Outside magazine, January 1997
As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow--First Chill--Then Stupor--Then the Letting Go
The cold hard facts of freezing to death
By Peter Stark
When your Jeep spins lazily off the mountain road and slams backward into a snowbank, you don't worry immediately about the cold. Your first thought is that you've just dented your bumper. Your second is that you've failed to bring a shovel. Your third is that
you'll be late for dinner. Friends are expecting you at their cabin around eight for a moonlight ski, a late dinner, a sauna. Nothing can keep you from that.
Driving out of town, defroster roaring, you barely noted the bank thermometer on the town square: minus 27 degrees at 6:36. The radio weather report warned of a deep mass of arctic air settling over the region. The man who took your money at the Conoco station shook his head at the register and said he wouldn't be going anywhere tonight if he were you. You smiled. A little chill never hurt anybody with enough fleece and a good four-wheel-drive.
But now you're stuck. Jamming the gearshift into low, you try to muscle out of the drift. The tires whine on ice-slicked snow as headlights dance on the curtain of frosted firs across the road. Shoving the lever back into park, you shoulder open the door and step from your heated capsule. Cold slaps your naked face, squeezes tears from your eyes.
You check your watch: 7:18. You consult your map: A thin, switchbacking line snakes up the mountain to the penciled square that marks the cabin.
Comments
That was an excellent article. Nice writing.
Flag ThisThis completely sucked me in. I couldn't stop reading. Excellent job.
Flag ThisBeen almost there... both hypothermia and heat stroke, in the end they are about the same. Read this when it was first printed, just as gripping now as then. Just great. Be careful out there!
Flag ThisVery good writing, it just draws you in and keeps you there. My question...what can we who spent our days at a keyboard in a climate-controlled office do to get more adapted like these guys? "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
Flag ThisCompelling and luring! Having been close to a very serious hypothermia case on Everest, and not wanting to end up like Beck (1995 Thin Air) I have always made sure to overcompensate when it comes to protecting myself from hypothermia. I loved the "physiological" descriptions of why hypothermia sets in and very cool about the recovery (when you are in full hypothermia) fascinating how amazing the body is and how very stupid we all can be (yes, you can get hypothermia anywhere). Beaware!
Flag Thiscrazy story
Flag ThisFantastic. I could not stop reading this. Very informative.
Flag ThisVery, very interesting. I simply could not put this article down.
Flag ThisI too have experienced some of the stages of hypothermia. I got lost while cross-country skiing alone in New Brunswick, Canada. Funny, I actually thought I was hearing jingle bells just over the next rise. I thought I was finding my way around the small mountain to civilization and was hearing hopeful sounds. Finally, wet, cold and almost exhausted, I decided to retrace the rough snowmobile trail back to the ski lodge. While recovering, I threw up a little but was otherwise Ok. Scary.
Flag ThisMy experience was from an extended illness from flu, where I was working sick, and kept going on with it. I was an over the road truck driver, and was found naked at a drop lot in Joplin, MO. My core temp was 50F. I have never driven a truck since, and am on disability. My short-term memory has been lost, and I have confusion over simple tasks. I was found in 20F weather. I don't remember being in pain, or anything from the cold. It was like I was drunk, and happy. No pain at all.
Flag ThisI read this ages ago, I have finally found it again Thank you!
Flag ThisMy older brother died from exposure and cardiac arrest from being trapped outside in the cold. We were always puzzled why he had undressed and was naked when he was found. Your article has finally given us the explanation. Thanks.
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