Topic: Cold weather survival tips

[Kaiaatzl]

A new entry to my blog on Dateiliste.  Tips for staying warm at -40 degrees (and even lower temperatures).  Read the first entry too, it's quite... interesting.

http://www.dateiliste.com/en/blogs/69-blogs.html

[-<WillyP>-]

Well I hope it won't get as cold as that here in New Hampshire, but you never know!

4. Especially if you're going to be outside for a long time, bring some snacks to nibble on.  Your body loses a significant amount of energy generating heat to keep yourself warm.  Bring something like dried fruit or nuts, anything with relatively low water content.  Otherwise the water in the food will freeze and your snack will be hard as a rock.

Good tip, but remember you need to drink water even though you are not sweating.  And speaking of sweating, don't over-layer till you are sweating, if you do your insulation layer becomes wet and reduces it's effectiveness.  This is particularly difficult with your feet, as it's often impossible to get the layering just right with changing conditions.

[Kaiaatzl]

First off, this is Winnipeg... you won't be sweating in winter.  It'll feel like -10 C instead of -50 C.
As for feet, I believe there are some brands of socks made to reduce this kind of uncertainty... I'll look it up.

And yes, if you need water, bring a bottle.  Try to put some kind of electrolyte in it that will lower its freezing point (I'll try to look up some, but in the meantime I'd suggest lemon juice.  I believe citric acid works this way inside lemons and oranges)  The point is that if you bring a high-water snack, it will be impossible to eat.  Definitely no Starbursts .