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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 an

by 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.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    The best defense against the cold I find, up until about 10F or lower, is several layers of long sleeve tshirts. You can add or remove layers rapidly with a rather good resolution (You can easily have 5 "settings") and if you get wet they are very quick to dry (separate them to dry them fast.) If you are out for several days, you can start to cycle which shirt is closest to your body, to delay discomfort caused by dirty clothing.
Hoff 14y ago
If you're out with others when it's cold, be aware of the "umbles": Stumbles, fumbles, mumbles and grumbles. These can be relatively early external signs of altered mentation and potentially of the on-set of hypothermia. Hypothermia can occur even in fairly warm temperatures, too; you don't need freezing temperatures. When carrying food, remember you're going to be eating a whole lot more when it's cold and you're exercising. Avoid cotton clothing, as that gets and stays brutally cold when it gets wet. Wool or synthetics work much better.
- samstave 14y ago
  Never go out with Flint Fireforge. Got it.
rdl 14y ago
Also: STAY WITH THE VEHICLE. In general, if you're driving somewhere remote and something goes wrong, you're almost always better off staying with your vehicle vs. setting out on foot for help. There are obviously exceptions, but as a general thing, it's true.
- MichaelApproved 14y ago
  That reminds me of the sad story of CNet editor James Kim. He got caught in a snow storm with his family. He left the car and died trying to get help. His family was rescued in good condition. Had he stayed with them, they all would have survived. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1028_3-6141498.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1028_3-6141498.html
  - rdl 14y ago
    The "family gets lost, guy goes off to find help, gets even more lost and dies, and then the rest of the family is rescued" is a pretty standard story.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - raverbashing 14y ago
    Today, in the age of gps enabled cell phones there is no reason to leave the car (unless there's a risk of explosion, car sliding off a cliff, etc, etc) Get your position, call 911, wait. If the signal is not good enough to make a call, send an SMS
    - DanBC 14y ago
      What if the signal isn't good enough to send an SMS? I'd tend to agree that staying with the car is sensible. Maybe with some bright orange tarpaulin / flag thing over the car (although that'd probably get buried in snow.) At least if you're travelling in really bad weather you know you might get stuck and so you should prepare. People in England were caught out when light snow was forecast; they left work early and joined the M25 at the same time as the road gritters, which caused a weird cascade effect and blocked a major motorway in the UK for 24 hours when there was only 1 or 2 cm of snow.
001sky 14y ago
Lots of good points. Its also, perhaps counterintuitively, the case that wet and above freezing is almost more dangerous for hypothermia many times. Snow is a source of potential shelter and insulation, provided a minimum level of preparation. But, being un-prepared ans without shelter in cold rain is a very dangerous place to be. Your core only needs to get to 70 degrees to kill you, etc. So its all about the differential and exposure.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
If you read the annual compilations of mountaineering accidents in North America you'll notice a few trends, generally people being under prepared and having insufficient basic equipment like lights, warm clothing, or rain gear. A common theme is people getting lost or poorly estimating time or getting caught by weather and then being forced to spend a night out on a mountain when they hadn't planned to. Generally, just being more knowledgeable and trained can help though also making sure you always bring those "ten essentials" also helps a great deal and they don't add much weight or hassle if you do it right.
- andrewem 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials I just saw a list of the "ten essentials" posted at the entrance to a wilderness area in New Hampshire's White Mountains. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I was without many of them, though it was on a day hike with a partner on a very wide, flat, heavily-traveled trail. I remember a spring backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains where one person in my group fell into a creek we were crossing near nightfall as it was beginning to snow. Fortunately we had extra dry clothes ready at hand to give that person to change into.
starpilot 14y ago
An emergency blanket or bivy is extremely useful too and weighs very little. I just came back from spending a night in the snow (http://i.imgur.com/yc0cc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yc0cc.jpg sunset, Sequoia National Park, ~8,000 feet). At night, temps went down to the 20s (fahrenheit) I believe and I was shivering pretty bad in my sleeping bag until I took out my emergency blanket. In the morning, I cut it up and wrapped the pieces around my feet before putting on my boots, since I was still using soaking wet socks from the previous day (lost my extra pair somewhere on the trail). The mylar isn't breathable though so one has to watch out for perspiration.
- rustynails 14y ago
  Thank you for specifying Fahrenheit. Given there are different temperature scales used throughout the world, I always appreciate people who take the effort to clarify. Thanks ... Oh, awesome pic!!
dhughes 14y ago
Canadian here, a lot of people don't realize how dry winter is the humidity can be very low on a cold day probably comparable to a desert environment.

by andyl 14y ago

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.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  The best defense against the cold I find, up until about 10F or lower, is several layers of long sleeve tshirts. You can add or remove layers rapidly with a rather good resolution (You can easily have 5 "settings") and if you get wet they are very quick to dry (separate them to dry them fast.) If you are out for several days, you can start to cycle which shirt is closest to your body, to delay discomfort caused by dirty clothing.

Hoff 14y ago

If you're out with others when it's cold, be aware of the "umbles": Stumbles, fumbles, mumbles and grumbles. These can be relatively early external signs of altered mentation and potentially of the on-set of hypothermia. Hypothermia can occur even in fairly warm temperatures, too; you don't need freezing temperatures. When carrying food, remember you're going to be eating a whole lot more when it's cold and you're exercising. Avoid cotton clothing, as that gets and stays brutally cold when it gets wet. Wool or synthetics work much better.

samstave 14y ago
Never go out with Flint Fireforge. Got it.

rdl 14y ago

Also: STAY WITH THE VEHICLE. In general, if you're driving somewhere remote and something goes wrong, you're almost always better off staying with your vehicle vs. setting out on foot for help. There are obviously exceptions, but as a general thing, it's true.

MichaelApproved 14y ago
That reminds me of the sad story of CNet editor James Kim. He got caught in a snow storm with his family. He left the car and died trying to get help. His family was rescued in good condition. Had he stayed with them, they all would have survived. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1028_3-6141498.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1028_3-6141498.html
- rdl 14y ago
  The "family gets lost, guy goes off to find help, gets even more lost and dies, and then the rest of the family is rescued" is a pretty standard story.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- raverbashing 14y ago
  Today, in the age of gps enabled cell phones there is no reason to leave the car (unless there's a risk of explosion, car sliding off a cliff, etc, etc) Get your position, call 911, wait. If the signal is not good enough to make a call, send an SMS
  - DanBC 14y ago
    What if the signal isn't good enough to send an SMS? I'd tend to agree that staying with the car is sensible. Maybe with some bright orange tarpaulin / flag thing over the car (although that'd probably get buried in snow.) At least if you're travelling in really bad weather you know you might get stuck and so you should prepare. People in England were caught out when light snow was forecast; they left work early and joined the M25 at the same time as the road gritters, which caused a weird cascade effect and blocked a major motorway in the UK for 24 hours when there was only 1 or 2 cm of snow.

001sky 14y ago

Lots of good points. Its also, perhaps counterintuitively, the case that wet and above freezing is almost more dangerous for hypothermia many times. Snow is a source of potential shelter and insulation, provided a minimum level of preparation. But, being un-prepared ans without shelter in cold rain is a very dangerous place to be. Your core only needs to get to 70 degrees to kill you, etc. So its all about the differential and exposure.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

If you read the annual compilations of mountaineering accidents in North America you'll notice a few trends, generally people being under prepared and having insufficient basic equipment like lights, warm clothing, or rain gear. A common theme is people getting lost or poorly estimating time or getting caught by weather and then being forced to spend a night out on a mountain when they hadn't planned to. Generally, just being more knowledgeable and trained can help though also making sure you always bring those "ten essentials" also helps a great deal and they don't add much weight or hassle if you do it right.

andrewem 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials I just saw a list of the "ten essentials" posted at the entrance to a wilderness area in New Hampshire's White Mountains. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I was without many of them, though it was on a day hike with a partner on a very wide, flat, heavily-traveled trail. I remember a spring backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains where one person in my group fell into a creek we were crossing near nightfall as it was beginning to snow. Fortunately we had extra dry clothes ready at hand to give that person to change into.

starpilot 14y ago

An emergency blanket or bivy is extremely useful too and weighs very little. I just came back from spending a night in the snow (http://i.imgur.com/yc0cc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yc0cc.jpg sunset, Sequoia National Park, ~8,000 feet). At night, temps went down to the 20s (fahrenheit) I believe and I was shivering pretty bad in my sleeping bag until I took out my emergency blanket. In the morning, I cut it up and wrapped the pieces around my feet before putting on my boots, since I was still using soaking wet socks from the previous day (lost my extra pair somewhere on the trail). The mylar isn't breathable though so one has to watch out for perspiration.

rustynails 14y ago
Thank you for specifying Fahrenheit. Given there are different temperature scales used throughout the world, I always appreciate people who take the effort to clarify. Thanks ... Oh, awesome pic!!

dhughes 14y ago

Canadian here, a lot of people don't realize how dry winter is the humidity can be very low on a cold day probably comparable to a desert environment.