Cold water immersion – an hour in the ice water.

[David Thomas]

Here’s a great example of a misunderstood phenomena.  You will not “only last 3 minutes!” (nor 30 minutes) in very cold water.  You can drown due to loss of strength and coordination and you will be hypothermic, but the water can’t get much colder (he was clinging to a chunk of ice for most of an hour) nor be any more poorly dressed (shirt, windbreaker and pants) than when this guy went in the water last week an hour down the road from me.  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/in-frightening-chain-of-events-man-spends-nearly-an-hour-in-icy-alaska-waters/ar-AAUCtnN

[jscott]

“wearing only a shirt, windbreaker and pants…”

Alaskans really are hardy! It was cold out.  Was he on a hike or just stepping out for a moment for…well, a cigarette we used to say.

[John S.]

https://www.coldwatersafety.org/

[AK Granola]

Glad he made it. I’ve had mild hypothermia. The thing about it is, you can’t think. Once you’re in that state, you just get stupid. Not that this guy needed his intelligence anyway; he needed rescue. I worry sometimes though when hiking in wet, cold conditions, about getting hypothermic and losing the ability to think clearly. The key is not to ever get into that situation in the first place. It can happen fast.

[Chris R]

Just search online for “professor popsicle”

[jscott]

Karen, re: hypothermia.  that’s why I was wondering  about the man “walking along the shoreline” in temps in the high 30’s dressed only in a shirt, pants and windbreaker.

[David Thomas]

Jscott: it’s been in the upper 30s most days now (unseasonably warm for late February) and it’s the end of a cold winter. I’m rarely wearing that much around town – usually just jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. Walking the dog on the beach, I’d, yeah, have a very light jacket on – more than that would be too much if the air was calm.

You wear a lot more of the first freezing day in late September than on the last freezing day in March or April. A moderate jacket in the Fall but a t-shirt in the Spring for the same weather.

His issue was not recognizing how slippery the ice was and going from a dry walk onshore to a swim.

[jscott]

Yes, David, I didn’t mean to pile on the poor guy. For me, in California, by the coast, the upper thirties is very cold indeed. Same if I’m in the mountains. But one gets acclimated!

[Rex Sanders]

Saw cold-water acclimation issues all the time as a whitewater raft guide and trainer. After boating late winter and spring on snowmelt-fed rivers, I spent summer weekends in shorts and a t-shirt on water just a little warmer, thanks to upstream dams.

Had to learn, and teach new guides, that summer guests coming up from 90+ °F weather might not be happy at the end of a long wet day as the wind blows and shadows grow – even if you personally are warm and toasty. I clipped a cheap keyring thermometer to my PFD (barely visible in my avatar), mostly as a reminder to check the paddlers.

Every potential hypothermia setting is different. What works well after you fall into an ice-cold ocean might not work well in a tent on an exposed ridge during a blizzard. Especially if your options are limited by circumstance or cold-induced stupidity. BTDT too many times.

Best to avoid hypothermia in the first place, recognize the early signs & symptoms so you can take action, and learn from the experiences of others.

And never give up.

— Rex

[Ken White]

Yes Rex, Never give up and we all must remember most of us think it can’t happen to us. I like the book Deep Survival as it gives a few insights on how not to give up. Ken

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: Gonzales, Laurence: 9780393353716: Amazon.com: Books

[Elliott Wolin]

Interesting quote I came across from a professional rescue swimmer, true in most circumstances:

“If you don’t wear a PFD, you won’t die from hypothermia”

Think about it…

[obx hiker]

We don’t have much of a winter around here but still there seems to be the same sort of adaptation that David describes and I can imagine that the adaptation to cold would increase with both longer periods and greater cold. Evidently early visitors to Patagonia were surprised or astonished to observe the sea-going indigenous Yahgans going around barefoot, scantly clad and diving in the freezing water for shellfish like oysters with no apparent effects from the exposure. The linked article specifies that they were metabolically adapted to the climate.

[David Thomas]

“If you don’t wear a PFD, you won’t die from hypothermia”

Certainly the biggest factor in surviving an airplane ditching in Alaska is if you went out the door with a PFD on or not.  When flying with the USFS (in single-engine planes), you have to wear an inflatable PFD/safety vest.  So I looked in the pockets and there were (mostly) the things you’d want if you washed up on a shore somewhere.  Firestarter, mirror, cordage, whistle, etc.  So I sewed pockets onto our family’s PFDs and have ever since had my EPIRB, VHF, cordage, Bic, and a blade on my body whenever I’m in any open boat (canoe, kayak, 24-foot fishing boat, etc).

[Author]

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