Donald wrote
> Coldest I've ever been was in the Cairngorms. I made a mistake, carrying
> on when I shouldn't have. Then I failed to find the Shelter Stone. Then I
> made ANOTHER mistake; instead of stopping and digging a snowhole, I headed
> uphill towards another bothy some distance away. Then I almost missed
> THAT...
>
> I was too cold to sleep and was still walking like Gort when I got back to
> Glenmore the next day. Never been so stupid since (I was only 19).
The nearest I came to being caught by hypothermia was in the 1980's (I was
about 45 yrs old) and my the wife was a forestry researcher on the effects of
introduced browsers (Tasmanian Brushtailed possums) in montane forests
(New Zealand, near Arthur's Pass).
On this occasion she was expecting our 2nd child and I went alone in the
weekend into the mountain forests to do the monthly measurements of her
plots of trees (diameter), and to collect the contents of litter traps. The
plots
were up a track over an elevation of around 2,000 ft. It rained all day, and
the forest ferns were up to waist high. Although I had a semi-water-proof
jacket on, it wasn't long before I was soaked to the skin, just like the ferns
that wetted me. It was no more than 5 deg C all day.
I got to the last (top) plot, and realised that I wasn't thinking very clearly.
Not
at all in fact. It dawned on me that hypothermia had me in its grip, and I
still
had to finish this last plot. I ate all my remaining food, and drank all the
warm drink I had with me. To my dismay, these did nothing I could feel, to
remedy the hypothermia.
What to do?
I found a fat and leaning tree that would shelter me from the rain, and for
nearly an hour I curled up in the foetal position sitting down, just at its
base,
so as to conserve energy (body-heat).
In that time, my body and mind recovered sufficiently as the warmth from
the food and drink developed from the digesting food. I got up, finished the
last plot as quickly as I could, and shot off down the mountain back to the
safety and warmth of the Base camp.
Was I ever glad to be back there with electric heat and warm water
available! By the time I had been missed, and somebody had figured out
where I should be, I would have been history.
One compensating aspect though; I'm convinced that death by hypothermia
is quite peaceful and painless.
It would be a good way to go.
Brian Swale.
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