My experience with hypothermia

Akcabin

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My beautiful wife n me were flying out to go moose hunting at our cabin. This was the first time we had flown out as I just got the windows n woodstove in the prior winter using snogos. I learned a lot on that shake down trip. I contacted a pilot that could get me in which during moose season in AK can get difficult. But he could fit me in just before dark. He had me send the coordinates so I Google mapped the numbers n a picture of the lake.
We head out on 6:30 flight, scattered squalls in the area. We get to the coordinates, they were wrong. The pilot Flys around a bit n lands on a lake he knows explaining he can't continue to fly in what is now rain n not known where were going. He takes off n not much after I recognized our lake. We get dropped off n he flys off. I start out on the 2 mile walk north to the cabin, my wife n her feet with recent feet surgery at the lake.
I get to the cabin fine. Fire up the 4 wheeler I freighted out earlier n go get my wife n a load of freight. We get back to the trailhead n it's getting dark. As we head in my beautiful wife who is usually much better at direction than me says go left. I say go straight. We go left. Should a gone straight.
2-1/2 hours later in pitch black dark, rain, low 40s,no light except her phone at 8%, she says she can't walk anymore because the pain is so severe. And she instructs us to climb under the spruce tree next to us. I remember thinking that I was as warm n comfortable as sleeping on my sofa in the sunshine. When I started to doze off she recognized the situation n got me going. We fortunately found our cabin just before midnight.
What really happened was I started out on a trip I had never done before, in the evening. Over confident in my skills. Was too busy to fill up on a good meal before we left got over exhausted soaking wet n made bad decisions. I had all the survival gear we needed on our wheeler I abandoned after it got too stuck.
And more dumb stuff.
But my partner noticed the hypothermia signs n took immediate correct action. My over confidence almost got me. And it's a bad habit. I still find myself doing it . So maybe take an extra minute to look at your outdoors habits.
Stay safe n take one make one
 
Mate, I'm not trying to be a smart arse, but you need to brush up on your navigational skills, then the dangerous situation you found yourself in could have been avoided.
Basic map and compass and know how to use them, don't rely on equipment reliant on batteries, but also don't be without them.
You had phones, GPS, and couple all this with the App what3words and you would have been at your cabin in no time.

Good luck on your hunt.

Cheers

Richard (from the UK and not allowed to hunt Alaska without a guide)
 
Scary story, glad it worked out. Testament to how important your partner is on any outdoor adventure; whether it be your wife or hunting buddy having someone to think straight if you are not can be life saving. Never been in a situation as serious as you were but been on both sides of situations where one person is freaking out a bit and the other has to settle things down and figure it out.
 
Scary story. I had a friend of a friend die of hypothermia back in the 1980s.
Their sea kayak overturned, they had to swim it 100 yards to shore.
Windy, upper 30s, drizzle lead quickly to hypothermia and killed him.
That shocked us all as college students we took many stupid risks outdoors.
 
Yeah probably right about learning more about navigation. My sense of direction is terrible.
Funny thing is I'm not sure that would have helped much. I have all kinds of gear and the skills to use them. And have spent a few nights curled up under a spruce tree. I suspect the effects of hypothermia had me not thinking very straight. And it would not have mattered as to how much navigational skills I have. That's the particularly scary part.
I like to go out n usually hard to find someone else to go out with so am on my own regularly. The phone service is sketchy at our cabin so I don't depend on it.
But then again that's the adventure for me.
Concerning the hypothermia, it was a learning experience but as many folks mention it sneaks up on you. I had no clue. And tired hungry n cold , we've all been there. And angry because of the situation. I just didn't listen to my body.
This incident still shakes me I'm glad I had my partner on that trip.
 
You were still a ways off before looking at grappling with the Grim Reaper. You weren't hallucinating yet. Simply dozing off would not likely have been fatal. The intense shivering would have woken you up. Indeed, it would have been so bad, you would not have been able to lay or sit down. How do I know all this? Because I have been over the edge and back. October 16, 1971, opening day of elk season. I was delayed getting back to the car and my hunting buddy left for Spotted Bear ranger station to report me missing ... and never returned. I had no matches or food and temp was just above freezing. Finally, at 11:00 p.m. I decided to walk out. By the time I got to the reservoir road, nothing I was seeing was real. The road became the top of Hungry Horse Dam. Walk to one side and look down and I saw water. Other side, the powerhouse. None of it was real. I saw fantastic frightening creatures, my friends and family driving up in cars, airplanes in the sky with searchlights (stars) ... all phantoms. Then the shivering set in. I was literally bouncing off the ground. The pain was unimaginable. Then the shivering subsided. At that point my body was giving up ... and I knew it. Fortunately, the week before I read in the paper a story about a teenage girl who survived a wilderness school lab exercise that went arry in Oregon. She described what her two friends went through before they died. So I knew what was happening to me. That knowledge kept me from panicking.

Know that when you get to that point, your judgement becomes impaired. Put a plan in your head when symptoms first present ... and DO NOT deviate! Also understand that you will not be seeing reality but, curiously, you still will hear it. When approaching someone you suspect is in the throws of hypothermia, ANNOUNCE YOURSELF CLEARLY AND LOUDLY, especially if they're armed. Consider that they will be scared out of their wits ... what little they have left. And people in the final stages will present like they're drunk. Don't automatically blow off someone you see in the bush acting like they're gassed up. They may be too confused or, in my case, too ashamed of appearing drunk to insist on help. Impaired judgement.

The day after getting back to town and finally becoming sensible again, Dad took me to see the family doctor. My body temp was still ten degrees below normal. The doc said that wasn't possible and still be alive. But there I was. He made me tell the whole story while taking careful notes. Wonder what happened to that file.

Also keep in mind that ambient air hypothermia, while more insidious, is more survivable than water immersion hypothermia. The latter is typically much quicker. Often all the stages are run together very quickly and it's overwith. But again, if you can get out of the water put a plan in your head and stick to it.

I have had several other close calls with hypothermia, but none as severe as 1971. Best way I have found to judge my condition is talk to myself and see how it sounds. Once speech becomes slurred and difficult, it's time to dig into rations. As I've said many times before, be very wary about relying on building a fire for survival. Depending on weather conditions and fuel availability, you may waste more energy keeping a fire going than you'll get out of it. Food for the internal fire is your best defense.
 
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Hypothermia is spooky. I had a pretty good case of it in my late teens. I had just entered the hallucinatory stage, when I finally was able to get my land nav squared away.
 
Had it bad after plunging through the ice one night years back while fishing. I fell through 3 times and the only reason I got out the third time was because my gloves froze to the ice sheet I was clinging to. By the end of the 2 mile walk to the nearest occupied cabin I was slurring my speech badly and couldn’t walk without assistance. I remember everything vividly but don’t remember feeling cold. I can see how it could creep up on a person, but in my case I knew it was coming and exactly what was happening.
 
Had it bad after plunging through the ice one night years back while fishing. I fell through 3 times and the only reason I got out the third time was because my gloves froze to the ice sheet I was clinging to. By the end of the 2 mile walk to the nearest occupied cabin I was slurring my speech badly and couldn’t walk without assistance. I remember everything vividly but don’t remember feeling cold. I can see how it could creep up on a person, but in my case I knew it was coming and exactly what was happening.
Must be six or seven years ago on the last day of hunting in Montana I stopped at the bird refuge to get the last three roosters for my possession limit. It was -25 but thankfully no wind. I bagged one bird fairly quickly and rather than walking the dike I decided to take a shortcut across the ice to the big island. I should have known the current from creek runs through there. Suddenly my right leg went through almost to the hip. I lunged forward pulling it back out only to have the left weight bearing leg go through. Repeat with right leg again. This time I dropped to my belly to spread the weight. My three dogs saw me on all four and came running to investigate. I screamed at them to get away and they obeyed immediately. Managed to crawl to the dike safely. My legs are now crystal stovepipes so the plan is give it up and go home with seven birds. That's enough. Maybe fifteen yards down the path and Opal goes on point. Up goes the rooster and down it falls in a cloud of feathers (too close for my backup 870's fixed full choke). So now the plan changes. Get the third bird. It took about an hour and a helluva long shot plus some persistence on old Pearl's part to eventually find that crafty old cripple but we got her done. The law enforcement guy met me as I walked into the visitor centre washroom to change. He wanted to know what happened and I told him. "Jeezus, you are NUTS!" "Maybe, but don't say that too loudly or the authorities in Canada will hear you and take away my guns."

Edit: I had slurred speech but never any serious shivering. Good boots and staying on the move made the difference. God help me if I slipped and broke a leg. Probably wouldn't have survived twenty minutes. But in that flat country breaking a leg was unlikely. Too wet for badgers to be sinking tank traps. I did wind up with a small patch of frostbite on the outside edge of my right foot. Nothing serious. I never felt I was in any significant danger.
 
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Yeah I thought I was napping on the sofa. Thinking this ain't bad. Feeling n warm.
Either way the fact that folks with lots of time in the bush can have issues that can lead to bad endings. But I use it as a learning lesson n get on down the trail. Being out n exposing ourselves to a bit of risk is worth the rewards in my book.
Have fun all
 
Had it bad after plunging through the ice one night years back while fishing. I fell through 3 times and the only reason I got out the third time was because my gloves froze to the ice sheet I was clinging to. By the end of the 2 mile walk to the nearest occupied cabin I was slurring my speech badly and couldn’t walk without assistance. I remember everything vividly but don’t remember feeling cold. I can see how it could creep up on a person, but in my case I knew it was coming and exactly what was happening.

A good way to simulate what falling through the ice feels like would be to slap yourself with a rug full of needles. The cold can take your breath away the instant pain can impair your judgment.
 
I was checking a muskrat trapline in early winter 1978 in the dark after high school basketball practice. Was well below freezing, brutal winds and pitch black. I had put out the traps on Sunday, the day before, in the daylight and turns out the lake was a much longer walk across the plowed field than I thought. If you have walked a frozen plowed field then you know it is like waling on boulders. My hair was wet from practice and had on my school clothes, a heavy coat and hip waders. Got to the lake and my headlamp was fading so would turn it on/off as walked. In spots the lake's bank was steep so I would stay on the ice.

In one such spot, there were tufts of grass sticking up through the ice and in those zones the ice was thinner or had melted away from the grass at some point. My left heel went through the ice about 18" until hit the mud bottom of the lake cove then I fell back on my rear end partially busting through the ice and water seeped into my right hip wader. I got back on my feet and once at the lake's bank I leaned on a cottonwood as I lifted my right leg to empty the water which worked, sort of, but also got that pant leg more wet as some water went inside the jean leg. My gloves were now soaked. I could not be further from the truck and had a few more traps to check and traps need to be checked daily. Reset the tripped traps. About 45 minutes later got to the truck with the walk over the plowed filed taking longer this time as was stumbling more and had eight muskrats over my shoulder on baling wire. I figured values in cases of beer back then so that was 5 cases of beer after the fur was skinned, more if stretched the hides.

I had trouble getting the tailgate latch to open so I could shuck off my waders. My coordination was failing and fingers were numb. Could not feel my right toes. Got the tailgate down then kicked the waders off as another pint of so of water ran out of the right hip boot. Tossed the waders in the truck bed, walked in socks painfully over the gravel around the side of the truck to use the key to unlock the door but was shaking even with the mostly dry coat. Took a few jabs to get the key in the door and then into the ignition. Turned the heater on. My right leg's jeans were frozen is a circle. The heater gradually warmed up and my right foot was stinging but my left foot was cold. Still shivering. The wind was rocking the truck. Could not feel the pedals with my right foot. Drove home left-footed and had some hot coffee as shucked off the wet clothes. The shivering was gone. Stepped into the hot shower and when the water touched my right foot it was like stepping on cactus needles and the foot was redder than any sunburn before or since.

Lots of mistakes that night. My headlamp was not properly charged (was the coal miner style). Blue jeans were not the proper clothing. Stocking cap was synthetic and almost worthless even with the hood of the coat up. I should have avoided the rotten ice. I should have immediately headed to the truck after my fall. Should have taken off the wet jeans while in the truck. Survived but never again made a shortcut across the ice of a slough or cove that had grass or branches poking through.
 
Came to a river crossing that we are very familiar with. What was not known, the year before it had a major flood, changed some patterns. Crossing on the ATV, I began to float and rotate in the current. Engine stalled. I hopped off, held on to the front rack and pulled toward the bank. The current was swift, pulling me and wheeler down stream. I was coming up on a downed tree, leaves and branches sticking up out of the river. My wheeler was $11,000 brand new, but I was not going through that tree. I let it go and grabbed brush on the cut bank. It was raining. I had hip waders and rain gear. Struggling to get up the bank, I rolled onto flat ground. Had to lift legs into air to allow water drain across ass. Standing up I watched my six wheeler float like a jet ski down the river and around a bend. Raining the whole time, it took fours to get a rope across the river so I could safely cross back. Rope tied to tree, I managed to stay upright in a very swift current.
A half mile down stream, my wheeler drifted onto a shallow sand bar and flipped on its side. That's the third time I hopped into the water. Hooked up a winch line and hauled her out. That when the cold really started to set in.
A camp was right there with coffee on and a jug of Baily's. Saved my ass.

WET.JPG
 
I had a bad case in the 1990's. Temps 40-50°F but soaked to the skin in cotton. I made it to truck but couldn't find my way home driving the county roads a mile from my house. The heater in my old 1983 Toyota 4x4 finally got my core temp up enough to sort it out.
You were close to going over the edge. Confusion is usually the coup de gras.
 
Mate, I'm not trying to be a smart arse, but you need to brush up on your navigational skills, then the dangerous situation you found yourself in could have been avoided.
Basic map and compass and know how to use them, don't rely on equipment reliant on batteries, but also don't be without them.
You had phones, GPS, and couple all this with the App what3words and you would have been at your cabin in no time.

Good luck on your hunt.

Cheers

Richard (from the UK and not allowed to hunt Alaska without a guide)
Yeppers but no phone service.
 
When I was around 16 I was duck hunting in cotton clothes and it rained sideways. I was too young and stupid to know when to quit. Finally when my back hurt so bad from shivering and my fingers wouldn't function I decided it was time to go home.

More recently I was bowhunting for deer in cotton clothes when an unexpected rainstorm soaked me. I went to my car where my wife was waiting and I drove to a highway turnout and tried to warm up with the heater cranking to no avail. My wife was roasting and I was freezing. Finally I stripped naked and strung my clothes out to dry. Then a Highway Patrolman taps on my fogged up window to see what hanky panky is going on. I'm sure this will be a story he repeats often. It wasn't hypothermia but it was funny.

In New Zealand we were drop camped in the alps by chopper. The helicopter operator warned us of a storm approaching and asked if we'd consider postponing the trip. My kiwi friend who is also a firefighter says " Nah, we're good" so I went with his word.
Turned out to be the biggest storm in decades. Down at sea level lots of livestock died in the storm. Up in the tops is was like pitching a tent in a high pressure car wash non-stop for 40 hours. Then it only stopped raining when it turned to snow.

When we first went to bed it wasn't that bad. I like to sleep on top of the clothes that I plan to wear the next day so that they are toasty warm when I put them on. During the night I felt wet and turned on my light to discover that the entire floor of the tent was like a bathtub 2" deep. I had a down bag and was soaked. All of our gear was stashed in dry bags away from the tent in a cave to keep the Keas from getting into them.
It rained so hard that we didn't dare go outside to piss, we just used a cup.
Bailing water from the tent was futile so finally I had to take my knife and stab several holes in the floor on the low spots to drain it.

Because my down bag was soaked and worthless, I had to put on my soaking wet wool clothing because wet wool is better than nothing.
We had nothing to eat for 40 hours and were soaked. I seemed to be in the worst condition and my friends say that I was hypothermic, although I thought I was comfortably numb. I got to where I wouldn't respond to questions even though I heard them talking to me. It was almost like a drug induced effect.
Thank God for Mountain Radio to get extracted from there.


 
Funny thing is I'm not sure that would have helped much. I have all kinds of gear and the skills to use them. And have spent a few nights curled up under a spruce tree. I suspect the effects of hypothermia had me not thinking very straight. And it would not have mattered as to how much navigational skills I have. That's the particularly scary part.

you are correct. Folks who have never experienced hypothermia have no idea the effect it has on a person. It doesn't matter how skilled you are at navigation or how many gadgets you have or batteries for them

"Hypothermia" is taught at a very young age up here

Transfer of heat from one person to another can help. Skin to skin contact rolled up in a blanket will help. Preferably with someone you like ;)

But seriously, transferring body heat does help, drink something hot, but no alcohol . I have built small igloos and huddled down with the dogs

I have had a few close calls and usually when tending to the trap lines.
 
Hypothermia is definitely no joke. I'm embarrassed to admit that I just had my second close call with it Friday night, 29 October. Despite the embarrassment, I relate the story because there are tips therein, though no guarantees, which might help others. Reading through the preceding comments in "My experience with hypothermia", one will note some similarities and repeated themes--pay heed.

But for a couple items that I threw in my pack against the possibility, which were not really enough had things developed even worse, a half-day mushrooming trip could have finished me. I got a late start, so figured I would not be getting too deep in the woods. Still, I had a destination in mind that I'd long been wanting to visit, so I pushed on farther than needed to fill my bucket.

I was navigating through the very old second growth partially by dead-reckoning while responding to the terrain and vegetation, and partially by occasionally correcting my course toward the waypoint I'd marked on GPS unit, which is something I rarely use. The trip was as much to evaluate the GPS as it was mushroom harvesting. When I got to the spot, I realized I had not been paying enough attention to the time.

I knew there was a trail due North and downhill of me. Distance to the trail was shorter than what I had already traversed. If I got to it, the walk back to my vehicle would be longer, but also easier and safer after dark. I had a crank-rechargeable flashlight, an emergency bivi bag, and a fleece vest in my pack; but I did not have nearly enough insulation and dry clothing to spend a night in the cold wet woods. I was already wet from the knees down from pushing through damp bushes and kneeling on moss while cutting mushrooms.

Not long after heading downhill, I realized that I was likely in trouble when I left closed-canopy forest and began encountering numerous blow-downs and salal tangles. Also, I was descending small ridges between feeder creeks that kept merging and forcing me to climb out of the deeper ravines formed by the merged streams. I had been to the general area only once before; it had been down on the trail level and I remembered seeing mossy-floored forest above me on that trip.

I started downhill before 5:00 PM, had maybe a little over half-a-mile to the trail. Sometime after 6:00 PM, with the last of daylight fading, I pulled off my damp shirt and undershirt, donned the dry fleece vest and a knit cap, then put the other two shirts back on over the vest, keeping the driest and fluffy layer next to my skin. I drank some fluid, ate half of a granola bar, and contemplated how to spend a miserable night. While evaluating the prospects, I began chilling. I had a lighter, some matches and a knife with me. But there was no way I was going to be able to start, let alone sustain a fire for a twelve-hour night in the soaked woods. I placed the mushroom bucket into my pack to free my left hand for the flashlight--I carried a homemade staff that doubles for digging in forest duff in my right--and grimly continued down through the blow-downs, hoping they would give way to open understory before long or at least not snap my legs.

I'll spare you most of the miserable details of the next five+ hours. Suffice to say I fell off logs numerous times. (My balance after dark is shot; I stumble just getting to the bathroom at night if I don't turn on my nightstand light.) On one fall, I did a literal face-plant, distorting my wire-framed glasses between my nose and the ground, the nose bridge bar scraping a fair sample of skin off my nose. I also had to crawl under quite a few crisscrossed logs that posed too much risk to crawl over or along with my poor balance. In the wet brush and soggy ground, those passages just wet and chilled me further. At least, I did not break a leg, which was my greatest fear given the conditions of travel.

Once I finally made my way to the trail, the rest of the hike was short and uneventful other than I felt it was getting colder. I got out of my wet clothes at home, drank a cup of tea and turned in at 12:20 AM. It took another twenty hours to finally get comfortably warm. Yesterday, Saturday morning, was the first full-coverage frost across my shop roof that I have seen this Fall.
 
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