Defensive Carry banner

Cold

3K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  Oldpsufan 
#1 ·
Living in Michigan my whole life you’d think I’d know a thing or two about cold weather. Oh I’ve had my share of soakers while learning to skate on the creek, spring canoe rides that ended up below freezing and just plain wearing something inappropriate for the weather just because I thought it made me look cool. By now I’ve learned:
  • C - Clean
  • O - Overheating
  • L - Layer
  • D - Dry
but a recent read got me suspecting: I don’t really know cold. The book is Our Southern Highlanders written by Horace Kephart and published in 1913. You can pick it up for free from the Gutenberg project here: Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart - Free Ebook The passage was:
“a majority of the folks went barefoot all winter, though they had snow much of the time four or five inches deep; and the man said he didn’t think most of the men about here had more than one coat, and the never wore one in winter except on holidays. That was the healthiest way, he reckoned, just toughen yourself and not wear no coat”

It’s not like this is my first time encountering this concept. I once knew a man from Indonesia who ran around in a warm-up suit all winter long. Then there's the chapter titled Cold Training from Tom Browns book The Tracker which says:
“…nature could not hurt us if we were at one with it, and I stop resisting the cold. The result was instantaneous…my coldness was gone…I have not been truly cold since.”

Sounds like BS to me but what do you think? Is conditioning the best key to cold weather survival or is a hefty wool cardigan the only sane choice? Do you have any tips you’ve picked up over the years that you’d like to share? Illustrative stories are welcome too. ('Dissing Tom's knife are not. Lol)
 
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: Aceoky
#2 ·
Having grown up in Wisconsin and then Michigan, I can say that ain't normal. I have a high tolerance to cold because of my all my many years up north, but barefoot is not a healthy thing.
Having said that, I usually wear t-shirts when most are wearing sweaters, so I agree that you can condition yourself, but, the human body is only capable of so much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Caertaker
#3 ·
I once had a set of one piece wool underwear I wore all the time with just a jean jacket, I was warm all the time, the others around me with more modern clothing were freezing. the same type that one sees in old photos, this may have helped.
 
#6 ·
Those are called Union Suits. Button up front and often a flap in the back so one could take a number 2 when needed. Red when new and pink after a couple years or so.

When I worked at the dairy in NW Washington it was an extremely wet warm production plant. Extremely humid. Sometimes I'd get off work and go home and immediately crank up the heat. I could crank up the heat till I was red faced to no avail. Here's what I learned over time:

*Hot shower
*Hot food
*Clean clothes

I learned the same thing working at the RV park. Working outside year round I wore a thin cotton uniform shirt. Under that I wore a Long John undershirt.
Over the shirt I wore a work issued vest. Usually while wearing cotton work gloves along with my Carhartt stocking hat. Every single chore or job I had there meant a certain amount of activity on my part outside. In other words I was constantly moving. Only when it was cold enough to snow or there was snow on the ground did I take it up a notch and wear insulated coveralls along with insulated Sorel type winter rubber/leather boots. Yep-the heavy clodhopper heavy boots. I ALWAYS had my Carhartt stocking hat on and usually another inside my shirt with another pair of gloves (both damp and drying out from body heat.) For the city boys here one can lose 90% of your core inner body heat right out of your head if NOT wearing a hat in cold weather.

TBT right this minute I'm wearing my Carhartt stocking hat my fingerless gloves winter type sox long pants and Long John undershirt under long sleeved shirt. I was cold a few minutes ago but the heat was just on so I am better now. If I were to eat some hot food I'd really warm up. I can't take the cold I used to could cuz I had pneumonia in 2010. I will be susceptible to cold for the rest of my life now due to the bout with pneumonia.

When I see the fools outside in their sports jerseys and Cargo shorts and summer type footwear with no sox or the ankle top girl sox I laugh at their stupidity. Before I carried 24/7 sometimes I'd walk up to these retarded fools and ask them does your momma know you're outside by yourself?!? The funniest thing about this was they weren't smart enough to realize I had just dissed them. Stupid is as stupid does.

Public education...the worst education money can buy.:blink::pat::doh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Caertaker
#5 · (Edited)
I grew up in northern North Dakota. I was "conditioned" to the winter in the sense the I could endure the cold with minor discomfort, but that does not mean I was in any better condition to survive exposure than some good 'ole boy from the deep south. The cold did not "bother" me, e.g. a sub-zero wind in my face did not cause me distress - it was just something I had to deal with (and only for a short period of time). But even bundled up my body had its limits, and after a spell your body starts working to preserve the core body temperature. Your extremities go numb, and it's time to go inside.

I believe that you can mentally prepare for physical challenges, and if you are in very good shape you may have an endurance edge over someone in poor shape. But I don't think you can "condition" your body to endure the cold for significantly longer periods of time. There are thermodynamic principals in play, and mental toughness is not going to slow the process of frostbite or hypothermia. Mental toughness will allow you to keep your head and endure it while you find shelter and not panic, or, in most cases today, not whine like a whimp about how cold you are.
 
#7 ·
Living in Michigan my whole life you’d think I’d know a thing or two about cold weather. By now I’ve learned:
  • C - Clean
  • O - Overheating
  • L - Layer
  • D - Dry

Sounds like BS to me but what do you think? Is conditioning the best key to cold weather survival or is a hefty wool cardigan the only sane choice? [B]Do you have any tips [/B]you’ve picked up over the years that you’d like to share? Illustrative stories are welcome too. ('Dissing Tom's knife are not. Lol)
H = Head
O = Out
T = Tomorrow

W = We
A = Are
R = Relocating
M = Moving South

B = Beer & BBQ
E = Everyday
A = All invited
C = Crawl to
H = Happy Hour
 
#8 ·
I can't deal with the cold as well as I used to when I worked outside all year long. The tip of my nose could tell the temp within about 5 degrees from 15-40. And some folks just deal with it better than others. I knew a guy that would show up in shorts to work his evening ski patrol shift. He only wore pants because he had too. And usually had on a T shirt and patrol vest. Cold just did not bother him at all.

I do know that my grandmother who grew up in WNC would go barefoot all summer so she would have shoes in the winter. And talking to one of the re enactors at Kings Mtn Military Park, the frontiers folks did not have many clothes. A shirt or two and pants for the guys. Maybe a coat. And a couple shirts and petticoats for the women. When you were cold you put all your clothes on and hoped for the best.

Kephart and the folks he lived with in WNC were a tough breed.
 
#10 ·
Having lived my life in the colder parts of MI , I can say cold tolerance works to a degree. However once you get hypothermia it will continue to knock you down till death happens. Layers and having a warm, dry change of clothing helps immensely.
I got pneumonia years ago while making a living outdoors in the winter. It never really is eliminated and sticks with you anytime it gets cold, wet I feel it come back. I would suggest taking care of yourself and not getting it to start.
I also did lots of winter camping as a teen , in temps at or near 0 with crappy gear. We survived , but were semi miserable at times.
 
#12 ·
calories.
it's all about calories.
Polar Bear Club??
It's certainly POSSIBLE for the human body to "adapt" to the described "extreme cold". It is not possible to maintain that indefinately. Nor does your body simply become "used to" and "able" to deal with ANY extreme like that.
It's dependant on your body being able to generate the necassary BTU's to stay regulated. If you don't get enough calories it ain't gonna happen.
Movement being the other key. Strapped into a chair and can't move in that kind of cold? frozen human posicle....
but if you have enough calories available and can maintain enogh movement.... then yes, most bodies would be able to function and survive in a situation as described.
i forget the exact numbers, but it's something like 40% more calories required in a day in a person is exposed to conditions that could cause hypothermia.
 
#16 ·
calories.
it's all about calories.
And imagine the difference in diet between then and now. Freeze dried won't cut it. Too many other foods are low fat. These guys used butter, lard, whole milk, fresh vegetables, and fresh meat when possible. Stuff that would make a lot of folks cringe these days.
 
#15 ·
I ironworked for many years out of Chicago which can get very cold had the diesel fuel gel in the crane once was 20 below with a 45 to 50 mile wind, said was 79 below windchill had 40 below in North Dakota once never shut off trucks an crane. While your setting iron its not bad but trying to be still while welding gets your feet mighty cold. Now retired in Florida an 40 feels bad:)
 
#17 ·
IF they were really walking around barefoot in the snow all winter none of them would have all their toes. I suspect this is a case of "remembering" how it was always snowing and up hill both ways to school "way back then" when we were kids. The memory does funny things. All I know is the "older I get the better I was".
 
#18 ·
I believe there's two levels, psychological and physical. Psychologically conditioning makes a huge difference; until you're used to it, the body is telling you that the current temperature is dangerous and makes the cold seem unbearable. Once you're used to it, you can more or less ignore the nerve signals.

Physically, conditioning makes a difference too. I watched a TV show once (think it was on Military Channel) where they put special-ops types through extreme conditions to see how it affected them. One was a Navy SEAL; they had him do a simple timed obstacle course and pistol shoot, then put him in ice water with a bunch of sensors until he went hypothermic, and had him repeat the course. At least, that was the idea. Submerged to the neck in ice water, they could not make his core temperature drop. They had to replace the ice as it melted. He just sat there, looking mildly annoyed. After, I think, about two hours, they gave up and had him run the course. His time dropped by a quarter-second or something.

So, yes, physical conditioning can matter. However, at some point as temp drops physics overwhelms biochemistry, and injury/death will happen. Calories can only be burned so fast, and conditioning won't stop cells from rupturing when the water in them freezes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Caertaker
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top