Slight thread hijack, I just recently watched Frontline's Storm Over Everest and found it excellently done. It includes interviews with the survivors and pictures from that day, and tells the story well.

If I remember correctly, Beck Weathers was left for dead and fell asleep. He woke up some time later with no pain, noting that his arm and other extremities were frozen. It was very peaceful, but then he thought of his family and forced himself to get up and walk until, amazingly, he found the camp. (Incidently he was then left for dead a second time.)

I've heard that people who get frostbite more easily are less likely to die of hypothermia because the body is quicker to cut off bloodflow to the extremities in order to preserve core temperature. But that's just something I read from who knows where...

Back on topic, my experience has been that I'll wake up if I get too cold. I once spent the night in an unheated cabin with temperatures dropping to 37 degrees, and I only had regular bedding, i.e. mattress, blanket, pillow. I figured out a multitude of tricks to keep warm that night. It seemed my shivering would wake me up each time I became too cold, I'd shift position and my shivering would warm up my cocoon sufficiently until I could sleep again, and then that cycle was repeated over and over again. Not fun, but not particularly dangerous either.

I'd be more concerned if I was cold enough that I went beyond and stopped shivering. Hopefully I'd have enough presence of mind to get up and move instead of sleeping.



That's what I've always thought.