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Survive Falling Through Ice

Started by garbon, March 15, 2009, 08:53:15 PM

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garbon

March 15, 2009, 08:53:15 PM
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Survive_Falling_Through_Ice

QuoteTaking a shortcut across that snow-covered pond seemed like an awesome idea ... until you heard the first crack. Don't panic—you need to think clearly now. Then again, don't be too casual: You've got about 10 minutes before you lose the use of your extremities. Here's how to get out alive, with functioning limbs.



QuoteDon't hyperventilate

As you hit the water, a physiological reaction known as torso reflex will cause you to gasp for air. Force yourself to take slow, deep breaths. You'll begin to shiver violently and feel intense pain; try to remember that these are natural responses and not life-threatening.

Orient yourself

As you bob in the opening you fell through, turn and face the direction you came from. The ice there was strong enough to hold you until this point, so it should be able to support you as you maneuver out. You don't have time to take a chance on other escape routes.

Lift and kick

Stretch your arms over the ice and shimmy your body up until most of your torso is resting on the ledge. (This way, if you lose consciousness before you're free, you won't slip back under and drown.) Now, as you pull with your arms, kick your legs dolphin-style to propel yourself out.

Recover

Once out, logroll to shore. Resist the urge to rub your arms and legs (which would send the cool blood from your extremities straight to your core) or gulp hot liquids (which would trigger a rush of blood to your skin). Strip, wrap your torso in blankets, and sip a tepid decaf beverage.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Fireblade

#1
March 15, 2009, 09:32:40 PM
Or, don't walk on the fucking ice.

garbon

#2
March 15, 2009, 09:33:43 PM
Sometimes you have to.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Barrister

#3
March 15, 2009, 09:39:39 PM
Ice that can't support a person?

What's that?




Seriously - people drive their trucks on the frozen lakes around here.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Razgovory

#4
March 15, 2009, 09:45:36 PM
Quote from: Barrister on March 15, 2009, 09:39:39 PM
Ice that can't support a person?

What's that?






Seriously - people drive their trucks on the frozen lakes around here.


Don't people build their homes out of ice where you live too?
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Fireblade

#5
March 15, 2009, 09:49:32 PM
Dude, BB, I've never seen a lake that's iced over thick enough to walk on.

Hell, the lake near my house has only been completely iced over maybe.. twice in my lifetime.

garbon

#6
March 15, 2009, 09:50:32 PM
I don't consider ice formation to be a naturally occurring phenomena.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

jimmy olsen

#7
March 15, 2009, 09:52:04 PM
What was the impetus for making this post Garbon?
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

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Grey Fox

#8
March 15, 2009, 09:52:52 PM
Quote from: Barrister on March 15, 2009, 09:39:39 PM
Ice that can't support a person?

What's that?




Seriously - people drive their trucks on the frozen lakes around here.

It does...melt, you know.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

garbon

#9
March 15, 2009, 09:53:40 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 15, 2009, 09:52:04 PM
What was the impetus for making this post Garbon?

I'd read a book where someone drowned when walking on a frozen lake and saw tv show where the same happened to someone.  I randomly came across what one should actually do (on the shows they always stand and watch the ice cracking and then swim under solid ice) and thought it was useful info. :)
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Legbiter

#10
March 15, 2009, 10:08:39 PM
Speaking of surviving potential hypothermia, this is what Viking's kinsman from the Westman islands here in Iceland went through 25 years ago.

http://www.vikingrune.com/2009/03/true-viking-grit/.

Every 11th of March there's a swimming contest in Viking's hometown where people try to swim that very same distance. Except in an indoor geothermally heated swimming pool.
Posted using 100% recycled electrons.

Viking

#11
March 15, 2009, 11:25:48 PM
Quote from: Legbiter on March 15, 2009, 10:08:39 PM
Speaking of surviving potential hypothermia, this is what Viking's kinsman from the Westman islands here in Iceland went through 25 years ago.

http://www.vikingrune.com/2009/03/true-viking-grit/.

Every 11th of March there's a swimming contest in Viking's hometown where people try to swim that very same distance. Except in an indoor geothermally heated swimming pool.

I met the guy, he is so fat it he got hit on by whales while swimming ashore.

The pool in Vestmannaeyar is volcanically heated. They pump water into the volcano which erupted in 1973 and pump out the  heated water on the other end of the lava.
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First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

Tonitrus

#12
March 16, 2009, 12:38:03 AM
I skied across the local lagoon, as a shortcut, a few days ago.  There were also dozens of people ice skating on it.

katmai

#13
March 16, 2009, 12:49:56 AM
Quote from: Tonitrus on March 16, 2009, 12:38:03 AM
I skied across the local lagoon, as a shortcut, a few days ago.  There were also dozens of people ice skating on it.

Westchester?
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

Syt

#14
March 16, 2009, 01:42:44 AM
Quote from: garbon on March 15, 2009, 09:33:43 PM
Sometimes you have to.

In that case I'd suggest moving to civilization where they have paved roads and fortified bridges.
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