Equipped To Survive Equipped To Survive® Presents
The Survival Forum
Where do you want to go on ETS?

Page 1 of 2 1 2 >
Topic Options
#126615 - 03/07/08 02:22 PM Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy'
brandtb Offline
Addict

Registered: 11/26/04
Posts: 500
Loc: S.E. Pennsylvania
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=4393377&page=1

It's a bitterly cold winter day and students on the University of Minnesota campus are bundled up, hurrying to their next class. Wim Hof, dressed in shorts, sandals and nothing else, appeared from the doorway of a school building.

He's known as 'The Ice Man."

Video
Submerged In IceScientists can't really explain it, but the 48-year-old Dutchman is able to withstand, and even thrive, in temperatures that could be fatal to the average person.

Watch the story Friday at 9 p.m. ET on "20/20" Medical Mysteries.


From the Arctic Circle to Mount Everest
It's an ability he discovered in himself as a young man 20 years ago.

"I had a stroll like this in the park with somebody and I saw the ice and I thought, what would happen if I go in there. I was really attracted to it. I went in, got rid of my clothes. Thirty seconds I was in," Hof said. "Tremendous good feeling when I came out and since then, I repeated it every day." It was the moment that Hof knew that his body was different somehow: He was able to withstand fatally freezing temperatures.


Hof began a lifelong quest to see just how far his abilities would take him. In January of 1999 he traveled 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle to run a half-marathon in his bare feet. Three years later, dressed only in a swimsuit, he dove under the ice at the North Pole and earned a Guinness World Record for the longest amount of time swimming under the ice: 80 meters, almost twice the length of an Olympic-sized pool.

When he didn't experience frostbite or hypothermia, the body's usual reactions to extreme cold, his extraordinary ability started to get the attention of doctors who specialize in extreme medicine.

Dr. Ken Kamler, author of "Surviving the Extremes," has treated dozens of people who tried to climb Mount Everest, and instead nearly died from the frigid temperatures. He couldn't believe it when he got word of a Dutchman making the ascent with no protection other than a pair of shorts.

"People are always looking for new firsts on Everest. It's been climbed so many times now, people climb it without oxygen, they … they climb it with all different kinds of handicaps. But no one has come close to climbing Everest in those kinds of conditions," Dr. Kamler said. "It's … it's almost inconceivable."

Hof made the expedition in shorts.

"It was quite easy," Hof said. "I was in a snowstorm before, say, on the fifteen, sixteen thousand feet up 'til eighteen thousand feet."

"I know my body, I know my mind, I know what I can do," Hof said. And he says he can withstand heat as well as cold.

Nearly Naked, Surrounded by Ice
Dr. Kamler met Hof for the first time at the Rubin Museum in New York, where Hof was set to break another Guinness World Record, this time for remaining nearly naked in ice poured up to his neck.

Hof came out of the museum, stripped to his swim trunks and climbed in a 5-foot tall plexiglass container filled with ice. Once he got in, they poured more ice into the container until it reached his chin.

All the while, Dr. Ken Kamler monitored Hof from outside the tank.


Normally, when a person is exposed to freezing temperatures for a prolonged period of time, the body goes into survival mode, as its liquids begin to freeze.

Frostbite sets in, and in order to save the major organs, the body sacrifices blood flow to the extremities, cutting circulation from the fingers, toes, ears and nose to keep the blood flowing to the organs necessary for survival.

If not treated immediately, the damage to these extremities is irreversible. The other danger is hypothermia, an abnormally low body temperature. At about 90 degrees, body functions start shutting down, and once that starts, you could be dead within minutes.

But Hof stayed in his tomb of ice for one hour and 12 minutes. Then, the ice was poured out of the tank, and Hof emerged, his skin still pink.

"He's not moving, he's not generating heat, he's not dressed for it, and he's immersed in ice water. And water will transmit heat 30 times faster than air. It literally sucks the life right out of you. And yet, despite all those negative factors, Wim Hof was very calm, very comfortable the entire time that he was immersed in that water," Kamler said.

It was a new entry for the Guinness World Records, but really, no one else out there seems able to compete with him. He just keeps breaking his own records.

Response to Cold 'Completely Obliterated'
At the hypothermia lab at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, scientists who've studied the cold for years say they've never seen anything like it.

Dr. Robert Pozos and Dr. Larry Wittmers, director of the lab, hooked up Hof to heart rate and core temperature monitors to evaluate his body's response after being submerged in an extremely cold water tank.

A normal response might include intense pain, cardiovascular stress and mounting hysteria, but with Hof, it's a much different story.

As he went into the tank, Dr. Wittmers explained, "What you're seeing basically is a situation in which the usual response to a shock or a cold was completely obliterated. There was no — none of the usual response you would see. And those responses that you see in most individuals that are exposed to that type of situation are uncontrollable."

From inside the tank, Hof said, "I feel the cold is a noble force, as they always say, and for me, right now, these readings are important but this is what I do every day in the winter, because I like it."

Since there's nothing abnormal about his body, all doctors can tell is that Hof's secret must lie in the wiring of his brain.

"It's very easy to speculate that the same mind control that you use to control your heart when you're scared also can be called upon to control the other organs in the body. And maybe that's how Wim Hof does this," said Kamler. "That's … it's speculation, but it sort of makes sense, and a lot of scientists are working very hard to try to figure this out now."


One answer might lie in an ancient Himalayan meditation called "Tummo," which is thought to generate heat. Hof began practicing the ritual years ago.

"Legends abound of practitioners of Tummo sitting out on the ice naked except for wet sheets that they have draped around them, and as they meditate, the sheets dry and the ice melts around them, even though it's freezing temperature," Kamler said.


The Mystery of Swimmer Lynne Cox
If there's one ice-lover who has baffled scientists as much as Hof, it's American swimmer Lynne Cox.

At 15, Cox swam the English Channel in 14 hours, a Guinness World Record. She has also written two books about her adventures: "Grayson" and "Swimming to Antarctica."

Like Hof, Lynne soon discovered that she had an almost super-human ability to survive in frigid water. In 1987, she became the first person to swim across the Bering Strait, from Alaska to what was then the Soviet Union, in 38-degree water.

And in 2002, she set a new goal: to swim a mile through the massive icebergs of the Antarctic.

Like Hof, Cox prepares herself by somehow using her mind to control her body's temperature.

"I went into the cabin and sat down and focused and breathed and thought about how I was gonna enter the water, how I was gonna do the swim. I sort of … I went through a mental rehearsal of it all. And that preparation, my body knew that I was going to jump into very cold water," Cox said. "Before I went in the water, one of the doctors took my core temperature, my internal temperature, and found it was 102.2."

The water was 32 degrees and hovering near the freezing point.

Without a wet suit or a dry suit, in wind gusting 35 knots, Cox used metal steps to enter the water.

"As I came down, it was like stepping on ice trays," she said.

She began swimming between the icebergs.

"That was amazing to be able to physically do it," she said.

But how do they do it? Kamler said the answer lies deep in the brain. "It's a mystery that we have not yet come close to solving, although we do have tantalizing clues," he said. "It tells us that there's enormous potential within the brain that is going untapped. And if we can study them more, and study people like them more, maybe we can unleash that potential for the rest of us."

_________________________
Univ of Saigon 68

Top
#126622 - 03/07/08 02:58 PM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: brandtb]
Frankie Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 09/19/03
Posts: 736
Loc: Montréal, Québec, Canada
I've already seen this guy. I think Wim Hof is actually his artist name:


Top
#126675 - 03/08/08 01:35 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: Frankie]
Hikin_Jim Offline
Sheriff
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 10/12/07
Posts: 1804
Loc: Southern California
Now, wait just one darn minute here. This has got to be a hoax. Different people tolerate cold to different degrees, but what is described here flys in the face of physics; it's physically impossible (unless he's one of the X men or Superman's kid brother or something).

Errata: I just Googled Wim Hof. Apparently this guy's for real. Well, I'll be danged. I don't know how that could be possible. Deal with the devil? Maybe there's a "Dorian Gray" painting on his wall of a frozen, dessicated corpse?


Edited by Hikin_Jim (03/08/08 01:44 AM)
Edit Reason: Add web search results
_________________________
Adventures In Stoving

Top
#126681 - 03/08/08 02:36 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: Hikin_Jim]
unimogbert Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 08/10/06
Posts: 882
Loc: Colorado
Originally Posted By: Hikin_Jim
Now, wait just one darn minute here. This has got to be a hoax. Different people tolerate cold to different degrees, but what is described here flys in the face of physics; it's physically impossible (



Sure seems to violate the laws of thermodynamics.

I've heard of some parts of some climbs on Everest to be 80F (snow climbing on a windless sunny day in shorts would be ok) but sometimes Everest is -15F with a 50kt wind. Would take quite a thermal output to keep limbs pliable with that kind of heat loss. Was he climbing in those conditions?

I'm skeptical. But the ice water immersion sure is impressive.

Top
#126685 - 03/08/08 02:52 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: unimogbert]
LED Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
[quote=unimogbert
I'm skeptical. But the ice water immersion sure is impressive. [/quote]

I'll say. Guess this guy is a natural ultralighter. "Hey Wim, we're heading out for an arctic expedition, wanna come? Sure, hang on, lemme grab my flip flops and a t-shirt."

Top
#126686 - 03/08/08 03:01 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: unimogbert]
Hacksaw
Unregistered


The body can do amazing things sometimes. Anytime I think of competitive extreme deep divers I can't help but think that's impossible too. Hold your breath for 3+ minutes riding a weighted sled to a depth of 160M? That's over 400psi on the air in the lungs!

Top
#126690 - 03/08/08 03:30 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: unimogbert]
Hikin_Jim Offline
Sheriff
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 10/12/07
Posts: 1804
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: unimogbert
Sure seems to violate the laws of thermodynamics.


Exactly what I was thinking. When a colder substance (lower energy) comes into contact with a warmer substance (higher energy), the temperature (energy) levels equalize, which makes the warmer body colder and the colder body warmer. That's why we put ice cubes in our drinks and also a heating coil (the kind people use to heat water, commonly used when travelling) to make our morning tea.

If Wim's warmer body meets a colder substance, the two temperatures (energy levels) will equalize. You can't get around this basic law of physics, although insulating materials like a dry suit or a wet suit would help stave things off. Ergo, Wim has to be generating a lot of heat internally.

Heat is never "free." Some process has to occur to generate heat and something is always consumed in said process (e.g. nuclear fusion in a star, burning wood, or human metabolism).

I wonder how much Wim eats? It's hard for me to imagine a human body acting in such a way as to generate sufficient heat to dry wet sheets and melt surrounding snow, but that's the only explanation I can think of.

Has anyone seen anything on the net that explains this phenomenom?
_________________________
Adventures In Stoving

Top
#126692 - 03/08/08 03:52 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: Hikin_Jim]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Natural "antifreeze" proteins like those found in penguin feet could explain his resistance to freezing...

-Blast


Edited by Blast (03/08/08 03:55 AM)
_________________________
Foraging Texas
Medicine Man Plant Co.
DrMerriwether on YouTube
Radio Call Sign: KI5BOG
*As an Amazon Influencer, I may earn a sales commission on Amazon links in my posts.

Top
#126702 - 03/08/08 04:14 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: Blast]
LED Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
It also says penguins use thermoregulation.

Quote:

Pascale speculated that both geese and penguins control blood flow to their feet in order to keep them warm. If you measured the temperature of a penguin’s right foot, you would see that the temperature cycles. It would be cold and then warm, cold and then warm, and so on. While one foot is cold, the other foot is warm. If you graphed the temperature of both feet, you would see the cycling of temperature as the feet take turns being warmed then cooled.


Is it even possible for humans to do this and how would it benefit him as virtually his entire body is immersed in the ice water?

Top
#126707 - 03/08/08 04:45 AM Re: Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy' [Re: brandtb]
Comanche7 Offline
Addict

Registered: 07/04/02
Posts: 436
Loc: Florida
Watched both of these people on 20/20 tonight. From what I could see on the tube, it is a real thing. I also wondered what their caloric intake is.

Despite everything we know about the human body, there are still some pretty good mysteries for mankind to unravel yet.

Comanche7

Top
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >



Moderator:  Alan_Romania, Blast, cliff, Hikin_Jim 
March
Su M Tu W Th F Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
Who's Online
0 registered (), 444 Guests and 28 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Newest Members
GallenR, Jeebo, NicholasMarshall, Yadav, BenFoakes
5367 Registered Users
Newest Posts
What did you do today to prepare?
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:21 PM
Zippo Butane Inserts
by dougwalkabout
03/27/24 11:11 PM
Question about a "Backyard Mutitool"
by Ren
03/17/24 01:00 AM
Problem in my WhatsApp configuration
by Chisel
03/09/24 01:55 PM
New Madrid Seismic Zone
by Jeanette_Isabelle
03/04/24 02:44 PM
EDC Reduction
by EchoingLaugh
03/02/24 04:12 PM
Newest Images
Tiny knife / wrench
Handmade knives
2"x2" Glass Signal Mirror, Retroreflective Mesh
Trade School Tool Kit
My Pocket Kit
Glossary
Test

WARNING & DISCLAIMER: SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this site.