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.<p>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?<p>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.
This bit about how certain groups of people have somehow developed different responses to cold is fascinating:<p><i>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.<p>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.<p>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.</i>
This topic makes me think of the Jack London story "To Build a Fire", which is one of my favorites. <a href="http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html</a><p>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. <a href="http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae0507511e2b5ab22000a1db8fa" rel="nofollow">http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae050...</a>
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].<p>1. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Locator/dp/B0064UE5AG" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/ACR-Electronics-ResQLink-Personal-Loca...</a><p>2. $280 / $1MM ~ 1/3500.<p>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.<p>240/310 * .05 * 5/365 * 5 ~ 0.002<p>4. <a href="http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.911dispatch.com/info/fact_figures.html</a>
Found an update on the toddler who froze in 1994: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/kosolofski-anniversary.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/02/20/...</a>
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.<p>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.<p>Lots of little should-haves like those are what can kill someone who's not prepared for and experienced with harsh conditions.
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
Read this a while back but this passage:<p>"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."<p>Damn!
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".<p>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 <i>stay in the car</i>. If necessary, the fuel in the car would keep us worm for days.<p>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.<p>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 <i>never</i> get out of the car wandering to find something.
A tip: <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-traction-in-the-snow" rel="nofollow">http://lifehacker.com/5856986/use-your-floor-mats-for-tracti...</a><p>Always know your resources available!
That was a fantastic read. Incredible journey to hypothermia and back.<p>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.<p>I belief these techniques are used in heart bypass operations ?
Being cold and being deathly cold are two different things.<p>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.
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.
Somehow this reminded me of this excellent story: <a href="http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.signandsight.com/features/852.html</a>
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.
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. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_B%C3%A5genholm</a> <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bagenholm/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bage...</a>
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.
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.
This older (not that the article we were reading wasn't from 2002) article is very similar: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthandwellbeing.health1" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2001/mar/01/healthand...</a>
Just to tie this back to the tech industry and why relying on GPS only can be dangerous<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim</a>
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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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! :-)
I stopped reading once I saw "Fahrenheits". Fahrenheit and imperial system is what Microsoft is to software: non-compliance with internationally agreed standards.
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.