Temps in which certain body parts freeze

[mubb]

A long time ago I saw a Discovery Channel program about Mount Everest (or something), and they went on to talk about the different temperatures you experience and how cold it needs to be before your breath freezes in mid-air, for example, which I thought was pretty cool.

Have any of you come across a place on the 'net where there's some kind of chart or details on such a thing?

 

[Miss Margaret]

Wind Chill Chart

You need a wind chill chart..... it gives the air temp and the wind speed and indicates the amount of time before exposed skin freezes. Should be able to google it.....

I remember that around -30 or -40 (including wind chill) you've got ten minutes..... which explains my nose.

Margaret

 

[mubb]

I remember that around -30 or -40 (including wind chill) you've got ten minutes..... which explains my nose.

Yeah, the -40 thing sticks in my mind as an important checkpoint. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I found this.

-Edit: Found link!

 

[Miss Margaret]

Found it.....

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/

This is what we have been using.

 

[Nessmuk]

As you know, if you exercise hard you generate internal heat and you can stay warm in colder temps with limited clothing, assuming you account for wind chill. In military cold weather training I learned that when the temperture gets below -20F, no matter how much you exercise you will lose more heat than you gain due to heat loss during increased respiration (breathing). So when it gets that cold you are much better off saving your breath and focusing on finding more insulation instead of working hard.

 

[mubb]

As you know, if you exercise hard you generate internal heat and you can stay warm in colder temps with limited clothing, assuming you account for wind chill. In military cold weather training I learned that when the temperture gets below -20F, no matter how much you exercise you will lose more heat than you gain due to heat loss during increased respiration (breathing). So when it gets that cold you are much better off saving your breath and focusing on finding more insulation instead of working hard.

That's interesting. Thanks for that.

 

[DougPaul]

In military cold weather training I learned that when the temperture gets below -20F, no matter how much you exercise you will lose more heat than you gain due to heat loss during increased respiration (breathing).

There is a basic flaw in this arguement--people survive at temps well below -20F. For extended periods, too...

AFAIK, there are 2 risks of heavy exercise in the extreme cold (eg below -40F or -60F, real temp (not windchill)):
1. Heavy breathing can freeze nasal and throat tissues. (This is a localized freezing, not a total system temperature loss.)
2. Sweating and getting one's insulation damp can be life threatening due to the insulation loss after one stops exercising.

Doug

 

[grasshopper]

sweat is always more of the threat than a specific temp.see threads on Ken's death over in the white's 2 years ago.he had no trouble working up a sweat at -47 but wet insulation at -47 is much more of a problem than at 20.I've worked up a sweat at -25 and had to be very carefull of insulation and layers geting damp.
boiling water will freeze before it hits the ground at -32 (from first hand observation).

 

[Neil]

when the temperture gets below -20F, no matter how much you exercise you will lose more heat than you gain due to heat loss during increased respiration (breathing). So when it gets that cold you are much better off saving your breath and focusing on finding more insulation instead of working hard.

Having grown up and gone on camping trips where the temps regularly hit neg 40 I don't think that's true. You still produce more heat than you lose. One thing that's for sure: you either have to be working hard, sitting close to a fire or in your sleeping bag. There aren't any other possibilities except death.

 

[Nessmuk]

Having grown up and gone on camping trips where the temps regularly hit neg 40 I don't think that's true. You still produce more heat than you lose. One thing that's for sure: you either have to be working hard, sitting close to a fire or in your sleeping bag. There aren't any other possibilities except death.

Hey I don't invent this stuff, I just listen to what I'm told when it's that cold. The military taught this and has experience in cold weather effects. It has always made sense to me.

I do know for a fact when I was walking around in the backwoods in Alaska at -55 with my snorkle wolf fur hood parka all zipped up and with heavy quilted long underwear under wool pants, another thing they told me was indeed true.... as bundled up as I was, it was my knees that got the coldest when walking. Each step pushed out the warm air and sucked in cold right at the kneecap. I was otherwise warm enough and did not experiment with exerting myself to try out the breathing hypothesis.

By the way, they don't use real wolf fur anymore and switched to synthetic fur on the parka hood several years ago. I've used both. There is an amazing difference... the wolf fur does not frost up with your breath in the snorkle tube. The synthetic frosts badly.

 

[king tut]

The title of this thread reminds of some stories i have heard a few times about x-c ski racing. It involved temps around 0, long x-c races(10-20K), and skin tight racing suits. After skiing for a while in very cold temps w/ some wind and not much insulation, certain male body parts freeze quickly. This isn't the bad part. It is when certain body parts have warm water applied to them to bring them back from frost bite is when you hear blood curtling screams from behind closed doors. I would say that this is the worst place to get frostbite.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

The title of this thread reminds of some stories i have heard a few times about x-c ski racing. It involved temps around 0, long x-c races(10-20K), and skin tight racing suits. After skiing for a while in very cold temps w/ some wind and not much insulation, certain male body parts freeze quickly. .....

I speak from experience. Not from short races (10-20km), but with longer ones (over 40km), and at temperatures of well below zero (F). It has also happened to me riding my bicycle at around -20F.

And yes. The frezing is hardly noticed, but when it thaws!!!! WOW!!!

The last time it happened to me, both my wife and I were rolling around on the ground. I was rolling in pain, and she was rolling in laughter.

Bottoms of me ears froze last week, at only -10F.... Nothing else, though.

 

[Oldsmores]

I speak from experience...It has also happened to me riding my bicycle at around -20F...

We can assume that amputation wasn't required, then?

 

[SAR-EMT40]

By the way, they don't use real wolf fur anymore and switched to synthetic fur on the parka hood several years ago. I've used both. There is an amazing difference... the wolf fur does not frost up with your breath in the snorkle tube. The synthetic frosts badly.

[rant on]
Absofreakenlutly. I had one with the wolf fur and it was fantastic. I saw some of the "new" ones with the synthetic fur and they sucked. And they switched it more than several years ago. I started seeing them appear around 1978. Thank god I had a Wolf one. I would have bought that if I could have.

Pulling recon patrols in December through March on the Czech border was cold and difficult enough without using crap that was politically correct.
[rant off]

Sorry. I guess I have been holding on to that one for a while.

Keith

 

[SAR-EMT40]

I was rolling in pain, and she was rolling in laughter.

I have seen very tough, grown men, with tears in their eyes. It can be extremely painful. Small areas hurt a little, large areas hurts lots.

Keith

 

[Rick]

The cheapest solution I have ever found for those parts was to take a lunch baggie and put it over male parts and then put your underwear on. I found this worked great when XC skiing at zero or below. (I can't claim this as I saw it circa '94-'96 on either Rec.BC or Rec.Skiing.B)

OK Neil here is an opening to make a joke about the snack size baggie versus the quart size baggie.

 

[Rob S]

--people survive at temps well below -20F. For extended periods, too...

Doug's post reminds me of the book and movie "Alive" that recounts the true story of the Uruguay (sp?) rugby team and their plane crash in the Andes back in 1972. If I recall, 16 or 17 of the 45 on board survived first the plane crash itself, an avalanche, and overnight temps down to about -40F. For those that didn't read the book, or see the movie, I don't want to spoil the ending ..... and how they ended up getting rescued ...... but for those that know the story, the survivors overcame many circumstances that could have easily changed the outcome of the story ....... including starvation.

 

[bruno]

i too almost froze my membrum virile off! twice actually. and the pain when that rascal thaws is most definitely excruciating. i swore i'd never let it happen again so i swath my buddy in a smartwool sock. (size large).

 

[Pete_Hickey]

The cheapest solution I have ever found for those parts was to take a lunch baggie

A possibly cheaper solution is a third sock... At least in my hours, the washer/dryer frequently eat a sock, and I am left with a bunch of single socks.
As a person who is extremely fashion conscious, I have no use for a sock without a mate, except to use for insulation.

There used to be a company that made something called "The Hand" just for that purpose, but I don't know if they're around any more. When I google them, I get.... Well, you don'T want to know.

OK Neil here is an opening to make a joke about the snack size baggie versus the quart size baggie.

Or zip lock bags. The zip lock bags are useful for brass monkeys to pick up the parts that have frozen off.

 

[JohnL]

Willie Warmers

JohnL