A couple was rescued by a snow plow driver after their car was stranded for 12 days in deep snow.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/utah.couple/index.html

this is interesting winter survival story. The couple cut up their car seat foam to use as snow shoes. They were wearing only basic jeans & shirt & jacket. Jeans is really a poor choice of fabric for the winter.

they were dressed to arrive - not for traveling in that territory.

and they apparently chose to ignore warning signs saying to not use the road.

ended well - but could easily have had other results.

It may have ended well for them, but not so happily for the S&R volunteer who died looking for them.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2608104

Apparently he died in his sleep after returning home. (This was a comment made by someone responding to the story so I'm not sure how reliable it is.)

Possibly a delayed heart attack brought on by physical stress?

Isn't there a stage of hypothermia where after you start to warm up you can shock the core again when blood starts flowing to your extremedies? If he was hypothermic and got home before his extremedies opened up. . . Any hypothermia experts on the board?

Thanks, that's what I thought. I wonder how cold he was when he finally got home. Being in good physical condition never hurts, but I'm not sure maintaining a high physical fitness level matters when it comes to situations of "afterdrop" -- cold blood is cold blood.

In today's news, contributing factor in SAR volunteer's death: an undiagnosed, pre-existing heart condition. Quote from sheriff: "One side of his heart was enlarged, and apparently he didn't know about it." Very unfortunate.

"If you have access to a hot tub/bath/springs position the victim so that his/her arms & legs are not submerged."

Are you sure about this? It was my understanding that a hypothermic person immersed in warm water could easily go into cardiac arrest.

Sue

i have no idea where to look for it on the web,but in Sweden
they did extensive research on hypothermia as a result of
some bad outcomes involving oil rig and fishing boat rescues..
i think they got these guys warmed up and "better" and they
died days later from some sort of heart problem--

Okay, I must be mistaken. It's happened once or twice...

Sue