This morning I was looking through Discovery OnDemand, as Spencer LOVES HI-5, and I saw "How to Survive." I'm intrigued, how to survive what? How to Survive watching even one minute of HI-5? Please, yes, tell me how! I click on it and am met with the How to Survive Falling Through Ice, as well as a few others, like being kidnapped, but that just seemed morose.
I decided to watch the five minute lesson on how to avoid death by frozen water and I'm quite glad I did- I learned some valuable tips. And while I can't see myself ever voluntarily stepping out on any kind of ice that isn't on a rink or driveway, you can never be too prepared! (A good example of this is packing the same things in different suitcases in case the airline loses one- yes, I have done that more than once).
I then felt the need to share my newly acquired knowledge, and since Spencer wouldn't understand, I'm sharing with you, Blogospere.
Prevention
- Ice must be 4inches thick before it is safe for one person to walk on, 6-8 for a group, but even then unknown elements could still render unsafe. Differing water tempteratures, rocks underneath the ice, and snow accumulation are just a few of the reasons that walking on ice is never 100% safe.
- If you are stranded and must cross an ice covered body of water, AVOID
- Slush
- Grey Ice
- Snow Build Up on Ice
If you have the unfortunate pleasure of falling through one of these weaker areas of ice, here is what you need to do.
Beat The Freeze
- COVER YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE: When you fall into ice cold water, the body's natural response is to gasp, letting in cold water, this causes
- COLD SHOCK, were the body immediately shuts your airway to prevent further ingestion of water, your heart races and blood pressure spike. If this happens, try and stay calm, it will subside in one minute. If you hyperventilate, you are pretty much a goner- relaxing and getting past that first minute is the MOST important thing.
ORIENT
- Turn and face the direction from which you fell; this is the safest known route
- DON'T waste time trying to target another area, your body is losing heat at a rate 20-30% times faster than on land
KICK, PULL, AND ROLL
- DON'T try and swim straight out- it will put too much pressure on already weakened ice. Once you are underneath of the hole, begin KICKING your feet like a dolphin until your body is horizontal with the surface
- With your arms on the ice, feet still kicking, PULL your body up, while remaining horizontal and ROLL out of the hole to safety.
WARM UP
- When you get out of the water you will experience "after drop," where the cold blood at your extremities begins to go to your heart.
- If this happens too fast, you die, so DON'T rub your arms and legs, warm the torso first
- DON'T go near a fire, try and find a warm, dry place and slowly reintroduce a heat source
- Strip off your when you are at your warm, dry heat source
- SLOWLY sip a warm, NOT hot, beverage.
Here's the amazing part, within one hour of being rewarmed, your body will be at 98.6 degrees again! I hope you never fall into the icy tundra, river, pool, lake, etc., but if you do at least you're prepared.
