset culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture - 500 BCE–1500 CE) used soapstone lamps very much like the the qulliq for heat.
- pixie_ 14y ago
  Can you find anything that says fire was a necessity for survival for paleo-eskimo cultures because I remember reading it wasn't, but I'm having trouble googling a source for or against it.
  - dalke 14y ago
    I don't know about "necessity". Only that it was part of the Dorset culture for 2,000 years, and used by even earlier Arctic cultures. A search for "dorset soapstone lamps" finds plenty of examples that lamps were used, and even pictures of the archeological finds of such lamps. http://books.google.se/books?id=kGWuMa6sRYsC&pg=PA372&lpg=PA372&dq=dorset+soapstone+lamps&source=bl&ots=ZImDaKdXpQ&sig=Ap2s3Uz_Sp9vE8HAA9uMDEzaXF4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TDXeUNCtJ8eI4ATuhoAI&sqi=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=dorset%20soapstone%20lamps&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=kGWuMa6sRYsC&pg=PA372&#3... says "Winter light and heat were supplied by soapstone lamps ... The previous Dorset inhabitants of Arctic Canada had used soapstone lamps for some 2,000 years. ... Soapstone cooking pots ... " http://books.google.se/books?id=iBCc5bQlP1wC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=dorset+soapstone+lamps&source=bl&ots=z_GbeAHokB&sig=rtWdCJjalkEz4VyrjmLsdclPh3U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aTbeUNLhNuWn4gTR4oGIAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=dorset%20soapstone%20lamps&f=false http://books.google.se/books?id=iBCc5bQlP1wC&pg=PA179&#3... has "The most conspicuous difference between Saqqaq and Dorset sites lies in the occurrence of fire-cracked rocks. These are common in Saqqaq sites ... During the Dorset culture, the heating of winter dwellings relied on the use of soapstone lamps." (Note that "Saqqaq culture existed from around 2500 BCE until about 800 BCE", so is before Dorset, pushing back the use of fire even further.) Or for a regular HTML link, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/dorset-culture http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/dorset-cultu... says "Dorset culture, 500 BC-1500 AD, is known archaeologically from most coastal regions of arctic Canada. The Dorset people were descended from Palaeoeskimos of the PRE-DORSET CULTURE. Compared to their ancestors, the Dorset people had a more successful economy and lived in more permanent houses built of snow and turf and heated with soapstone oil lamps."

jbellis 14y ago

Found an update on the toddler who froze in 1994: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/kosolofski-anniversary.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/...

jstanley 14y ago

This is an excellent read indeed.

bane 14y ago

Just to tie this back to the tech industry and why relying on GPS only can be dangerous http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

jbellis 14y ago
Did you read what you linked? "Because of Mr. Kim's background as a technology analyst, observers speculated that the family had used online mapping to find their route. However, Mrs. Kim told state police that they had used a paper road map, an account supported by the Oregon State Police, which reported that the Kims had used an official State of Oregon highway map."
- yock 14y ago
  It's still relevant to the posted article, though perhaps not exactly for the reasons stated.
- bane 14y ago
  No I didn't, I the original search for him and his family and the immediate aftermath that there was a great deal of discussion about them getting lost due to following a bad GPS route.
  - pm90 14y ago
    I don't think they used GPS though. But here is another story where the GPS was misleading (Disclaimer: It was pointed out to me by another hn reader, although I don't know exactly who): http://www.usaprepares.com/survival/husband-died-just-six-miles-from-help-after-he-and-wife-got-lost-in-wild-because-of-gps-he-died-trying-to-raise-alarm-but-she-survived-for-seven-weeks-by-staying-put http://www.usaprepares.com/survival/husband-died-just-six-mi...
    - bane 14y ago
      I might be mixed up on it. Gosh it's hard to imagine that was six years ago.

freehunter 14y ago

Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, sometimes right beneath your tires. What was wet a second ago is now frozen, and you can't see the difference. The snow starts to pile up, and a gust of wind pushes you right off the road and into an irrigation ditch. The best 4x4 in the world won't get you out now. And good luck using your cell phone: the areas where this is most likely to happen often have no cell service, or the cell service is only for Verizon phones (too bad you have AT&T, and the FCC forced them to sell off their overlapping network in that area). Four wheel drive won't help. Locking differentials won't help. All wheel drive won't help. All of these require even faintest bit of traction, and you don't have it. People think I'm weird for having a CB radio in my truck, but last winter during an ice storm I went off the road. Literally all of the county's emergency crews were busy taking care of other ditch parties. I called out on my CB for the local off-roading enthusiasts, and 15 minutes later a snowmobile arrived with a winch. I paid $30 to the man for his help (though he insisted he didn't need payment), and I was back on the road. The CB cost me $250; how much would a tow truck have cost? This article should be read by everyone who has to travel in winter conditions. Seems like every winter I hear the obituary on the news of people who go off the road and try to hoof it somewhere miles away in a normal winter jacket, jeans, and boots. I keep a snowmobile suit in my truck during the winter. One thing I would have added is something along the lines of "and you knew you couldn't stay in your car with the heat running waiting for help, you'd die from the exhaust fumes". I think that's more common than freezing to death.

astral303 14y ago
The conditions you describe are tough. Going off the road in an ice storm sucks. Love your CB and snow suit suggestions. The following is not commentary on your situation, but tips to reduce chance of getting stuck: 1. I strongly recommend running a set of good snow tires, no matter whether you have an AWD Subaru or a 4x4 truck or a FWD Corolla. Yes, truck snow tires exist. The reason is that the rubber compound is much much softer on these tires, and it stays soft when the temperatures drop. All-season tires are much harder in cold temperatures. The tread is also cut into much smaller blocks (known as siping), the edges of which help bite into the ice. While ice is slippery no matter what, the difference in the grip level between a typical all season tire and a good snow tire is very significant. We are talking 3x the stopping distance. I've seen it on glare ice. Now, if you really want to be protected, you must buy good studded snow tires. A set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7's will make ice seem almost like wet pavement. The amount of ice grip you have with those is unbelievable. The downside is the increased tire noise. 2. Practice controlling skids on ice or snow: practice countersteer, practice NOT hitting the brakes, practice using throttle. If you can practice this to make it second nature, or at least not foreign, this can make the difference between you spinning and not. Get out to a snowy parking lot, start turning, let off throttle, then yank the e-brake (and put it down right away). You should start experiencing a spin at this point. No matter what, train yourself to immediately countersteer, such that your front wheels are pointed to where you want the car to go and not where the car is facing. Now, while countersteering every time, compare the following 3 situations after starting the spin: A. Counterseteer & do nothing with brake or gas. Simply get your feet off the pedals. B. Countersteer & hit the brakes. C. Countersteer & apply gas. You must actually experience each of these to believe it, but you will learn that it is "C", applying gas, which will get you back in line the soonest. You will notice that as soon as you give it gas, the spin will stop or slow down significantly. You will notice that if you hit the brakes, you spin much further than if you were to simply let go off all the controls. This is counter-intuitive, but basically if you start spinning on ice on a straight road and you have a FWD/AWD car, applying some throttle will often stop your spin, whereas hitting the brakes almost guarantees a spin. It's worth practicing, if you can. The reason has to do with weight transfer. Your car's traction at each end is determined by the amount of weight. When you accelerate, you decrease traction up front and you increase traction in the rear. Lifting off throttle increases front end traction and decreases rear end traction, a little. Hitting the brakes massively decreases rear end traction and massively increases front end bite.

bkanber 14y ago

This was terrifying, I think because of its sheer realism. Nobody expects they're going to die when they decide to get out of their car and trek to the cabin in the dead of night. But it sneaks up on you through a series of small mis-steps and you could pay with your life for those little mistakes. Should've stayed with the car. Should've called for help. Once he got out, he should've stayed on the road instead of cutting through the woods. Should've ditched the skis once they broke. Should've exerted himself less. Lots of little should-haves like those are what can kill someone who's not prepared for and experienced with harsh conditions.

debacle 14y ago

Being cold and being deathly cold are two different things. I've only gotten mild frostbite once, but I'd never want to have it again. The skin blackens and peels, and itches like nothing I've ever experienced before.

ghaff 14y ago
Frostbite and hypothermia are two different things and often happen under different conditions. As noted, you can get hypothermia in (relatively) mild temperatures if you're wet, tired, dehydrated, etc. Frostbite tends to be the result of colder temperatures often in conjunction with wind. But, yes, both are bad. I've also had fairly mild frostbite of the ear lobes (a pretty common place) and it's not fun. The thing to be aware of though is that it doesn't have to be especially cold to get hypothermic. In cold weather hiking, some of the conditions you need to be most careful in are 35 degree or so rain.
- debacle 14y ago
  I've been lucky enough to never experience real hypothermia first hand.
TheCapn 14y ago
Mild frostbite != blackened skin. I'm curious of what situation you got yourself into because that sounded fairly serious.
- debacle 14y ago
  My pants got stolen while I was attending life guard classes. I had to walk home in ~30 degree weather in the snow in wet swim trunks. I sometimes make bad decisions.

danso 14y ago

This bit about how certain groups of people have somehow developed different responses to cold is fascinating: Were you a Norwegian fisherman or Inuit hunter, both of whom frequently work gloveless in the cold, your chilled hands would open their surface capillaries periodically to allow surges of warm blood to pass into them and maintain their flexibility. This phenomenon, known as the hunter's response, can elevate a 35-degree skin temperature to 50 degrees within seven or eight minutes. Other human adaptations to the cold are more mysterious. Tibetan Buddhist monks can raise the skin temperature of their hands and feet by 15 degrees through meditation. Australian aborigines, who once slept on the ground, unclothed, on near-freezing nights, would slip into a light hypothermic state, suppressing shivering until the rising sun rewarmed them. You have no such defenses, having spent your days at a keyboard in a climate-controlled office. Only after about ten minutes of hard climbing, as your body temperature rises, does blood start seeping back into your fingers. Sweat trickles down your sternum and spine.

freehunter 14y ago
You can notice this effect in your life as well. I don't know where you live, but I know here in the north, 40F is "freezing" cold in November for many people. And when March rolls around, 40F is cause for breaking out the t-shirts. Your body will adapt to the cold to a certain degree. I think I saw it explained on a reddit "ask science" post some time ago, but I cannot remember the physiological details of these temporary adaptations to climate patterns.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  I wonder if it's physical or at least partially psychological. I live in Los Angeles and my brother lives in Flagstaff. Every year at the holidays, I go spend a week with him and his family. In Flagstaff there can be entire days below freezing and the nights can easily reach single digits F. When I'm there and it's 25 F, I'm fine. Toodle along like normal. Come back to LA and it's 50 and I shiver. Same outfits even. It's the strangest thing. Maybe altitude? FLG is 7000 ft and LAX is more or less sea level. I dunno.

arrrg 14y ago

Somehow this reminded me of this excellent story: http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html

afandian 14y ago

I spent the whole article translating those temperatures into Centigrade. Kind of broke the flow.

jablan 14y ago
Seriously, has anybody created a decent userscript or browser extension to fight this problem yet? I had no luck searching for one.
- TheCapn 14y ago
  If you're quick at math here's a fairly accurate way: F->C: Subtract 30, divide by 2. C->F: Double it & Add 30. Often known as the "Bob & Doug McKenzie method" from around here it makes for fast conversions since the actual conversion (°F - 32) * 5 / 9 = °C is close enough when dealing in the normal temperature range of weather.
  - hfsktr 14y ago
    That's really interesting and something I will have to remember. My friend is from the UK so when we talk about temps (they don't get the winter we get in my area of the US) I try to convert it. I've been counting along increments of 1.5 in whichever direction from 0 C or 32 F. I probably made it a .5 for mental calculating. Just out of curiosity I tried yours and it even works with minus temperatures, although a bit confusing at first. Yours are exactly the reason I read the comments on posts. edit: to make it a bit clearer
corin_ 14y ago
Edit, ignore the following: Worst was where they switched without even mentioning it. One paragraph they're still using F and said "The lowest recorded core temperature in a surviving adult is 60.8 degrees.", then the very next paragraph, with no talk of changing units, they talked about people dying "though temperatures never fell below freezing and ranged as high as 45". Just because the second story happened in England..?
- 14y ago

shaydoc 14y ago

That was a fantastic read. Incredible journey to hypothermia and back. The description of the feeling of burning is unreal! What is even better is the incredible knowledge of how to revive a patient from this state. I belief these techniques are used in heart bypass operations ?

sanotehu 14y ago
Yes, they are indeed. As a medical student I had the privilege of seeing a heart valve being installed. They are a witness to how far medicine has progressed since the days of barber surgeons. The blood is taken out of your body through the femoral vein (under the skin between your hip and your nether regions), taken through the perfusion machine and pumped back into the femoral artery. Because at this stage the heart will have been stopped, the high pressure in the femoral artery makes blood flow backwards up the aorta, where it supplies oxygenated blood from the machine to the whole body. At one stage the flow has to be switched off in order to sew the metal valve onto the top of the aorta. In preparation for this, the blood leaving the perfusion machine is chilled (I'm not sure to what temperature). This slows the body's metabolism down and would cause hypothermic stupor if the patient had not already been under anaesthetic. I was told by the perfusionist that this gave the surgeons around an hour of extra operating time before the brain's oxygen content dropped to dangerous levels. All this is of course monitored by the anaesthetist and the perfusionist. The hypothermia will be reversed during the process of reviving the patient. With the advent of endovascular procedures, this sort of surgery is becoming a rarity. It's much easier to pass a small tube up the aorta and inflate the narrowed artery from the inside than it is to open up the chest and sew a new blood vessel onto the heart. Of course, the medicine's more boring but it's all about getting a good outcome for the patient, isn't it?
- gonzo 14y ago
  As a medical student you'll appreciate that I have a 3-4" stint replacing a section of my aorta, starting about 1mm away from the aortic root. This to repair an ascending aortic dissection that terminates in my left iliac. I walked out of the hospital, but the recovery was a PITA. My core temp got down to 18C (65-66F) for over an hour. (According to the surgical notes I was on the heart lung machine for over 4 hours, and without perfusion for 45 minutes.)

billyjobob 14y ago

How old is this article? It seems to use the old Fahrenheit temperature scale. I'm sure my grandfather would understand those temperatures but for myself I had to convert each one into modern units. Eventually I couldn't be bothered and stopped reading.

recursive 14y ago
New Fahrenheit is the same as old Fahrenheit. In other words, it never changed.
- lectrick 14y ago
  Unless you are joking, I think he was characterizing Fahrenheit itself as old, not saying there was a separate, "old Fahrenheit" scale.
- bitwize 14y ago
  Fahrenheit is old. Celsius is modern. The real avant-garde give all temperatures in kelvins...
  - walrus 14y ago
    Quit living in the past. We use Planck temperature now.
lectrick 14y ago
Frankly I'd rather use a system where 0 degrees is "fucking cold" and 100 degrees is "fucking hot", but neither fatally so, with 100 different steps in between.
- mpyne 14y ago
  Meh, I've stopped trying to ever argue stuff like this. There is simply a large class of people who will never believe in l10n if it involves en_US, only if it's any other country or region in the world.
14y ago

tomrod 14y ago

A tip: http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-traction-in-the-snow http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-tracti... Always know your resources available!

gav 14y ago
I used to carry kitty litter in the trunk of my car when I lived in Vermont. Throwing a couple of handfuls under your tires would give enough traction to get going on ice.
TheCapn 14y ago
Although that is sound advice in the event you're caught in a small rift of snow, it will mean nothing when hitting a ditch that sinks your car to the frame in snow which is often the case in situations that the story illustrates.
314l5926 14y ago
Have somebody used it, ever? I did, once. Tyres just throws mats under the car, without much movement. If there's no friction between tyres and ice, there would be not friction between mats and ice, either. However, it could help on the snow or sand.

Sam_Odio 14y ago

I carry a PLB at all times in my vehicle [1]. In the US this device will summon rescue via satellite. I recommend it for anyone who spends time in remote areas. If you value your life at $1MM and there's a 1 in 3500 chance [2] that summoning emergency services in a remote area will save your life then this is a helpful risk-mitigating tool [3]. 1. http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Locator/dp/B0064UE5AG http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Loca... 2. $280 / $1MM ~ 1/3500. 3. A useful metric might be 911 calls, of which there are 240 million in 2008[4], for the US population of 305 million. If you assume 5% of the calls are life-or-death, that your daily odds of needing to call in remote areas are the same as the country mean, that you spend 5 days a year in remote areas, and a 5-year useful life for the device, then there is a 0.2% chance the device will save your life. 240/310 * .05 * 5/365 * 5 ~ 0.002 4. http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html

dkarl 14y ago
I carry one of those when I go backpacking. The satellite transmission they send to summon rescue includes your GPS position, and they also serve as short-range beacons to help rescuers zero in on you when they get close. That can be crucial if the PLB can't get a GPS lock, because rescuers might only know that you're located somewhere along miles of road or trail. If you're unconscious and out of site a few yards from the trail, the beacon might be the only way for them to find you fast enough to help.
jzwinck 14y ago
Your statistics are seriously flawed. For example, your math in point 2 assumes you will certainly find yourself in a life threatening situation while carrying the device. And your point 3 probably vastly overestimates the fraction of life-or-death calls.
- Sam_Odio 14y ago
  Your statistics are seriously flawed. Actually, I think you a) misunderstood the claim in point 2, and b) take issue with the assumptions - not the math/statistics - in point 3. your math in point 2 assumes you will certainly find yourself in a life threatening situation while carrying the device. In point 2 the likelihood of a life threatening situation was not assumed or calculated (that's point 3). The conclusion, restated: If there's a 1/3500 chance you'll be able to effectively use the device to save your life, you're breaking even while mitigating risk. And your point 3 probably vastly overestimates the fraction of life-or-death calls. You've stated that I've made assumptions and you're right - which is why they're labeled as such. Feel free to suggest yours.

mberning 14y ago

I read this years ago and it really stuck with me. Now when I venture out into inclement weather I always load up the car with blankets, water, food, ratchet straps, and other emergency supplies.

andyl 14y ago

I teach search and rescue people how to travel on skis or snowshoes and live in winter mountains. If you are prepared, you can stay out in sub-zero for days and days very comfortably. A key skill is constant regulation of your body temperature. You never want to become too hot/sweaty or too cold. If too cold - get into shelter, drink something hot, eat carbs, add clothes, move faster. If too hot - remove clothes, or move slower. Fix temperature problems immediately - never tough it out. Common mistakes: people get distracted by gadgets, or they get impatient and start to wander. Then they lose awareness of their body temperature, and become hypothermic. Once you get hypothermic, things fall apart fast. If you do winter travel in remote areas, carry warm clothes, water and food. Then if you get stuck, be patient and steady. Follow this advice, and the odds of freezing to death go way down! :-)

kaiuhl 14y ago
I agree with all of this advice. The article describes one type of winter danger (extreme cold), but there's another equally dangerous condition it doesn't deal with — temperatures right around freezing. A friend and I ended a snowcamping trip a day early yesterday because temperatures were ±32º morning and night. The result of the temperature staying just below or at freezing is that you get very wet. You get very wet just doing mundane tasks like shoveling snow because your body heat needs to shift the temperature of snow on your clothing by just a few degrees to melt. Being slightly unprepared for a night in these conditions is just as dangerous as being in the arctic (where you may be cold, but you'll definitely be dry).
smosher 14y ago
The one time I fount myself at risk of hypothermia was because I had overestimated the cold. I put on too many layers which kept me nice and warm. But exertion in that warmth caused me to break a sweat. By the time I got where I was going things were just bad enough to make me feel like I had learned a lesson.
- ciupicri 14y ago
  I can't say that I've been in extreme cold or dressed with lots of clothes, but I always undress in order to prevent (too much) sweat. Then I dress back as soon as I'm getting cold.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

pdog 14y ago

Anyone else find the second-person narrative distracting?

funkaster 14y ago

Some time ago, during the winter we went to visit the Atacama Desert with my wife (she was born there). We rented a small car and my wife told me "are you sure this will work at 4,000 meters high? (13,100 feet)" - we were going to be travelling around some small towns and one of the roads reached that altitude. Stupidly enough, I replied to her "sure... these are modern cars, with fuel injection and smart oxygenation". The roads were covered with snow, and suddenly we got stuck in a snow-covered road. Being a firefighter (trained in rescue) I had some idea of what I had to do... but of course, no shovel or any other tool to remove the snow. For 1 hour or so I tried to remove the snow with no luck. I got into the car, told my wife that the smartest thing would be to stay in the car. If necessary, the fuel in the car would keep us worm for days. After some time, a car came down the road and helped us out... only to get stucked again, this time because the car actually got de-oxygenated at exactly 4,000 meters... Luckily this time the same car was behind us for a few minutes and we could push the car until the downhill. Now we tell the story with friends and laugh about it. But if you ever go to some place that you have a slight chance of getting stuck in the snow: pack a shovel or at least make sure you have the fuel tank full. And never get out of the car wandering to find something.

fastball 14y ago

> by Peter Stark Apt.

cullenking 14y ago

One thing I have started doing when I go on any outdoor treks, even just a day of snowboarding, is carrying a portable amateur radio. I program in the local repeaters if there are some (not always an option depending on area) which greatly extends range if necessary. Not as good as a PLB in some ways, but superior in others. For example, I can call for help without bringing in the whole cavalry.

nwmcsween 14y ago

Great writing, the story was somewhat interesting but the writing was great.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

jaequery 14y ago

good read, but more of a reddit material than a HN

krymise 14y ago

I had a philosophy professor who taught Existentialism, and he told us the story of how he almost froze to death while hiking . How he started to hallucinate that death himself had come to take him away. Eventually, he said he became calm and accepted his fate, and that freezing to death wasn't a bad way to go. Too bad he retired that semester, what an interesting guy.

CapitalistCartr 14y ago

I used to routinely go out in the bitter cold in Wyoming. Wearing lots of military-issue clothing. Dressed and behaving as the military recommended, I found -40 to be quite tolerable. Coming from Florida, without the military training, I'd have been dead.

domojesse 14y ago

This older (not that the article we were reading wasn't from 2002) article is very similar: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthandwellbeing.health1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthand...

phigcch 14y ago

It is actually quite amazing what it is possible to survive. The hypothermia "record", so to speak, was broken shortly after this article was written. See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bagenholm/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bage...

protomyth 14y ago

Handy tip, best "snow shovel" for digging yourself out is a grain shovel. Keep one in your car in winter.

watt 14y ago

"You sweat, you die". That's what I have learned watching those survival shows (Survivorman, etc)