The cold hard facts of freezing to death

[Moondog55]

Cold and wet is perhaps not as big a problem as being exposed. I remember when in Scotland reading some Mountain Rescue reports and the recommendations to add a proofed nylon cagoule and pants to all mountaineering/hillwalking kits. The saying at the time was better wet and warm than dry and cold but the research at the time seemed to think that heat loss from wet legs was a much bigger factor than had been thought previously. In fact some of the articles wanted people to get into the habit of calling the old fashioned pull-on nylon pants "Exposure pants" Remebering that this was in Pre-Goretex days and cotton anoracks were still the climbing and hillwalking standards

[wayno]

problem is you're legs are pumping out most of the heat when youre walking,,, if they are wet, it may not have that big an affect while you're moving, so you are less likely to worry about them getting wet, plus putting on overpants can lead to overheating, but once you've stopped that all changes with wet legs...
the initial story was a tale of a very cold environment, it doenst have to be so extreme to get hypothermia though.
One of the problems is walking is when you stop in cold weather, you dont necessarily feel the cold for a while and you can be too slow to layer up and if you do you dont layer up enough.. classic scenario you hike up a hillside covered in trees, you're generating maximum heat and you're sheltered from the worst of the wind by the trees. you get to the tree line the slope evens out, the wind hits you, you're generating less heat, you go from being hot to feeling nice and cool to start with, things are feeling good, so you don't bother layering up as your sweat cools you down... a few hours go by then things all of a sudden start to go wrong, you've been exposed for too long with too little clothes on to keep your core temp stable, and it drops into the hypothermic range... you're at a critical point, yiu need to recognise you need to get more clothes on straight away or you could end up with the hypothermia worsening to the point where it could threaten your life.

[GPSGuided]

Cold and wet is perhaps not as big a problem as being exposed.

Guess one will have to understand what does "exposed" means and what is its mode of action. I would have thought it all comes back down to heat loss, the common pathway.

[Moondog55]

Cold and wet is perhaps not as big a problem as being exposed.

Guess one will have to understand what does "exposed" means and what is its mode of action. I would have thought it all comes back down to heat loss, the common pathway.

I should have qualified that
Wind is the greatest danger most of the time. wet and windy is of course more dangerous if it's cool; heck being wet and exposed to the wind can make you dangerously cold even in summer ; ever tried riding a motor bike after being drenched in Melbourne summer storm>??
Wet, cold and exposed to the wind is of course the most dangerous.
Exposure in the old terminology was the sum total of all these as it effected the body, we now call it hypothermia but "Exposure" was a more descriptive term as it gave an understanding of why it happened
Old adage "Get out of the wind" by whatever means, trench/cave/ clothing but in the context of the original post that means knowing you're in trouble and taking steps early which was I thought the whole point of the story

[GPSGuided]

Agree and thank for the clarification MD55.

[photohiker]

be a pretty minor factor in nz

Or unresearched? NZ has plenty of water, but is dehydration a factor in survival situations?

[photohiker]

Enter the String Vest.

Commandos training in the Scotland Highlands found that the key to survival in extreme cold was keeping core temperatures during rest breaks. Sweaty and wet clothing limited time available for rest. A wet string vest allowed the wearer to maintain core heat while resting. Without it, a commando had to reduce length of rest breaks thereby bringing forward the onset of exhaustion and exposure.

[wayno]

be a pretty minor factor in nz

Or unresearched? NZ has plenty of water, but is dehydration a factor in survival situations?

I dont need research to tell me what the situation is with dehydration in NZ, thirty years experience in the nz outdoors and talking with others in the outdoors tells me dehydration isnt a common survival issue in the nz outdoors, drowning and hypothermia from being wet are significant factors.....most water courses in nz don't dry up even with prolonged dry periods, watercourses are most places, you're seldom more than a few k's from a decent water source. theres huts all over the place with massive water tanks... mountain tarns are all over the place. streams and creeks proliferate...
you'll get thirsty then you'll start thinking about where to get water and head for it and you're likely never more than a few hours from getting it, the heat in nz is seldom bad enough to dehydrate you fast enough to cause major problems before you find water.
as one of my early extremely experienced bushcraft instructors told me so succinctly once, "if I catch any of you walking with water in your water bottles, i'll shove them are your *&%$#! and you'll be blowing bubbles" not that i wouldnt always carry water, but theres a lot of trips in NZ where his advise wouldnt be too far from being appropriate.