This is quite an amazing story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/18/us-sweden-snow-idUSTRE81H0JR20120218

Definitely extreme. The news story mentions ear-like hibernation for humans. I guess he bearly survived.

Man, he's very lucky to be alive!

That's a horrible pun!

OK, I'm changing my survival plan from "pack up a bunch of gear and food and water" to "take a nap."

Truly amazing. I'd love to hear his side when he recovers.

I did a little googling for "human hibernation" and found a number of articles. While some are speculative, they do not seem to be crackpot ideas at all. (Although I trust no one here will decide, "This is great! I can save 2 pounds on my survival kit by ditching the stove and firestarters. I'll just hibernate if I get stuck in the snow!)

There's a report of a Japanese hiker who was injured and survived 24 days here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/dec/21/japan.topstories3

And a longer, general article that talks about the biology of it and includes links to other articles:

http://io9.com/human-hibernation/

Peter Pond or one of the early-early explorers in Northern Canada reported that the Indians,not Inuit,would sleep for long periods in the deep winter.they would "awaken" from a heap of furs for a drink and nibble of jerky or dry fish and then dig in again to sleep.

Sounds similar to the mammalian diving reflex, which is also particularly well developed in young individuals...

You are not dead until you are warm and dead.

The comment-o-sphere is crying "hoax," but the experts say it's possible. He may have organ damage though.

No doubt the skepticism is fuelled by the fact that he was only a couple of kilometers from the main road. Seems a bit odd.

There are reports that he was unemployed, living out of his car, and dodging debt collectors. Maybe that explains why he did not immediately walk out.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/20/...for-two-months/

Probably the same reason why babies are often among the last survivors to be dug up from the rubble of a devastating earthquake, long after most adults have perished.

The police thinks he's likely to tell the truth. No tracks were visible outside the vehicle, which was covered by undisturbed snow. He also hasn't been seen anywhere else over the last two months

He also has done similar disapperance acts before when things got too though for him.



I don't think there will be more reports that will shed more light into this incident. Apart from the hibernation part it's just a story about someone's grey every day struggle. Most likely he has some kind of luggage that he really should receive help for.