The thing that prompted me to post this question is an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" I saw recently, in which a solo peakbagger gets badly injured in an avalanche and spends about 3 days crawling/limping his way out. After at least 2 days of no sleep, exhaustion and blood loss, he struggles to stay awake thinking he will die if he succumbs to sleep. He falls asleep anyway and wakes up the next morning under a pile of fresh snow, feeling surprisingly refreshed.

The guy was super fit, which is always a great asset, but still he was wearing minimal clothing in subfreezing weather while tired & injured.

My experience precisely...You need your forty winks.

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.

We watched that too Glock. I was of the same mind - if he falls asleep, he's dead. It would have been like giving up. Not so much because of the cold, but because of his injuries. The snow no doubt insulated him but his will to live was probably the biggest factor in keeping him alive. That and he obviously needed his rest. It's a fine balance, I guess. I can't fathom how he possibly did what he did. I'm shocked that he made it. (Our family had a bit of a giggle about this forum, and a particular thread, when he crossed the streams.)

At the end, he said he went right back to the mountains again. I wonder if he keeps a psk in his pocket now, or wears better clothing when he's out there? I kept thinking, if only he had a lighter or a SAK or a....

Great point, that show was another lesson on "if you don't have it with you it can't save your life". He lost his pack and was fubared.

Recently I saw this issue come up yet again when reading a survivor's account of dealing with cold weather. So I took a chance and emailed the renowned Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, asking him about his thoughts on "dying in your sleep from cold". I even sent him the link to this thread and asked if he would consider posting here. I can't think of a better expert to consult on this topic.

I highly recommend the 2nd edition of Hypothermia, Frostbite, and Other Cold Injuries which was revised by Dr. Giesbrecht.

Check out Dr. Giesbrecht's Cold Water Boot Camp, especially their videos.

If you are cold enough that you will die from hypothermia, how will staying awake, if you could do so, prevent death?

I vote for mostly a myth.

This mindset assumes that we don't have any control over our bodies.

How many stories have we heard, and I have seen examples of it myself, of people who are very old or terminally sick and who hold on just long enough to reach some major event (a wedding, a graduation, a birth, until the other spouse passes first, etc.) and then they quickly die afterward? Or conversely, how many spouses pass away shortly after the first spouse goes? Something in them just gives up. Or yogis or martial art masters and others who can control aspects of their bodily functions that we normally think are beyond our control.

Modern science is just beginning to understand the mind-body connection in a more systematic way.

Unfortunately, the more dangerous stages of hypothermia affect your cognitive ability and make you confused, so it's difficult to realize that you're hypothermic so it can be difficult to know whether it's OK to sleep or not. In fact, you apparently often feel hot during the final stage. Perfect for nap time.

I agree with this. If we take it as gospel that "if you're cold you can't trust your mind at all because you may be hypothermic and not thinking clearly", then you should never sleep at all in winter, since you may be hallucinating that you're in a warm, dry cabin by the fire...!