This...Cruiser wrote:What a scary situation! Thank goodness you kept your wits about you and got him warmed quickly once you identified the problem.
Hypothermia-Scary and no joke
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Please be respectful when posting - family and friends of fallen climbers might be reading this forum.
Please be respectful when posting - family and friends of fallen climbers might be reading this forum.
Re: Hypothermia-Scary and no joke
I take the mountain climber's approach to housekeeping - don't look down
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SchralpTheGnar
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Re: Hypothermia-Scary and no joke
Glad everyone is ok, I fell through ice while Ice boating in Rhode Island, I was probably right around 15 too. Iit was on a lake wed ice boated a few times before, but during one tack to port in on the south side of the lake I didn't have enough speed to come about so I had get off the boat and orient the sail to the easterly wind. While doing that, I went straight through the ice and was submerged up to my shoulders, with no life jacket on. I never saw any ice boaters wearing jackets. Every time I tried to get out and pull myself up the ice just kept breaking, but if I knew I kept heading north I would encounter stronger ice. At this point as well, the group I was with, which included my dad started running out into the ice and I yelled back "stay away, the ice isn't safe!!". After who knows how long of wading and testing the ice I finally mangaged to mantle myself up onto some solid ice. I remembered to lay completely flat and I scooted along the ice all the way to shore. It was probably 30 minutes total and I was hypothermic when I got to shore, fortunately we had extra clothes in the Volkswagen bus and a fire already going on shore, so I changed out and rewarded and recovered.
Lessons I learned were, icy water is really cold, and don't go ice boating
Lessons I learned were, icy water is really cold, and don't go ice boating
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justiner
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Re: Hypothermia-Scary and no joke
My Hypothermia story: I got stuck in the middle of a river on the South Island of New Zealand, as I was attempting to ford the river, following a 3 day track. In the middle of the ford to which I thought was the other side of the river bank, the river level began to raise before my sight. A flash flood! I hurried to the other side, only to realize I was on a small island. The other side other the island showed a much swifter, much deeper flowing river. "Welp, tramp off!" I thought, and made an about face to ford the river from whence I came.
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No dice - the river had risen so fast I couldn't safely ford it. So I decided to make "camp" on the island for a day,
which turned into two.
Which turned into three.
By that time, I had experienced many signs of hypothermia, the scariest of which was a complete lack of caring about how I would turn out - I was so miserable, death sounded like a good way to end this all. I got so tired of shivering I just decided to stop doing it. You see - I had no shelter of any kind - just a down sleeping bag that kept getting water logged - the plan was to stay in huts along the track, don't need to take a tent, lightweight backpacking!
I had enough food for three days, since I packed enough food for three days - and a stove, which I used to heat water, which kept me warm enough. I wore an old cashmere sweater and waterproof jacket and pants. I finally found solace in making a giant sign that read, "HELP!" and singing to myself, ("Help", by the Beatles) - anything to keep me busy, moving, and warm. I tried making shelters out of the straw, and logs that had washed onto the island.
Wait: washed ONTO the island? That last night was hell, as the water didn't recede, it actually rose even MORE. My little island was vanishing, and I raced to find a patch of dry land, as everywhere I made camp went underwater. I finished the night clutching onto a large tree trunk, listening to the water creep up towards me with velocity, wondering when even this small patch would go under, and I would be swept down river or I'd be hit by another log. It rained non-stop, except for the time it started snowing...
But, miracles of miracles, it did stop raining, and the water receded fast - faster than it had risen. When I felt the water wasn't going any lower, I made my dash to the shore. They say it's dangerous to cross above your knee, but I had to do it over hip height. Half jumping, half swimming, I made a last gasp to the shoreline again. It was a soggy mile to the ranger station. They were looking for me, as I didn't check into any of the huts, and gave them an unrealistic, "if not seen by x days, call for help" date.
Crazy experience. I dried out that night inside, and made the 60km bike ride to Wanaka to get checked out the next day. Ever since then, I've not done cold quite as well as before. I grew up sailing and being in contact with miserable sea conditions, and could swim just fine - but the river turbulence and current were absolutely alien to me. For a while, even easy creek crossings were a little PTSD for me.
A learning experience for sure. I've mostly gotten over it, and I relish the cold - much more than the heat, but I'll never forget that river crossing. Later, I learned my mistake - I crossed the river at the wrong point -if I was 1/2 a km N, I would probably have been just fine.
,
No dice - the river had risen so fast I couldn't safely ford it. So I decided to make "camp" on the island for a day,
which turned into two.
Which turned into three.
By that time, I had experienced many signs of hypothermia, the scariest of which was a complete lack of caring about how I would turn out - I was so miserable, death sounded like a good way to end this all. I got so tired of shivering I just decided to stop doing it. You see - I had no shelter of any kind - just a down sleeping bag that kept getting water logged - the plan was to stay in huts along the track, don't need to take a tent, lightweight backpacking!
I had enough food for three days, since I packed enough food for three days - and a stove, which I used to heat water, which kept me warm enough. I wore an old cashmere sweater and waterproof jacket and pants. I finally found solace in making a giant sign that read, "HELP!" and singing to myself, ("Help", by the Beatles) - anything to keep me busy, moving, and warm. I tried making shelters out of the straw, and logs that had washed onto the island.
Wait: washed ONTO the island? That last night was hell, as the water didn't recede, it actually rose even MORE. My little island was vanishing, and I raced to find a patch of dry land, as everywhere I made camp went underwater. I finished the night clutching onto a large tree trunk, listening to the water creep up towards me with velocity, wondering when even this small patch would go under, and I would be swept down river or I'd be hit by another log. It rained non-stop, except for the time it started snowing...
But, miracles of miracles, it did stop raining, and the water receded fast - faster than it had risen. When I felt the water wasn't going any lower, I made my dash to the shore. They say it's dangerous to cross above your knee, but I had to do it over hip height. Half jumping, half swimming, I made a last gasp to the shoreline again. It was a soggy mile to the ranger station. They were looking for me, as I didn't check into any of the huts, and gave them an unrealistic, "if not seen by x days, call for help" date.
Crazy experience. I dried out that night inside, and made the 60km bike ride to Wanaka to get checked out the next day. Ever since then, I've not done cold quite as well as before. I grew up sailing and being in contact with miserable sea conditions, and could swim just fine - but the river turbulence and current were absolutely alien to me. For a while, even easy creek crossings were a little PTSD for me.
A learning experience for sure. I've mostly gotten over it, and I relish the cold - much more than the heat, but I'll never forget that river crossing. Later, I learned my mistake - I crossed the river at the wrong point -if I was 1/2 a km N, I would probably have been just fine.
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justiner
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Re: Hypothermia-Scary and no joke
I find survivor/bushman vids on YouTube a little cheesy, but this guy is alright. Given my experience, it gave me some, um, chills watching. I'm kinda jealous of what the woods offer him for use. I find the high forests of Colorado a little lacking in some things like firestarter, or dry kindling. Maybe I just don't know what to look for.
