Know Your Stuff: Hypothermia

Well it’s that time of year again when one day feels like the dead of winter while the next feels like a beautiful spring day.

While these warm days may cause us to wear a t-shirt or jump in a body of water, it’s important to remember that there is still a risk of becoming dangerously cold. Living in the White Mountain area, weather and temperature changes all the time. Bodies of water can still be at low temperatures and even from the bottom of a mountain to the peak, there can be drastic change. Always being prepared by bringing proper gear is important, but also having some knowledge about what could happen to you is also critical.

“Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature.” (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypothermia/basics/definition/con-20020453)

https://www.epainassist.com/images/Article-Images/hypothermia.jpg

Hypothermia can attack your body when you’re exposed to cold, wet, or windy environments for a long period of time, causing shivering, stumbling, slurred speech, extremely slow breathing rate, cold and pale skin, and feelings of fatigue.

Sometimes these symptoms are hard to notice and can be confused with just being tired.

In the fall 2016, my friends and I took on the adventure of hiking the Presidential Traverse. The weather was constantly changing, being beautiful and sunny at one moment, to extremely foggy the next, hailing, snowing, and raining mixed in. This was my one friend’s first time going on a big hike, so naturally she started to get worn out a couple miles away from the summit of Mt. Washington.

A little over a mile away, she began to stumble, constantly falling backwards into her boyfriend’s arms. As we all rooted for her, telling her she’s strong and was so close to the top, we didn’t realize that her body was being taken over by hypothermia.

As we reached the top, we noticed her face had lost all color, her lips were blue and shaking.

We rushed her into the inside of the observatory, ripped off her drenched layers, got her into some warm clothes, and fed her food and hot chocolate.

Luckily we made it to the top when we did and she was able to recover within an hour. She had had mild to moderate hypothermia.

Of course this was an extreme example, the typical college student isn’t hiking up Mt. Washington on their days off, but it is important to be able to recognize signs of hypothermia. Hiking up a mountain isn’t the only place when it can occur. We had to cut our hike short because of this incidence but it could have been avoided completely with more preparation, more waterproof layers, and more knowledge about this emergency.

So before you are put into a situation where there is hypothermia-inducing weather involved, know the symptoms, that way you can determine if you or a friend is just being lazy, or is actually in life-threatening danger.

Can’t Stop Sliding Down a Mountain

As all Plymouth State University students know, Wednesday February 15th was Ski Day. Whether you ski/snowboard or not, this day is looked forward to by almost all students due to no classes, free day passes and rentals at the local mountain, and being surrounded by all your friends.

Growing up with a big family in the center of New Jersey, it was difficult to learn how to snowboard. Snowboarding is not cheap, and with the closest mountain still being a little over an hour away, it never seemed worth it to get into the sport. Now that I’m living in New Hampshire, surrounded by the mountains, I figured now’s my chance to try it out. Last year I didn’t try hard enough to get to the mountain but this year I found some friends who are new to the sport as well so it doesn’t seem as scary.

So this Ski Day, a few friends and I woke up bright and early, threw on some layers, and headed to Waterville.

It was a chilly, snowy day, with perfect powder to learn on. We headed to the bunny slope making fools of ourselves but having a blast, trying not to get frustrated while constantly falling.

Eventually my friend Sammy and I felt daring enough to take the chair lift up and go down an actual trail. Her boyfriend lead the way as we rode higher and higher into the clouds. The clouds and snow blocked our view as we joked about going into the heavens. The lift up seemed endless. Some fear started to set in. Were we ready?

If you saw us get off that lift, you’d think not, but we collected ourselves and started to head down the trail. It was tough at first but luckily the trail was pretty quiet so we didn’t have to worry too much about running into people or people running into us, making it easier to get the hang of it.

Unfortunately I did collide with someone and Sammy got sprayed with snow by someone as she was trying to get herself together after falling, but we kept our heads up, laughing about it later.

We eventually made it down the mountain in one piece and ended up taking the trail down a couple more times.

We left the mountain exhausted, but had a great time trying something we normally wouldn’t do. The following Saturday we even decided to go back and try again, only improving.

It’s scary trying new things, especially when it seems so easy to everyone else. The important thing is to remember to laugh at yourself and to get up and keep trying. Everyone was a beginner at one point in their life.

Layer Up!

Winter adventures are a great way to beat the gray-sky blues, but in order to enjoy the outdoors during the cold season, it’s important to dress warm! This includes wearing layers:

Layers are key 

It’s easy to be able to put a layer on or take a layer off depending on how you’re feeling.

Start with your base layer. The base layer is going to be the first layer, next to your skin so you will want it to be able to wick away sweat, be quick drying, and have good ventilation. Choosing a merino wool or synthetic layer (such as polypropylene) will accomplish these aspects.

SMARTWOOL Women’s Midweight Crew

It’s important to remember to stay away from clothing made out of cotton. Yes its soft, but it retains moisture longer than a synthetic or wool. This means if you are sweating, snow melts on your clothes, or you simply spill water all over yourself when trying to drink out of your wide mouth canteen, your clothing will continue to stay wet and possibly freeze, leaving you susceptible to hypothermia.

Next is your mid-layer. This is going to be worn over your base layer, trapping in the warmth yet is still breathable. A fleece or a heavier wool sweater will do the job.

COLUMBIA Men’s Teton Peak Jacket

An insulation layer is next. This layer will add additional warmth to your outerwear and can even be worn as your outer-most layer in dry conditions. This is typically a synthetic or down, light, compressible jacket.

OUTDOOR RESEARCH Women’s Cathode Hoodie

The last layer is the outer shell. Its important for this last layer to be able to protect you from the weather. You can either choose a soft shell jacket or a hard shell jacket. A soft shell jacket is, you guessed it, soft. This means it has a little stretch to it and is flexible, by not restricting your arm movements, and is also a breathable material. A hard shell jacket is more restricting and less breathable but is waterproof and windproof. The soft shell will only be water-resistant.

EMS® Men’s Acadia Softshell Jacket

I work at Eastern Mountain Sports and a common question I get asked is:

“Is there a difference between water-resistant and waterproof ?”

There is!

A water-resistant jacket will keep you dry for a short period of time, but if you’re caught out in the rain, the water will seep through. A waterproof jacket will keep you dry even after standing in the pouring rain.

Now it’s time to go have an adventure and stay warm!

Trying to learn more about layers? Check out this website:

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/a/11061/Introduction-to-Layered-Clothing-Systems

Slippery Slope

If you’re living in the New England area, chances are you are use to snowy winters. Small winter hikes are a refreshing and cheap way to enjoy some fresh air while be surrounded by nature, friends, and new experiences.

This weekend, I went for a small hike with some close friends in Franconia Notch, right across from Cannon Mountain. The trail was Artist Bluff, a 1.5 mile loop trail, rated as a “moderate” hike on alltrails.com. Not being use to winter hikes, we weren’t sure what to expect but we figured it was something fun to do to get off campus and exercise at the same time. With snow on the ground and clouds in the sky, we started our small adventure, soon finding out that walking, especially downhill, was near to impossible, thats what we get for not wearing the proper gear. Instead of turning around we decided to turn this hike into a slide. By sitting on our feet, we slid down the trail, laughing like little girls the whole way. This was a perfect way to end the week of a new semester and do something we don’t normally get to do.

Hello World

Adventure: (n) an exciting or very unusual experience (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/adventure)

“Unusual” or “exciting” experiences are the moments that tend to stick out in one’s head, breaking away from the stresses of everyday life and stopping us from being stuck in the same routine.  Moments like these can be hard to attain, sometimes even hard to find the courage to do so. Here, I’ll be posting about personal adventures and how to get the most out of them, not only because those are the moments that mean a lot to me, but will maybe give inspirations to others, even if it’s in the smallest way possible. Life doesn’t have to be ordinary.